Comment by nostalgk | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nostalgk | Hacker News Reader

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At least in my sphere of influence, the word "poor" has changed from "has nothing to lose" to "is in a position in which they have already lost quite a bit".

For example, I and many of my colleagues are battling large amounts of student loan debt; if we were truly starting from 0 and had absolutely nothing, pursuing entrepreneurship would be at worst 0 gain and wasted time, but at best a successful endeavor.

Realistically, however, many of the young and poor are starting from a disadvantaged state where in reality, taking a large risk is dissuaded by the risk of defaulting on student loan payments or shredded credit scores.

What I'm getting at is, many people would love to be truly poor rather than in the pit, and being in the pit brings a lot more risk to the average person (who otherwise might have the drive or skills to really make something worthwhile)

> the word "poor" has changed from "has nothing to lose" to "is in a position in which they have already lost quite a bit"

I'm not sure that I understand the distinction you're making here. Yes, one path to being poor is losing what you have. But in the end, such people are just as poor as those who never had anything in the first place. They both have nothing (more) to lose.

> many of the young and poor are starting from a disadvantaged state where in reality, taking a large risk is dissuaded by the risk of defaulting on student loan payments or shredded credit scores.

Most poor people are living in a trap of debt -- that tends to go hand-in-hand with being poor, as is having shredded credit scores.

My distinction is that, for many, being poor isn't starting from the bottom, but rather being in the hole. While they both have nothing to lose, someone starting from the bottom has a lot more to gain given they aren't paying into the trap of debt, and debt is very prolific given that student loan debt has been on the rise.

> someone starting from the bottom has a lot more to gain given they aren't paying into the trap of debt

It's very hard to find a poor person who isn't saddled with debt, whether they have student loans or not. Being poor is very expensive, after all.

That said, I don't think a person's monetary wealth can be measured by their income alone. It has to be measured in net terms: assets (including income) minus overhead and debts owed. A lot of people who consider themselves wealthy are actually poor and living on borrowed (i.e., somebody else's) wealth.

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