“When You’re Poor, Money is Expensive”

“When You’re Poor, Money is Expensive”
From Tim Schrag

This article in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson provides insight and points the way to some interesting ways forward, to those of us who wish to address the plight of the poor. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/its-expensive-to-be-poor-money/374361/

The author at least hints at actual alternatives to predatory lending such as payday loans, rigid bank credit standards for lending, etc. Issues of justice (or injustice) which create poverty are sometimes tiny but powerful. This article helped illustrate some of these problems.

A valuable bonus in the article is the embedded link found at the end, a 40 minute mini-documentary entitled “Spent: Looking for Change”.   Here’s an ‘appetizer’ from this documentary (and article) which might pique your interest in viewing the entire piece.   “Turning to pawn shops, check cashing services, and using payday loans to meet basic financial needs can be costly for many of us, with $89 billion a year going to fees and interest for using these types of alternative financial services,” they write. Unbanked families spend 10 percent of their money replacing traditional banking services. That’s as much as most families spend on food.