Why don't lower income neighbors band together and start small businesses together to try to pull each other up a class?

Lara

You mean, the people currently working three jobs at minimum wage just to pay for housing and food?

Zirp

1 most markets are already saturated with suppliers 2 what good is starting a business when the prospective customers don't have the money to buy its products?

JosephV

Unless there is a potential high gain in the deal, there is no point in it. For example, neighbors may band together to purchase solar power supplies that would supply regular current daily for 20 to 30 years, and thus help save money or even gain money.

Bobo

First of all, collectivism is recipe for disaster. A better question: Why don't people from low income neighborhoods make an effort to better their circumstances? The answer is a complicated web of social pressure and human nature. It takes effort and tenacity to move up in class and most people are not inclined to put forth the effort. It is always easier to accept handouts from the government or to work at unskilled jobs rather than develop individual knowledge, skills, and abilities. Social pressure does not push upward, people don't like to see people with similar circumstances achieve because it makes them feel bad about not making the effort themselves. Therefore the cycle perpetuates itself. Only when societal pressure changes to value good character traits (honesty, responsibility, integrity, self-control, etc.) will it become easier to move up. Until then, expect dishonesty, irresponsibility, sloth, and drug/alcohol abuse to be the norm in low income neighborhoods.