I have experienced economic hopelessness a number of times in my life, primarily due to working my way through thirteen years of university study. Although I feel a sense of pride in this labor, my experience has been a mild struggle in the safe haven of university culture compared to those most at risk. Poverty proper exists in the lives of the homeless, in the blight of public housing, the labyrinth of welfare, and the other less institutionally recognized poor - such as those living in rural areas and the elderly. As an artist, I also enjoyed the cultural capital of voluntary membership in the aesthetic ghetto of the art world rather than being forced to live in poverty. My hopelessness never left me truly hungry or homeless, just stuck in dead-end jobs and disillusioned.
Economic hopelessness has a lot to do with time and the effects of poverty over time.
Being poor can break even the strongest spirits over time. I can't compare my experience to those who are truly poor, since I always had choices that the institutionalized poor rarely experience. While I can say that I have felt the blush of the shame of poverty at times, I cannot say that I can comprehend the despair of witnessing my family in hunger and my inability to provide for them and for myself. Yet this occurs in thousands of homes and on our streets daily. I have seen children I taught in rural and urban schools who were clearly hungry and could think of nothing other than how long it will be until lunch, which for some would be the only meal of the day.