It's not a bad deal to be poor in America. Government benefits are almost endless, not to mention private charity. Everybody will try to give you money and stuff. American "poor" don't have to work, have big TVs, cars, and air-conditioning, EBT cards, food stamps, and subsidized housing. Good for them.
If feeling poor is appealing, there is a sure-fire way to accomplish that. Be single, have kids, and don't work. Don't get any religious sustenance, and don't learn how to do anything useful. Add a little substance abuse or jail tattoos to that or some body piercings, for maximum effect, and make sure you have no positive social network. In other words, don't build your life in a rational, civilized manner.
Even Mead gets it: Obama Flubs Inequality Message
Obama deliberately confuses effects with causes. That is not helpful to anybody.
Another: The greatest elevator of people from lower class to middle class life is an intact household.
As we posted this morning, it takes over $100,000 household income to be middle class in America today.
And as Mead said a while ago, A Consensus Is Forming on Marriage
Well, there is another way. What's the "poorest" village in America? Kiryas Joel. They are all on welfare. Happy. I believe many of them work off the books, too.
