Of course, public squalor is not found in equal measure across the United States. In many communities—most, in fact—the parks are well fertilized and manicured, the snow and trash are removed in a timely fashion, the schools have new textbooks in the fall and heat in the winter, and 911 calls summon ambulances. Things work, at least by American standards (which, you learn from riding the trains in Europe or connecting to the Internet in Seoul, are not the highest in the world). Opportunity can be hoarded, then, not only by abandoning public goods for private ones, but also by leveraging individual fortunes to acquire access to exclusive public goods, buying yourself into an upscale community. In many corners of America, a pricey mortgage doesn’t just buy a home; it also buys a good education, a well-run soccer league, and public safety so thick and expected it appears natural, instead of the product of social design.

— Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond