So much has been written on the plight of the poor in America. Yet everything that has been written to solicit government funding for pet programs for the poor has ignored a single, provable fact: the fact that the vast majority of the poor in America are essentially suffering the consequences of their lifestyle choices. While there are certainly exceptions, as there are to every rule, the simple, hard truth is that the best remedy to poverty is to give people the information they need to escape poverty, rather than to funnel confiscated taxes to their cause.

For the purposes of this article, we will assume "poverty" to be as the US government defines it. Although I figure the US government's figures are vastly inflated, and that there are none within the borders of the United States who are poor by the World Bank standards of poverty ($1US a day or less, a threshhold below which about 1/5 of the world's population resides), the US government's standards will nonetheless work to prove my point.

What are the Numbers?

Before we begin looking at the poverty problem, it helps to know what the numbers are. The US Link Census Bureau reports poverty rates among families over time to have ranged from a high of about 18.1% in 1960 to a low of 9.1% in 1978 (Link ). Since 2001, when our current president, George W. Bush took office(until 2004, the latest year for which they had statistics), the rate has been at 9.2, 9.6, 10.0, and 10.2, respectively. While these numbers do seem to be trending upward, there are a number of possible causes for that that may have nothing to do with an actual increase in poverty, but we'll save that discussion for another time.

Perhaps more telling is the percentage of those households below the poverty line that are headed by unmarried women. Since 1986, families headed by unmarried women have consistently constituted over 50% of families below the poverty line. Before 1970, that number was consistently less than 40%. This leads to the first rule of escaping poverty: Get married before you start a family. The rates of families headed by unmarried women are consistently two and a half to three times higher than that of those headed by two income families (Link )

The second rule to escape poverty is to finish high school. Only 9.6% of high school graduates are poor, compared to 22% of those without a high school diploma. The number drops further as education levels increase. Remember the myth of the college graduate who couldn't find work? Well, it seems just that, a myth, as only 6.6% of those who complete some college are below the poverty level, a number that drops to 3.3% of those holding a bachelor's degree or more (Link ).

The outloook for longterm poverty shows an even more staggering disparity. High school dropouts have a long term poverty rate of 14.2%, while the rate for high school graduates is 3.8%. For those obtaining some post high school education, the number drops to 1.2%, meaning you're statistically more likely to suffer from injuries sustained in a car wreck than you are to live in long term poverty if you continue your education beyond high school.

The third rule to escape poverty is to work full time. Only 2.6% of those 16 years or older who work full time fall below the poverty line, compared with 11.4% of part timers, and 20.8% of those who do not work at all. Among poor family householders, 49.4% worked, and only 15.3% worked full time year round. In contrast, 80.2% of nonpoor householders worked, and 61.9% worked year round.

It would be easy for a critic to claim the poor aren't working because there are no jobs, but in my personal experience, I am finding it is precisely the same people who demand we open our borders to unfettered Mexican immigration because these people "are doing the jobs we won't do" who claim there are no jobs for the poor. If there are no jobs for America's poor, why is it we feel we must IMPORT labor to meet the demand for such labor?

There is a simple, explainable reason why Americans will not do the jobs that some Mexican laborers will do: because we allow them the bread and butter of an entitlement state, which, even while capping certain benefits at a five year maximum, still provides enough loopholes to allow individuals and families to receive other entitlements basically for life. There are simple ways to escape poverty over time: Finish high school, get married before you start your family, STAY married, and work hard at any job that's offered. All of these means of escape require a certain level of discipline, and, perhaps it is that element which is missing among America's poor.

I have said before and I will say it again: we have an unquestionable moral responsibility as INDIVIDUALS (not as a government) to help those who are less fortunate. But it is the less fortunate we should assist, NOT those who are simply suffering the consequences of their own actions. A governmental bureaucracy has limited abilities to distinguish between the two, while a private charity can be more involved in the lives of individuals to discern the difference. We are doing no service to the poor whatsoever unless we provide ample means to those who are there because of their own lifestyle choices to direct themselves OUT of poverty.