curly'q wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
Pete C. wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
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


--
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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.
------------------
It is even more basic..... No respect or interest in education. You can
offer all the classes you want, and GED requirements, but too many folks
don't value, or see a need for education. School is just a place to dump
the kids when they are young, and a social hangout when they are older.
It is families that value education, demand learning from their kids,
make sure their kids struggle with homework and school projects, that
pull ahead. Why go to school when the government will pay you to stay
at home and have babies? - paul