Are the Poor Lazy?

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the argument that the working poor are poor because they work too few hours and are lazy. While working additional hours reduces the chance of poverty, many full-time and year-round workers are still poor, due to the low wages they receive. It also looks at how, of those who could climb out of poverty by working year-round, many are unable to do so, due to disability, age, or individual circumstances. It examines whether or not the poor could potentially escape poverty by working 40 hours per week, year-round.

From the Paper:

"The major causes of poverty given by those polled were: drug abuse, medical bills, too few jobs (or too many part-time or low-wage jobs), too many single-parent families, and too many immigrants. Approximately half of the public stated that the poor are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty and that they have it too easy, and the other half says that circumstances beyond their control cause them to be poor. Contrary to what our leaders would like us to believe, being poor has nothing to do with the poor, working or not. It has to do more with the functions of an economic system, which is known as capitalism. The law of maximum profit governs capitalism."

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