This report doesnt’ surprise me one bit.
My father always lectured his kids that learning and doing hard physical work for low pay without complaint would arm us for any ‘hard times’ in our futures.
Thus-if one had to resort to diggin’ ditches for a paycheck-you thank your lucky stars you CAN dig ditches.
I’ve not forgotten his lesson-I know I can survive any economic condition.
However I prefer the ‘good times’.

People who are raised without all these THINGS can have a more pragmatic view of their value, and people living in poverty situations that reduce or eliminate the exposure to even the knowledge that these things exist are in many ways better off. Not only can they want what they have instead of feeling they have to have what they want, but they have the experience of making do or doing without. They might not enjoy coping with poverty, but the rest of us might not even be able to cope with it!

I spent my life with varying degrees of financial stability, but very little of it actually involved hard choices about where the money had to go. Even though I was able to do it back then, I know for certain that it would be nearly impossible to do it now. The compromises and sacrifices I have to make at this point are negligible. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have to put items back at the supermarket checkout, and what the minimum is that I can pay the utilities so I don’t get shut off. This really is some food for thought.

A lesson to be learned comes from the reconstruction period following the American Civil War.Part of the terms of surrender prohibited anyone who had served as a Confederate Officer from holding an elected position.This excluded everyone with educational background from having an administrative position in the state and local governments.This void was filled by opportunistic conmen from the northern states who were known as “Carpet-Baggers”. Within months, under the control of corrupt officials and incompetent civil service workers, the former Confederate states were plunged into a level of poverty that is difficult to imagine.

Most of the South remained in this condition until WWII. History texts tend to focus on the prosperity of the rest of the nation during the years between the Civil war and the great depression and ignore the abject poverty of the south. When the great depression came along, generations of southerners had already adapted to a life style with little or no money.