Vicious cycle

Poverty to a nation is like a disease to a person.  A poor society must be a sick one with all kinds of symptoms of illness.  For instance, there will be more crime and also more social instability.  Once there are a large number of poor people in a country, their children can seldom be well educated.  When they grow up, they cannot be very competitive and therefore become poor again.  This is why the poor usually get poorer.  A vicious cycle is thus created.  And we say that poverty is inherited from generations to generations.