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What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

theguardian.com

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Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#41

Post by ams6110 »

zanny wrote: post #17
sokoloff wrote: post #5

People in poverty use services and consume goods. Someone provides those goods and services. Would they be better off if every business closed their doors to the impoverished, so as to not "make a buck off the poor"? Of course not! The trailer park owner in the article owns 131 units and "makes" (presumably grosses) $400K a year. Those units are about $250 per month, hardly the stuff of Viking-style pillaging, IMO. T…

And the people that provide goods and services now to the impoverished (especially the actual exploiters, like pay day loans and corner stores, and the manufacturers that supply the junk foods they eat and drink) have a financial incentive to keep people in poverty and grow their demographic. Combine that with an very easily corrupted government like the US has now, and you get corporations dictating policy to preven…

I think you're letting off too easy the politicians in impoverished communities who are incentivized to keep their constituencies so they themselves keep their jobs.

Do you have any examples of where Frito-Lay, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. are lobbying the government to "keep people in poverty?"

Edit: and as mentioned elsewhere here, state lotteries are another huge government-authorized program that disproportionately takes from the poor.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#43

Post by ps4fanboy »

Wealth isnt about money, its a measure of your ability to buy other peoples time. Until every person on this planet cant afford to buy more of other peoples time than they sell to others you will have lower class, middle class, upper class.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#44

Post by Tycho »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #40
Tycho wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once someone is trained, they might just leave and work somewhere else.

That can be contractualized, right?

Hmm not sure, there might be some legal/regulatory barriers there.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#45

Post by awt »

What if poverty is profitable to the government? What if, through welfare, the government encouraged single motherhood, and thus poverty, and thus dependance on the government?

What if single mothers were held responsible for their choice to have children with bad men?

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#46

Post by turkishrevenge »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #30
danharaj wrote: post #14

What if Marx was right?

That's actually a thoughtful comment, irrespective of whether one "agrees with communism". Not sure why it's being downvoted.

He was in many respects. However, that offends delicate sensibilities here and so down goes da the vote.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#47

Post by greglindahl »

When I was in high school, I wrote an inventory-control system for a rent-to-own business, which rented TVs and furniture to poor people. It was an extremely exploitative business, and 100% of their customers would have been better off doing without & saving up some money for 4-6 months to buy a used or new whatever. I'm now ashamed that I didn't walk out the minute I figured out how the business worked.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#48

Post by [deleted] »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #26
erikpukinskis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To make poverty better? Free job training and placement, with a living stipend.

Presumably those companies that claim to have openings that they are desperately trying to fill in vain would pay for such training. Why do you think they do not?

[deleted]

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#49

Post by CydeWeys »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #38
darawk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the alternative? These people aren't forced to live there. If there were a cheaper, better alternative available to them, they'd probably take it. Nobody is 'profiting from poverty' here. These landlords would make much more money if these people were wealthier! I'm sure they'd love to make nicer places and charge higher rents with higher margins, but they can't, because that's all these people can pay.

> What is the alternative? These people aren't forced to live there. If there were a cheaper, better alternative available to them, they'd probably take it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_cooperative

You need money to buy into a housing cooperative, and even more to start one (i.e. build a whole new apartment building). The poor people who are renting the apartments in the linked article don't have it; they are living paycheck to paycheck, and frequently falling behind even on that.

I'm not seeing a workable alternative beyond government-provided housing, but that doesn't have a good history of success in the US.

Re: What if the problem of poverty is that it’s profitable to other people?

#50

Post by [deleted] »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #2

Poverty is profitable to other people. People who are in poverty often have to depend on services that are overpriced and predatory. From check cashing services, and payday lenders, to not being able to go to a grocery store where prices are better, but instead depending on smaller stores of convenience where the prices are often higher. The lottery depends on those in poverty. Sometimes I think even the police and c…

[deleted]
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