The question that is often times asked is who is to blame for the poverty in the United States. People have mixed opinions about who exactly is the cause, rich or poor people or the government. Me honestly, i think that no one is to "blame" but if I had to choose someone I would have to say the government. Yeah, some would argue that the government assists the poor by dishing out monetary aids and such but I think its deeper than that, there's a lot more they could do to balance things out. Im sorry but i'm going to use my group member's idea by including Edward McClelland's example from the book. In RIP, the Middle Class 1946-2013 Edward McClelland argues that people are poor due to the lack of government interference. He uses an example of a couple from New York and how they were successful up until economic failure, as the company they worked for moved over seas. Like Jade said, the secondary education that they received doesn't amount to anything when the government was heavily influencing the economy. 
        In From Nicked And Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is a passage about a maid talking about her work as well as her co-workers experiences.It goes into full details about what they do and how much they don't get paid fairly BUT they do get paid enough to live how they are living. In a sense, this has become a thing that we as people have grown to accept. Yeah, we're underpaid but as long as we're paid then its okay. Me personally, i don't feel like its "okay" to have that mindset but with the government causing living prices to continually sky-rocket there isn't much that people cant do about being poor, or close to it at least. Both examples from both texts give you a real life look at things instead of scenarios that aren't true or something like that. So I don't believe that the rich or the poor could be at blame for poverty, without the influence from government, things will only get harder in the economy.