Re:Why it's expensive to be poor
by Retric on Wednesday May 20, 2009 @09:54PM
(#619703)
Not all poor people are poor for the same reason suggesting any one solution would work in all cases is stupid.
I have helped several people become less "poor" by:
1) Teaching money management skills. The payback for a poor person investing 20$ to avoid a late fee can be huge. Poor people are so used the "fees" that it often quietly crushes them.
2) Suggesting a change of vocation. Not all low skill jobs pay crap.
3) Loaning money for an unexpected expense that was going to cost someone their new job. Their pay bump was going to cover the cost but they need the money before they could get to work...
4) Convincing someone to stay on Methadone.
PS: Ok, in a thought experiment I guess you could hand them a million a week which would solve most peoples problems, but that does not really scale.
I have helped several people become less "poor" by:
1) Teaching money management skills. The payback for a poor person investing 20$ to avoid a late fee can be huge. Poor people are so used the "fees" that it often quietly crushes them.
2) Suggesting a change of vocation. Not all low skill jobs pay crap.
3) Loaning money for an unexpected expense that was going to cost someone their new job. Their pay bump was going to cover the cost but they need the money before they could get to work...
4) Convincing someone to stay on Methadone.
PS: Ok, in a thought experiment I guess you could hand them a million a week which would solve most peoples problems, but that does not really scale.