Poverty

Squeezing Blood From A Turnip

How monetizing the poor brings in big bucks for the rich

Photo by Acton Crawford on Unsplash

You would think people intent on making a fortune would focus on rich people. They’re the ones with all the money.

But plenty of opportunistic capitalists have found you can squeeze a surprising amount of money from poor people, too … and there are a helluva lot more poor people than rich people. After all, in modern-day America, the poor are one of our most plentiful resources.

You’ve heard the old saying, of course: You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. When I worked for a certain employer, I used to joke that whoever said that hadn’t met our owners, who were convinced that just a little more squeezing would surely yield blood.

If you are living on the edge, you already know a lot of companies are trying to take advantage of the fact that you just don’t have ideal options and that many people are quite willing to squeeze you until you bleed.

Poverty is expensive.

Housing is a big chunk of most people’s living expenses, and if you don’t have…