In addition, the United States has frequently viewed poverty and inequities through the lens of race and ethnicity.
We also see being poor as a ethnic problem and as a common problem between all races. Race has been a excuse to keep poor people fighting each other and not to look up and see whats really going on.
The United States has traditionally viewed economic success and failure as the result of individual effort. Rugged individualism and self-reliance have been defining qualities of the American character. On the other hand, our European neighbors are much more likely to attribute poverty to structural factors such as social class or the lack of jobs.
In America people see being poor as a personal problem while European people see it as a structural problem or other things.
Currently, those in the top 20% of the income distribution earn nearly nine times more than those in the bottom 20%. This difference is far greater than in the European Union or the United Kingdom. Wealth inequality is even more skewed. In the United States, the top 5% of the population own three-quarters of the entire financial wealth of the country, while the bottom 60% possess less than 1%.
Due to wealth inequality poor people cant get richer. The 5 percent owns three percent of the entire financial wealth while the bottom 60 percent own less then 1 percent.
Equality of opportunity is also much less viable in the US than in other OECD countries. American life expectancy varies by up to 20 years depending on the zip code of residence. Quality of education also differs widely depending on the wealth of the neighborhood that families reside in. And the chances of being victimized by a crime, exposed to environmental toxins or having unmet healthcare needs is far greater for America’s poor than those impoverished in all other OECD countries.
Basically where you live can dictate how good your education, life expectancy, chances of being victimized by the police, and the chances of being exposed to environmental toxins could be lower or higher.
What about rising from rags to riches?
8 Percent of people that are raised in the bottom 20 percent are able to climb the ladder of society or money. In Denmark 15 percent are able to climb.
First, the amount of economic advantage passed down from one generation to the next is much higher in the US. Approximately 50% of a father’s income position is inherited by his son. In contrast, the amount in Norway or Canada is less than 20%
generational wealth is a bigger factor in America then other Western countries. This meaning the success of your parents can benefit you more.
countries.
The idea that the US is the land of pushing further and getting more money is false and is lower for many EU and OECD countries.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both
This reminds me of Santiago's choice of having to pick a path in life.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
This last stanza is a few years later and the main character remembering it. He took the path less traveled and it changed their life.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
The main character has decided to go down a path and has saved the other one for another time. This could be talking about how in life you chose to take pathways that fit you. These paths are both different and have there own pros and cons.