Reply to Income of $22,000 a year is considered the poverty line for a family of four- WTH?

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Reply to "Income of $22,000 a year is considered the poverty line for a family of four- WTH? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]poverty is a difficult thing to understand and a horrible cycle to break.  but really, many are poor by choice.  what are the BIGGEST statistical factors in being poor?  not graduating from high school.  kids out of marriage.  those are choices.
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That's true for some, but not for all.  When working in the local soup kitchen, I've met a few people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There are some who didn't graduate high school because they really aren't the brightest people.  I knew someone who failed HS and failed the GED twice (total three times).  He gave up and just started working minimum wage type jobs.  He often worked two or three jobs because he frequently could not get enough hours to work full-time at one job.  At one point, he was working three part-time jobs as a mechanics assistant and he spent a lot of time walking around town (he couldn't afford a car and this was the suburbs, so the bus wasn't convenient for when he had to get places).  Because he was part-time and unskilled labor, he was usually the first one to get hours cut when they needed to cut back.  I could tell when he was working more, he would come to the soup kitchen less.  When he was working more,  he could afford food more easily.  But when he was short of cash, he would pay the rent and then come to the soup kitchen to eat.

Your assertion that not graduating from HS is the typical thoughts for many of the "haves". [b] But not all of the "have nots" are that bright and finishing high school may be very difficult for them.[/b][/quote]

This simply not true. There is no correlation, really. Think about it. If you are not that bright or have a severe learning disability and you are from a rich backround you can be protected from poverty. If you have these issues and you are born into poverty, you will slide further down. Children born into poverty are no more likely to be [b]not so bright. [/b]MY GOD! The people that you are encountering at the soup kitchen may be unsophisticated and have huge cultural blind spots on many issues, but they aren't "dumber" than rich people...shaking my head and walking away now... 
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