[anton]

Poverty is mostly the result of sin. People do bad things and bad things happen to them. Not from Karma, but from the police, their family members, co-workers, and bystanders. If you smoke crack someone will shoot you for it or the money. If you sell pot, you might go to jail. If you slap the old lady around, you get a handcuff. Nothing like drug addiction, a bullet in the chest, or a police record to create poverty. And, not just in the person with the handcuff on, but their family members as well.

Sure there is bad luck. But that is not what causes the ghetto poverty in the US. It is caused by sin.

[Mr Rogers]

Poverty in many places is due to bad economic systems of government, or to a society where access to education or advancement is denied. My grandparents were dirt poor during the depression. One grandfather was lazy, but the other was not. Both grandmothers were hard workers. All the kids learned to work hard. The lazy grandfather also drank, but discretely - his kids usually didn’t figure it out until in their teens.

I’ve never met anyone who knew my grandparents on my Dad’s side who didn’t like and admire them. Every one of their kids grew up successful, and all of them adored their parents. But they were poor, and their Dad struggled to find work during the Great Depression. After one of my uncles died, the oldest brother felt free from his promise of silence and told the younger kids that the now-dead brother sent most of what he made during the depression years home to support his siblings getting an education. Only the parents and oldest brother knew of his sacrifice, and they all had promised not to tell.

A lot of modern poor are poor due to sin, but I’ve also hired guy to do work around my place who worked darn hard for minimal pay. They just didn’t have the skills to make more money. They are not bad guys, just guys who lack skills that will allow them to make more.