Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Ryan Mack
Series Code: DAS
Program Code: DAS000013S
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00:27 Hi, welcome to Dollars and Sense.
00:29 I'm Yvonne Lewis, your co-host for this program. 00:32 And our primary host is Ryan Mack, a Financial Literacy 00:37 expert, and just a great brother in the Lord. 00:40 Ryan, it's so good to have you on this program. 00:43 Thank you for having me here. 00:45 As always, this series has been so fun. 00:46 We've been going into a lot of different areas of the 00:48 Bible and the word. 00:50 And I just hope the people out there receive it well. 00:53 Me too, me too! And the topics are so relevant. 00:56 And today's topic of financial predators; 00:59 that's going to be the bomb. 01:00 I mean it absolutely; you're right about it. 01:03 I mean this is one of the topics I've been passionate 01:06 about for many years. 01:07 And I remember that I was always, when I was on CNN, 01:12 and they would always call me to essentially address what 01:16 these prepaid debit cards, or the RushCards, and the negative 01:20 things that were about them. 01:22 And they really do take advantage of a lot of people. 01:26 And so we have a Scripture here today that I think we'll really 01:29 set the tone for what we can do about them. 01:33 I mean we see them all on street corners every day, 01:35 and we're going to walk down a neighborhood street, 01:37 and we're going to look at the different stores virtually 01:40 through this show today. 01:41 But I think Hosea 4:6 really brings it home when it says: 01:56 I mean that to me really exemplifies the entire crux of 02:03 how these financial predators, this 02:05 360 billion dollar industry. Wow! 02:08 And they're making more and more money every year off the backs 02:12 of exploiting poor people. 02:13 Off the poor! 360 billion dollars from poor people! 02:18 Absolutely. What they're doing is they are, they look, 02:22 and you know what, whether you are in rural America, 02:25 or Appalachia, or whether you're in urban America, 02:29 or you're outside of veteran bases. 02:31 You know, this is not a black, or brown, or a white thing. 02:34 This is a green thing. 02:35 They are attacking those areas that they feel are the most 02:39 vulnerable to being exploited. 02:43 I mean I remember sometimes I would be watching BET 02:46 and I'd say, You know what, I see this RushCard, 02:48 and I see the BET control card. 02:51 These are prepaid debit cards. 02:52 And we'll explain what they are in a second. 02:54 But then I would see maybe they're attacking the minority 02:58 and the people of color community. 03:00 I said, Well, wait! 03:01 And then I would see Troy Aikman, and Hulk Hogan 03:03 for Rent to Own stores. 03:05 I said, Wow! Then I would see George Lopez 03:08 with the Mango card. 03:10 And I would see Justin Beaver with the Believer card. 03:12 Then I would see Suze Orman with the Approved card. 03:15 Then I would see Tom Jordan with the REACH card. 03:17 Or, I think, Little Wayne had a Ratchet card. 03:22 I don't know, I don't know... 03:23 A ratchet card!... but it was... 03:25 I don't know the name of it, but they're just, 03:28 they're coming all over. 03:29 And they don't care about your race, or your color. 03:32 They just care about the green. 03:34 And they're coming, they're coming hard. 03:36 And you know what? It's interesting 03:38 because marketing is key. Yes. 03:40 And the way it's marketed, it's like this is so great for you. 03:44 Just get this card, and you can get whatever you want. Yes. 03:48 And the thought of having to pay it back, or pay it back plus 03:51 something, nobody's thinking like that. 03:54 They're just thinking, I've got this card. 03:56 I want to go shopping. Right. 03:57 I'm going to buy whatever I want. Boom! 03:59 And you know, a lot of individuals, when they get these 04:01 products they defend them to the hilt. 04:03 And the bottom line is that... 04:06 And I've interviewed a lot of people just asking them, 04:08 Why do you use this particular establishment? 04:11 What's the value behind it? 04:13 What's, what do you think is? 04:14 Why is this RushCard so valuable to you? 04:17 And do you not know that there are other alternatives? 