Your analogy is wrong. It's more like it's raining outside. Since you grew up poor it's also raining inside your house. This caused your food in the cupboard to rot and mold and means that your computer doesn't work because your power went out. Now sure if your parents had fixed the roof instead of buying groceries the food wouldn't have molded, but you'd still be hungry. You're forced to take on debt because the local area doesn't have any nighttime work. Then Dad gets sick. Since they didn't have the money to have mom and Dad both work, Mom doesn't have the skills needed to have a job that could provide and keep the house going, so now you've got to hold a job, keep your grades up, and try and pay Dad's medical bills.

How is any of this your fault? You're still never going to get out of debt. The American system is rigged so that you can make all the right moves and still lose. That's the problem with the system. Not that it's unfair, or that someone doesn't have the same opportunities.

I'm a perfect example of someone who came from nothing and has worked myself into wealth (or at least into a life where I'm not struggling). I made most of the right choices, but it still required immense amounts of luck and hard work. All the hard work does is set you up to be able to take advantage of the hard work.

If we really want to solve the problem of poverty without disincentivizing or punishing hard work it will require that it's easier to climb financial classes. What we have in place now only benefits those at the top and essentially pulls all the ladders up from the bottom. Our system is broken and there isn't a simple solution. It requires community reinvestment, appropriately funded community initiatives, and excellent leadership both at the state and federal levels.