So, when you run out of money and bounce a check, the bank charges you a $35 fee for each overdrawn draft. Typically one leads to another like a snowball running over dominoes. If you are poor, probably with bad credit, and work for yourself, you cannot have a credit card to act as overdraft protection. Society doesn’t permit that. Ironically, if you have money, you can also have as much credit as you like; I know this – once upon a time I was "the credit card kid!" I overheard someone tonight bragging on his cell phone that "I can put my child’s college education on my credit cards." The poor person that is not provided the leniency of credit during their difficult times is further punished for not having money by being charged a $36 per day overdrawn fee by their bank. Quickly, a poor person that has drained their bank account trying to purchase store brand food and necessities can come under the hammer for several hundred dollars in non-tangible fees.
Out of curiosity, I called LaborReady yesterday to see how they worked:
Me: How do you work?
LaborReady: You work today, you get paid today.
Me: Excellent! Do you have any jobs that pay $300 or $400?
LaborReady, laughing: No. Show up at 5am [20-30 minute drive] dressed for construction and fill out an application. At 5:30 we will tell you if you are working that day. Pay is $6 per hour.
$6 per hour! After taxes and cost of lunch, that will about pay the gas it took to get to the LaborReady office and job site. How could a poor person even consider paying the banking fees doing something like that?
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