> In the United States, poverty is used as a cudgel to get people to work. This is such a bizarre statement. Poverty isn't something that is engineered, encour

> In the United States, poverty is used as a cudgel to get people to work. This is such a bizarre statement. Poverty isn't something that is engineered, encourage, or utilized by "the system" to get people to work. Poverty is the natural result of not working. Here's some data:[0] For households in the bottom income quintile, *63% have ZERO income earners.* For households in the bottom income quintile, the mean household has .4 income earners. For households in the middle income quintile, 15% have ZERO income earners. For households in the middle income quintile, the mean household has 1.4 income earners. For households in the top income quintile, 4% have ZERO income earners. For households in the top income quintile, the mean household has 2.1 income earners. [0] https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/explaining-us-income-inequality-by-household-demographics-2018-update/ https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/explaining-us-income-inequali...