Obviously, I don't see people with genetic disorders and think "man, what an idiot".
You can't just assume that every person you see is poor due to their life decisions. But if you do, you're right about 99% of the time. The vast majority of poor people I know make bad decision after bad decision.
You would have no way of knowing by looking at me that I have a genetic disorder.
In addition to being homeless for more than five years, I have had a college class on homelessness and public policy. The poorest of the poor pretty uniformly have intractable personal problems, such as health issues, learning disabilities or mental health issues.
If you are suggesting that 30% of people in the US are poor, you are talking about a systemic issue. However, I think you are in error. The figures I typically see are 12-14% and 2% or less are chronically poor.
I think people are just using different definitions of poor. The 2017 federal poverty line for a family of 4 is 24k. Some places this wouldn't pay for housing those people. Suggesting that people graduate from poverty at that point is therefore an interesting view.
Most people describing being poor are describing the state of barely scraping by based on current income and costs. Plenty of people are chronically poor by that definition and if support like foodstamps, subsidized housing, subsidized medical care, above the line tax deductions like the EIC were removed you would find that number rising dramatically.
It seems extremely likely that costs will continue to rise while such benefits are slashed and automation destroys a good chunk of employment that keeps people afloat.
More than 12% of people are poor now and more than 30% will be poor in the future.
You can't just assume that every person you see is poor due to their life decisions. But if you do, you're right about 99% of the time. The vast majority of poor people I know make bad decision after bad decision.