Perceptions on Poverty

5 Perceptions about poverty and the poor in the United States

I’ve talked with several people about how they see poverty and/or the poor in America and Rochester. One of my close girlfriends replied with “Don’t get me started on that” when I asked her the question. Then she went further in detail saying poverty is a big problem because the minimum wage is still low and people can’t live off that. She sees a lot of homelessness, SSI, and EBT cards. She goes on talking about how people in that financial state are not to blame for their money insecurity and says “the economy sucks and the minimum wage is still too low for people like me to make ends meet. Especially those who have kids.” When I asked my therapist she says there is a misconception that they are not as intelligent. She says that poverty can be inter-generational and hard to get out of when you’re raised in it. People want to go to college, but they have more expenses which may cause them to even drop out of school. Whereas the higher class has a financial safety net. She also mentions the concept that was in the textbook about people choosing to be poor, or they’re lazy. Some she says, cannot just pick themselves up by their own bootstraps because some are longer than others. Some people may live on the street or go to a shelter and they don’t have the resources that other people with more money do. My significant other also says “they are lazy but there is probably some smart homeless people out there.” He thinks that homelessness shouldn’t be happening in Rochester because of all the Mayo Clinic offerings…