Something which in theory should be correct; but rarely actually works that way in the real world.
Plus the Percentage of people who 'earn' their way up from the bottom rung to at least the Middle is extremely small in the States iirc. (It is Ireland too, but let's not bring Ireland into it. Poverty is very complex issue that can't be just solved by giving poor people lots of money - Welfare is meant to be a stopgap (and an instrument of Social stability) though I've never bought into the whole "OMG WELFARE WHORES!!11" - the funny thing is I can't imagine anyone who says that actually trying to live on social welfare for a week. (In Ireland it's only slightly do-able; but only if you already have accomodation, don't drink, don't smoke and don't have a car - which excludes a good portion of people..)
