The poor in America pay the highest rates for:
1) loans (The poor are a “bad risk”, so banks won’t loan, and other loans–from paycheck cashing places and other less formal means–are at usury rates.)
2) transportation (Buses and taxis cost far more per mile than using a car.)
3) food (Since transportion is dear, and most poor don’t live within walking distance of discount grocery stores, they eat fast food and grocery shop at expensive convenience stores.)
4) medical services (ER is usually the best they can do, and most don’t have insurance)
5) birth (These costs are less obvious and more insidious–very little pre-natal care, no post-natal care, poor nutrition, minimal or no education, etc. In many ways, this one is more costly than the other 5 combined.)
