[Conspiracy Guy]

Yes it is behavioral and the only way out is to climb your way out. Well intentioned do gooders spending other people's money have never done anything but exacerbate the problem.

[SMARTY]

I don't know what the answer is. When my grandparents came here they had nothing. They lived in an area which was not good but whatever they were able to get was maintained and treated like gold. Nothing was new but it was always in order and clean. Spotless. My grandmother had the same dishes and furniture for as long as I can remember, but it was always orderly and clean...everything. Her house smelled like soap. She always had a garden with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and beautiful flowers...oh, and the best peach and cherry trees. Having one square foot of dirt that was your own was like being a king...she had no idea that she lived in a bad area.

[Racehorse]

Yes it is behavioral and the only way out is to climb your way out. Well intentioned do gooders spending other people's money have never done anything but exacerbate the problem.

Even if we could stop dealing with it, we'd still be spending somebody's money to deal with the consequences.

The folks I'd like to hear from are the teachers and administrators who run Department of Defense schools.  Here in San Antonio, year after year, the school districts at Lackland and Randolph Air Force Bases consistently match or beat the richest school districts in the region.

Obviously, DOD cannot take over city school districts nor can they impose the same level of control and discipline over a city's residents as they rule over military people.  But the military schools are composed of people drawn from every imaginable background and circumstance.

By looking closely at these success stories, I suspect there might be something useful to be learned about how best to spend other people's money when dealing with various kinds of poverty.

[Capriole]

Yes, it's behavioral, but it's not racial.

1. Go to really poor communities in Appalachia and the South, and you'll see the real meaning of white trash. I'm speaking from experience here: my grandfather was from eastern Tennessee. The village he came from showed very ugly stereotype about hillbillies you can think of, garbage everywhere, and the same social problems you see in the inner city. Admittedly not as many drive-by shootings as in the city, but lots of drug use and meth labs aplenty.
2. A hundred years ago the same kind of squalor could be seen in the Irish and Italian slums as you see in today's ghetto, less the drugs. Same murders, illegitimacy, drinking, filth, kids gone wild, etc.
3. Through some neighbors I've gotten to know recent immigrants from Liberia. Their houses and yards are flawlessly clean, their kids beautifully dressed and well-mannered, everyone doing well in school and at work, very upwardly mobile.
4. And while we don't hear much about it, there is a huge and growing black middle class and upper-middle class buying big houses and driving Mercedeses. Some of the suburbs of Washington DC are full of $700,000 houses occupied by successful blacks whose kids ride in horse shows. No trash in their yards, believe me.

[BenLurkin]

Well intentioned do gooders spending other people's money have never done anything but exacerbate the problem.

Well said.