Poverty industry: Difference between revisions

The terms '''poverty industry''' or '''poverty business''' refer to a wide range of money-making activities that attract a large portion of their business from the [[poverty|poor]] because they are poor. Businesses in the poverty industry often include [[payday loan]] centers, [[pawnbroker|pawnshops]], [[rent-to-own]] centers, casinos, liquor stores, lotteries, tobacco stores, credit card companies, and bail-bond services.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 7, 2018 |title=Google bans ads for bail bonds services |work=Inside AdWords |url=https://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/05/google-bans-ads-for-bail-bonds-services.html |quote=Studies show that for-profit bail bond providers make most of their revenue from communities of color and low income neighborhoods...}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rivlin |first=Gary |date=9 June 2010 |title=Fat Times for the Poverty Industry |journal=The Atlantic |quote=The pawnbroker, the subprime auto lender, and the rent-to-own operator might say the same. These and other merchants, part of what might be called the poverty business... |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/fat-times-for-the-poverty-industry/57906/ |accessdateaccess-date=22 July 2013|author-link=Gary Rivlin}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=EXPOSÉ on THE JOURNAL: The Business of Poverty |publisher=Bill Moyers Journal |url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08082008/profile.html |accessdateaccess-date=4 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Brian |title=The Poverty Business |magazine=Business Week |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035001.htm?chan=search |accessdateaccess-date=4 June 2010}}</ref> Illegal ventures such as [[loansharking]] might also be included. The poverty industry makes roughly US$33 billion a year in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rivlin |first=Gary |date=June 2010 |title=Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.—How the Working Poor Became Big Business |publisher=HarperBusiness |isbn=0061733210 |page= |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Broke-USA-Gary-Rivlin?isbn=9780061733208&HCHP=TB_Broke,+USA |accessdateaccess-date=22 July 2013}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2013}} In 2010, elected American federal officials received more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions from poverty-industry donors.<ref>{{cite news |last=McNay |first=Don |author-link=Don McNay |date=29 July 2011 |title=Legalized Loan Sharks |work=The Huffington Post |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mcnay/legalized-loan-sharks_b_912870.html |accessdateaccess-date=22 July 2013 |quote=The poverty industry has given huge contributions to lawmakers. According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, payday lenders donated more than $1.5 million to federal office holders during the 2010 election cycle.}}</ref>

*{{cite book |editor-last=Hudson |editor-first=Michael |others=Introduction by Maxine Waters |date=1993 |title=Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits From Poverty |publisher=Common Courage Press |isbn=978-1567510829 |url=http://www.commoncouragepress.com/index.cfm?action=book&bookid=082 |accessdateaccess-date=22 July 2013}}

*{{cite book |last=Caskey |first=John P. |date=1996 |title=Fringe Banking: Check-Cashing Outlets, Pawnshops and the Poor |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |isbn=978-0-87154-180-2 |url=https://www.russellsage.org/publications/fringe-banking |accessdateaccess-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205223141/http://www.russellsage.org/publications/fringe-banking |archive-date=5 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}