Sure, but why were their parents poor? At some point in their ancestry, bad decisions must have been made, and intelligence is heritable. I can agree that there is a negative reinforcement cycle, I just argue that cycle is perpetuated by genetic stupidity. Same reason fat parents produce fat kids.  I would argue the other way around that most people are poor due to bad decision-making. A lot of them spend all their money on drugs, alcohol, gambling, and frivolous crap. These are easy things to avoid doing in the first place and relatively easy things to stop doing, especially considering the potential benefits. I know I certainly couldn't afford to be dropping money on those sorts of vices, and so I am once again left with the conclusion that the reason someone would is stupidity. I don't hear many actual stories from people who genuinely caught a bad break, only the claim that such stories exist.