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Old 07-01-2009, 06:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snafu View Post
The poor spend nearly their entire income to cover basic needs, rent, utilities, food, clothes, auto/transportation, entertainment. There is no money left for savings, ER fund, investment.
That is true to an extent, however the poor also have a much higher rate of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, lottery ticket purchasing, etc.

The poor tend to blow a higher percentage of income on frivolous stuff. Their priorities tend to be out of whack. I once did a house call to a home of a very poor family. The living room had a beautiful big flat screen TV on a decent stand and nothing else in the room. This was a number of years ago when TVs like that were a few thousand dollars. The poor, in my experience, are often much more attached to material items for appearances and status - the latest cell phone, manicured nails, fancy earrings, etc., even though they can't really afford any of that stuff.
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