I've been "counting couch change for food" poor and "maybe I can retire early" rich and the thing that strikes me the most about both is how many facets of soci

I've been "counting couch change for food" poor and "maybe I can retire early" rich and the thing that strikes me the most about both is how many facets of society are geared to punish the poor. Your car broke down on the side of the road and you needed a week to get the money to fix it? Now you have a fine and an exorbitant ransom on your vehicle from a towing company. Your employer made a mistake with your paycheck and it didn't arrive on time? Cool, now you have an overdraft fee, a bounced check fee and late fees for every monthly payment that hit at the wrong time. There goes your paycheck. You need a loan for a car to get to work? No problem, you'll just need to pay 21% interest and insane late fees if you miss a payment. You need to buy boots for work? Payless has $10 boots but they'll only last a few months, so you can rebuy them 5 times a year or maybe just destroy your feet instead. Meanwhile, my insurance company will tow my car for free, I have a buffer in the bank such that nothing could possibly bounce and even if it did they would forgive me, I have a 5 year, zero interest rate loan on my car, points back on credit cards for buying things I'd buy anyway, free money for getting a new credit card or bank account, etc...