Opinion | US poverty is built by design

Matthew Desmond 's new book, Poverty, By America suggest that in the US, systems are rigged to favor people who are already advantaged. He points out that poverty is pervasive in America by design, to enable the lifestyles of affluent people. Poverty, he argues, results from three quintessentially American habits: exploitation of the poor; subsidization of the rich; and the intentional segregation of the affluent and the poor such that opportunity is hoarded and social mobility is rare.