I've gotten a lot of hell for saying this but the poor don't rise up because the floor in the United States is typically not starvation. Social services are not to help the poor, they are there to make sure the floor in the US is high enough that the poor don't rise up against everyone else.
I think the poor don't rise up because they don't have time. When they aren't working/taking care of children they are probably relaxing. Ironically, poor people value their leisure time much more than rich people I would argue.
>>Ironically, poor people value their leisure time much more than rich people I would argue.
That's because people tend to value things that are scarce and hard to get. Leisure time is something rich people have in abundance, since the vast majority of their wealth comes from land, properties and stocks, and they don't really have to work to maintain any of it (other people do it for them).
Whereas if you're poor and are working three different jobs to make ends meet, then you are going to appreciate those 2 hours on Sunday that you get to spend with your family.
Agreed. I would also add to your analysis by talking more about what I have witnessed firsthand hanging out places like development projects with subsidized rent.
I have found that if you are a low income worker, you likely don't have the time/energy to build skills necessary for getting a "real" job.
Furthermore, many low income jobs are during evening hours/don't let you interact with people that you could leverage to get a real job. As a result of this everybody you know and are friends with work low income jobs, leaving little hope for personal networking into a higher-paying "real" job.
Considering all of this, I have witnessed many situations in which people are dishwashers working just enough hours to qualify for subsidized housing/foodstamps/other gov cash. These people oftentimes smoke pot/hang out all the time and their life is actually pretty nice, save fancy vacations and other frivolous luxuries.
I am not saying this is good or bad, but I just wanted to shed light on the fact that there are many poor people with plenty of highly-valued leisure time. These people have no intention of getting a higher paying job because it is much easier having 15k of w2 income washing dishes 30 hours a week with some cash-labor work on the side + gov benefits.
MANY of these "poor" people bring in 1-2k/month selling pot and other things on the side as well. It is EXTREMELY common.
Kind of rambling but I find "poor" people economics very interesting.
