1054 Is Poverty Generational--Answering Vox Lauri

In response to my blog about “Easy does it,” the ten easy, personal lifestyle choices of the last 30 years that are causing people in the their 30s and 40s to fall behind their parents’ standard of living, Lauri, a college educated librarian who is the primary support of her family, wrote:

“You made mention of your stable, supportive family that helped you start out in the world, that, as you know, is priceless. Imagine trying to live and pay for your future while going to school. Even a state school can break someone with no funding. Add into that mix kids who have never had squat wanting to fit in with kids who have new clothes and cars, you end up with bankruptcy. And once you are in debt, good luck getting out-- I swear the system is rigged to keep you down. And ironically those who shrug off astronomical interest rates as "punishment for foolishness" well they pay too in taxes to support social service agencies and greater demands on charity.”

Yes, a stable, caring family is a wonderful asset. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that often Dad said, “No,” when I wanted a loan. It caused some hurt feelings and arguments, but “father knew best,” as the saying goes. Also helpful was the fact that in the early 1960s banks would not consider a wife’s income in calculating how much money they’d loan for a mortgage. Tithing our income for church for the last 30 years also had the added benefit of never having any extra cash for eating out or movies. All this worked together to start a pattern for us of never relying on my income until my husband went into business in 1994. And by then the children had left home, the cat died, and I had tenure, benefits and a wonderful career.

Generational poverty is a nice theory, until you really look at the sons and daughters of my generation. Most of my peer group--the educated, upper middle class 4th and 5th percentile group, living in some of the finest suburbs with the best public schools and private schools--have children and grandchildren making many of the “easy choices” I listed, and some will probably never be able to permanently attain their parents’ standard of living until the will is probated. Even if they inherit a generous amount, a life time of bad choices may cause them to squander that. I can’t think of a single family in my social group whose adult children haven’t lived together before marriage, or brought a "before the union" child into the marriage, or experienced falling income from a divorce or two or three, or filed for bankruptcy from extensive consumer credit, or leased too many a new cars, or bought a bigger home they didn’t need, or had problems with alcohol and drugs decimating the family income. Suicides, jail terms, prostitution, gambling and lots of returning prodigals--you name it, and my financially comfortable generation has seen it happen in their families.

The level of CEO salaries, the outsourcing of American jobs, and being a wage “slave,” Lauri’s other points (and I agree CEO’s salaries are way out of line, but we've taxed American businesses into leaving the country) would not have changed any of this spiraling downward creating the income gap between generations. We are still a nation of great opportunity and freedom--but freedom of choice comes with a huge price tag that says "WAIT," and for some that price is just too high and too painful.

Update: Read Walter E. Williams' article on How not to be Poor. A family of four is "poor" by our gov't standards with a household income of $18,810 (2003). Although my 10 easy steps were about a gap developing between generations in the upper percentiles, not poverty per se, it is clear that unmarried parents are the biggest cause of poverty among children, so single parent homes aren't helping the middle class stay afloat either.