Is Poverty a Choice?

Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.

After reading the definition above, it's pretty safe to say that a person would not choose this way of living because they want to. It's always something that has been forced upon someone due to other circumstances, like a parent being laid off or fired. I find it odd that there are so many ways to move down in a social class quickly, yet moving up in a social class can take years and may never happen.

I was reminded of a quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I don't remember it exactly, but Malcolm said that he couldn't trust a government that penalizes a family, then punishes the same family for not being able to stand up under the extra pressure. It's evident in the welfare system. Families cannot survive on $65 every two weeks, along with cheese, butter, and powdered milk. I thought the point of welfare is to help a family get back on its feet, not keep them down even longer. Just because a family seems to possess something of monetary value doesn't mean they are able to handle themselves.

I think I strayed off-topic a bit, but the whole issue of poverty is crazy to me. I can't understand why a country can have such a huge poverty and wealth distribution issue, yet do almost nothing to fix it. It's not the family's choice to live in run-down projects infested with who-knows-what, barely any money, and almost no food. Usually, that is the government telling them what their choice is and there's only one: poverty or nothing.