Thinking about some of the subtle issues with being poor. One of the things I've notice is lacking in poverty is the possibility of BECOMING poor. Its already happened, so you don't have to guard against it in the future. Even I, who am poor only in the most relative sense, don't have a gut feeling of there being farther to fall. My mind has me in its bottom category, so I don't have that sense of being at risk of losing my socioeconomic status. There is a certain freedom in nothing left to lose, but also problems. Specifically there is a lack of motivation, especially for maintenance tasks. Putting work into keeping my car or my kitchen clean, making an effort to maintain my health or my relationships, doesn't have the psychological reward contributing to a since of status. This lack of skin in the game about my own life leads to poorer day-to-day decisions.
This is a problem of poverty that can't be solved even if we ever could find a way to solve poverty. What ever the lowest socioeconomic level is, this will apply.
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