I think what Janie (and others) are saying is that the ways and means for poor people to try to get ahead are being closed down by policies and practices aimed at them by our gummint, in ways they couldnot have foreseen and thuis could not have marshaled themsevels to overcome ahead of time..... that the rug is being pulled out from under them each time they think they have gained a tiny bit of solid ground under their feet-- while the rest of us weren't looking and in a way that causes the rest of us to see it as the fault of the people falling victom to these policies and practices.

I think she's saying, "Hey, look over here-- there's something wrong happening to a whole lot of human beans. "Poverty" doesn't function in the same way it used to. It's being rigged."

I dunno for sure if Janie is saying ALL of that. But I am. I know how poverty USED to work-- with great effort, I worked my way out of it into the wonderful class of the "voluntary poor." ;~) But I don't think I could manage it as things are now.

~Susan