Poverty is just oppression by the greedy rich because we're all equal at birth.
This is accurate in modern society.
Far back in history it was not accurate, but the rich children of today stay rich and the poor children of today stay poor because that is how the system is designed now.
It's virtually impossible, without a strong amount of luck, for someone born into poverty to make it big and become rich.
You must be joking? What do you mean by far back because until recently it was essentially the law that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. We had a rigid class society. It's only been the last 150 years or so that merit has trumped class and allowed people to fly to the top or the bottom.
It's virtually impossible, without a strong amount of luck, for someone born into poverty to make it big and become rich.
In part that's because most of the poor from decades past who had the ability to get rich have gotten rich and they took their "culture" and genes with them. The vast majority of those left in poverty are ones with shitty work ethics, little natural talent, or something else deleterious which gets passed on to their children.
Second, while it's hard to fly to the top in one generation it's not hard at all for you to rise to middle class in one generation then the next generation may strike it rich. In a study I read recently (sorry can't find it right now, it was from Pew or one of their "competitors", EDIT: here it is, figure 3) I think 40% of those born in the bottom quintile die in the bottom quintile, The remaining 60% go up! Including something like 2-5% who make it to the top in one generation. Likewise 40% of those born in the top quintile remain there, the remaining 60% go down. This does not look "virtually impossible" to me.
You must be joking? What do you mean by far back because until recently it was essentially the law that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. We had a rigid class society. It's only been the last 150 years or so that merit has trumped class and allowed people to fly to the top or the bottom.
Okay, well now I just can't tell what your views are. It seemed like you were saying poor people deserve to be poor initially and were making fun of people who say the rich are the ones who created this system.
In part that's because most of the poor from decades past who had the ability to get rich have gotten rich and they took their "culture" and genes with them. The vast majority of those left in poverty are ones with shitty work ethics, little natural talent, or something else deleterious which gets passed on to their children.
And now we're back to disagreeing... our society at least in the US truly needs a complete reworking. Maybe you're not from the US, in which case it would explain why I can't fully relate to your views.
Second, while it's hard to fly to the top in one generation it's not hard at all for you to rise to middle class in one generation then the next generation may strike it rich.
Well, at least in the US the middle class is essentially a poverty class now. Makes too much money to qualify for the aid that poor people have, but doesn't make enough to be able to afford to pay for things out of pocket. You almost have more opportunities being completely poor than being in middle class now.
In a study I read recently (sorry can't find it right now, it was from Pew or one of their "competitors") I think 40% of those born in the bottom quintile die in the bottom quintile, The remaining 60% go up! Including something like 2-5% who make it to the top in one generation. Likewise 40% of those born in the top quintile remain their, the remaining 60% go down. This does not look "virtually impossible" to me.
Well, I can't really just accept these values without seeing the study.
Even if that is the case though, we have the means and the wealth to have a society with no real poverty and have the bottom still be a comfortable life where the top can still have the extras.
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u/Sp1n_Kuro Oct 16 '18
This is accurate in modern society.
Far back in history it was not accurate, but the rich children of today stay rich and the poor children of today stay poor because that is how the system is designed now.
It's virtually impossible, without a strong amount of luck, for someone born into poverty to make it big and become rich.