Lies & Half-Truths on Escaping Poverty | [Radical Responsibility]
Channel: LuckyBlackCat
Date: 18/04/2020

The Brookings Institution says there are “three simple rules” poor people can follow to escape poverty and join the middle-class, a claim echoed by political commentators such as Ben Shapiro. This video looks into this claim and shows the various ways it is false. (Details below.)

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So, what are the three rules the Brookings Institution says people should follow to escape poverty? 

1. Graduate high school
2. Get a full-time job
3. Don’t have kids unless you’re married (and at least 21)

According to an article on the Brookings Institution website: “Our research shows that of American adults who followed these three simple rules, only about 2 percent are in poverty and nearly 75 percent have joined the middle class.”

This claim of “three rules to escape poverty” has become a big talking point for people who want to sell you the idea that poverty is easy to overcome, so if you’re poor, it must be your own fault. (Ben Shapiro in particular repeats the “three rules” mantra very often.)

This is why it’s so important to debunk this research: it empowers an agenda to ignore the most powerful causes of poverty and ignore the most effective solutions.

If we get the diagnosis wrong, we will get the cure wrong, too. As this video shows, poverty cannot be solved by the poor making better choices. There are bigger forces causing poverty than the sum of individual choices, such as socioeconomic conditions and capitalism, itself.

The “three simple rules to escape poverty” claim is factually wrong, and this video will explain why.

*Response to criticism about this video: See pinned comment*

0:00 The Three Rules
1:27 A factual error
2:17 Looking at the data
4:07 Are the "three rules" simple?
6:09 Sh!t happens
6:52 Best case scenario is bad
8:22 Underestimating poverty
10:19 Summary
11:01 Outro

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Say hi to me on twitter: https://twitter.com/1luckyblackcat 
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Check out my other videos: 

Breaking the Wheel? - Game of Thrones and Alternatives to Capitalism https://youtu.be/FCW7EzlIZk0 

Satisfying Answers on Socialism: An Open Letter to Destiny https://youtu.be/lyepf912aIg 

Where’s the Proof of Racism? https://youtu.be/OnKUVY4sQ0g 

The Seductive Power of the Right-wing Fantasy: Can We Break the Spell? | [Radical Responsibility] https://youtu.be/CQujPLjtUdU

Ben Shapiro: An URGENT Message to Leftists https://youtu.be/dV88BlZ_eas

BLAMING THE POOR: Poverty as Punishment | [Radical Responsibility] https://youtu.be/6k3DkEY0YHU

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Sources

Ron Haskins, Three Simple Rules Poor Teens Should Follow to Join the Middle Class
https://brook.gs/37qGOWe

Haskins & Sawhill, Creating an Opportunity Society, 2009: Brookings Institution Press

Lauren Aratani, Six people who prove capitalism is broken in America https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/02/six-people-who-prove-capitalism-is-broken-in-america

Sawhill & Haskins, Work & Marriage: The Way to End Poverty & Welfare https://www.brookings.edu/research/work-and-marriage-the-way-to-end-poverty-and-welfare/

Sawhill & Thomas, A Hand Up for the Bottom Third https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20010522-1.pdf  

Gould, Wething, Sabadish & Finio, What Families Need to Get By https://www.epi.org/publication/ib368-basic-family-budgets/

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Math on the “over 4 million poor people” statement 

Latest poverty data
2018 = 38.84 million poor people (11.8% of 329.16 million population)
11.4% of that is 4.428 million

Year of data gathered by Brookings Institution
2007 = 37.65 million poor people (12.5% of 301.23 million population) 
11.4% of that is 4.293 million

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VIDEO CLIPS

My Eviction [Shannon Allen] https://youtu.be/ouVCGpiiaek 

Ben Shapiro 
https://youtu.be/r7ujgYg-j94
https://youtu.be/3FIw5i4QoFc 
https://youtu.be/lD1Gtim9B38 
https://youtu.be/cJedKXiG7Wo
https://youtu.be/hvGE5cKiCbw

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