Once you believe you can't, whether you reached that conclusion on your own or someone drilled into your head, you're pretty much done. Government dependency kills.

If the government is confiscating wealth without consent to distribute to the poor, then it has become the criminal.

As I've been saying for several decades: There will always be rich people and poor people, because rich people will always do the things that made them rich, and poor people will always do the things that made them poor.

I agree with Carson. I've lived with people who have far less than even the so-called poor in the United States (seriously - how can you be poor if you have a roof over your head and a flat-screen television to watch every night). They were political refugees trying to escape a civil war in their own nation. They were just happy to be living in a place of relative safety even though they were working a minimum wage job. (The father had a doctorate in laser physics and was a chess Master and was working fast food.) Their outlook was still positive, a kind of "nowhere to go but up". They didn't consider themselves poor, even though by any objective standard of income they were definitely in the gutters. They had hope that things would get better, however - that at some point he would be able to find better employment. Those here in America would do well to take a page from that book. Dr. Carson's own story is that of rising out of real poverty to become eminently successful. I would place pretty good betting odds that those who would criticize him for speaking are themselves critically ignorant about the matter. I would bet that none have been to Indonesia or Calcutta, India, or the Phillippines, or Africa and seen what the truly poor look like.

Yes, it is a state of mind. Dr Ruby Payne researched the" hidden rules of poverty.".
Examples:
'Food
Poverty. Eat it now, might not be more
Middle Class: Did you like it?
Wealthy: How is it presented?

Money:
Poverty: Spend it now
Middle Class: invest for the future
Wealthy: How do I display that I have it?

Time:
Poverty: The present. Enjoy it now
Middle Class: Use it for the future
Wealthy: Traditions, history

Destiny:
Poverty: Is fate
Middle Class: Is choice
Wealthy: Noblesse Oblige

Humor:
Poverty: about people
Middle Class: about situations
Wealthy: Social faux pas

Driving Forces:
Poverty: Survival,, relationships, entertainment
Middle class: Work, achievement, success
Wealthy: Financial, political, social connections

I, and my friends, grew up in lower-middle class families, Not all intact families. Five of them are coming to Wyoming for a reunion the end of June. All are millionaires or very well off, all have strong self-concept, all think of themselves as individuals, not members of a collective. Poverty is a mindset.

I had a black associate who came from a low income background, and was physically handicapped. He worked his way up to a PhD and a good solid financial status, because he refused to accept the word "can't".

His half brothers, by contrast, were high school dropouts, not handicapped, and stuck on "poor." They constantly complained that it was "the man" who kept them down. My friend wasn't popular at family gatherings when he told the half brothers that he couldn't remember a bunch of rich white guys dragging them out of school.

Please check this link for my thoughts
https://youngsamerica.files.wordpress...

I believe poverty is a state of mind. I also believe homelessness and medical care and treatment are states of mind. I've noticed a huge difference between my newest more rural facility and my previous big city Veterans Hospitals, which I'm sorry to say has become a state of mind for some veterans. The previous facility always seemed to have a lot of long haired, unshaven, poorly clothed, "veterans" hanging around. They hang out in the cafeteria, the halls, and outside when the weather is nice. I agree that there are many exceptions, many people are in need, but a huge percentage of need is only there because it is available. A friend and I were talking about this same "free" issue in Oregon. It seems when the Trailblazers or other professional sports teams are playing a game the emergency, free, and veterans facilities are close to empty. Apparently sports are more important that health issues. That's just the way it is.

With healthcare, if we stopped the entitlements and just let the providers provide for the needy and just build their cost of free service into those that pay, perhaps the cost of healthcare might go down. Back to free enterprise, let the providers and users make the choices. I wonder how it's done in countries run by dictators, do they offer free services and have a lot of free loaders too? Perhaps life is just a state of mind, either live it or let someone else live it for you.

CG, I agree with you on this, and about many Carson positions.

The government has taken a role with poverty now. It is ridiculous to think that this is just going to be eliminated, or that eliminating it overnight wouldn't cause riots. Therefore, the question is how to make this role effective, such that it executes itself to extinction.

Since the government has taken a role in helping the poor, it should revise its strategy away from "giving away fish" to "teaching how to fish". I would be a huge advocate of a change:
1. Forgoing voting rights in elections following any period accepting these services.
2. 10% reduction in budget/yr and 10% reapplication of the remaining funding from handouts to work and education for food and housing.
3. Work and education are provided by private parties, companies compete for these contracts with incentives based on the recipients performance over the 5yrs after they are off the program.
4. Eliminate the department of welfare and replace it with a DARPA-like acquisition program.

Fundamental human psychological truth: Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

ABSOLUTELY! I have lived in the slums of Chicago and seen a mentality what will ALWAYS lead to poverty, no matter how much money is thrown at it. In fact, the more money you throw at it, the more dependance it engenders. So, throwing money at it only serves to create a "slave" class in our society. LBJ fully understood this when he promoted the euphemistically named "Great Society".

Victimhood is a state of mind.

Agreeing with you on the main premise - poverty is a state of mind, I most definitely disagree that government should help the poor. Once it becomes legal to steal from one and give to another, and profitable for the middleman, we get exactly what we have now. Government exists (or should exist) only for the protection of rights; being wealthy, or not being poor, is not a "right."

Yes, poverty is a state of mind. Those who choose to get out of poverty eventually do, at least in the US.

I never liked having no money. I just moved heaven and earth to make money when faced with a shortage. The first thing I did was cut expenses, then earned money. Must have gotten this from my parents for which I am forever grateful

Of course its true. I have been poor, although I never realized it until I could look back when I was no longer poor, and finally realize that the reasons my parents did some weird things, like eating my leftovers was because we were poor.

One can define poverty in many ways. Fivedollargold thinks St. Ayn would agree with Dr. Carson.

The libs must be going insane...they cant call him a racist......I am waiting to hear the phrase...Uncle Tom from them!

Only "Local" governments might help the poor depending upon the community's make up. In my community, my town, if our incomes were not extracted by force of law, would otherwise be able and willing to help those in need, to teach and support them into a place where they would thrive.

Although it's understood and generally expressed as a "mind" set, I wish we would more accurately say "brain" set because it is most certainly the delusions of the brain, the learned traits and other physiological conditions that prevents one from engaging their mind.