exactly, slippin. the more the capitalist system is unfettered, the more it becomes dog-eat-dog, tending to extreme distribution of incomes and lower wages & conditions. nothing wrong with capitalism but history shows it cannot be unfettered (unregulated; unsupervised; laizee faire).
but the general population wish to ignore the lessons of history and, painfully, reinvent the wheel, since this is the direction we are headed in. when our Labor Governments turn a total blind eye to the offshoring of the most basic service jobs by our largest corporations then we have little hope but to compete with the world's lowest paid wages.
I would say parental neglect is certainly a factor in some situations. the cases I see, the parents spend most of their income on drink, smokes & drugs. for example, I girl I know goes to school with unkempt hair & dirty old shirt. I know her mother & fiance are not looking after her. too many drug pre-occupations.
