Modern societies are highly complex and require organisational intelligence. Is this an overlooked factor in politics right now? Is "poverty" in a modern society not just a consequence of having no money, but also of not having the skills to regulate the flow of money going in and getting out of your bank account? Are people who don't understand modern society the new lower class?

I feel like saying I agree but that would be a bit silly at this point..

Not necessarily. Some of these people don't have a bank account in any meaningful sense. The person working for minimum wage (or less) somewhere on a field probably can't afford to have a savings account, and doesn't need a bank account when he can pay for anything he can buy with cash.

If you look at the poor, they are mostly underpaid, with some of them being irresponsible with money. The kind of person who thinks that gambling is definitely a good idea, the person with some form of addiction, like alcohol, cigarettes, or other drugs. Wasting money on cigarettes and alcohol is not a failure to regulate your money, it is a compulsion. Gambling is closer, but it's still more a failure to apply logic or math than lack of financial skill.

People who lack organizational intelligence but still have okay income don't have the same standard of living as their peers, but they don't tend to be lower class.

I think I agree, on an tentative level. Why does a cigarette, alcohol, or even cellphone company exist? It is to give you a service that you will pay for. On the outgo side, cutting any one of these expenses is regulating your money. It doesn't matter whether you have a bank account or not.

On the income side, applying as much in the way of resources as possible to acquire marketable skills and be competitive for higher paying jobs is regulating your income.

If you're still reading this then you probably think I'm blaming the poor for their own poverty, which isn't the case. Budgeting is a factor though (and I'm thinking primarily about the USA). We, as a society, do very little to educate people about how to save and grow their own wealth (primarily because separating a fool from his money is an integral part of our economy). There is little incentive to teach people to be responsible with money. If they are responsible; they spend less. Think about what would happen to the lottery if most people actually understood statistics.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the "little incentive to teach people to be responsible with money". Indeed, poor education causes a great deal of poverty, the rest of which is taken up by worker exploitation. When we talk about poverty though, poor budgeting on the part of poor people shouldn't be the topic of discussion - instead, improving education and enforcing labor laws for all should be.

Again, I'm not blaming the poor. I'm more looking on the situation from a small scale to a large scale perspective. Budgeting could help a lot of people, that isn't to say that it would bring them out of poverty, but it would help them make the most of what they have. So, it's at best short term. The problem with it is that without the other elements it amounts to "Get used to it, this is as good as it gets".

The part that is nonexistent (or at least poorly implemented) in the USA is the building marketable skills. Part of that might be the college crazy mentality of our culture. We tend to think that if you're not going to college you have no chance of success. A robust technical and career training with an apprenticeship would do wonders in our country. That's where you would get people who can't or won't go to college out of retail shops and into skilled labor positions. This type of training is what should be free (subsidized by companies who will get trained employees from it: Although you'd have to tackle outsourcing) or very inexpensive.

I agree that education is key. I'm not sure ow much labor law enforcement needs to be beefed up (admittedly that's only my perspective as someone who's worked a lot of jobs). It isn't an area I've done much study on past the Gilded Age & Industrial Revolution from a historical perspective.

Yes, exactly. Education is the most important factor. The issue with taking the wrong education is really hard to avoid, since the market can easily evolve in directions no-one expects 10 years ahead, let alone 30.

The issue with Labor laws is unequal enforcement on a couple levels. Different states have different laws, so outsourcing is a problem. Also, immigrants often find labor laws being ignored for them.