https://partnersinfire.com/lifestyle/the-poverty-trap/
The gist: in essence, "poverty trap" means that poor people, or that people that fall to low income class, cannot claw out because the bottom falls faster than they can climb. They may work 18 hours per day and still not be able to escape poverty, doomed to die poor.
The article linked presents several institutional problems, some of which
are not just in USA. In much of the world, from the West to less developed countries, that sad trend is true. Essentially, the system is by design or by circumstance stacked against the poor people, keeping them poor.
But for the Western society, especially the "Protestant work ethics" countries, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome the poverty trap is the acknowledgement that the poverty trap exists and that's not necessarily the fault of the poor that they are poor. And sure, 1 out of 100 or 20 poor people manage to claw out (random numbers). Sucks for the other 19/20 or 99 out of 100 though that were not as skilled or lucky. Another issue in the West, that the article doesn't explicitly state, is that moves to even the income gap and help people out of poverty is branded as "socialism!!!!!!1111". Not everywhere is as bad as USA, but there are MANY western politicians and voters that think exactly that way.
The article ends with "'the rising tide lifts all the boats" but with the opposite approach than the "trickle down economics".
Such moves are NOT without faults though! It is very easy to NOT solve the issue of poverty traps and simply raise a few people out while pushing other people in. Raising taxes to the low-middle class to help the lower class may indeed help the lower class but it may well result in pushing some low-middle class people into the low class, as others crawl out of it. Furthermore, it can be used as government welfare that creates dependency. And it can be mismanaged. Building nice parks on taxpayer money in a neighborhood where the water is poisoned will not increase the day to day paychecks of the people having to work 2 jobs to make ends for example.
And then, while of course it is not always the fault of the poor that they are poor and they are trapped in a system that keeps them poor... it is undeniable that SOME poor will make bad decisions. Not all poor, nor it is fair to point out to those that receive welfare so that their kids would have a better future and spend it on drugs or alcohol as "it doesn't work" BUT there are such people.
Erasing the medical bills of 10000 people would help ... some of them. But many of them will simply accrue more medical bills shortly.
IT IS a complex issue that DOES NOT have an easy and clean solution. No magic wands here. It
has to be, in my opinion, three steps forward, two steps back. A lot of money will have to be wasted on people that will not actually benefit from it for various reasons.
BUT... something has to be done. That the solution is neither easy nor clean doesn't mean we shouldn't attempt it.