Paul Graham would disagree with you on that definition of  Poverty. In his world poor people can wake up one fine day and start a business.<p><pre><code>  Aaron : What drove the decision to go start a business?

  Paul : Poverty.

  Aaron : Poverty.

  Paul : I was tired of being poor. I was working as a    freelance programmer, and it was this sort of boom&#x2F;bust thing where I would get money and then I would run out of money, and then it would be a disaster, and I just got tired of it. And then I thought, “I’m just going to work until I won’t run out of money.”</code></pre>