Poverty - a chicken-or-egg-first situation
Courtesy of an article at Come And Make It, I came across this video. I found it interesting and informative; and, based on many years working in "the projects" from time to time, and volunteering at a homeless shelter, and working with prison inmates who pleaded poverty as an excuse for their crimes, I think it does a reasonable job at exposing why inner-city or "ghetto" poverty is a real issue.
Recommended viewing.
Click to viewThere's a lot more to poverty, of course, and much more that can be said. However, this video does a pretty good job of examining poverty in the context of the United States, and in particular of our cities. It doesn't give enough attention, IMHO, to the "poverty industry" of NGO's, consultants, therapists and others who make a good living out of "managing" or "addressing" the causes, effects and reality of poverty, without ever doing anything to resolve the issues they identify - because that would cut off their income, and nobody (at least, from their perspective) wants that.
How far can one go in helping the poor without making them so dependent on that help that they lose all incentive, all desire, to get out of poverty? How much can one give people without them coming to expect that everything in life is a "gimme", and nothing is "I've got to work to earn this"?
*Sigh*
Peter
http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/02/poverty-chicken-or-egg-first-situation.html