We keep talking about the people who fall through the cracks

Yes, this term has been used secveral times in this thread. But "falling through the cracks" is about downward mobility, people's situation getting worse. It seems to me important to stress that there's long-term, inter-generational poverty that's more important. It's the lack of upward mobility that matters most. It's not falling through the cracks, it's not being able to climb up through them.