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Author: Gandalf GreyGandalf Grey Date: Jul 25, 2006 09:31
Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor'
From food prices to auto insurance, when did poverty get so expensive?
Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
There are people, concentrated in the Hamptons and Beverly Hills, who still
confuse poverty with the simple life. No cable TV, no altercations with the
maid, no summer home maintenance issues -- just the basics like family,
sunsets and walks in the park. What they don't know is that it'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.
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Author: editoreditor Date: Jul 25, 2006 10:02
Gandalf Grey quoted Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor':
> There are other tolls along the road well-traveled by the working poor. If
> your credit is lousy, which it is likely to be, you'll pay a higher deposit
> for a phone. If you don't have health insurance, you may end taking that
> feverish child to an emergency room, and please don't think of ER's as
> socialized medicine for the poor. The average cost of a visit is over
> $1,000, which is over ten times more than what a clinic pediatrician would
> charge. Or you neglect that hypertension, diabetes or mystery lump until you
> end up with a $100,000 problem on your hands.
Bullshit. The "poor" person goes to the emergency room - quite
often for nonemergency conditions. He or she then DOESN'T PAY THE
BILL. (What do you think Hillary meant by "cost-shifting" of the bills...
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Date: Jul 25, 2006 10:16
On 25 Jul 2006 10:02:21 -0700, "editor@ netpath.net"
netpath.net> wrote:
>Gandalf Grey quoted Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor':
>> There are other tolls along the road well-traveled by the working poor. If
>> your credit is lousy, which it is likely to be,...
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Author: Bama BrianBama Brian Date: Jul 25, 2006 12:35
Gandalf Grey wrote:
> Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor'
>
> From food prices to auto insurance, when did poverty get so expensive?
>
> Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
>
> There are people, concentrated in the Hamptons and Beverly Hills, who still
> confuse poverty with the simple life. No cable TV, no altercations with the
> maid, no summer home maintenance issues -- just the basics like family,
> sunsets and walks in the park. What they don't know is that it'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 ...
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Author: JohnJohn Date: Jul 25, 2006 12:39
Jenni wrote:
> If you speak Mexican you are not ever asked it you have insurance. Our
> government in action...
Please provide a cite for this. Sounds like typical
right-wing-Limbaugh-speak.
John
>> Gandalf Grey quoted Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor':
>>> There are other...
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Author: Bama BrianBama Brian Date: Jul 25, 2006 12:40
mr_antone wrote:
> On 25 Jul 2006 10:02:21 -0700, "editor@ netpath.net"
> netpath.net> wrote:
> >> Gandalf Grey quoted Barbara Ehrenreich: 'The high cost of being poor':
>>> There are other tolls along the road well-traveled by the working poor. If
>>> your credit is lousy, which it is likely to be, you'll pay a higher deposit
>>> for a phone. If you don't have health insurance, you may end taking that
>>> feverish child to an emergency room, and please don't think of ER's as
>>> socialized medicine for the poor. The average cost of a visit is over
>>> $1,000, which is over ten times more than what a clinic pediatrician would
>>> charge. Or you neglect that hypertension, diabetes or mystery lump until you
>>> end up with a $100,000 problem on your hands.
>> Bullshit. The "poor" person goes to the emergency room - quite
>> often for nonemergency conditions. He or she then DOESN'T PAY THE
>> BILL. (What do you think Hillary meant by "cost-shifting" of the bills
>> of nonpaying patients onto everyone else?) The "poor" patient ignores
>> the bill when it comes - or gives a fictitious address (and possibly
>> fictitious name as well) - and the hospital won't sue over lower-amount
>> unpaid bills, instead just referring them to a collection agency that ...
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Author: IgorIgor Date: Jul 25, 2006 12:43
Jenni wrote:
> If you speak Mexican you are not ever asked it you have insurance. Our
> government in action...
>
Funny, I wan't aware that Mexican was a language. Or are you just
trying to be funny?
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Date: Jul 25, 2006 13:22
On 25 Jul 2006 13:07:14 -0700, "morticide" netzero.net> wrote:
>
>Igor wrote:
>> Jenni wrote:
>>> If you speak Mexican you are not ever asked it you have insurance. Our
>>> government in action...
>>>
>>
>> Funny, I wan't aware that Mexican was a language. Or are you just
>> trying to be funny?
>
>Well, the Brits laugh when we call our language "English."
What do the Brits call it?
mr_antone
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Author: JohnJohn Date: Jul 25, 2006 13:23
Jenni wrote:
> If you have lived long enough, we use to give doctors food too...
>
> No restrooms, just an outhouse and spring water.
I've used outhouses. But you still didn't provide a cite. I asked you
to "prove" that people who spoke "Mexican" didn't get asked for
insurance. It's a myth and a falsehood.
John
>>
>> Jenni wrote:
>>> If you speak Mexican you are not ever asked it you have insurance...
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Author: morticidemorticide Date: Jul 25, 2006 13:07
Igor wrote:
> Jenni wrote:
>> If you speak Mexican you are not ever asked it you have insurance. Our
>> government in action...
>>
>
> Funny, I wan't aware that Mexican was a language. Or are you just
> trying to be funny?
Well, the Brits laugh when we call our language "English."
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