I can always tell who's actually been poor for any extended period of time, versus who hasn't, by the way they talk about the poor.

I've been in and out of poverty a few times. There is some truth to all of what everybody says, and yet none of what anybody says is the whole truth to it.

There are individual factors: if you're uneducated, or have a lower than average intelligence, or lack self discipline, or would just tend to prefer not to work, then you're more likely to be poor. But, not all poor people fit any of those categories.

If you're used to receiving hand-outs without having to work much for them, then you're more likely to keep accepting hand-outs. But, not everybody fits that, either.

There are a bunch of people that made one or two bad decisions at some point. They don't have to be stupid decisions, they could just be points where the person took a risk and the risk cost them dearly. Those people can then find themselves in one of the most challenging downward spirals that we have in Western society.

The poorer you are, the more effort it takes to become less poor. Think about that for a minute. For example, if you're living in an area with good public transportation -- so that you don't need your own car -- then your rents are likely higher than they would be in more rural areas, where you'd need a car. So, if you're poor enough that you can't afford to maintain a car, and you can't afford high rent, then what do you do? You have to spend even more resources just staying afloat, making it back and forth to work every day.

Inevitably, people who are trying to work their way out of poverty will begin to skim from one of two precious resources: their food, or their sleep. Either they'll take on extra jobs, and work 60 hours a week (or more), or they'll try to save money on their groceries.

It's possible to save money on groceries and still eat well, but that requires more time and attention. Those working their way out of poverty don't tend to have lots of time and attention to spread around.

As you continue to trim down your food budget, and/or cut back on sleep, you'll develop higher and higher levels of stress and exhaustion, which make it harder to deal with new problems as they arise. One of the things the article does get right is the mindset of some of those in poverty: each new thing is a problem, not an opportunity. Each thing that comes along is something that has to be dealt with, allocated resources to, worked around.

So, you end up in this vicious cycle, where you start falling behind because you're too overwhelmed and exhausted to deal with new problems as they arise.

Make no mistake about it, these people are fraught with problems. They can't afford a good, reliable car, so they have to deal with cars that break down, that require maintenance, or -- in California's case -- can't make it through the hairy mess of smog legislation.

There's no magic, easy solution for a person in that situation. They have to work their ass off, and it's pretty even odds that the average person in the same situation doesn't have the fortitude to do it.

In a society where over half of the population lives in poverty, the problem of poverty can reach this incredible runaway condition, where there aren't enough people left that can help others out of poverty, by providing well-paid jobs, training, and education.