Reply #66: 1st, it's not a conspiracy to "crush the poor." 2nd, debit cards suck.

[eallen]

Everything is harder on the poor. If you have a modicum of savings, you keep the liquid part in a money market account that pays today around 5% interest. If you're poor, you pay the check store to cash your check, and then figure out a way to keep the cash safe. If you're really poor, your pocket is bare. If you're relatively well off, you own a house. If you have modest means, rent sucks up a large percentage of your income. If you're poor, you sleep under the stars. If you're well-off, you go to recovery. Just like Mel Gibson. If you have more modest means, you go to AA. If you're poor, everyone tells you that you could get off the streets if you just dried up. Being poor sucks. There have been some municipal projects aimed at the poor, mostly to get them out of sight. Most of these differences are just because the poor are not a target market, for the simple reason, that they don't have much purchasing power. What political capital they have comes from liberal politicians, many of whom aren't really thinking much about what would help. The right-wingers, of course, use the poor as a hobgoblin against their base, who would prefer not to think about the poor, except on Sundays, when discussing how to missionize them.

If you're relatively well off, you have a credit card that costs nothing, that you pay off each month, and that pays a cash rebate on every purchase. If your means are more modest, you're either float credit card debt, or you have a debit card, that charges a fee each time you use it. If you're poor, you have to pay cash.

I would never own a debit card for a very simple reason: the money is drawn from the account before I've reviewed the bill. In theory, fraud protection is much the same for credit cards and debit cards. In theory, the rich and poor are equally free to sleep under the bridge. In practice, I have found it is much easier to keep money in my pocket, than to get it back from someone else's pocket, who thinks it is rightfully theirs. With a credit card, the money is in my pocket until I see the bill and write the check. With a debit card, if I think there are $500 of fraudulent charges, I have to work to get that money back. I hate trying to get money back. I'm perfectly comfortable telling someone I don't owe what they think, and that George Bush will be freezing his ass in hell before they get paid. But that's just me.

:hippie: