Recently I listened to a story produced by the Washington Post called “Broke Again” which focused on poverty and why poor people have a hard time getting out of poverty.
Although I suspect that the reporter wanted to portray the poverty of the featured couple as a systemic failure, I saw it mostly as a personal failure, or self inflicted poverty. A stream of bad decisions that undoubtedly lead to extreme poverty with no easy way out.
Here is the gist of the story:
- A low-wage-earning couple gets together. She is the high earner because she makes $15/h.
- They decide to have a baby. Fair.
- Because child care is expensive, they decide that he would be a stay at home dad.
- At this point, on a $15/h job, she is providing for the baby and for her partner.
- For whatever reason I don’t understand, they decide to have a second baby. Already in a difficult financial situation, I don’t understand how having a second baby was a good idea.
- By accident, or neglect they have a third baby. He’s still not working.
- By accident, or neglect, they have a fourth baby. C’mon, WTF? haven’t they ever heard of condoms?
- Now this woman, with her $15/h salary, she is feeding four babies and a boyfriend. How does that make sense?
- How come the boyfriend could not get a part time job on the weekends or the afternoons? Even middle class families and rich families do that. Where do you draw the line?
Of course, now they live paycheck to paycheck, with debt accumulating month after month.
How is this couple ever going to accumulate wealth? Impossible. Who is going to rent them an apartment? How are those kids going to compete with other kids with more resources?
It’s easy to say that the system is rigged, and that poor people have less opportunity. And most of that is true. But where does one draw the line? At what point are people victims of systemic poverty and at what point do they become victims of their own lack of judgment?
Of course, this couple can only survive with the help of the government. But somehow, their lack of self-awareness feels like an abuse of the system.
An alternative scenario
This couple was nor ready to have the first baby, but fair enough, procreation is an instinct that many of us feel that we have to fulfill and they have the right to have a baby even if they are struggling financially.
Having the second baby was a conscious decision. This decision didn’t make sense. They can clearly see that raising and child and an sustaining a boyfriend on a $15/h job is already difficult, why would they want to have a second baby if they don’t have the resources? Why is he no looking for a part time job to build some savings? This is not a failure of the system. This is bad decision making.
The third baby, by accident, was not really an accident, it was an irresponsibility. By this time, the couple should know about family planning.
Having the fourth baby, blows my mind. This is a complete failure of responsibility and rational.
The other side of income inequality
Everyone likes to point fingers at Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and the ultimate culprits of income inequality. But no one looks at the other side, the side where people make irresponsible decisions of having four babies and feeding 5 people on a $15/h paycheck.
If this couple had one baby, two at the most, and both of them contributed to the family wealth, the kids would have a better education, and the couple would not be dependent of government handouts.
This couple (and millions of similar cases) is as responsible for the income inequality in North America than all the billionaires put together.
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