I am sick of this whole notion that poor people cannot pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This notion that "poverty taxes the brain" is utter nonsense. Peoples brains are generally not taxed by being poor, their brains are lazy and their attitudes are bad, that is why they are poor to begin with.
I take personal interest and issue with comments surrounding this since I lived it. I have personally experienced, watched and read detailed stories of so many living in America who have done just this - Pulled themselves up out of poverty.
My personal experience (and those close to me as well) with having almost nothing was this: You have a lot less to worry about (literally). You don't own much, you have a lot of time to think and research how best you should improve your life. You have less distractions and it is easier to focus on your goals and ambitions. If you have a simple budget (takes hardly any time to make one when you are poor) you don't have to even think about "will I have enough money to make rent this month". This whole notion of poverty taxing the brain is yet another "excuse" for the poor disadvantaged soul living in poverty.
It comes down to this, if someone works hard and makes good choices (either on their own accord or by following wise advice), they are absolutely going to escape the poverty they may have been born into or ended up in by some circumstance.
Let me give you a little example of how things have changed in the last couple of hundred years. Do you think that early settlers brains were "taxed" so hard that they could not work hard? That they could not make good choices? They had to work hard just to eat, just to feed their families (if they had them). If they made one bad choice or made one mistake, they could have lost their herd or crop. This could mean their very lives. They may never have been able to escape barely surviving back then, but times are much different today. Take that level of work ethic and wise/conscientious decision making and put it into the average poverty stricken youth today and do you think would happen?
Your family's lack of money should mean almost nothing today, if anything - it should be extra motivation to work hard and improve you and your family's lives. Is there a reason that a minority youth in the worst and poorest inner city project cannot go to school, pay attention in class, do their homework and achieve at least a "C" average? Well with that average, they will be accepted to any state college. If they are poor, there is a ton of financial aid (free money) available. If necessary - get a student loan (this is your ticket out of poverty here, it is worth it). This is the escape out of the projects that almost everyone can do. It will not cost you a single penny of your own money until you finish college. Even then you can take an online film study (or similar) class at a local community college ($50) every semester and put off paying back your student loan almost indefinitely.
we see case after case of middle or upper class people lose everything and climb back up out of poverty, immigrant after immigrant (or refugee) come to America with nothing to their name and even not be fluent in English in many cases, yet climb out of poverty, minorities from the poorest and most violent inner-city projects climb out of poverty, yet I hear again and again how and why people cannot do it on their own. Well people do. What makes these people so special? Are they extra smart? Do they have more attractive faces and bodies? What is it that allows some to climb out of poverty where most cannot.
The limiting factor here is themselves - their attitude. This has been fostered by such things as the collapse of the family, the loss of strong morals and ethics, the nanny state (creating dependency and sending a message that they cannot do it on their own - creating victims), the entitlement attitude, the victim and disenfranchised mentality, racism (I mean minorities toward majorities here), class envy, the entire black culture in America today.
You would think that if the government really wanted to solve poverty, they would lookup everyone in the country who had escaped poverty, and interview them. How did you do it? How could others do this too? Then publish the results in a big ad campaign.
What would we find? A huge overlap of answers (which I already outlined). The problem is - the government is not really interested in eliminating poverty. Nor keeping people out of prison. The government (generally) is not the friend of the minority or the impoverished. The government does not wish to eliminate or diminish itself by enabling people to become independent of it.
Is it "fair" that someone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth and can move through life lazy and comfortable, while another is born in poverty and must work harder and have to make better choices to succeed? Of course it is not "fair", but it is reality and it is not changing. I can tell you a fact though that the individual who pulls themselves up by their bootstraps is a lot happier and more content person than the one born into wealth. Is that "fair" too? Happiness is something that can never be purchased (for any amount of money).