From The Progressive’s blog:

The New York Times has been publishing an excellent series on class in America. One quote in that piece particularly stood out for me. Berkeley economist David Levine told the paper that “being born poor in the U.S. gives you disadvantages unlike anything in Western Europe and Japan and Canada.”
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The European and Canadian social democratic model does a better job of taking care of its vulnerable–the poor, the young, and the infirm–than the laissez-faire U.S. approach.

This is just my own personal opinion, but shouldn’t being poor be a bad thing? As in: being poor sucks and I’m going to try as hard as I can to improve my situation? Being poor should be a disadvantage by definition. Does Levine think that there should actually be advantages to being poor? As in: being poor isn’t that bad, as long as my welfare check is in the mail?

Another economist, Walter E. Williams, has a different perspective:

Being first-generation rich is not new for Americans. Drs. Stanley and Danko say, “More than 100 years ago the same was true. In The American Economy, Stanley Lebergott reviews a study conducted in 1892 of the 4,047 American millionaires. He reports that 84 percent were nouveau riche, having reached the top without the benefit of inherited wealth.”

This points to one of the most unique features of our nation. Just because you know where a person ended up in life is no guarantee that you can tell where he started. In other words, there is so much economic mobility in our society that starting out with modest means or even being dirt poor does not prevent one from ending up at the top.

According to IRS tax data, 85.8 percent of tax filers in the bottom fifth in 1979 had moved on to a higher quintile, and often to the top quintile, by 1988.

So yes, being poor sucks. But you don’t have to stay that way. Socialism will only hamper our most cherished freedoms; namely, the freedom to get rich. Williams ends with this quote, which I like too:

Personally, I like evangelical minister Reverend Ike’s response when asked what should we do about the poor. He said, “The best thing you can do for the poor is not become one.”