Its incredibly naive to say that IQ and poverty are causally related. Yes there is correlation between higher IQ's and higher incomes, but you are making a sweeping generalization here implying causality.

I would say it's incredibly naive to think that IQ and poverty aren't causally related. If you've ever worked with lower IQ people it should be pretty obvious the jobs they're capable of doing don't pay well.

And if a person is even capable of holding a job they need supports through waivers to do the work and keep the job let alone get to their job. These waivers have unreasonably long waiting lists (10-20 years in a number of states). Plus this is assuming there is a company willing to give a job to a person w an IQ of say 60 who needs a personal assistant to perform his/her job and keep that person on task.

Really? Are you aware that children who are born with permanent disabilities draw Supplemental Security Income (basically a form of welfare through Social Security based on their disability) once they turn 18. Most of these individuals are incapable of employment let allow caring for themselves. They draw a whopping $735 a month. Some states provide small bumps to this payment but the majority do not.

How would you live if you received $735 a month to cover rent, food, clothing, transportation, prescriptions, etc.? I can tell you from seeing it thousands of times; you would have a few clothes and by that I mean two to three outfits, likely no winter coat, one set of shoes, you would have a few personal luxuries (likely books or the truly lucky a DVD). You would have a toothbrush but probably cannot afford toothpaste, you eat the cheapest food around, you have furniture that is given to you and likely in shambles, you buy only generic stuff and you water down your shampoo, soap to make it last longer. You wash your clothes only after wearing them 2 times. You are virtually a prisoner in your home because you cannot afford bus fare to go anywhere and you have nowhere to go because you have no real friends. You never celebrate a birthday or Christmas because it is just another depressing day in a lonely existence. Your money, what little you have, is stolen from you either outright or you are talked into "helping" someone whose sole intent is to get your money and run.

Get the picture.....people who have very low IQs and have a birth injury have zero chances of a good life and yes, they are poor. They are dirt poor. The very few who still have involved family have parents who are stressed beyond what anybody should be because they have no idea what will happen to their child when they die. Who will house them, prepare their food and in some cases feed them, ensure they take a bath, have clothes to wear, pay the utilities, etc.? Talk to a parent and I assure you it'll be a common expression that their greatest prayer is that they outlive their child even though no parent should have to bury a child. They know that their child is going to be relegated to a group home with no sense of individuality and likely become a victim of abuse.

Just saying, there are more than 1.5 million people in the US alone with a diagnosis of mental retardation. These people are destined to be poor forever because in order to get their $735 they can never have assets over $2,000. With no job and no hope of one, families cannot even gift a loved on with MR anything that would put them at risk of losing the health benefits they receive along with their $735. While a portion would gladly forgo the $735, they cannot do so because their loved one would have zero health insurance.