@aral ~ The men who wrote the Constitution were the ruling elite. They wanted a government that would leave them alone, but they also wanted a government that would enable them to acquire more. They set up the legal framework of a free-enterprise economy but made sure that the government would stand behind it.
@HeavenlyPossum@mahenderkar I think it's dead on, but not in the intended way. It's the poverty trap, summed up succinctly. In our economic system, this is exactly how it works. If you have wealth, you can leverage it to squeeze more wealth out of poor people. If you don't, you have insufficient resources to defend yourself from such an attack. This game has been going on so long that our very laws and culture have been twisted in favor of the haves over the have-nots.
@hosford42@HeavenlyPossum Yep, I'm stuck in the poverty trap and I cant get out. I'm not allowed to own a car and if I make more money I will find myself homeless because I cant afford rent if I lose my Section 8 because I earned some money. I once heard of a local-to-me homeless man who lost his Supplemental Income because he made one too many dollars past the $2k cap from dumpster diving for recyclable containers.