I do not believe these rent to own stores are hurting poor people. In cases they can impair someone's judgment with the 'well its only 30 dollars a month' mentality, when it is twice or ten times the cost in the long run. But ultimately its up to the purchaser to make the important decisions about what they buy, what they can afford, and what they cant.

If you dont understand something, or have questions about the prices or anything in a store, most of the time employees will help you, honestly, and try to resolve your questions. If they do not answer your question to your satisfaction, then you need to seek advice elsewhere before continuing. Dont expect them to tell you outright that it costs 3 times as much in the long run by renting to own if you dont ask first.

I however do not have a lot of respect for any of the rent to own stores ive seen locally, they tend to be very pushy, and very underhanded in their attempts to sell you more than you want. I dont like slimy salesmen, and the tricky sales tactics they often use.

There was however one case when i was out of state a couple of years ago and we were up-town browsing electronics stores and ran across this one which clearly marked everything in their store with a cash-in-hand price, 2 different sets of monthly payment amounts based on 1 and 2 year loans, and the total expense on that product if choosing to go with one of those options. This particular store was not out to trick people into longterm agreements, and its sales staff didnt try to push anything on ya and was very helpful in showing, comparing, and recommending their products.

Granted anyone with even the most simple of math skills can figure all of this stuff out, but under high pressure sales, the temptation of an item you cant own otherwise, and a very cheap monthly payment option, and maybe the offer of some free item to go with your purchase, its fairly easy to trick people. Its a very widely practiced sales tactic used not just on the desperate.

Note: This is gonna be a fairly rambling rant without much direction or even a thesis... Sorry

Increasingly our nation's poor have actual cash flows--either income sources, entitlements, or whatever. In a capitalistic world businesses will try to draw profit from anywhere they can.

This is a good thing.

There's not a set amount of wealth in the world--wealth is constantly being generated. The lower economic class today is capable of having new inventions much earlier than in the past. The poor today are much richer than the poor of the past--at least in terms of discretionary assets. I won't deny they may be poorer in terms of necessities (healthy food, health care, etc), but this seems like a backfiring of historical subsidies and other crap.

Anyway, as I said, the poor have money. Much more than they've had in the past. This makes it worthwhile for businesses to tap that market. This is a good thing. The more commerce that exists in the low end of the spectrum the better.

Poor "advocates" get pissed because the lower class is generally less-educated--especially in financial matters--than their better-off brethren. What's worse is that before they can be educated in financial matters, they need to be educated in education. Individuals need to understand that despite the woeful almost useless state of Government-run schooling in lower-income neighborhoods, education itself is vital.

People in general have a hard time understanding money. Most people would never pay $800 for an amazing home coffee machine. It's too expensive, after all. Yet these same people will spend $5 at Starbucks three times a week and pay the same amount in a year. Long-term, people would be better off buying the $800 machine.

We have very little long-term planning. If something's free today and expensive later we ignore the later and focus on today. We're impatient and don't read the fine print--that your 2 years of no interest only applies if you pay it off in FULL by the end of the term, otherwise you pay back interest for all 24 months on the full principle.

We're nervous monkeys. "See that guy over there? If you don't buy it, he's gonna! I like you, but you gotta decide now before it's too late!"

Every major decision should be deferred until you've had at least one full night to sleep on it. This is insanely difficult even for someone who understands fully why it's such a good idea--people without this education (which is not taught in any school, btw) are almost predisposed to making bad decisions.

So I don't blame poor people. I know it sounds like I do at times, but honestly I don't. I think people with lesser economic means suffer hardships most of us never have to face.

Welfare isn't the answer; simply taking care of them will do nothing to help the situation. Providing opportunity is the answer, but how do you convince people to take advantage of what opportunity exists?

It's the safety net conundrum. On the one hand the obvious moral thing to do is protect your fellow man. Nobody wants to see people starve or suffer. Even the most sinister Scrooge amongst us would prefer everyone has access to top-quality health care.

But like Japanese teenagers, people will never learn to succeed on their own if they're not kicked out of the nest. Families have been doing this for centuries and is where motivation should come from. But what happens when that breaks down?

Credit lenders like this are not the problem. Regardless, we can't simply write off the economic mess people get themselves into as just rewards for stupid decisions. As a society we need to take responsibility for our collective role in causing the current situation and doing little to fix it. The fact that so many people do not value education reflects poorly on all of us.

I'm not sure what the right answer is. Apathy and a return to laissez-faire oversight? Socialism? The current state of endless tug-of-war?

How do you mandate motivation? How do you convince people to better themselves?

Survival of the fittest is a cruel ideal to aim for, especially when not all people are afforded the same opportunity.

I don't know what the answer is. What I do know is that destroying pay-day lenders and rent-to-own companies will not fix the problem. Preventing people the freedom of making boneheaded mistakes is not worth the cost of denying others the opportunity to use such services to get ahead.

Ive got to agree with pretty much every point ya made, and that destroying the rent to own and similar services that are offered will not help anyone. I do think that these stores should be honest and open with their clients about the costs associated with the rent to own contracts, but they do provide a legitimate service for some people.

In our shop we are mandated by policy from our suppliers that when we sell a new product, we must go over it with our customers, tell them about the procedures, give them operating and safety instructions, and also give them all of this stuff in the paperwork too. But we did this anyway long before we were required to do it in any official manner. We also inform our customers about products and simple methods that will help keep them from needing to come back for service work which is easily preventable.

I have little if any faith in our schools as an educational system, and unfortunately they often do not teach people the life-skills they need in order to succeed, or even have any sort of street smart once they get out into the world. I wont claim to know what a good solution would be in regards to educating our uneducated, but there are many businesses out there who could participate in the education process which do not.

I'm a fairly big fan of the CATO Institute. As always, their take on this issue is insightful. (Although usually they offer up some kind of suggestion, rather than just complaining)

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9247

Despite this, I still think Obama is the best candidate. Damn our two-party system.

It concerns me that the people who run for office are really either..

1: In it for the votes, so they can get into office for some reason and push their own agendas.

2: Really stupid, unable to understand what the real impact that these proposals that they propose will have.

You usually only hear about the controversial topics, but some of the stuff that slips under the radar will scare ya too. I have very very little faith in our elected leadership. Unfortunately, most of them are not critically thinking about the issues, many of them see a problem, and come up with a one-sided solution, and somehow get it to pass.

I cant stand politics most of the time, makes me ill. Kinda like how you feel when you watch fanatical religious nuts protest gay marine funerals, or run around blowing themselves up, or otherwise interfering in other people's business by pushing their own agendas without regard to any sort of respect. Granted many of them do have free speech under the constitution. Unfortunately that does not also bestow upon them much decency or discretion.

I was never good at choosing between two evils. Our politicians and leaders scare me.

Amused? :P

I like Phelps and the gang.

Nah, that dosnt amuse me, makes me feel kinda sick to my stomach. It shouldnt matter what his gender preference was, or that he was a marine, this was a kid that died serving our country, and the group was basically harassing the relatives who were trying to grieve. Thats going a bit too far, but then again fanatical peoples rarely ever respect any sort of boundaries so its not like you can expect more from em.