00:00You probably know someone who's been unemployed for a while.
00:04Let's call him John.
00:06John's been job hunting for months.
00:08In the meantime, government benefits help him pay rent, bills and food.
00:13Then he finally gets a job.
00:15He's excited, gets his first paycheck and thinks life is back on track.
00:19But here's the problem.
00:21That paycheck is just high enough to make him lose his benefits
00:24and still too small to replace what he just lost.
00:28Now he also has new costs,
00:31like paying for transportation to get to work and childcare while he's at the office.
00:36So after all that, he realizes that he actually has less money now than when he was unemployed.
00:42That's not just frustrating.
00:45It's a real thing.
00:46And it even has a name.
00:48The welfare trap.
00:50This is just one of many poverty traps that affect about a billion people around the world.
00:56And in the US alone, over 35 million people are living in poverty.
01:01So the big question is, is the American dream a lie?
01:05Well, John doesn't see it that way.
01:08He truly believes hard work will pull him out of poverty.
01:11But right now, his paycheck barely covers rent and bills.
01:15So, he starts cutting back on basic needs.
01:18Like food.
01:20The problem is, eating badly doesn't just leave us hungry.
01:23It also reduces our capacity to work.
01:26When you don't eat well, you feel tired all the time.
01:28And it's harder to focus or learn new skills.
01:31So it drags down your productivity.
01:34And when that happens, you don't move up.
01:36You stay stuck in the same cycle of low paying jobs.
01:39One after another.
01:41And you still can't afford the things that could really help you move forward to a better paying job.
01:47Then, there's health care.
01:50When you're poor, most of your money goes to just getting through the month.
01:53So going to the doctor feels like something you can't afford.
01:57Unless it's an emergency.
01:59The thing is, by the time you have to go, a small health problem has often turned into a big one.
02:05Something that could have been fixed with a simple, cheap visit becomes expensive and serious.
02:11You miss work, you get hit with medical bills, and you fall even deeper into the hole.
02:16Now, think about education.
02:19A lot of people finish college already drowning in debt.
02:22So they take whatever job they can get, even if it doesn't need a degree, just to pay off their student loans.
02:28One report found that one year after finishing their degree, 52% of graduates were working in jobs below their education level.
02:37Ten years later, around 45% of those people were still stuck in the same situation.
02:43All these tough, repeating cycles are connected to something known as the capacity curve.
02:49Basically, if you're already doing financially okay, an extra dollar can really help you move forward.
02:55But when you're poor, that same extra dollar mostly goes to survival.
03:00Rent, food, bills, and debts.
03:03So climbing up takes way more effort, even when you're working just as hard.
03:08But where does poverty come from?
03:11There are two ways to see it.
03:13First, the macro view.
03:15Some roots go way back.
03:17Things like historical injustices that still affect people today.
03:20Then, there's the micro level.
03:23Right now, five things push a lot of people into poverty.
03:27Long-term unemployment, debts, trouble with education, trauma, and families breaking down.
03:34And the hard part is, these things almost never come alone.
03:38They usually stack together.
03:40One problem makes the next one worse.
03:43And pretty soon, you're dealing with a whole pile of barriers that are really hard to escape.
03:49That's why about one out of every ten people in the U.S. lives in poverty.
03:54And by that, I mean families that are making around $38,000 a year or less.
04:00So our guy John is stuck right in that group.
04:03But he's still hopeful.
04:04And honestly, you can see why.
04:06Just like a lot of us, he grew up watching his grandpa live the old school American dream.
04:12John's grandpa finished school, got hired young at a steady factory job, and a couple of years later, he was making enough money that one paycheck covered the basics.
04:23Back in the mid-60s, he bought a simple three-bedroom house for about $12,000, paid it off over time, and raised his family there.
04:31By the time he hit his late 50s, he had a pension, a house that was fully paid for, and a life where the rules felt pretty clear.
04:39Work hard, and things get better.
04:42John always figured he'd follow that path too.
04:44But now that he's getting older, it feels harder and harder to reach that life.
04:49Research shows that about half of Americans still think the American dream is possible.
04:54But honestly, the numbers tell a different story.
04:59These days, improving your financial situation is much, much harder than it used to be.
05:04America's social mobility is now one of the lowest in the country's history.
05:08So basically, the poorer someone grows up today, the more likely they are to stay poor as an adult.
05:14If nothing changes, some experts believe that the U.S. could stop being a place where you can shape your future with hard work and control your economic destiny.
05:23Instead, it starts looking more like a place where your life is decided the day you're born.
05:29Rich kids stay rich. Poor kids stay poor.
05:33Over the last 30 years, the richest Americans have taken a much bigger slice of the country's income.
05:39The share going to the top 1% has roughly doubled.
05:42Meanwhile, the income of working-age U.S. citizens have barely grown lately.
05:47In fact, it's the slowest growth we've seen since the 2010s.
05:52And when you look at what people can actually buy with their paychecks, I mean, their real purchasing power,
05:58it's close to the weakest growth we've seen in the last 10 years.
06:03That takes us back to John.
06:05Even working extra hours, he still can't afford a house.
06:08And every day, it feels like groceries just keep getting more expensive.
06:12Then he looks at his boss.
06:14The guy shows up in fresh designer suits, drives more than one car, and somehow buys a new house every few years.
06:22So John wonders, is it just because he has a higher salary?
06:26Well, not really.
06:28Because here's the thing with the American dream.
06:31These days, it starts to look like a lie, but only for poor people.
06:36While regular people deal with higher prices and tighter budgets, wealthy people are making money from what they already own.
06:43Put it simply, John's paycheck gets eaten up by basics like food, transportation, and rent.
06:49And his wages can't keep up because of inflation.
06:52But his boss was born with money and owns things like stocks, property, and other investments.
06:57When overall prices rise because of inflation, those assets often rise too.
07:02So instead of falling behind, he stays protected and keeps getting richer.
07:07And just like that, the gap between rich and poor in the U.S. has been growing for decades.
07:12And by 2021, the top 1% held about a third of the country's wealth, while the bottom half of Americans only had a tiny slice.
07:21Around 2 or 3%.
07:24Yeah, I know, that's a lot to take in.
07:27But John can't just give up.
07:29Getting out of poverty is possible.
07:32One thing you can do is to find one specific, solid skill that employers around you really need, and then learn it in the cheapest way you can.
07:41That could be through community college, a free training program, books from the library, or even tutorials on YouTube.
07:49Although that's a good idea, here's the hard part.
07:53There is no magic solution, because poverty doesn't look the same for everyone.
07:58What helps one person might not help someone else at all.
08:01That's why it's almost impossible to find one big plan that works for everybody.
08:06But hey, that doesn't mean we stop trying, right?
08:10That's it for today.
08:12So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:17Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
08:21I'll see you next time.
08:22Here we go, please.
08:24Just wait for the video.
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