"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
Pete C. wrote:
SteveB wrote:
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
...
i wonder if thats like renting appliances,it ends up costing 3 times
more than if you just bought it.

That is one of the things that keeps the poor people poor. No cash,
no
credit, so they rent for the same monthly (or weekly) payment forever.

You can buy a new refrigerator for about $450 today. In the same
building where I worked was a used appliance dealer that preyed on the
low income families. He'd sell a used model for $300 with weekly
payments at 22% interest. Miss a payment and he'd repo it and sell it
again.
you'd think that people would clue up and go to the library and search
craigslist and/or just go to the salvation army. Heck, I do that
(well,
craigslist, not SA) for non-essentials and I'm not poor. All you need
is
an old pickup truck and you can get all sorts of stuff for cheap/free.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel
I seriously doubt that's what keeps poor people poor.

Anywhere in the US, used washers, dryers, and fridges go for around $50.
More if you have to have newer or side by sides. What keeps poor people
poor is having to have that $600 fridge, pay 22% interest, and not
paying
the payments when they could have owned one for less than the down
payment
on the new one.

Actually, it all comes down to parental apathy and failing schools. The
ranks of the poor are rapidly growing not just due to the economy, but
due to the lack of education in basic life skills like balancing a
checkbook or budgeting.

That has been a pet rant of mine for years. Many or most parents obviously
are not up to the job, so the High Schools should teach a course, at least
a full semester, on 'Stuff you HAVE to know how to do to survive'. Basic
personal finance, how health insurance works, how apartment and car leases
work, why 'Rent to Own' is best avoided, etc. Maybe throw in a week on
basic car care, like how (and why) to check and change oil, and how to
change a tire and jump a battery, so you don't get ripped off the first
time that comes up. Make passing a requirement for graduation.

--
aem sends...

It's up to the person. My little sister in law got a used green Datsun 210
in about 1978 for her sixteenth. Dad showed her how to check the water and
oil. He told her that if she didn't keep them full and the car burned up,
she'd be the one paying the repairs.

One day, she got ready to go. She came back in and said that her car was a
quart low, and she was going to put oil in it. Good girl. About half an
hour later, we were leaving, and she was STILL putting oil in the car. We
investigated, and found that she found a tiny funnel, and was slowly pouring
it into the dipstick tube. We showed her the oil filler cap, but she
thought out a solution of her own that worked.

Some things you cannot teach.

Steve