Why Poor People Stay Poor

[Shandris]

87. No, Erik, that's not it. I'll admit there is a function of that in there, but what you may...

...not know is that that element is often excised by those who are intelligent (read: most of us here at the very least, and QUITE the majority of others). Now I know you can find examples of it, and you'd be right (although those examples are often fueled by less obvious, legal methods of cash collection) about those examples...but it's not a common problem like many believe it is.

In fact, the biggest problem in the poor talking with...well, anyone else is simply this: the middle class and above, with few exceptions, are not aware of what they are not aware of. Yes, that IS a Rumsfeld line and intentionally so. They aren't aware that it is more expensive to bank when you're poor; they think it's equal. They have no idea what it's like to cash a tax check; they can just have it direct deposited.

They don't know what it's like to have to find a babysitter for non-conventional hours on the spur of the moment because your second job needs you RIGHT NOW because the third waitress called off and if you don't come in, you can't be 'fired' but your hours will be cut to virtually nothing as punishment and you can't afford that, because rent is due in a week and you won't have time to find a replacement job, buy the things it requires (because many low wage jobs require specific clothing; this is especially true with waitstaff, for instance), and get paid for the work you do (because remember, the first check is always held back and the pay period is typically 2 weeks, so it's 3-4 weeks from the time you start until your first tiny paycheck) before it's due.

Now, you may have noticed that in that long conversation (which is about a split seconds thought for us) I never once had to worry about whether I have a 4K or 3D tv, whether I have an iPhone, whether I have $200 shoes, or whether I have...well, anything other than what I might find at Sav-A-Lot. That's because for the vast, vast majority of real, working people...what you said is a myth. But you CAN find a couple examples, as I mentioned at the opening.

They are the exceptions that prove the rule, Erik.