I am absolutely disappointed in how some of the threads have gone.  I really did think that most of the posters had been through financial HELL and so would likely be empathetic, there are some who are, but not as many as I'd first thought. 

I was struck by an Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC) television ad about the Cash4Life instant tickets.  Right there in full colour television was the opinion of the government (Ontario anyways.)  It begins with a couple scratching a ticket and the "lottery fairy" appears and waving his wand the couple suddenly win the $1000 per week for life (or is it now $2000?)  The comercial continues to show how it could have been before and after winning the lottery.  For example, before winning the husband is lounging around in a child's inflatable pool and after winning he is leisurely afloat in a ritzy in-ground pool (sipping fancy drinks.)  I had seen this commercial quite a few times and thought how my husband is right when he says that lotteries are a "poor man's tax."  Suddenly I saw the part in the commercial where the couple's son is graduating.  Before winning the lottery the poor kid is wearing a uniform that looks like a Mc Apron complete with fast-food paper hat, but after winning the lottery this same son is now wearing the complete graduation gown and cap standing in front of a beautiful-looking higher institution accompanied by his parents who are also smartly dressed.  Well!  The OLGC certainly know that it is STUPID to believe that any poor (expletive) is going to graduate and have any hope of a rosy financial future unless he/she wins the lottery.  That's like saying "When hell freezes over." 

On a different topic but definitely related.  In another thread I found this: "Look Cesca, I hate to stereotype, but DH has been on the dole for four years. In previous posts, you said that most of DH family was either on the dole or on disability. Do you not see a pattern here?"

It is commonly accepted that poverty does tend to run in families.  Has anyone ever considered that the system perpetuates this?  There are rags to riches stories, but they are very rare.  And in the case with disabilities they do tend to run in families!  That's why a good doctor asks you for your family history.  My mother has diabetes and I have to be screened regularly.  My husband's mother, two uncles and one aunt all had serious anneurysms, therefore he needs to be screened and so do our kids. 

It's funny but Carl G. Jung apparently once said that it would be interesting to study whether psychiatry ran in families.  I would like to see how "economic well-being" also runs in families.  And families with economic well-being wouldn't know of their well-being if there were no poor families to compare themselves to. 

So being poor is okay, just think that you are making someone happy. 

We should make a commercial of our own.........showing the pain and anguish you can and most likely will suffer if you take out a student loan.  You know.....like they do for cigarettes?  They show these disturbing commercials on how smoking can be harmful to you health....

That's terrible nago, what gym was this? I know that the YMCA has a community accessibility policy where they set membership rates according to the person's income.

I read the first post on this tread and I agree that poverty can run in families, because I've seen it happen. You have to have opportunity to well, have more opportunity. If your parents are poor, then they can't afford to pay for things like educational camps, sports, fieldtrips, etc, and of course not college or univeristy. If you get a student loan, you start out your adult life already in the hole for thousands of dollars.

It reminds me of this card game I used to play back in Nfld called 'Asshole', where all of the cards are divided amongst the players and the goal is to be the first person to get rid of all of your cards. There are wild cards, which help get rid of the other cards in your hand quicker and the last person to get rid of their cards is the Asshole. The Asshole has to deal and give two of their best cards to the person who got rid of their cards first - the President. So, the Asshole starts the new game already at a disadvantage, thereby increasing the chances that he or she will end up being the asshole again.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm still playing that stupid game

 Is that you, Danny?

 If so, we have work to do. Get on the phone and call me.

 Johnny

There is a point when the door closes on the poor, I agree. It takes on different forms in our formally democratic educational system. It could simply be that your social background did not prepare you properly for higher learning, a privilege traditionally reserved for the rich. If your parents were blue collars, say, they could not offer any guidance in approaching University life and everything it implies, including the financial aspect of things.

And then, straight off the bat, the bar was higher for you, having to deal with this complex problematic by yourself. You lacked the "cultural capital" needed at the onset, some would say, and were more likely to err.

You know, there is a lot of literature - though not uncontested - on "occupational inheritance", i.e., if your mom was a cashier, you're more likely to be one. We've all heard stories of that boy from the wrong side of the tracks who became CEO, but it's more likely that you will follow in your parents' footsteps. Some of that has to do with opportunities for "apprenticeship" in the craft, but some of it has to do with the social capital pretzel was referring to.

The argument goes that the opportunities we have in life are strongly linked to one's ability to operate adeptly in the circles where "successful" people congregate. Part of that ability comes from having shared experience and even vocuabulary, and you acquire the vocabulary that Tommy next door has if you don't have money to pursue an enriched upbringing.

I'd like to think those of us without modest means can compensate by enriching our families with free and inexpensive experiences like museums and nature hikes. (Of course, now they've instituted parking fees for many community parks here in BC, so unless you have 5 bucks you can't take your kids to the beach for the day. At least not in the car!)

I meant "you can't acquire the vocabulary that Tommy next door has if you don't have money to pursue an enriched upbringing..."

sorry bout that.