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It's possible for us to focus both on improving conditions at the very bottom and also trying to understand how a very small percentage at the very top is siphoning so much out of our shared system.

I would argue that both issues are worth looking at.

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We have people very rich, more than ever before. And that is just by itself something worth of careful examination. But a lot of that wealth is new. There are effective mechanisms to not being poor. More people can access to self-improvement tools than ever before.

So yes, we should focus on the lower end of the scale.

> a lot of that wealth is new

Where is the "new" wealth coming from?

> There are effective mechanisms to not being poor.

That seems like a generalization to me that doesn't factor in location, race, access to good education, medical conditions, existing debt, etc.

> So yes, we should focus on the lower end of the scale.

Why not both?

Where I grew up there was around 60% poverty, and most of the poverty was communicated via terrible life choices passed one generation to the next. Every one I know who left have done well and that includes people who join the military to those who went to collage. So much of poverty is about the culture you are born into which translates into bad decision and poor outcomes. If we could do anything destroying the cultures that create these conditions would get us more for our buck.

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