Do you think poverty in America happens because of bad choices?

Question

people make or is it just plain bad luck.

Answer 1

yes and no

america has alot of opportunities to make money...and in the end we all have responsibility for our lives. I partly blame the individual in poverty

but there are many systematic reasons for poverty as well.
For example why are there homeless people who die in the freezing cold in the winter? Alot of times homeless shelter fill up to capacity
Do you know how many empty office buildings there are, which have heating 24 hrs?

Do you know how many homeless are veterans, who are traumatized by there experiences in service? For example this pointless war right now.

That's an example where u can clearly blame the gov't for poverty.

Answer 2

There are a lot of different reasons. Bad luck is a factors, but not the ultimate reason.

Some people are lazy. I know a person whose life ambition is to buy a tiny house and go fishing as often as possible. He doesn't care about big dreams or money. A low paying job is all he needs to pay a couple bills and buy food.

Another reason is post tramatic stress. Women who get raped, and people who see violence can't always handle life. In college one of the required readings was a one page description of a homeless woman a college student once interviewed. She was raped a few years back. After the rape she got treatment for post tramatic stress disorder. During this period of treatment noone was making money for her or paying her bills. She was a sucessful grade school teacher. She lost that job and couldn't get another due partly to the copetition and partly to her special needs for treatment. She lost her apartment, and all of her belongings where seized to pay her bills. So she decided to move to a warm city and live on the streets.

Another reason is that there are only so many jobs avaliable. This is the curse of third world nations. Because there are no jobs to be had, poor people can't get jobs to stop being poor. In the US it is little different. There are limited jobs and a small percentage of the population will always have trouble getting one. We have been lucky so far on how small that percentage is.

On the last paragraph I do worry. The Iraq war caused our government to create over a quater million jobs. If the Iraq war ever ends, those jobs end, and this nation's economy will go into recession very quickly. We don't have a sustainable economy.

Answer 3

I think some of it is bad luck. My husband got hurt at work and we went from being upper middle class to being able to get the max in state funds, welfare, whatever you want to call it. I think that at some point most people will face poverty but with the proper incentive that most (not all) can get above that level again. We personally have just gotten off welfare, it's taken a year of hard work, but it can happen. Bad choices could be young pregnancy, drug use, inability to get a job due to previous criminal history, etc... but some is plain bad luck.

Answer 4

No it's not all about bad choices. Some people don't have the resources others do to get ahead. My husband, for instance, went back to school (in his 40s) and was under a Pell Grant. He was getting straight As - very intelligent person -- all of a sudden, half way through his Pell Grant was cancelled. Guess what happened? THE VERY NEXT DAY GEORGE BUSH WAS ON TV SAYING "I DID NOT CUT THE PELL GRANT PROGRAM" ---- he's a liar. We are not poverty level but we've had a lot of bad bad things happen to us that we did not chose and they hurt us in a real bad way. I even worked in the legal field for over 20 years -- you aren't hearing this from an unintelligent person.

Answer 5

I am 51 years Old and I live In the state of Conneticut and there are so few jobs and the price of homes are of the wall(250,000-plus)
This state has many Imagrinants that work for so little money and get all sorts of benefits that I cant have and we have had to take jobs that they dont have to take.
My health Is bad and there Is nothing I can do.

The jobs go overseas and the benefits go to the people from other countrys It Is a terrible time to be American

Answer 6

It's a combination of bad government and greedy Americans. Every time Bush says tax cut the whole country jumps for joy...

But you dumb ***** don't realize that programs that help the homeless and the hungry COST MONEY.

See, greedy americans don't give a *****, they'd rather save 40$ on taxes then have that money go towards better education, or better hospitals, etc.

But have YOU, the dumb *****, thought about the consequences of your actions? By not supporting leaders who are progressive and who don't pursue programs that help people in need, you endanger YOURSELF and those around you...

Think about it. Lets say you pay a lot of taxes that pay for programs the help poor people. The next time you're walking down a street in LA or New York, maybe the guy who was gonna rob you because he was hungry and desperate, doesn't rob you, because the government has provided a home and food for him and his family.

Just think about the consequences of your actions you dumb *****. I'm American by the way, and as soon as possible I'm dumping this shithole...

Answer 7

There are many reasons for poverty. One could be a single mother who dropped out of school .
Another could be someone who has a menial labor job with low pay and no benefits.
Many times Uncle Sam makes cut in the budget and the ones it affects most are the folks at the bottom who have limited skills .

Answer 8

The main cause of poverty is the lack of education. Bad choices too are a great factor. Education in America is in great crisis. In math we are ranked country number 24. Our education system hasn't been upgraded for decades. Kids drop out, they don't care because they lack motivation, schools are in deplorable conditions. The richest country in the world has deficiency in its education system, this is causing more and more poverty in the U.S.
With good education it is harder to make bad choices.

Answer 9

Hi,
I think it's bad choices, peer pressure, living the wrong way, and being in the wrong crowd. All these things lead to a negative outlook on life and causes people to feel negative about themselves which can bring their lifestyle to a poverty level.
So stay in school, behave yourself, and obey the law and read the Bible. All will benefit from these greatly.

Answer 10

There is no such thing as bad luck (cause and effect). And, some are bad chooses on the part of the people who are in poverty, AND alot is because of our Government.