Poor Person Application: Fill & Download for Free

Sam Vimes’ (my second favorite person atop A’Tuin, just ahead of Havelock Vetinari, and directly after Moist Von Lipwig) sardonic take on life is often an exaggeration and simplification of reality. So with that in mind…There is a lot of truth to this theory. It is far more expensive to be poor than it is to be rich, both in a percentage of income respect and a direct effect. Let’s look at a couple examples of the Boots Theory in the real world:Minimum account fees at banks.In this example you have people who don’t maintain bank accounts because the minimum balance is too high a bar of entry. They’ll pay a check cashing fee of $5 twice a month rather than paying a minimum balance fee of $20 for the month. A richer person never needs to worry about either fee while the poor person pays an extra $10 just to access their money.Overdraft feesIn this example, it can be better for a poorer person to buy a money order ($1.25 at the post office) than to use a checking account (if they have one), on the simple basis that one missed transaction could cost them $35 in overdraft fees. Four bills would cost an extra $5 a month.ATM FeesA poorer person generally has less than $500 accessible to them. The average ATM fee is $3.50, representing 1% of their liquid money. It may be a pittance to a rich person who needs $60 cash, but to a poorer person it’s a significant expense.Renting vs BuyingThe mortgage on a two story three bedroom house is very similar to (and often lower than) the rent on a two or three bedroom apartment. The difference between the two is a down payment and credit rating. A poorer person would have a significant amount of trouble amassing a $15k or $20k down payment as opposed to a $1.5k deposit. This means a poor person gains zero equity for the same cost.FurnitureA good couch can last 10 to 20 years ($600 for a basic new couch), at a cost of $60 per year or less. Take $120 and find a used or new couch that will be serviceable and comfortable for 2 years or more. I doubt most people can do it. This goes doubly for beds.Shoes (because of course, although all clothing can fall in this category)A $20 pair of tennis shoes from Payless would tear in half along the sole in about 6 weeks time when I was bartending/serving. A $100 pair of Nikes would last a year or more. $100 is a significant investment when you’re trying to use 73% (the national average among low income workers, last I checked) of your income to just survive, but $20 is doable.These are just a few off the top of my head. The sheer assault of extra costs when you’re poor are everywhere. And may the god mentioned on dollars bills have mercy on your soul if you ever need to use a credit card or take out a payday loan, because that’s a spiral to infinite debt in the pits of economic hell.

India is India. And, even from Indian standards, Bihar is supposed to be one of the worst administrated states. If you have money, you can manage things in India. This is a sorry state of affairs.It has happened in many cases wherein rich and influential people are convicted of criminal cases. They generally manipulate medical certificates and get admitted to hospitals with 5-star (or similar) facilities, instead of spending their imprisonment in actual jail.So, such VIPs prisoners will either get bail (even after conviction) or will at least manage a hospital stay by manipulating medical certificates. This is despite medical facilities being available for jails.Lalu Yadav is supposed to be in jail. But, for last several months, he is in hospital where he gets all possible facilities. As per news reports, he is in a paying hospital, i.e., he pays to the hospital.On 10 January 2019, Jharkhand High Court had rejected the bail application of Lalu Yadav in 3 corruption cases in which he had been convicted (in fact, he is convicted in 4 cases). As far as I understand, he has not got bail orders from the Supreme Court after rejection of his bail by High Court.So, officially, he is undergoing his imprisonment sentence. But, he is in comfortable environment of a hospital. Unlike many poor persons, who have to actually spend their imprisonment in unliveable dirty conditions of a jail.Moreover, he is openly misusing this special treatment that he has got as a VIP prisoner.He is not supposed to play politics and not to issue any political statements, while being in jail. But, he keeps doing it quite often. An ordinary citizen (while in jail) will never get these privileges.Remember, a prisoner is not allowed to have a mobile phone inside jail. There are restrictions on people meeting him. His freedom is completely restrained (that is what a prison or jail is supposed to be).But, not for VIP prisoners like Lalu Yadav.Imprisonment can also be fun, if you are a VIP in India or if you have money.However, nobody bothers. I don’t know whether even CBI has complained to the court on these issues.That is the difference in India between an ordinary person and a VIP.And, on the top of it all, he calls himself a socialist.And, and, ..., people will still vote for his party.

One thing Harvard repeats over and over is that money should never be the reason that somebody cannot attend Harvard. Everything I have ever seen suggests that is 100% true.Their financial aid is extremely generous, and applications are made on a “needs blind” basis (ie. rich and poor applicants are treated alike - but if you get in, you then qualify for financial aid if you come from an economically disadvantaged background).I don’t have the stats to hand, but an overwhelming number of students receive some kind of financial assistance from the university, and a pretty healthy sized chunk (I want to say around 17%?) pay nothing at all. I will try and dig up real stats later and amend my answer.EDIT: According to Harvard approximately 70% of students receive some kind of financial aid, and fully 20% pay nothing at all.