[devonkim]

The problem with being poor is that it is extremely taxing on both your time, your ability to make rational decisions, and even IQ. Being poor is, in effect, a disability that keeps one from being able to make it out of that situation itself. Depression and many other mental conditions are treated similarly in American society where we oftentimes point to people that are successful with depression and ignore the sheer massive weight that depression by and large keeps most of its sufferers from achieving success.

The whole individual agency and moral superiority complex of American culture is more and more sickening to me as I grow older and see how most people simply with a rational set of actions and existing opportunities better off not pursuing what used to be the better options due to structural problems. Endless optimism only works so far for attitudes that help with success until you’re truly at a rock bottom point and nobody wants to be near someone that’s failed so much out of social niceties alone.

[ralusek]

It wasn't my point to suggest that poverty is not a difficult position to be in, my point was to suggest that there is a serious problem with shrugging off the role of personal responsibility. I am very aware of what it means to be broke, you often don't even know where to begin. I'm not saying that they're poor because their situation at birth was necessarily fair, I'm not saying that nobody should change anything to help remedy their situation. What I am saying that in this country, at this time, the reality is that if 40% of the country does not have $400 saved for an emergency, given all of the available social services, there is a serious problem of priority and character.

There are obvious exceptions for individuals suffering from unavoidable medical circumstances and the like, and I am fully willing to criticize our existing healthcare system's failings in providing suitable mitigation against such circumstances. But we're talking about 40% of the country.