Blog #8: Underclass

People living in poverty are greatly restricted in their social mobility. Its much harder for someone in the lower class to move up, than from someone in the middle class. The education is worse and their social network to jobs is non existent. In order to remedy these problems, people want more government intervention. But, perhaps it is government intervention itself which keeps the poor restricted. America spends the most money on education in the industrialized world, yet, continues to fall behind on education itself. But, in America if we look at the few county’s that have started a voucher programs for the poor, those kids in poverty with the vouchers get considerably better education. The reason for this is that the government doesn’t choose where you go to school, rather the people choose and the people know whats best for themselves. Another restriction the government places on social mobility, is minimum wage. By enforcing minimum wage the government pushes out jobs that would go to the young people in poor families. These jobs can give poor people work experience, work ethic, and the value of budgeting their money. In present day America, thanks to the government we have what is known as Crony Capitalism. If we had a pure capitalistic society it wouldn’t matter what your social background is, or what jobs your parents have, rather success is only dependent upon yourself, your work ethic, and your innovations. In capitalist society if you produce what people want you will be successful. In Drawing Blood: Being Poor in America, the author laments about how growing up in the lower class hindered his ability to know about these financial issues. As I have shown in a capitalist society this wouldn’t have been a problem for the lower class. Its time for the people to stand up for whats right, and give the poor an opportunity to be successful as well.