You've stated a few times that poor people choose to be poor in this very thread. If you are in fact bothered by this, then it's safe to assume that you want poor people to choose to escape poverty. If that's the case, then I must also assume that you have thought of some reasons why the poor make the absurd choices that they make. So what do you think? Why do you think the poor choose not to escape poverty? Lack of education? Low cognitive capacity? What do you think? I am interested.

tagged interesting thread with interesting data

That was kind of my point. You can present the data to show almost anything you want. Most countries are too different to make direct comparisons. Different neccesities and services have vastly different prices with huge differences in social welfare.
Living off $22k a year in the US with kids can be quite a challenge, In Bulgaria you're might be well off with that.

Anyway income equality is still rising. As long as the bottom is benefitting too that's not too big of a problem, yet it seems the middle class is getting a harder time instead. Top and bottem 10% is one measurement, how is the rest of the distribution.

 http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/Pursuing_American_Dream.pdf  (2012)

Ninety-three percent of Americans whose parents were in the bottom fifth of the income ladder and 88 percent of those whose parents were in the middle quintile exceed their  parents’ family income as adults.

Eighty-four percent of Americans have higher family incomes than their parents had at the same age, and across all levels of the income distribution, this generation is doing better than the one that came before it

Fifty percent of Americans have greater wealth than their parents did at the same age

The middle quintile has the second most people with higher family incomes than their parents at the same age (the most being the bottom quintile 93% and the least being the top quintile - 70%)

Why do more Americans experience upward absolute mobility than upward relative mobility?

The rungs of the income ladder have widened during the past generation, reflecting economic growth at all levels, but especially at the top. Median income in the bottom income quintile increased by 74 percent between the two generations, compared with 126 percent in the top income quintile (see Figure 4). The difference between the size of the rungs between the two generations means that while the vast majority of Americans exceeded their parents’ family incomes, the extent of that increase—particularly at the bottom—was not always enough to move them to a different rung of the income ladder.

I presume the biggest issue is lack of motivation. Perhaps many poor people are content with the little money they make or their government handouts. The fact is even poor people in America live pretty well compared to most people in the world.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm certain most people living in poverty can pull themselves out.

You're making excuses for the people that choose not work towards something better than they're born into. You're basically saying people are ignorant to a better life than poverty, but I feel many are simply content with their situation. A poor American lives a better life than most people in the world.

Many people don't even make the effort to finish High School and that's free. That's a great example of how unmotivated a large number of people are in this country.

Are you aware the US gives money to people so they can go to college? I'm not talking about loans, its free money for people that don't have much money. Many people don't even bother to take advantage of it because they're too damn lazy.

Sorry, but the big picture math doesn't support that argument.  You can look at an individual and say "you can get yourself out of poverty" and the statement is often true.  But if look at the big picture, and say "you can ALL get yourselves out of poverty," that statement is false.  The proportion of low-paying jobs to decent jobs is bad and getting worse.  And it's not because people decided they WANTED low-paying jobs.  The good jobs went away, and people took what they could get to support themselves or their families.  When a pressing economic need exists - like a health problem or mouths to feed - a person can easily become trapped in the only job they find themselves qualified for.

It used to be a good attitude, work ethic, and willingness to learn and improve yourself (and a high school education!) was enoguh for a stable career.  That's not the case anymore.  All that can get you is a dead end service-industry job.

It's EASY to blame the poor their situation, and so many people take the EASY way out and say "it's their fault."  It's not.  The situation is so much more complicated, but those with comfortable lives don't want to even think about it, so they blame the poor for being poor.  The number of people who want better opportunities far outnumber the amount of opportunities available.  Telling people to just get better jobs will not, and cannot solve the problem.  Even if, I should say ESPECIALLY if, they all DO try to get better jobs.

There is a pretty obvious reason for the income gap if you ask me. It's simply human nature. It's the same reason Communism doesn't work. Humans must grow and consume, capitalism fulfills that need. That's the same reason we have a growing income inequality problem. There are not the necessary checks in place to keep it from growing until it totally consumes it's resources. Sort of like humans as a species.

Not to bag on capitalism or humans. But we are a species of constant (and sometimes destructive) growth. It's who we are and it will no doubt be the end of us.

Could've sworn I read a forbes article that made the point I posted but I can't find it now. Your article seems solid. I certainly didn't see that one coming. Interestingly though, as some move up, others move down. I guess some people just have to be poor  for others to be rich both literarily and figuratively i.e if everyone had 1 mil in the bank, 1 mil wont be considered rich anymore. There are limited resources so there will always be unequal distribution.

Equality is only truly achieved in death as per the great quote in my sig.

There should be a crazy tax bracket for the ubber rich did you make a billion this year if yes please deposit 60 in the irs fund right now.