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(Yeah, another book...)

Add to that the fact that insurance companies generally charge poor people extra for insurance (at least, in this hellhole of a state), and if the vehicle is lost, will only pay you the blue book value if you're lucky.? Been there.? An old pickup... you probably will recover only a portion of your yearly premium.

The corporations assume that if you can't afford their rates, you can walk or take a bus (never mind that there are more poor people AWAY from the cities than within... and bus service doesn't cover most of this country)!

(The below is for the "blame game" people, Wayne, who seem to be very common in amateur radio and in certain.. buildings.? I would admit that maybe people don't understand how the rest of us are forced to live and assume that we've got extra money to spare.? I'm only too used to hearing this stuff and I know how much it hurts!)

It's also hard to buy "extra" insurance when you don't have a nice income.? We've been where we had to make do with "potato and onion soup" for our meals over several days recently, in trying to have the money to pay our bills.? That is normal... and things like food stamps help, although the program is based on 1960s data and doesn't begin to cover the cost of food today (add to that the sad fact that when poor people try to have a decent, balanced diet like everyone else, people judge them {wrongly} and will attack them - even to their face in line!)

Another tidbit - the person being attacked might be disabled, and most very real disabilities are not 'visible'.? A recent news article was revealing - only 23.7% of people with disabilities have been able to hold a full time job for more than one year.? The ADA isn't working as it should - it's being used more to provide tax breaks for corporations rather than getting people gainfully employed!? They may be trying to survive on very little - and having extra cash to buy more insurance... not a possibility.

Another tidbit - most homeless people are young families, not the lazy drunk or doper that is the stereotype.? People who are homeless and used drugs generally didn't start until after they became homeless - using drugs was a coping mechanism to deal with the hellish stigma they experience.? The top ten reasons for homelessness - the first five are purely economic (job loss to downsizing or shipped overseas, hour or wage reduction if not outright wage theft, and so on).? Mental illness... if I remember right, it was 7th.? Drug use or alcoholism was 9th or lower.

In other words, poverty is usually not the result of personal failings, but usually a social evil caused by structures and policies.? People who haven't been there don't understand how rough it can be.

I've noticed a tendency in some of the people on this blog to blame people who've had a hard time, and to make suggestions that they may not realize are insulting.? It's easy to blame the person who had the problem, and ignore the person who CAUSED the problem.

Anyway, Wayne... it sounds like you've got a pretty good support base - the reality of poverty in the USA is that's the only way most poor people survive.? I was worried about that.

I can suggest a lot of good books (and research articles) on this subject, but will only mention a couple:

The Poor Pay More by Caplovitz.? A dated book from the 60s, but what he writes is still very true and accurate today.? I've personally witnessed it numerous times in the last 20 years.

Blaming the Poor by Dr. Susan Greenbaum.? A recent publication, it explores the reality of poverty and how we got to where we are in this country today.

Funny thing is that most working poor don't realize that they ARE poor (until they get hit with something like a burned truck).? It's not shameful to be poor, what IS shameful is that the things that would lessen the problem are strenuously fought against.

Bob