Do you actually believe people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps to escape poverty...

Do you actually believe people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps to escape poverty? Wouldn't there be less poor people if that were true?

yes. my dad came to this country with nothing. gf broke up with him in the LAX terminal once he got here. So he was completely poor and alone in a brand new country. After a lot of hard work he is now well off and was able to give his kids everything he never had.

Thanks Dad.

The bus runs everyday, you can pull yourself out of poverty if you work towards it. It isn't even that hard, it just takes commitment.

Yes. Just remember that not being poor != bing rich

Obviously, people of non african genetics immigrate to the us all the time and succeed here.

>Wouldn't there be less poor people if that were true?
No, because let's be honest, most people are lazy. With intelligence and hard work you can go from pretty much nothing to a middle class lifestyle at least, but most people simply don't have the willpower to get that. Most people are mediocre.

Most poor people are too dumb to be eligible for better jobs. Typically poor people have poor parents, so their parents are dumb too. Dumbness is genetic so basically they're fucked from birth. It's their destiny to work poor people jobs. Maybe in the next life they'll rank up spiritually and be born rich or smart enough to get rich.

No, poor people are needed to do all the shitty jobs. The system feeds on the poor to fulfill it needs. Once machines replace poor people you will see hoards of poor people fighting for food, raping and pillaging. Thats why there pushing the universal income meme, the sistem know that if they control the food that "they" will control everything.

You're missing the point of the question taco

Yep. I was poor as fuck growing up. Had to eat leftovers from my criminal father's part time fast food job to survive, and we lived in a car for about 6 weeks while trying to find a trailer to live in.

I worked hard and played the game, and now I own 94 acres and a 3,500 sqft house close to a very desirable major city, and make well over 6 figures.

If you just let the world shit on you and believe the lies that you can't be anything without socialism, or if you are dumb as shit, you probably won't make it very far. But if you stop being a leech on society and find ways to contribute, you will succeed. Also don't do stupid shit like marijuanas or alcohols, or getting a girl pragnent at 18. In other words, don't be a degenerate.

Of couse they can, but not literally everyone can. In order for rich people to exist there must be poor people. Maybe 1 out of 10 people can escape poverty but the other 9 are fucked

Yes, I do expect people to do that.
Poverty is the norm all throughout history, wealth and comfort amongst vast swathes of people is a newer phenomena. Even America's poor have things such as smartphones, television, and food. That isn't "poverty" when comparing to the rest of history.

Anyway, my mother is a prime example of what hard work can do for you in America. She was raised in various foster homes throughout Kentucky and didn't do very well in school either. At one point, when she was a younger teenager and back home with her mom and stepfather, they were literally dirt floor poor and didn't have running water. They had to use an outhouse. A fucking outhouse. She had her first child at 17, another at 18, and I came along when she was 21. She had already been divorced, never married my father, and ended up in an abusive marriage with an Army Gulf War 1.0 vet. Now, while she was pregnant with me, she took it upon herself to go to Beauty School and graduated right before I was born. She made her way working at various salons, eventually owning one of her own. She now makes about $80-90k per year depending on how busy she stays throughout the year and how busy the people she has working at her shop stay.

Mind you, her side of the family was, and still is, riddled with drug use. This is in rural central Kentucky. I've had 2 uncles overdose and die, and another died of Hep C, probably from using dirty needles. Mom never got into any of that shit despite her conditions and what her family was doing, and she made it. She had some piss poor conditions growing up and made poor family planning decisions, but she dug in and made it because she wanted to and wanted her kids to have a better life growing up.
My older brothers are 27 and 26, both of which have lost good jobs and have multiple arrests due to drugs and laziness. My wife and I are doing great, mostly because we haven't made shitty decisions with our life like the rest of the family.

No you're just ignoring reality, the taco speaks truth

OP go to google maps and look at the street views of Big Clifty, Sumit, and Eastview Kentucky. Lots of drugs and poverty. That's what my mother escaped from and why she isn't poor as fuck today.

Yes, I've seen it done. Many times. And I've done it myself.

OP has obviously not seen Slumdog Millionaire

Props to you and especially to your mother.

My mother also grew up poor, rural, and abused by my batshit grandparents. Regardless, she was the only sibling besides two older brothers to go to college. She paid for it herself with her parents' disapproving (this was before 3rd wave feminism). She worked her way up from the shittiest roach-infested hospitals of Philadelphia to becoming a high-ranking manager of a pharmaceutical company with no help at all. By the time she had us kids, she was the sole source of income in our family and we were still more than comfortable. She was able to put 3 kids through expensive education plus pay for my dad's medical issues and my mental illness treatment (that I probably got from her side of the family kek). I can't help but cringe a little bit when people think my nuclear family is evil for having money. The thing is, my mother quite literally earned everything we have and our father and we children have been responsible enough not to shit on the opportunities she gave us.

Sorry for the rant, but she's my personal hero and probably the only reason I believe I can make it in this world. The things she gave us deserve respect, not petty resentment. So, fuck it, if the bootstraps are there-- pull em.

I think Pablo is trying to say that having a permanent working class of slaves is too beneficial for the government/corporations to encourage them otherwise. They do like the poor and desperate to stay poor and desperate.

How does one literally pull themselves up by bootstraps? The fuck is a bootstrap?

Unless you have a particularly high IQ it's impossible to leave poverty

My mom is my hero too, no worries.
I get annoyed when people my age (24) shit on others and complain about how it's impossible to make a living. I'm sure there are a myriad of reasons why they aren't making it very well (work ethic, wants the newest smartphone, new car, etc) but it can be done. I never noticed that we were struggling somewhat growing up, but that was mostly when my mom was single and having to put three kids in daycare, which is extremely expensive.
I will say, though, my stepdad has been a big positive influence for all of us. I met him when I was 7 and he started in similar conditions, though not nearly as bad. He's a big wig at a manufacturing plant in our town now – maybe 4th from the very top of the company nationwide, and he worked his way from the very bottom there.
Kudos to you and your family, user.

It's just a saying user

Most African immigrants are successful in America

Father side grandpa was a villa boy in a ghetto, while grandma's family were fund caretaker peasants who were so poor, their house was made out of adobe with plain soil (dirt) flooring.

Mom's family were irish potato farmers who came to Chile without even knowing the basics of spanish.

Father side grandparents became architects from one of our elite universities, my dad is an EE from the same university, my brother is a metals engineer, and I am also an EE from our country's best engineering school.

My mom was in med school, but decided to drop out to take care of my bro and I.

tl;dr: Yes, you can escape poverty

People are lazy, that's why they fail.

If people were honest with themselves, the world would be a better place, but instead, keep making excuses like always.

You must mean crushing poverty like in 3rd world.

I grew up in """poverty""" in the US and literally all I had to do was get a job and I was middle class.

>literally all I had to do was get a job and I was middle class

enjoying your white privilege i see

Yes, I'm a homeless hobo, I hack all day and keep the struggle alive you demoralizing commie faggot, it's only you that will die poor and nobody will give a shit, I hope you will be the one I spit on when I'm after a night out at a yacht club, it has happened before and it will happen again