XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america, alt.conspira   
   y.america-at-war   
   XPost: us.politics   
   From: vandar69@yahoo.com   
      
   BDK wrote:   
      
   > In article <4OAxg.6420$Oh1.5958@news01.roc.ny>, vandar69@yahoo.com   
   > says...   
   >   
   >>BDK wrote:   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>In article , vandar69@yahoo.com   
   >>>says...   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>>oO wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>The High Cost of Being Poor   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>By Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet. Posted July 21, 2006.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>From food prices to auto insurance, when did poverty get so expensive?   
   >>>>   
   >>>>>There are people, concentrated in the Hamptons and Beverly Hills, who   
   still   
   >>>>>confuse poverty with the simple life. No cable TV, no altercations with   
   the   
   >>>>>maid, no summer home maintenance issues -- just the basics like family,   
   >>>>>sunsets and walks in the park. What they don't know is that it's expensive   
   >>>>>to be poor.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>In fact, you, the reader of middling income, could probably not afford   
   it. A   
   >>>>>new study from the Brookings Institute documents the "ghetto tax," or   
   higher   
   >>>>>cost of living in low-income urban neighborhoods. It comes at you from   
   every   
   >>>>>direction, from food prices to auto insurance. A few examples from this   
   >>>>>study, by Matt Fellowes, that covered 12 American cities:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> a.. Poor people are less likely to have bank accounts, which can be   
   >>>>>expensive for those with low balances, and so they tend to cash their pay   
   >>>>>checks at check-cashing businesses, which in the cities surveyed, charged   
   $5   
   >>>>>to $50 for a $500 check.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>If they're poor, they don't have $500 checks to cash.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>Vandy, do you ever go to the grocery store? If you did, you wouldn't say   
   >>>that.   
   >>   
   >>Sometimes I do.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>> b.. Nationwide, low-income car buyers, defined as people earning less   
   than   
   >>>>>$30,000 a year, pay two percentage points more for a car loan than more   
   >>>>>affluent buyers.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Poor people don't buy new cars. They buy jinkers from "old man Joe" down   
   >>>>the street for $250   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>You're out of it here too, I've worked with a lot of people who qualify   
   >>>as poor in every way, and they buy cars, for the most part from places   
   >>>that sell them iffy cars for a higher than average interest rate.   
   >>   
   >>As for the economic definition of "poor", yeah, they may be.   
   >>I don't view someone who owns a home and/or new car as poor. Someone   
   >>able to maintain payments on either one of those needs to learn how to   
   >>better manage their money to escape the "poor" category.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>> c.. Low-income drivers pay more for car insurance. In New York, Baltimore   
   >>>>>and Hartford, they pay an average $400 more a year to insure the exact   
   same   
   >>>>>car and driver risk than wealthier drivers.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Bullshit. My auto insurance company has no clue whatsoever how much   
   >>>>money I make. It's none of their business and they don't have a right to   
   >>>>know.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>Vandy, if they know your address, they have a good idea of what you have   
   >>>to make to live there, and they do base the rates on it, or do it if the   
   >>>law allows them to.   
   >>   
   >>They can only get an idea of what someone would need to make to live   
   >>here, which can be nowhere near what they actually make.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>> d.. Poorer people pay an average of one percentage point more in mortgage   
   >>>>>interest.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Poor people don't have mortgages.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>Well, the poorest don't, but many do, and they pay higher interest rates   
   >>>than people with better credit scores.   
   >>   
   >>There are many poor people with excellent credit scores.   
   >>There are many wealthy people with horrible credit scores.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>> e.. They are more likely to buy their furniture and appliances through   
   >>>>>pricey rent-to-own businesses. In Wisconsin, the study reports, a $200   
   >>>>>rent-to-own TV set can cost $700 with the interest included.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Where does this guy get this shit from? Poor people don't buy their   
   >>>>furniture and appliances through rent-to-own stores, they buy it (or   
   >>>>have it given to them) from someone in the next building or the   
   >>>>occassional yard sale.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>Where do you get this shit from Vandar?   
   >>   
   >>Experience.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>I know someone who makes a great   
   >>>living selling stuff to poor people from his chain of rent to own   
   >>>stores. The addresses he delivers to every day but Sunday read like a   
   >>>list of every bad neighborhood in the area.   
   >>   
   >>Those are poor people who are content to remain that way. They are a   
   >>useless topic.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>> f.. They are less likely to have access to large supermarkets and hence   
   to   
   >>>>>rely on the far more expensive, and lower quality offerings, of small   
   >>>>>grocery and convenience stores.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>What? Less likely to have access to large supermarkets!?   
   >>>>Do the automatic doors not open for the poor?   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>Vandy, a lot of them don't have access to cars at will, and the only   
   >>>places within walking distance get huge prices for a lot of stuff. In   
   >>>this area, there are places over 4 miles away from any kind of   
   >>>supermarket. A long walk there and back.   
   >>   
   >>Again, poor people who don't make the necessary sacrifices to escape   
   >>being poor.   
   >>My town has a discount livery service for the elderly and low income   
   >>families.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>>I didn't live in any ghettoes when I worked on Nickle and Dimed --a   
   trailer   
   >>>>>park, yes, but no ghetto -- and on my average wage of $7 an hour, or about   
   >>>>>$14,400 a year, I wasn't in the market for furniture, a house or a car.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Which means the above analysis is crap.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>>No, it's pretty accurate, actually.   
   >>   
   >>The author stated that poor people "do this and that", but then says   
   >>that when she was poor, she didn't do any of it.   
   >>That's probably why she's no longer poor.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>>>>But   
   >>>>>the high cost of poverty was brought home to me within a few days of my   
   >>>>>entry into the low-wage life, when, slipping into social-worker mode, I   
   >>>>>chastised a co-worker for living in a motel room when it would be so much   
   >>>>>cheaper to rent an apartment. Her response: Where would she get the first   
   >>>>>month's rent and security deposit it takes to pin down an apartment? The   
   >>>>>lack of that amount of capital -- probably well over $1,000 -- condemned   
   her   
   >>>>>to paying $40 a night at the Day's Inn.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>There are myriad places to get the initial capital. Tell her to get off   
   >>>>her ass and find it.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
      
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