Ben Carson - Poverty is a state of mind !

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

To some extent, of course.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

For the record, I agree with Carson's statements only in a context that he did not likely think to specify. I simply say that it is self-evident that the permanent or seemingly-permanent lack of dependable, sustainable income--income that you can build upon--is going to change your way of thinking in a way that is perhaps not constructive to eventually escaping poverty. It may affect your willingness to address other aspects of your life and create a certain amount of short-sightedness. At the same time, if one maintained those habits even after a windfall of income, it is unlikely that they would stay wealthy. Now, does this mean that middle-class, "striver" spending habits are always the best? Sometimes, after all, you simply can't save. Does this mean that poverty is simply a mental function either? I disagree there as well. But we shouldn't deny the interplay of material circumstances and mental orientation that produces our reality.