Question for both Conservatives and Liberals.?

Question

In your opinion, what percentage of the poor in the U.S. are poor because of a lack of opportunity?

Answer 1

Some people have more opportunites that are more readily available to them. Others have to seek out and make their own opportunities. It all boils down to personal choices. Help is available to the poor. 0%.

Answer 2

I know that at least 70 % of poor are so because of lack of opportunity. I know this because I have been to the Michigan works offices, and I have been searching for a teaching position since graduation back in 2001- I live in Michigan, and I am one of thousands who cannot leave the state (because of their spouse's job), therefore must have only one income/ or a substantially lower paying job than their qualifications grant. I have family that have been in the work forces for 20 plus years and have had to find new jobs because they've been cut- and had a very difficult time finding and getting that job because of their age. Too many people in this country have the predetermined idea that someone poor is a lazy s.o.b. on welfare and not doin anything to fix that. Hopefully when the economy in this state turns around, then we'll have some jobs to hand out. lets hope that our budget crisis doesn't cost us more jobs, though!

Answer 3

There is a man who walks around our end of the city with all he owns. He has the clothes he wears and a blanket. He is tattooed from the top of his skull to his toes. His brain was fried during the Vietnam war. He made some very lousy decisions in life. Do you think he enjoys how he lives? He now regrets those decisions but realizes that his brain is too fried to be useful to any business enterprise. He is a human being and we should show him kindness and mercy as Jesus taught us. From what I hear and see from the conservatives is that he should just curl up and die somewhere. Opportunity is there but he is not up to the opportunity today because of decisions he made in his past. Is he rare? No, I don't think so. Talk to people who roam the streets of any big city in America and you may find similar stories. There are other stories too but I don't have the time or space to go into them.

Answer 4

Not all of them, but most. I'd say that about 40% are poor because of lack of opportunity. Nobody enjoys being poor. If they were given a chance to work they would.

Answer 5

I don't know about percentage, but if you are poor it is harder to pull yourself out of that situation. I'm not saying it is impossible, it's certainly not. Just one example is the cost of college.
With college being as expensive as it is and many people not able to afford to repay the loans they recieve and scholarships being few and far between I think it's difficult for many people to pull themselves up. You also have to work when going to school to pay for housing and books, loans do not cover it all. Minimum wage jobs just don't cut it when you live in an area where it is well below the living wage.

I know I have a hard time paying for college, and it will be very difficult paying back my loans. I am lucky, I have a husband that does rather well and we are able to live comfortalby while I finish my education. I can't imagine what I would do if I didn't have him...and yes, I work full time also.

Answer 6

Even in the land of opportunity, there will always the poor and less fortunate. The rest of us will always be responsible for these people who either can't lift themselves out of poverty or land in poverty because of bad life choices.
Everyone has a life lesson to learn while on this earth. For some, that life lesson is learned in the grip of poverty. These people, regardless of stature, are our brothers and sisters. Perhaps they will never amount to anything in life. Perhaps no one will mourn their passing.
We are a society that cares enough to ease the suffering of even a stray dog or cat. We should show the same compassion for our stray brothers and sisters.

Answer 7

Being neither one nor the other, but having never in my life lived above the poverty level, I can honestly say that the majority of the poor people in this country are there because of either a lack of opportunity or because of the strings placed on those available that make them virtually useless. For example, when I was younger, my grandmother gave me a fifty dollar savings bond which my mother kept for me. When the oil field crashed in the mid eighties, my mother was out of work for nearly six months because there was nothing to be found. Because of my savings bond, however, we were disqualified from getting food stamps. Legal loopholes have been set in place by those in power on both sides of the political fence to ensure that not only will the lower classes remain lower class, but the gap between middle and upper class is growing wider and wider.

Answer 8

I would say that roughly half of the poor are that way due to their own responsibility (or lack of). I would say the other half encountered hardships, lack of opportunity, bad luck, and/or oppression which resulted in their class situation. Obviously there are different degrees of each half. I would then say roughly half of each half would be able to genuinely improve and give back if given the proper opportunity and support. I think I have just confused myself, but you get the idea.

Answer 9

Read Ruby K. Payne excellent study which compares the three-class society in American education, and why lower incomed families are deprived of resources that are so prevalent in upper-incomed families. It's what she calls "Generational Poverty". I believe there's a large percentage of poor in the U.S. who lack the opportunities available to those of us in from upper or middle-class families. -RKO- 06/05/07

Answer 10

I think "lack of opportunity" is the effect of other issues; drugs and alcohol, physical and mental illness and geography. If you take all of these in account, this is the cause of poverty.