Donna: A recent study of the American economy stated that the opportunity to rise from the lowest 5 percent of the income bracket to the highest 5 percent has not changed much in the last 30 years. Not surprisingly there is a long road between those two situations and it takes time, energy, determination and smart application of talents. It is hard to fake the type of work that can save families from poverty. However, our nation has always been a land of opportunities. Someone working hard to build a natural affinity into a trade, willing to learn and pinch their pennies can grow to untold wealth within their life span. The rags to riches story is not new to our culture. The lost element in our modern economy is the knowledge that quick gains soon become quick losses.

There is an adage about giving a man a fish. “If you give someone a fish you feed him for a day.” How many of our leaders of culture and government are trying to hand out fishes rather than taking the time to teach men to fish? If you give a person a hand out, then they, like the bears in Yellowstone, will become dependent on that means of survival, until the handouts run out and then, like the bears, they may become violent in their desperation to find the source of their sustenance.

Alternatively if you give people the chance to provide for themselves by teaching them how to be self-sufficient, then, like a bear in his natural element, they will become strong and independent. It takes more time. It is not the path of least resistance. On the contrary, it is a path littered with resistance and hard nights and long hours, but it is the price of taking opportunity. One of the reasons we have such a large middle class in America is because so many people value self-reliance, education and creating more opportunities for their children.

Most people in the United States will experience some level of poverty in their life. Except that poverty here is not the same as poverty in other places. When 95 percent of Americans have cell phones and even more have access to flushing toilets and basic necessities of life, it is hard to think of anyone as truly poor. More than 5 billion people in the world suffer poverty on a scale; it is hard for us to even fathom. Still, comparatively, within our nation many will suffer for some period. The beauty of our heritage is that we believe we can overcome poverty. It is also borne out in our statistics. We are an educated nation, with opportunity and entrepreneurs who change the world.

The danger in painting the rich as somehow entitled heartless swindlers is that we steal their ability to inspire the next generation to greatness. Who are the heroes of the downtrodden in 2014? Is it the social worker who brings them a check? Is it the guy making movies in his basement and not contributing to society or indeed even living in it, because he is too busy living a virtual life? Where will our great society builders come from if we vilify the very people who have succeeded in their lives? We need to celebrate those who have identified opportunities and taken them or we will pay fortunes upon fortunes trying to create false opportunities that are actually prisons in disguise.

Val: I have to admit I get agitated when I hear what seems to be an increasing number of news stories about the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. I don’t deny that the gap exists, nor that it is a detrimental thing for society.

The thing that concerns me is that these stories often adopt the tone that somehow the wealthy folks are the bad guys. How dare they be successful and multiply their talents and grow their net worth! How dare they be creative and innovative and hard working and enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Rarely will you read an article that goes into detail about why the poor are poor. Or at least, you will seldom read an article that deals with some of the more sensitive issues regarding the cause of long-term, generational poverty. Nevertheless, there are certain economic and societal principles that, when followed, will allow people to overcome traditions of poverty and become financially self-sufficient.

For instance, if a person will merely graduate from high school, that will be a huge leg up in their climb out of poverty. Yet hundreds of thousands of young people across America drop out of school each year, essentially condemning themselves to a life of poverty. Getting a fundamental education is one of those principles that can help launch people out of poverty.

Another somewhat-controversial principle is that of marriage and pre-marital sex. Statistics show that if a young woman has a baby out of wedlock, chances are pretty high that she and the baby will join the ranks of poverty. Recent census data show that 4.1 million families with single mothers live in poverty. And that number is rising. Contrast that with 2.1 million married-couple families living in poverty. The obvious lesson is that two-parent families have an economic advantage over those headed by a single parent.

Another principle of self-reliance deals with old-fashioned hard work. A person can still work his/her way out of poverty with some elbow grease, creativity, innovation and, yes, a little luck. True, some wealthy people inherit their fortunes. But many of the wealthy earned their money through hard work and ingenuity. If you read Larry H. Miller’s biography, “Driven,” you get an idea of the sacrifices Larry Miller made to acquire his fortune.

And, finally, there is the principle of not expecting others to give you something you didn’t earn. Our society has helped create an entitlement mentality, especially among the generational poor who are addicted to government welfare. Unfortunately, there are some people constantly looking for someone to give them something so they can escape the clutches of poverty. Those who are going to make the move from one social class to another, however, are more likely to understand that they have to take the initiative on their own. They cannot sit around waiting for someone to come along and give them a free pass to the middle or upper class because it simply won’t happen that way.

So the next time you hear a news story about the growing gap between the rich and the poor, just think about some of the simple principles rich people followed to get to where they are. No one is telling the poor people they can’t follow those same principles to improve their station in life.

• Val Hale is president and CEO of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce. Donna Milakovic is Executive Vice President of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce.

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