The starting point of all these discussions is that everyone should naturally have economic equity. And, if they don’t, evil forces must be at work that cause the inequity.
I am not saying that people don’t get exploited; it happens all the time. However, many of the poor people I know are poor because of really bad decisions they made along the way. Most of it comes down to choosing what seems best in the short term at the expense of the long term. If you have some discipline and can think proactively, that is more than half the battle.
You nailed it.
That was the concept discussed by Edward Banfield in an old book “The Unheavenly City”.
He argued that the biggest difference between rich people and poor people was time horizons.
The wealthy think about what actions they can take to make life better for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The poor think about getting drugs or sex in the next five minutes.
Hear hear!
The unique experiment of the USA is the ability to move up and down the social economic ladder.
That is what has made us strong.
equality of opportunity