One of the usually trotted out arguments for refusing to have a greater heart for the poor is that so many are there by choice or laziness.

That if they really wanted to get ahead in this free country where “all your dreams can come true,” then they could.

These types of arguments are largely presumptive.  It presupposes knowledge of individuals that we don’t have.

And it vastly underestimates the chronic ferocity of poverty. Once it has you in its clutches it does not let go easily. Those of us who do make more the federal poverty level have experienced our own financial setbacks.

Those setbacks can be devastating.  Try it when you have no safety net and it can be cataclysmic.

And 6-7 bucks an hour for any entry level job will not provide any source of long-term security.

About 5 years ago Barbara Ehrenreich wrote the classic Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.  As research for the book she held several entry level jobs to see how unskilled laborers lived their lives.  It is a highly informative and eye-opening read.  I highly encourage it.

In her most recent blog entry Ms. Ehrenreich asks the question “Can you afford to be poor?” She writes:

…(I)t’s expensive to be poor. In fact, you, the reader of middling income, could probably not afford it.

A new study from the Brookings Institute documents the “ghetto tax,” or higher cost of living in low-income urban neighborhoods. It comes at you from every direction, from food prices to auto insurance. A few examples from this study, by Matt Fellowes, that covered 12 American cities:

• Poor people are less likely to have bank accounts, which can be expensive for those with low balances, and so they tend to cash their pay checks at check-cashing businesses, which in the cities surveyed, charged $5 to $50 for a $500 check.
• Nationwide, low-income car buyers, defined as people earning less than $30,000 a year, pay two percentage points more for a car loan than more affluent buyers.
• Low-income drivers pay more for car insurance. In New York, Baltimore and Hartford, they pay an average $400 more a year to insure the exact same car and driver risk than wealthier drivers.
• Poorer people pay an average of one percentage point more in mortgage interest.
• They are more likely to buy their furniture and appliances through pricey rent-to-own businesses. In Wisconsin, the study reports, a $200 rent-to-own TV set can cost $700 with the interest included.
• They are less likely to have access to large supermarkets and hence to rely on the far more expensive, and lower quality offerings, of small grocery and convenience stores.

So let’s have a little less talk about how the poor should learn to manage their money, and a little more attention to all the ways that money is being systematically siphoned off. Yes, certain kinds of advice would be helpful: skip the pay-day loans and rent-to-pay furniture, for example. But we need laws in more states to stop predatory practices like $50 charges for check-cashing. Also, think what some micro-credit could do to move families from motels and shelters to apartments. And did I mention a living wage?

If you’re rich, you might want to stay that way. It’s a whole lot cheaper than being poor.

Jesus said that we would always have the poor with us.  He said that because that is where the disciple of Christ is called to go and minister.  He did not say that so we could throw up our hands and say our work is done.

May we develop a greater heart for the poor and the forgotten.

(HT: Aaron Monts)