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In reply to the discussion: Why Poor People Stay Poor [View all]Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)especially in how to make budgets, avoid scams, and stretch dollars. But that is not the only help that people who are poor face. Think about these things:
Living in poor neighborhoods mean that you may not have access to grocery stores, and the stores that are there are very expensive, with less fresh food and more packaged items.
You have to go to slimy car dealers to get a car because you don't make enough to get credit at a decent rate for a car that will run further than 10 miles from the lot. And you need a car to get to work. There are more areas in this country without reliable public transportation than there are with it....only cities do that well.
You have to use check cashing companies to cash your payroll check because you don't have a bank account, probably because you don't have enough money to keep spare cash in the bank.
You try to save, but because your car is old, and your landlord will not fix anything or you own an affordable house that is old, you seem to always have one emergency after another that will take every penny you have saved....all the time.
Poor people can do all that is possible to get ahead, but it isn't that easy. You can teach them that they should not go to rent-to-own places for furniture, and let them know about the extreme charges for not having a bank account, but if they do not have access to anything else, they will just have more information on how bad they are being screwed instead of information of how to stop the screwing.
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