Poverty: Our Shame and our Blame

Many Americans, including quite a few who are unemployed, have no idea how much more things cost for the poor. There are case studies, articles and opinions galore about the causes and effects of poverty, so I will only be adding my experience to the mix. There is one article in the Washington Post by DeNeen L. Brown that I hope you read entitled, Poor? Pay Up because she does a wonderful job of explaining things.
As for me, I've managed to make it from abject poverty to the lowest tier of the middle class but that doesn't mean I'm not still being punished for being recently poor.
When my car started having major problems, I decided that since I was making 28k a year,( close to twice my previous income level) I could afford a car payment easier than dealing with constant repairs of varying prices. 30 years of driving disposable cars makes you yearn for something reliable. My credit history was short but since I used it very responsibly, my credit score was over 700. I went to the Kia dealership and after laying out my finances was given a Spectra. This is a car that cost under 18k, gets almost double the gas mileage and has a 10 year warranty. The payments were to be about 350 a month. Almost a week later I return to the dealership to finish up the paperwork ... only to find the payments are $407. a month for SIX YEARS @14.75% interest!! I handed the keys back and told the salesman that wasn't acceptable. He assured me that I only had to pay that for 2 years and then I'ld have no trouble getting the car refinanced at a lower rate. Well I'm sure you can imagine what I want to do to that lying @#$%^&, because over 2 years later no one will lend a penny on that car at any interest rate.
Now comes the burst of the housing bubble. For the first time in my life, the prospect of owning a home instead of renting a room seems possible. I work hard, live frugally and pay all my bills early. I am a veteran and qualify for a VA home loan. The bank will only count the income from one job so that reduces my annual income to 24k. I still have that car note too. There are plenty of houses advertised for under 50k which is the maximum home loan I can get. Unfortunately, most will not pass the VA inspection process. I've made offers on a few places but the response is always, "We have a better offer already". Several of those houses are still listed on the MLS but the reality is that the banks would rather hold onto a property and let it get vandalized, hoping for a cash offer, than wait the 6 to 8 weeks it takes to close on a VA loan. 40% of houses in this price range have already had the compressor stolen. A few of those were actually stolen after my offer had been refused and now they do not qualify for VA financing.
The banks don't care. They will take a write off for the reduction in value and the taxpayers will pick up the tab....all of us!
School never taught me about money, credit or true economics. Most of what I know today came from an intense interest in the subject. Too bad I only developed that interest in my late 30's. Here is what I've learned about money: it's actually worth zero, it's only a promise. You can exchange it for items from others who believe in that promise, but try taking it to the government that printed it and see what they will give you in exchange for it. At best, just a different promise like a T-bill. Everything on the planet is worth exactly what someone else will give you for it, no more or less. Say you have a diamond ring you inherited. If the best thing you can get for it is a cow, then it's worth a cow or whatever you can get for that cow. By the same token, it does not matter how hard you work, it only matters what someone else will give you in exchange for your labors.
I've spent countless hours studying economics and reading about poverty cause and effects. The reality is that the poorer you are, the worse the schools you attend will be. An education isn't the only path out of poverty but it is the most promising. It's easy for people to say,"Lots of people work and manage to get an education too". Try mustering up some energy and enthusiasm for studying after a long day of manual labor. When your muscles ache and you're exhausted, attending class, and then studying outside of that class, seems about as possible as flying off the planet on a kite! When it's a struggle just to pay for shelter, food and utilities, it becomes all to easy to succumb to despair. Unless you've been there, you have no clue how disheartening and degrading it feels to beg charities to help you keep your home just another month. Do you think it's easy asking strangers on the street for money? Try it sometime and tell me how you feel by the time you've raised 20 dollars!
Have your ever heard of sociologists studying tribes in remote areas who decided to "Go Native", living like their subjects and not returning to their previous lives? I have. I have also read a lot of articles and books about the poor and poverty here in America. Not only do the authors tend to look at us as if we were from another species or tribe, they refer to us in the same manner. Funny how none of them ever decide to become poor and live like us though. When will they, and the rest of America wake up and realize we are MoreThan Poor , we are just people. Drop the label "poor" and you'll find we are "working", "people" etc.. We hurt, love, hope and dream just like the rich and middle class. Most of us do not want a hand out. We just want a level playing field and maybe a hand up since there will never be true equality.
I have a job where the work is sporadic but the pay is decent when work is available. Work has slowed down this year but I've been lucky. I have some credit to leverage so I can buy things and resale them on the internet. I sell on eBay, Amazon and craigslist. More than Poor is a website I'm developing to help others like myself make small improvements in our lives. I'm fortunate enough to have enough to survive on and the time to study these things. It'll take time but someday I hope to have a site that helps other poor folks reach middle class too.