Uh....there is no mystery or complexity to poverty. Poverty is the natural state of man. If you did absolutely nothing all day every day you will be impoverished. What is complex is creating wealth - finding the thing that pleases your fellow man so much that he is willing to part with the product of his labour to acquire it from you. That's hard. Poverty is easy - don't do anything. There is, of course, an huge group of people who rely on the impoverished for their survival and have a vested interest in creating incentive and road blocks to keep people impoverished. That group of people is called "Politicians". And...um...how racist is it to assume that all impoverished people have dark skin. Good lord!
I wasn't being racist or ignorant. I'm speaking from experience, I've seen both sides of the coin. Sure the poor may have been dealt a bad hand to begin with (relative to American standards), but that is no excuse to continue the cycle. There are plenty of opportunities for the poor to get out of poverty in the United States. In a way they are lucky to have been born in the US. If they tried to live their same lifestyle in some third-world country, they'd be much worse off.
actually talk to sociologists and criminologists and they will tell you just the opposite, oh, educators also, will say same thing... the underground economies of the world is where all those poor, you're talking about work daily jobs with no benefits and horrendous working conditions.... its called crime, in all its facets, so next time you traders with all the education we're fortunate to have received, see less fortunate, do what you can to help these poor, choose honest work, instead of the underground economy.... idealistic, no, just live in any minor, medium or major city and you'll know this story....
Oh, you're right. I guess I just concentrated on the general thrust of the article instead of the bits about race and the pictures. Plus, I used to live in the ghetto when we first moved to this country and were IMPOVERISHED, so I guess I know that not all poor people are black. And not all rich people are white.
The best way for me to answer you is that you are describing situations where there always appear to be Yes or No type answers to the problem. And the truth is it's more complex than that, and there are something four or five answers to any question, and you never even know, which one is the right one, until you make your choice.
Another decade will go by and some reporter somewhere will revist the same ole same ole of the poor. Another generation of readers will point their fingers this way or that way, Brains may come and brains may go, everything changes but all remains the same. Anyone have any ideas? The city could give the small business owners a break on the property taxes in these areas. Maybe subsidize insurance costs. If the store owners costs of doing business were lowered perhaps the savings would be passed along.
I declare foul! White poor people are once again being dicriminated against by not being portrayed along side black poor people. I've been poor, white and a single male and believe me, you are at the bottom of the totem pole as far as government is concerned. You have no choice but to find a job or live on the street. And forget about a cushy government job. Others move ahead of you in line by government decree.
I do help. I hire them. Most people would like to work. Unfortunately, minimum wage prevents a lot of these people from ever getting a job and learning even basic skills. If minimum wage is $7/hour the guy whose labour is only worth $3/hour isn't getting hired an will learn no skills which makes him permanently unemployable anywhere except the underground economy. Unfortunately, this group contains a disproportionate amount of poor young black men. One of the most hideously racist government policies on the books. And what makes you think we all got our education because of good fortune? My family lived in poverty and I worked three jobs while going to college to pay for my education. My parents paid for nothing. Dumbass me, I didn't apply for any handouts during that time.
Yeah, and I apologize for acting like everyone who read the article and looked at the pictures were automatically taking the tone that "it's all those people's fault". It's good that you mention having to deal with a ghetto environment (which can range from mildly poor to incessantly violent) and then being able to move out of it (on face value, not that difficult for an American citizen who has the mental ability and physical where-with-all to "better themselves"). The problem arises in the fact that you are able to "leave it behind" (making the assumption that you are at least fair skinned, and may be caucasian), whereas most "people of color" cannot. They carry it with them, as close as their skin, in all walks of life, where ever they go and whatever they do.
Since the thread has evolved.... At this point in time in the US, I still see that there is a level of racism that exists, but I also see that there is not enough racism to stand in the way of a person of ANY race from becoming a productive member of society. Granted, not everyone has the talent to become wealthy or even to earn say $100k+/yr. But, 95% of people have enough intelligence/talent to earn a living higher than what wellfare will provide. Still in this country, if you want to work hard, you can at least earn a middle class income for your family.