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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Alissa Quart

A national bullying of the poor: the trouble with America’s bootstrapping myth

illustration of a bandage over a cracked piggy bank
‘Anyone who thinks they are truly self-made should call their mother.’ Photograph: Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

One day, I received an email from a stranger about how the poor are responsible for their own poverty.

It wasn’t the first: I get these missives frequently. These commenters like to claim that those who are economically on the edge just need to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”, and that people who are struggling probably deserve to do so.

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