Comment by euroclydon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by euroclydon | Hacker News Reader

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Poor people stay poor because there are so many systems in place that squeeze them, from usurious payday/title loan shops to rent-to-own places;

There are also utility deposits, auto insurance, etc. But, there are a tremendous amount of free resources available to poor people, from food stamps and food kitchens to clothing. It could be easier for someone with nothing to scrape together a few thousand bucks than someone in the middle class. If your food is subsidized, your income tax rate is low, and your lifestyle costs are low, e.g. not having to insure a home or expensive car, then you should be able to save quickly.

So, I'd assert that: Impulsive people, those severely uneducated in their economic alternatives, or those with little marketable skills stay poor because they continue to make bad decisions.

You're assuming that poverty doesn't cause impulsiveness, and that poor people don't face any costs that the middle classes don't.

Both of these assumptions are likely untrue. Poverty makes the cost of many things higher. Banking is non-trivially more expensive. Public transport often ends up more than the cost of a car, and that's assuming you can afford a season ticket. Those in poverty often cannot. Rental is over a lifetime normally more expensive than buying - and if you're in poverty, you can often expect rental to include large deposits which you often won't get back.

For the impulsive thing, see http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001209.... Essentially if you're poor, there's a good chance that your marginal utility curve is upward, rather than downward sloping. Which rewards impulsive behavior in a way that is not the case for those who meet the normal standard of living in their society.

You've never been poor, have you? I have. I'm not, now, because of skills that I was lucky to have cultivated prior, but when you're about to end up homeless because of <insert any dozen emergencies here that can wipe out your savings instantly>, getting free food doesn't really cover it.

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