Or pros ute herself, sell drugs, etc.
Those are the only options she has!
In all seriousness tho, poverty is too broad, or to narrow depending on how you take it, a word to use as a a basis for why people get "stuck in poverty" or can't "move up the ladder". Not being specific enough or honest about the reasons why that happens causes people to think they can throw money at the problem of poverty and help solve it. I'm not suggesting money isn't a reason, because it is, but it's just one of them. Very, very few places in this country truly lack the resources that render a community defensless against the ills of poverty. I'm talking places that have no running water, no sewage systems, no policing, hospitals, schools, libraries, Internet access, and virtually no political representation. Like third world poverty. My mom used to take me to these places during the holidays to give out food and gifts. And she'd told me, THEY have an excuse, YOU don't.
That brings me to another point: I'm grateful as my mom never bought into the liberal mindset that I, a kid who grew up poor, had an excuse. A consequence of that is that I used the resources I had around me to my benefit. I got a job a job at 16 and built up my resume, used the public library to use the Internet, looked into community college, and started taking classes online in high school. Got out of high school and got a relatively good paying job because I'd networked with people. Went to college while working 60 hrs a week, and earned a degree when I was 24 (a little later than I'd have liked, but I could've finished earlier had I taken summer courses and taken more classes per semester). Some of my buddies I grew up climbed the ladder using different methods. But the biggest thing is we, and each of our parent(s), never bought into the agenda that "standard" poverty is a valid excuse. Had we, we'd probably either be dead or in prison. I thank God every day my mother wasn't a liberal cuz I'd be crying out of self-pity in a corner somewhere like a in' clown.
The single biggest thing this country can do to help standard poverty is to turn people living in poverty into conservatives.