Susan,

    I think what you say is true, and also think (but don't know) that there is some research to back that up. My views are somewhat beyond that, though.

    First, planning for the future takes a backseat to getting from one day to the next. Poverty creates or increases chaos and crisis.

A family just making it who experiences a bad break--say, health problems--death of the wage earner-- is very easily tipped over the financial precipice. The difficulties snowball quickly--get behind on the rent to pay for medicine, then get behind on the electricity to pay the back rent, then can't pay the car insurance so the tags get revoked, just at the same time your doctor says you can go back to work from the broken leg and arm and now you have no way to get to work....which you must do to get the money to get the car legal so you drive anyway and get pulled, and now you have all the fines and court costs to pay before you can get your tags back, even if you do come up with the money to renew the insurance!

Scenerios like this are much more common than the average middle-class American knows.

TBC Janie