The Brookings Institution says there are “three simple rules” poor people can follow to escape poverty and join the middle-class, a claim echoed by political commentators such as Ben Shapiro. This video looks into this claim and shows the various ways it is false. (Details below.)
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So, what are the three rules the Brookings Institution says people should follow to escape poverty?
1. Graduate high school
2. Get a full-time job
3. Don’t have kids unless you’re married (and at least 21)
According to an article on the Brookings Institution website: “Our research shows that of American adults who followed these three simple rules, only about 2 percent are in poverty and nearly 75 percent have joined the middle class.”
This claim of “three rules to escape poverty” has become a big talking point for people who want to sell you the idea that poverty is easy to overcome, so if you’re poor, it must be your own fault. (Ben Shapiro in particular repeats the “three rules” mantra very often.)
This is why it’s so important to debunk this research: it empowers an agenda to ignore the most powerful causes of poverty and ignore the most effective solutions.
If we get the diagnosis wrong, we will get the cure wrong, too. As this video shows, poverty cannot be solved by the poor making better choices. There are bigger forces causing poverty than the sum of individual choices, such as socioeconomic conditions and capitalism, itself.
The “three simple rules to escape poverty” claim is factually wrong, and this video will explain why.
*Response to criticism about this video: See pinned comment*
0:00 The Three Rules
1:27 A factual error
2:17 Looking at the data
4:07 Are the "three rules" simple?
6:09 Sh!t happens
6:52 Best case scenario is bad
8:22 Underestimating poverty
10:19 Summary
11:01 Outro
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Sources
Ron Haskins, Three Simple Rules Poor Teens Should Follow to Join the Middle Class
Haskins & Sawhill, Creating an Opportunity Society, 2009: Brookings Institution Press
Lauren Aratani, Six people who prove capitalism is broken in America
Sawhill & Haskins, Work & Marriage: The Way to End Poverty & Welfare
Sawhill & Thomas, A Hand Up for the Bottom Third
Gould, Wething, Sabadish & Finio, What Families Need to Get By
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Math on the “over 4 million poor people” statement
Latest poverty data
2018 = 38.84 million poor people (11.8% of 329.16 million population)
11.4% of that is 4.428 million
Year of data gathered by Brookings Institution
2007 = 37.65 million poor people (12.5% of 301.23 million population)
11.4% of that is 4.293 million
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VIDEO CLIPS
My Eviction [Shannon Allen]
Ben Shapiro
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MUSIC
The Curious Kitten (Aaron Kenny)
Overture to The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Les Toreadors - from Carmen (Georges Bizet)
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Scratch the Itch (Quincas Moreira)
Connection (Wayne Jones)
Piano Sonata Number 11 in A, 3rd movement (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
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