The journey from there to here
Published on November 29, 2006 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

I was speaking with my instructor about one of the young men in our class the other day. The young man reminds me so much of my younger, less disciplined (HA! It'a hard to think of myself as being LESS disciplined, but I was, and also, I digress) self that I feel compelled to work with him in ways that may help him avoid some of the pitfalls I've had on my journey.

One of the most compelling features of this young man is that he is always "bumming" money, material objects or other things. As I watch his behaviour, and as I get to know this rather remarkable young man (supremely gifted in many ways), it has begun to strike me that he operates on what I can only call a "poor man's economy". It is an economy I've operated on much of my life, and which I am working to break myself of. And I believe that understanding this mentality is the most significant key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

See, the economy of the poor is, first and foremost, an economy of immediacy. Because the poor are constantly dealing with late payments they can no longer postpone, with emergency financial costs for which they were unprepared, with repair costs for items that were fixed last month, but not fixed right, they are constantly digging themselves into deeper and deeper holes. And they turn to short term fixes to repair their problem. They don't care that the check cashing place is charging them 520% annual interest; they only care that they only need to pay $20 to hold their check for two weeks. And there is no shortage of predatory lenders to take advantage of those who operate on this economy. That's why these places are more prolific in poorer neighbourhoods than in wealthy and middle class neighbourhoods.

In this economy of immediacy, there is no plan for the future. The individual will protest that they have no money left, ignoring the bucket of KFC on their kitchen table that cost them FAR more than what the chicken, grease and flour would have cost them to make it at home. They will demand that they can't buy junior's medicine, while they pull out their pack of Marlboros and take a swill of beer. In all of my life in dealing with the poor, I have yet to see anyone who will even see switching to a CHEAPER BRAND of cigarettes as a solution to their problem. They build up no ownership equity in their household items, often paying high amounts to rent big screen TV's at enormously high interest rates that virtually ensure they will never be truly owned by the customer. They simply don't see a $60 13 inch TV with rabbit ears and a $40 DVD player as a viable option until they can save enough to get the big screen. They will holler about the couch at Goodwill that costs $75, but pay more than that per week to rent a living room suite from the same places.

But it's not that there is any desire to not succeed in life, it is just that it has never occurred to them that success is a possibility. Success only happens by accident, and that is why putting out $20 a week for lottery tickets is not a splurge, it's an investment. You can't win if you don't play, right? The idea of putting that $20 in savings for a year and turning that money over into a CD, quite frankly, never even occurred to many of them. The "easy money" has too strong of an appeal.

But I believe the primary issue, the KEY issue, that maintains the economy of the poor is that they don't place a value on their time. Getting back to this individual in question: when I needed brake work done on my car, he showed up, no questions asked. And he didn't charge a dime. Because of this, I kind of keep a secret reserve for him, a reserve I use to pay for occasional dinners out (one of the skills he needs to learn most is social skills; what better way to teach him than encouraging him to get out in the community and observe). When he wants a soda, I pop up with a buck as quick as he asks. I understand the real world economy, he doesn't, yet.

Because they don't put a value on their time, they don't see the value of others' time. When they will ask for an object, or a time commitment, they don't think that it would burden the other individual, because it wouldn't burden them. That's why they often get offended when their requests are refused; because, to them it is a small request, whereas to you, at the end of a 60 hour work week, it might be more than you can give at the time.

Because they don't understand money, theft is also no small matter to them. If they take an item, you can replace it, no problem. It's what they do. And besides, you don't own it anyway (to their thinking; remember, the rental companies own most of their things), so if they take it, they're "sticking it to the man" because the people who really pay the price are the rental places that own it or the insurance companies (because if you own it, you must have it insured, right?) While their motives are not altogether altruistic, they almost tend to feel as if they're doing you a favor.

Now, keep in mind, I'm not talking about violent criminals here. Violent criminals have different motivations, some of them less sinister than you might think. Violent criminals are another matter entirely, and one for another blog (which I DON'T intend to write, at this point). I'm talking about your run of the mill poor person; the people you meet who are not so different in so many respects. While they may not be superficially different, in other ways, they operate on completely different worlds, with completely different economies.

I should know. I've been there.


Comments
on Nov 30, 2006

Amen!!

People think poor is a matter of money, but it goes far deeper than that.  If a rich man loses everyting, he'll probably get it back before too long.  If middle class people lose everything, they too pick up and eventually get back on their feet. 

As you point out so well, poor is a lifestyle.  Like all lifestyles, the activities involved perpetuate themselves.  Which is why a poor person, even if they come into huge amounts of money, will most likely be poor again before very long.

on Nov 30, 2006
Your statement on the value of time is very insightful.  I actually did not understand that myself (and I have a degree in economics) until I was laid off the first time.  Or maybe a better way of saying it is, I did not appreciate the value of time before then.