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Our poorest workers wouldn't be our poorest workers if they didn't lack "access to the most basic forms of fintech". They are poor because they are exploited:

Our poorest workers wouldn't be our poorest workers if they didn't lack "access to the most basic forms of fintech". They are poor because they are exploited: by "businesspeople" who can't pay the daily maintenance costs of their own workers and rely on public subsidies to make up the difference, by banks and payday lenders who scrape fees and interest off meager paychecks, by politicians who misdirect their outrage at college graduates.

mywittyname 7y ago
It's expensive to be poor in the US. And, unless you've been poor, it can be hard to empathize with because poor problems are largely solved by having more money. Example: people who receive their paycheck on, effectively, a visa gift card need to pay relatively high fees in order to access that money. A solution would be to suggest a bank account, but those are also expensive when you're poor as banks often make a healthy chunk of profit from fees that hit poor people the most. Practically every solution to this problem is some variation on, "just [have more money]." Which is why these people still face exploitation in the wealthiest country in the world.
- milkytron 7y ago
  Pardon my ignorance, but is getting paid in visa gift cards a common occurrence for the poor in the US?
  - eli_gottlieb 7y ago
    Not usually Visa gift cards, but getting paid via debit card has become somewhat common for low-wage workers. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/business/as-pay-cards-replace-paychecks-bank-fees-hurt-workers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/business/as-pay-cards-rep...
  - mywittyname 7y ago
    Not literally a Visa gift card. The reason I say, "effectively, a visa gift card" is because they are functionally the same and people here understand how annoying they are to use. And it's very common for people without bank accounts to get their paychecks on a Visa Payroll Card (or similar). It's a good way for companies to offload the cost of accounting onto the employee.
- craftinator 7y ago
  > It's expensive to be poor in the US. And, unless you've been poor, it can be hard to empathize with because poor problems are largely solved by having more money. This is a great summary of the major issue with being poor. I know people who live in Italy and Denmark who take home about the same percentage below the poverty line there that I did when I was quite poor. They always had food on the table, always had medical care, and didn't miss rent payments. We just cut poor people loose here.
lotsofpulp 7y ago
They’re exploited by voters who keep voting against taxpayer funded social safety nets. The unemployment systems don’t work because the voters intentionally vote for politicians that don’t want them to work. Out of ire against those that receive benefits.
- samdamsamm 7y ago
  The media industry makes it extremely difficult to reach useful information and verify it’s integrity. Sure, you can find a bunch of journalist blogs online through Reddit and Twitter, but which do you trust? That takes a lot of work, so most working people end up accepting the mainstream corporate news, which conveniently does not offer the information working people need.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    I’m not willing to give people that benefit of the doubt. There is a very large portion of US voters that philosophically do not believe in helping others outside their tribe, and will punish politicians for any broad measure to assist the bottom rungs in any meaningful way. They will support certain charities, support extremely means tested and convoluted benefits, but they know any real help will increase their taxes and result in wealth redistribution, so they will vote against it no matter what. Easy proof is the complete lack of parental support, or the laughably outdated minimum wage. The funny thing is that from what I can observe, most of the opposition to social safety net benefits comes from people who barely have any wealth that could be redistributed from them anyway. They just don’t like the idea of other tribes getting help!

mywittyname 7y ago

It's expensive to be poor in the US. And, unless you've been poor, it can be hard to empathize with because poor problems are largely solved by having more money. Example: people who receive their paycheck on, effectively, a visa gift card need to pay relatively high fees in order to access that money. A solution would be to suggest a bank account, but those are also expensive when you're poor as banks often make a healthy chunk of profit from fees that hit poor people the most. Practically every solution to this problem is some variation on, "just [have more money]." Which is why these people still face exploitation in the wealthiest country in the world.

milkytron 7y ago
Pardon my ignorance, but is getting paid in visa gift cards a common occurrence for the poor in the US?
- eli_gottlieb 7y ago
  Not usually Visa gift cards, but getting paid via debit card has become somewhat common for low-wage workers. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/business/as-pay-cards-replace-paychecks-bank-fees-hurt-workers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/business/as-pay-cards-rep...
- mywittyname 7y ago
  Not literally a Visa gift card. The reason I say, "effectively, a visa gift card" is because they are functionally the same and people here understand how annoying they are to use. And it's very common for people without bank accounts to get their paychecks on a Visa Payroll Card (or similar). It's a good way for companies to offload the cost of accounting onto the employee.
craftinator 7y ago
> It's expensive to be poor in the US. And, unless you've been poor, it can be hard to empathize with because poor problems are largely solved by having more money. This is a great summary of the major issue with being poor. I know people who live in Italy and Denmark who take home about the same percentage below the poverty line there that I did when I was quite poor. They always had food on the table, always had medical care, and didn't miss rent payments. We just cut poor people loose here.

lotsofpulp 7y ago

They’re exploited by voters who keep voting against taxpayer funded social safety nets. The unemployment systems don’t work because the voters intentionally vote for politicians that don’t want them to work. Out of ire against those that receive benefits.

samdamsamm 7y ago
The media industry makes it extremely difficult to reach useful information and verify it’s integrity. Sure, you can find a bunch of journalist blogs online through Reddit and Twitter, but which do you trust? That takes a lot of work, so most working people end up accepting the mainstream corporate news, which conveniently does not offer the information working people need.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I’m not willing to give people that benefit of the doubt. There is a very large portion of US voters that philosophically do not believe in helping others outside their tribe, and will punish politicians for any broad measure to assist the bottom rungs in any meaningful way. They will support certain charities, support extremely means tested and convoluted benefits, but they know any real help will increase their taxes and result in wealth redistribution, so they will vote against it no matter what. Easy proof is the complete lack of parental support, or the laughably outdated minimum wage. The funny thing is that from what I can observe, most of the opposition to social safety net benefits comes from people who barely have any wealth that could be redistributed from them anyway. They just don’t like the idea of other tribes getting help!