When all else fails, rob the poor
In Barbara Ehrenreich's, article"When all else fails, rob the poor", she relays the different ways that employers, major credit card companies, and government take advantage of the weak and poor. Ehrenreich's gives compelling information about the poor is in a cycle that is virtually impossible to get out of and to be treated as an equal in our society. In her article, Ehreneich, gives examples of different ways that the poor are robbed of their money and dignity. The major credit card companies charge the poor high interest rates; in addition, to the late fees and also including in the interest. Gary Rivlin, who wrote "Broke USA," calculated the poor pay surcharges around $30 billion a year for banking financial services that they use. The employers taking money from their employees; for example, failing to pay minimum wage and failing to pay for worked hours or overtime that has been worked. Ehrenreich, states Kim Bobo, documents in her book "Wage Theft in America" states how U.S. employers pocket around $100 billion a year through these practices. The government is the worst offender, and poster case of a homeless Michigan woman who was jailed in 2009 failing to pay $104 a month to cover the room and board charges for her 16-year-old son's incarceration. The woman had received a back paycheck, and her thought was to pay for her son's jail stay. But the government confiscated the check and applied to her stay. The states keep creating harsher punishments for different offenses that are really just minor infractions. Ehrenreich's article is persuasive using the logo "Payday Advance", making a invitation to the poor and take advantage of their desperate needs. This is basically the legal "loan shark". Ehrenreich's articles articulate pathos, by sharing the story of the homeless Michigan woman. I do feel that Ehrenreich's informs the readers exactly what is really going on in this society and quite frankly I am disgusted. America is all about helping people, well, are poor considered people?
Christina Vinson
ReplyDeleteMay 27, 2012
In the article about robbing the poor, the author makes a valid point concerning the poor. There are many ways that we can assist the poor without giving monetary gifts but we choose to kick them to the side. For example, we could lobby to change bills in the White House, donate a place for them to live independently, and create jobs to keep them off the street. There is another issue that really bothers me, it is the fact that in the poorest neiborhoods people are allowed to bring in cash a check places, casinos, and other high priced opportunities that will cause the poor to continue to get into debt. Another issue I recently discovered was, over charging elderly people on their bills. It is a shame that this happen every day right under or noises and we don’t catch it until it’s too late.