"The lowest 20% of earners spend over 90% of income on housing alone, 30% on food". So yeah food and housing alone cost them more than they make, but sure lets blame them for spending too much. Silly poor people wasting money on a place to live, bah!
As a grad student, I spent every dollar I earned and took on loans. I'd hardly call my lifestyle at the time irresponsible or extravagant.
I'd probably have to spend every penny I got if I was making minimum wage, too.
Depends where you live.
Where in the US can you work 40hr/wk on the minimum wage and not spend basically all of your income staying afloat? And in those places if they exist, what does the employment situation actually look like? Can you find a job? Can you piece together 40 hours?
I don't think an underclass living on ramen noodles is very humane
That may be true, but it's even more sobering to me that probably 15% of the population in the US lives worse than that.
What I infer from your comment is you are saying that poor people are poor because they lack the discipline to stop being poor. Is that an accurate representation? If not, I'd love to know how I misinterpreted your words.