Poverty is relative and will probably never be eliminated. The impoverished of today are better off than 200 years ago. The best way to "defeat" poverty is just to raise the standard of living across the table through better technology. Education is the surest way to spur the growth of better technology.

Scarcity? what exactly is scarce in America. I would say yes in countries with real poverty this is true, but I think this thread is about America.

A add-on question, Is there true poverty in America?

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Sadly I agree with this, but you could also put it in broader terms of bad decisions. Education is generally key, and I believe this ties in heavily with your point. Those who are less educated and/or reckless are much more likely to "fight the system" or do something stupid like have a kid early on in their life. Without an education to really analyze their life or the decisions they make, they put the blame on others. I see this in the way many people act towards those who have more than them.

Well poverty in this country is by no means terrible. It generally means a place to live, enough food, and transportation. The biggest problem I have with this country is that many people think by virtue of living here that they should be entitled to fancy cars, a big house, an iPhone, etc.

I would agree that the major cause is bad decisions. I can draw from my own life experiences.
Whenever I would come to a fork in the road I would always take the wrong fork. Most of it was just plain old bad luck, but wherever you go there you are. I had no one to blame but myself. I finally got lucky and now
I 'm back on track. Ironically it took bad luck for someone else for me to get a break. The vice principle that hired me got shafted on a promotion.

IMO the poverty line is waaay too low. Govt. expects the poor to find bargains for everything at the store and not drive a car. How the hell can you get to work in some areas w/o a car? Baffling?

You reach a state of despair and you just stop trying....

Why do people equate education to success??

Education is a tool and there are many tools that we have to achieve success in America... The thing I find that hold MOST people back is their "attitude"....

You can have a hard worker with a bad attitude and they will continue to make a living but probably not make it very far from the poverty line....

You can be very ambitious and work hard but have a bad attitude and you are not going to get very far either.

We need to instill in our children a Good healthy attitude.... Rock solid work ethic.... and to be very ambitious (shoot for the stars).... All the other things will come to them as they need it >> Such as eduction and social contacts and all the other things we see successful people using to reach the high levels of our society.

"Poverty" itself is a moving target in America >> Poverty is defined the way politicians want to at the time to make a point or sell a bill or get a vote.... What do people living it poverty have?? Do they have a place to live?? Do they go hungry?? Do they own a TV or Computer?? Cell Phone?? MP3/CD player? DVD player? Access to medical care?? Access to transportation?? What I mean is what we call poverty >> Some in the world call "livin large" >> Take Obama's Brother for instance.... He lives in a hut in Africa and earns $12 a year... That breaks down to $1 a month(to make the math simple) Do you know of anyone that live in those conditions?

I'll also agree that education can help a lot since it tends to also addresses the having kids thing.

Though it's a cultural problem in America as much as a funding one most places.

possibly your comment was not directed at my posts. however, if it was, then you should note education was not offered as a synonym for success but as the antidote to poverty
my observation is that it is rare to find impoverished educated people. it would then seem to indicate that as we better educate our educatable population, we might diminish the degree of poverty within our nation's culture
as was noted above, Finland has enjoyed considerable success using that economic development strategy

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By the way when you say educated do you mean high school or college?

By the way when you say educated do you mean high school or college?

Because there are plenty of poverty level people who did graduate high school. And by the time you're going through college generally things are already going pretty well.

I think the key turns often as not show up during high school. Though I suppose an accidental pregenancy can happen anytime.