(H) The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All By Herbert J. Gans

I have never taken the time to sit back and consider that poverty could actually have positive functions. I never considered that without the poor, police officers, social work, Human Service agencies amongst others would suffer. It is true that poverty provides income and plentiful jobs for workers in these agencies. Also, poverty forces people who need money to do those shitty jobs no one else wants to do.

I look at poverty like a dog chasing his own tail. It’ s a vicious circle that it seems one cannot get out of. If you get the job, you have no car to get there. If you have no car, you must use a bus. If bus makes you late, you may get fired. It’s almost impossible for one to succeed when there are no means to an end, or the means are unattainable.

Having such low-income wages and being forced to live in the ghetto is usually the only way these people can live. They are forced to find other means to making money which means they are either stealing or selling drugs to supplement the necessary income to pay their bills. That then leads to incarceration and round and round they go. It is so difficult and almost impossible to get ahead when your are living this life of poverty.