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Uh...no, like 99% of the time inequality and poverty really is because of lack of money
Most of the time, the things you blame poor people for—addiction, poor decisionmaking, lack of impulse control, criminal activity—are phenomena that arise due to poverty and its narrowed choices, or the long term generational effects of community poverty.
Some poor people climb out of poverty—because of intrepid character, good fortune or most commonly, the intervention of an individual or institution with resources and the luxury to share them. But the number is few...and they’re disproportionately white.
What’s more common is people sliding down into poverty from the working class and middle class due to disaster—often healthcare related.
So here’s what’s staggering about your assertion that money alone won’t address poverty: When I say “money,” i don’t mean just cash handouts—I mean social spending on things like free education and universal healthcare.
Eeducation is disproportionately powerful in lifting poor people out of poverty. Healthcare is disproportionately powerful in keeping middle class people from sliding down into it. Cash handouts stave off misery: hunger and homelessness.
Conservatives are against all three.
Conservatives are against all three.
This @nytimes Upshot series on race and mobility is one of the most amazing things they’ve done, so let me take the opportunity to elevate it here. Worth looking at, @clairlemon. The data story is pretty compellingly against your POV.
