[NO-SPAM] Income Inequality

[Belle Hibiki]

Income inequality it totes not a thing. This is why the U.S. has a vibrant and growing middle class, and factory workers in China make over $100k a year.

In all seriousness, saying that everyone has a choice about whether to be poor is, in my opinion, missing the point. Breaking out of the cycle of poverty is possible, but usually involves working multiple jobs, while at the same time investing in an education (online/community colleges filling up the remaining hours for most simply because they don't have TIME to go to campuses, though they're significantly less prestigious than even state universities), while trying to juggle everything else. It requires a huge investment of time, money, and dedication. And while it may be easy for someone more privileged to dismiss these concerns because they once saw Will Smith in Pursuit of Happiness, the reality is that keeping up that effort for the many years it takes is extremely difficult. And this assumes that Life doesn't come along to knock you off the boat. Someone in your family gets sick and has to stay in the hospital for a while? Even with insurance, you're fucked.

In short, people that start off poor are likely to remain poor because of a lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of equitability, and lack of hope. The gulf between poverty and prosperity is a large, treacherous sea, and while it may be theoretically possible, with proper preparation and persistence, to cross it in a rowboat, the people that can afford to fly over it in jets are much more likely to succeed.