The Self-Perpetuating Trap Of Poverty

Poverty can ensnare someone for many different reasons which could range from discriminatory exploitation to lack of resolve to pursue more profitable jobs to self-perpetuating aspects of some financial circumstances.  The last of the three, in my experience, receives the least attention even though it is quite significant in its scope.  When poverty is sometimes severe enough, it can impose its own limitations that often ensure someone is unable to climb to better financial stability without the circumstances themselves changing independent of their own approach to handling their personal finances.

A key example would be that a poor person has little to no money, or at least less money than some people, to spend on smaller products that could sustain their health and thus prevent potentially massive, unexpected healthcare costs later on.  Because they did not have enough spare money to use for such a purpose earlier, their poverty actually traps them in situations that can lead to enormous expenses that they, of course, cannot necessarily afford when needed if at all.  In either vase, there is very little a poor person could do to alleviate their financial standing without either the cost of necessities lowering dramatically or someone specifically helping them by covering important expenses.

Another example involves education beyond high school.  Education is not intelligence, and it is entirely possible for someone to intentionally or reluctantly avoid going to college for the sake of a degree and still excel in the workplace.  Rationalism is within the autonomous reach of every person regardless of economic and social class.  Only a fool sould ever deny these things to themselves or others.  The poorest person is capable of deep philosophical, introspective, and financial awareness, but being locked out of economically manageable college attendance could hinder them from obtaining better job opportunities.

Consequently, this could keep them locked out of better wages or salaries.  This might also prevent them from receiving advanced benefits tied to their job, which could also cost them dearly in the case of eventual health needs of a severe kind.  Once again, lacking money at one point in life could easily trap someone in a position of having less money to direct towards important personal needs later on.  Poverty can thus serve as a self-perpetuating condition that does not equip people with the financial ability to climb out of the pit on their own.  On the contrary, it can sometimes shackle people to their economic trials no matter how intelligent or careful they are.

It is entirely possible for some people to only deal with poverty because they are genuinely unintelligent, lazy even in the face of dire circumstances, or simply not observant or fast enough to exploit opportunities.  People who choose to distance themselves from rationalism or even economic pragmatism or who just do not care enough about financial advancement to do much about their circumstances cannot legitimately blame "capitalism" or outside forces for their own problems.  However, this does not account for every possible reason why someone might remain trapped in poverty.  Sometimes poverty itself is the reason why some people cannot escape poverty.