So was I and most of us were not able to get out of it except for some of the women who married a little higher on the scale. There is not a lot of upward mobility now in the US. Your last sentence is insulting to poor people, most of whom work just as hard as you did, while still remaining poor.

Anyone interested in the actually existing US economic system should read "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" by Robert Putnam.

http://amzn.to/2qQ79ET