After getting heavily criticized on Twitter, Arkansas State Rep. Stephen Meeks (R-Greenbrier) deleted a tweet in which he claimed that being poor is a personal choice, and that a homeless person can become a millionaire in 20 years by becoming a truck driver. Here is a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet that was captured prior to the tweet in question being deleted.
It is inherently clear that Meeks does not understand poverty or the trucking industry.
First off, being poor is not a personal choice. Some people, including me, are simply unable to find a good-paying job for any number of reason(s). I was born into a poor family, and, while I write at a grade level that is above average, I never had the right kind of intelligence to earn a college degree (remember that, while a college degree does not guarantee a good-paying job, it increases the odds of getting a good-paying job). While the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. went from dropping out of high school to winning seven NASCAR season championships, earning millions of dollars as a professional race car driver, and becoming regarded as one of the greatest athletes in American history in any sport, that's not a typical life story of a high school dropout, or of a typical American of any level of educational attainment, for the mere fact that NASCAR Cup Series drivers represent a minuscule percentage (approximately 0.000025%) of the overall American workforce.
Secondly, it is practically impossible for a truck driver to become a millionaire short of owning or otherwise becoming a high-ranking executive of a trucking company. Even if a truck driver was making $70,000/year, assuming that he/she is single and does not financially support any other person, for such a person to become a millionaire (i.e., accumulate one million dollars of net worth) over a 20-year period would mean that the person in question would not be able to spend more than $20,000/year on living and personal expenses, which is nearly impossible to do short of deliberately living an impoverished lifestyle. Keep in mind that the median annual salary for a truck driver in the United States is not the $70,000/year claimed by Meeks, but actually $44,500/year, so it would be functionally impossible for a truck driver earning the median salary to become a millionaire at any point in his/her life. Meeks's figure is, however, close to the $73,000/year median salary that the average truck driver in a private fleet (an example being a truck driver who works for Walmart's distribution system for their stores) earns. However, private fleet truck drivers are only a portion of all truck drivers in the U.S., and there are less than a million total jobs in the private fleet trucking industry. Meeks's claim does not factor in expenses occurred in regards to obtaining and maintaining a commercial driver's license that is a legal requirement to operate an 18-wheeler, being trained to drive an 18-wheeler (i.e., attending trucking school), and other expenses that are incurred in order to fulfill requirements of the trucking profession.
It is inherently clear that Meeks does not understand poverty or the trucking industry.
First off, being poor is not a personal choice. Some people, including me, are simply unable to find a good-paying job for any number of reason(s). I was born into a poor family, and, while I write at a grade level that is above average, I never had the right kind of intelligence to earn a college degree (remember that, while a college degree does not guarantee a good-paying job, it increases the odds of getting a good-paying job). While the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. went from dropping out of high school to winning seven NASCAR season championships, earning millions of dollars as a professional race car driver, and becoming regarded as one of the greatest athletes in American history in any sport, that's not a typical life story of a high school dropout, or of a typical American of any level of educational attainment, for the mere fact that NASCAR Cup Series drivers represent a minuscule percentage (approximately 0.000025%) of the overall American workforce.
Secondly, it is practically impossible for a truck driver to become a millionaire short of owning or otherwise becoming a high-ranking executive of a trucking company. Even if a truck driver was making $70,000/year, assuming that he/she is single and does not financially support any other person, for such a person to become a millionaire (i.e., accumulate one million dollars of net worth) over a 20-year period would mean that the person in question would not be able to spend more than $20,000/year on living and personal expenses, which is nearly impossible to do short of deliberately living an impoverished lifestyle. Keep in mind that the median annual salary for a truck driver in the United States is not the $70,000/year claimed by Meeks, but actually $44,500/year, so it would be functionally impossible for a truck driver earning the median salary to become a millionaire at any point in his/her life. Meeks's figure is, however, close to the $73,000/year median salary that the average truck driver in a private fleet (an example being a truck driver who works for Walmart's distribution system for their stores) earns. However, private fleet truck drivers are only a portion of all truck drivers in the U.S., and there are less than a million total jobs in the private fleet trucking industry. Meeks's claim does not factor in expenses occurred in regards to obtaining and maintaining a commercial driver's license that is a legal requirement to operate an 18-wheeler, being trained to drive an 18-wheeler (i.e., attending trucking school), and other expenses that are incurred in order to fulfill requirements of the trucking profession.
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