I don't blame the poor for being poor. I blame the poor for staying poor unless that's what they choose to do.
Because they could... what? Go to college? Not if they couldn't get into college-track courses in high school. Not if they can't earn a scholarship. Learn a trade? Even that is expensive; during apprenticeship (such as for plumbing) you make almost no money, and it's often competitive to get into one. Just what do you suggest as the method(s) that really anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Because I have yet to learn of some path that is truly available to *everyone*, regardless of their resources.
There are plenty of opportunities for poor people to a) earn money and b) be very happy with or without that money.
Oh, wow. That's just... wow.
What's the poorest *you've* ever been? And what are these opportunities you speak of that don't require special training, a high degree of literacy and/or numeracy, or physical prowess? because some people don't have ANY of those things, or any way to get them.
More than that, there are an infinite number of opportunities for people like us to lose our place, no longer be smart, and certainly no longer have any wealth. My sister's done all three of those.
And why? Why has she? Do you ever think about that?
What people like us don't have, is the ability to work physically hard.
Sure we do (at least, a lot of us do). We're just not willing to, and we have enough acquired power (see Hobbes, or was it Rousseau?) that we don't have to.
And that's the point. Any impoverished person willing to work physically hard for people like us get paid really really really well.
You know, my housekeeper makes $90/day to come to my house every other week and clean. That comes out to more than $10/hour, but that is NOT getting paid "really, really, really well" in this area. Not only that, but she's 66 years old, and can't work as physically hard as she used to. She's never had an opportunity to save for retirement, though, and her son barely makes enough to support himself and his daughter, so she can't quit. She doesn't speak English very well (some people are good with languages, but she's not one of them), and though she's very intelligent, she's not well-educated, so there aren't many non-physical opportunities for her. She's taken some jewelry-making classes, and I pay her $10-20 to fix broken necklaces every now and then, but she doesn't have the resources to start up a full-scale jewelry business.
What do you suggest for her? What are her options to make money? She's a US citizen (if you're over 65, you're allowed to take the exam in your native language), but doesn't have much else in the way of natural or acquired power.
What about the friend of a friend who, having lost her eligibility for Medicaid when her kids moved in with their dad (because she was about to be homeless), can no longer afford her medication for bipolar disorder? She's slipped farther and farther into depression and dysfunctionality, smokes too much weed and can't be a good parent, pay her rent, or keep a job. But she also can't afford mental health care or substance abuse treatment, which aren't easy to get even if you *do* have Medicaid.
If she does lose her job, she may be able to get her insurance back, but then if she regains functionality with treatment, she could lose it again. What's your solution for her problems? What's she just not doing right? Most of her skills tend toward backstage grunt work for community theater.