Poor is a state of mind

Without wishing to sound offensive, because they haven't got enough money.

Because if there was no poor, there would be no rich! If we all had a moderate amount of money with some people having millions, the people with moderate amounts would seem poor. The economy would also fail as much of it runs on class.

i am only one paycheck away and have been all my life as with most people. There is no why. I get up everyday and work hard make a litle bit of money but I still have to pay rent, utilities, clothing etc era.

Generally speaking, being poor is a lack of opportunity. Most people when given a chance are more then willing to further their education and then progress to having a good wage. We only hear of the few that are lazy and don't want to work but they a the exception rather then the rule.

Because they don't make a lot of money, don't know how, or they do make enough money they just spend it unwisely

Because they have "poverty thoughts". You have to think rich to BE rich. There's many books on the subject.

People are poor is because they made some bad choices in the past and ended up with a bad life for the rest of their life.

It depends on how you define poor? do you mean poor in love or poor in money. or just poor in genral?

There are many reasons to why someone may be poor, they may have been raised in a low socioecomic (poor) area, or simply because they are unwise with how they use their money. Take a psychology coarse, and it gives you millions of reasons why because theirs really not just one reason

People are poor because they don't have money. They don't have money because they don't have satisfactorily paying jobs. They don't have these because, for one reason or another, they are unable to get them.

You guys are forgetting that thier are ex-stock brokers that are poor on the streeet begging for cahnge. You wouldnt even know. Sometimes people can become deppresed. This can make the person become a outcast. Not wanting to deal with a job, family, wife or husband. It can also be phycological. I also have seen people that are homeless or poor for years and its a way of life. You see these alot in citys. Alot in my city (New York)....

The nature of the human body is that we must continually eat or die. If we do nothing, we starve. So by default, everybody is poor. The question should be: why are people rich?

1. Being rich is just another skill. Many people think they are learning that skill when really they are learning something else. 2. If we were all rich then no one would do any work. Then there would be no food because no one would make any. Then the price of everything would go up until given to the highest bidder. Eventually, those with the least money would starve first and thus be motivated to go back to work, hence the working poor. 3. If everyone had a job then they'd have more bargaining power for pay rises. The pay rises would cause inflation. Then the reserve bank would increase interest rates until enough people went bankrupt to scare the workers from asking for any more pay rises. Our economic system deliberately sets out to ensure that we have some poor people in it. 4. Because no one is paid what they are worth. They are paid as little as necessary to ensure they do whatever they are paid to do. 5. There is only one way to end poverty and it has nothing to do with money. The answer is to MAKE MORE STUFF. If we make more stuff then we'll give away what we can't sell and no one will be poor. But who is going to go to work if they can get stuff for free? Who is going to work for nothing in order to make all this extra stuff? 6. Because we don't attack the problem properly. You'd think that if our system worked then the only time we would have unemployment is when everyone had everything they wanted. For example, how can we have homeless, unemployed people? There's obviously alot of jobs around - homes have to be built. If only the homeless unemployed had the skills and money, they could build homes to sell to each other. That should give you plenty to think about but I think the most important thing is we need to MAKE MORE STUFF, be it food, clothing, housing. If there are 6 billion people in the world then we have to make enough food, clothing and shelter for 6 billion people. Why can't we do that? Lack of skills and misplacement of resources. Teach people how do make stuff they want and they will do it, if they have the resources. Why haven't they got the resources?

You might think that if we can eliminate the causes of poverty, then there will be no more poverty and everybody will be rich. But that's like saying that wealth is the absence of poverty. If you want to stop being poor, you must study the wealth-building process.

Largely because the system is created to keep them that way. Wealth is not distributed in such a way to prevent starvation and afford adequate medical care. Our society is based upon greed.

Beacuse there are others who are rich.

Read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad."

Because the rich are greedy...

Here the results of a poll on this topic. Notice that this only reflects what people think: "Most Important Cause Summary Total <100% 100-200% 200%+ Drug abuse 13 22 12 11 Medical bills 6 10 9 5 Too many jobs being part time or low wage 13 17 13 12 Too many single-parent families 8 6 8 7 A shortage of jobs 6 10 7 5 The welfare system 6 3 5 6 Too many immigrants 4 5 5 4 Poor people lacking motivation 11 8 10 12 Decline in moral values 13 6 13 14 Poor quality of public schools 16 9 12 17 None of these 1 1 2 1 Don’t know 3 2 4 3 No item a major cause 2 * 1 2 " Source and further information: http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/poll/poverty/staticresults1.html 2) "Poverty is the deprivation of common necessities such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment which aid the escape from poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. According to Mollie Orshansky who developed the poverty measurements used by the U.S. government, "to be poor is to be deprived of those goods and services and pleasures which others around us take for granted." Ongoing debates over causes, effects and best ways to measure poverty, directly influence the design and implementation of poverty-reduction programs and are therefore relevant to the fields of public administration and international development. Although poverty is mainly considered to be undesirable due to the pain and suffering it may cause, in certain spiritual contexts "voluntary poverty," involving the renunciation of material goods, is seen by some as virtuous. Poverty may affect individuals or groups, and is not confined to the developing nations. Poverty in developed countries is manifest in a set of social problems including homelessness and the persistence of "ghetto" housing clusters." "3 Causes of poverty 3.1 Economics 3.2 Governance 3.3 Demographics and Social Factors 3.4 Health Care 3.5 Environmental Factors" Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty

cause the economy is f-cked up.. overpopulation.. too many people, not enough jobs.

Bush.

It's because 98% of world's weath is owned by 2% of people and rest 2% is owned by the remaining 98%. . Isn't it amazing that people are still surviving?

because of laziness and Illiteracy

Destiny counts!

there's a book called "a new framework for understanding poverty"...you will never look at poverty the same way again...it is a culture...it is so much more than a lack of money. (mmm...i think i'm going to run out and get a krispy kreme...)

Born into poverty,kept there by oppression.True dumb luck and ability to escape.*+++++*

because corperate bastards take take the money and whore it for themselvs i dont give a damn about the money thats why i have this picture as my avetar

People define being poor differently. Some people don't see themselves as you do, as being poor. And the reason for that is because the things you have that they don't have are valued differently if valued at all. I may not have a two bedroom house and you will see that as me being poor, however, I don't value anything more than that, so by my own standards, I am not poor. ` Having just a small cabin is enough for me to be comfortable, while for someone else, this is not good enough and by their own standards, they see themselves as poor. ` It's a bit easier when we stop asking that our standards of life be forced on someone else, when we stop asking that the way we live be the standard for everyone else, and when we stop labeling others based on what they don't have. ` Long winded, I know, but...hey...that's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

because of the damn goverment

Karma.

So the wealthy can exist ... :)

Sometimes through trusting & believing in the wrong kind.

Because we can't all be rich and the rich won't let us get up to their standards, because then there wouldn't be anybody to do all the dirty work.

Some people just fall on bad times... Become addicted to things... Make bad choices in regards to money... Or their plans dont quite work out and they wind up broke... Loss of job or income. Oh recession, thats another reason.

Sh*t happens that's why. Things we can't control sometimes makes us poor.