In your opinion are the rich class responsible for the conditions that make poverty so common?

[Mr. Smartypants]

They are partly responsible. No other developed country has the problem we have with 'structural unemployment', poverty, hunger, etc. The rich and corporations are the ones who make the rules, and they have reasons for keeping people poor.

Just for example, we consider 5% unemployment -full employment-. Whenever unemployment drops below 5%, the Fed raises interest rates to 'chill down' the economy. The idea is to have 20 people competing for every 19 jobs, like a game of musical chairs. The purpose of this is to keep wages down. When unemployment gets too low, wages start creeping up. Every other developed country has a true full employment policy.

We make it harder and harder for a kid born poor or even lower middle class to get a good education. Student loan debt in the US is now higher than credit card debt. Public schools are crumbling ruins, except in the nicest neighborhoods. The conservatives and the well-off HATE public education. They want their own kids to not have to compete with the riff raff for the few good jobs that will be available when they graduate.

Look at how we've done 'globalization'. The whole idea is to make national borders totally invisible to capital, so it can roam the world looking for the cheapest labor and other resources. But labor has to stay put. This results in a 'race to the bottom'. NAFTA hurt wages and working conditions and workers' rights in all three countries! How could it do that? It was DESIGNED to do that!