The Invisible Poor

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I believe that the wealthy Americans have moved farther away from the poor then in past generations. James Fallows in ”The Invisible Poor” clearly shows how the new technology millionaires awareness of the poor has diminished greatly. I believe that this is due to several reasons the most important being the young age in which wealth and success are reached.

The technology millionaires are much younger then previous generations of millionaires and thus are removed much earlier one. They find success very easy and can not see why others can’t obtain the same wealth as they have.

They also limit their circle of friends to those with similar interests or backgrounds. They have limited time and only spend what free time they have (beyond family and work obligations) with those who they are comfortable with.

This comfort is generated by their common threads such as education, similar employment or social activities. When the rich stay within this circle they no longer are exposed to the poor and thus they forget that they exist. When they are exposed to the poorer people it makes them uncomfortable (like when the cleaning lady was around) instead of dealing with it or helping they choose to avoid the situation. Figuring if you avoid it then you’re not admitting that it exists, thus not having to deal with them.

I believe that since the article was written times have changed somewhat with the collapse of the stock market in a sense. Many people losing their jobs in the high tech world may bring some of them back to reality and acknowledge those less fortunate. They are now looking for jobs and finding that their skills were limited to the high tech industry. Many are now taking lower paying jobs to get by. They have discovered that the wealth of stock options are now worth allot less. Making many of them near poverty themselves.

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