Apology - was RE: [Rhodes22-list] Politics Geraldo Rivera reports

[Steve Alm]

On 4/5/04 12:55 PM, "Rik Sandberg" <sanderico at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Most poor folks are that way because they either have little ambition, make
> bad choices, ot both.

Didn't Archie Bunker say that?  Most of the poor I see are "working poor"
who hold min. wage jobs bustin' their butts because that's all that's
available.  Or they're young people right out of college--neither lazy nor
stupid--who borrowed money for tuition and now looking for work and can't
find it.  And they have this giant debt over their heads and they're gonna
be poor for a long time.  Or they're immigrants who are just learning how to
be Americans.  They're trying to better themselves, learn English, etc., but
it's a long, hard road to success.  Or they're small business owners who
work 80 hour weeks to pour every dollar back into their biz just to keep it
up and running, and have nothing left over for health ins, for example.  I
know there's no shortage of lazy, stupid people on the dole, but to
characterize "most poor folks" that way is wrong.  It takes more than
ambition and good choices to succeed.  Dare I say, this is especially true
if you're non-white.
Slim