04:20 And they say, Well, no, this is all I know. 04:22 This is all I know. 04:24 All I know is this check cashing facility. 04:26 All I know is a Payday loan if I'm short on money. 04:29 All I know is the pawn shop to help get me by. 04:31 All I know is this prepaid debit card that makes me spend money 04:35 to use my own money. 04:36 This is all they know. 04:38 So, again, My people are destroyed 04:39 for lack of knowledge. 04:40 What's happening is that, in our communities, is that as 04:44 this 360 billion dollar industry becomes big and bigger, 04:47 these stores move into our communities and they have a 04:51 vested interest in keeping people poor. 04:53 They have a vested interest in having a perpetual 04:56 underclass of our economies. 04:59 And as long as the indivuals are poor they can make money. 05:02 They can make more money, because it's 05:04 expensive to be poor. 05:05 Because all of these fees, and the lack of opportunity, 05:09 the lack of upward mobility, the lack of upward movement, 05:11 if you've got a bank account that means you're 05:14 establishing your credit. 05:15 That means that if you've got more wealth the bank wants 05:18 you to make more money. 05:20 They want you to move up the ladder of success. 05:22 Because as long as you bank with them then you'll be levy to say, 05:26 Hey, here are all these other banking 05:27 products that you can use. 05:29 And as long as you are moving up the ladder, than we have a 05:34 vested interest in seeing you be successful. 05:35 But the financial creditors had a vested interest in saying, 05:39 We don't want you to improve your credit. 05:40 We don't want you to budget. 05:41 We don't want you to do anything. 05:44 So I have a list of these financial predators that I've 05:47 pointed out in our communities, and would love to go 05:50 down them one by one. Yeah, lets! 05:52 So we're walking down the street and we're in urban 05:56 America, or Appalachia, or rural America, 05:59 or outside a Veteran base. 06:02 What's one of the first things we see 06:04 is this check cashing facility. 06:06 Now this check cash facility, again, 06:09 prays upon what we don't know. 06:11 They hope that you don't know that you can 06:14 open up a bank account. 06:16 They hope that you don't know that you can repair your credit. 06:18 They hope that you don't know that they're going to be 06:21 charging you between 1 to 5 percent of your own money 06:23 just to cash your own money. 06:25 And I've seen people cash checks, as I had one individual 06:28 that we worked with. 06:29 She had actually cashed a check for a home owners loan, 06:34 home equity line of loan. 06:37 And she got that check and it was for upwards of over 06:40 $15,000 for a fee that she paid. 06:43 A fee that she paid! The fee? 06:46 The fee was over $15,000. 06:49 Because the check was almost in the, almost $80 to $90,000. 06:52 But they charged an exorbitant fee because they wanted to make 06:55 sure that the check was real. 06:57 They didn't know if it was real or not, so they charged 06:58 an exorbitant fee, and she paid it. And she paid it! 07:02 And now this check cashing facility. 07:05 In one store in Detroit we were working with a bank 07:10 and one of their customers was a grocery store. 07:13 And this bank estimated that this grocery store, 07:17 because of check cashing, is earning a half a million dollars 07:21 a year in fees alone. Wow! 07:23 Not including produce, none of that, just fees. 07:25 Just fees! Okay, so how does it work, alright? 07:28 For those of us who've never used a check cashing place. 07:30 How does it work? 07:32 Well, you have a job. Right. 07:33 You don't have a bank account. Right. 07:35 You get paid. They have to cut you a check. 07:37 They cut the check to your name. 07:38 You get the check. You can't cash it because you don't 07:40 have a bank account. 07:42 So you go to the check cashing place. 07:43 So they charge a fee for the convenience of you cashing the 07:46 check at the check cashing place. 07:48 Now the thing to this is that I've asked, and we've done many 07:51 focus groups, and polls, and we've asked many people, 07:54 Why do you use this check cashing place? 