Born Poor, Stay Poor

As people move around the nation, housing prices keep going up. What’s that going to do to your house payment? All across the country, people aren’t able to afford even to live. As we look at the homeless trends over the past couple of decades, it’s easy to see that the homeless rates are continuing to rise. And it’s fair to say that a lot of those homeless folks started out without much in the first place. Why?

Because in the land of milk and honey, we punish impoverished people. Are you poor? Then your children are going to an underfunded school (most likely). Why is your school underfunded? Because of the way school districts work. Sure, it makes sense on paper. People who use a school should pay for it. But this incurs a penalty against every poor person in the country, and against their children, who have done little more than being born poor. Is this the way we want to be?

Education can lift you up, sure. But who can afford college? And do you know how little those grant programs actually help? It’s wild that in this country, the richest in the world, we stack up blockades in front of people the moment they’re born to prevent them from reaching their potential.

It’s not intentional, granted. And a lot of it makes sense on paper. But it’s naive to believe that the way things are on paper is the way they are in actuality, and the actual story is that if you're born poor, you stay poor. Heck, if you’re born rich, you still have a better chance of ending up poor than matching your parents’ wealth.

We. Must. Do. Better.