Challenges and opportunities affecting the working poor

• Cash on hand--for obvious reasons
• EITC and the 'rapid refund' (interest rates may vary, from 100% to 521%!)
• Working 'under the table' (for cash)--no tax credit
• Help? You mean, like social and human capital-building??
• Fraud and the IRS--focusing on EITC recipients meant higher auditing rates among the working poor than those making over $100,000 (this changed under the Obama Administration)
• Payday loans -- doing what banks refuse to do (for a, um, slight fee)
• The lotto--tax on people who are bad at math??
• Getting credit, credit ratings
• Budgeting, shopping, housing, health care, transportation--if you don't have money, you're likely to have to spend a lot more of it, meaning . . . . . payday loans?