07:57 And what... it's always; they all say the same thing. 08:01 That I just don't know anything else. 08:04 The liquor store is right up the street. 08:06 The Lottery store, when many times they have check cashing 08:11 in Lotto mix time. 08:12 We're going to talk about Lotto on the second as well. 08:14 The checkout is right up the street. 08:15 There's this, there's a grocery store that's right there. 08:19 It's convenience. It's nothing more than convenience. 08:21 And they don't know any better. 08:23 So what happens? Again, because you have to cash your check 08:25 at this check cashing place, you don't have a banking account. 08:28 You want to buy a house? 08:30 Well, how are you going to unless you buy a house in cash? 08:32 Because you're not going to be able to get a loan, 08:33 because you don't have a bank account. 08:35 You're not bankable. 08:36 You're not improving your credit. 08:37 You ever going to get a business loan and start a business, 08:39 and leverage, and do what individuals in wealthy 08:42 communities will do? 08:43 They take out leverage so they can... 08:44 All these things are not available to you. 08:47 You are in a perpetual under class because now you have to 08:50 spend money to use your own money, 08:52 which is the epitome of nonsense. 08:54 And it's a useless, pointless product. 08:58 But they've taught us, and negatively taught us, 09:04 and influenced us to say that there is no other way but 09:07 to use this product. 09:08 Because you're not good enough to get your own bank account. 09:10 So essentially, Ryan, if you're giving me, you're paying me 09:16 a hundred dollars, then like what percentage of that 09:19 would the check out? 09:20 It would take five dollars. 09:21 Five! So I might as well take five dollars from that 09:24 and just rip it up. 09:25 Rip it up. It's gone. 09:27 Because that's the equivalent of what I'm doing at a 09:30 check cashing place. 09:32 This is why it's expensive to be poor. 09:33 You, if you saw a check cashing facility, would you consider 09:38 this to be a neighborhood in Beverly Hills? No. 09:41 Because they know that that's not their market. 09:43 But when they're outside of a Veteran base, 09:45 outside in Appalachia, and urban America, rural America, 09:50 these places are the places where you know what, 09:53 we're going to look for those places with the lowest credit 09:55 scores, the highest poverty rates, maybe having 09:59 some high crime areas. 10:00 Because we'll just put a glass, we'll put some glass up, 10:02 as long as we can take their money. 10:03 It doesn't matter about the lack of safety. 10:05 You know, I just want their money. 10:06 And this is the mindset that they have. 10:08 And they have an invested interest. 10:10 If that person improves their credit, gets a bank account, 10:13 and starts accumulating wealth, they've lost a customer. 10:15 So, of course, they've got to perpetuate that their product 10:18 is the only way, and is actually a good product. 10:20 And they're going to consider they're doing a good service. 10:22 Just as the rest of these financial predators 10:23 will say the same thing. 10:25 They're doing a good service, in their mind, to the community. 10:27 They have to say that because they have a vested interest 10:29 in keeping people poor. 10:30 Uh hum. Wow, that's amazing! and it's something that we know 10:34 And it's something that we know people are using all the time. 10:39 All the time. All the time. All the time. 10:41 And so the next one that we have here is the payday loan. 10:44 Now the payday loan, I've seen Montel Williams 10:47 advertising these on air. 10:49 And so a lot of times what they'll do is we'll discuss. 10:52 They'll use these celebrities, these stars, and they'll say, 10:57 Oh, Montel Williams, he was a, I think, I believe he was a 11:00 Navy, and, you know, Montel get out of my way! 11:03 Get him out to the Williams show. 11:04 Well, Alli, well, he's a trusted man. 11:06 And, you know, we trust Montel Williams. 11:08 Well, what does the word say? 11:10 Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, right? 11:12 So we're trusting in this man. 11:14 We're trusting that this person does; 11:16 is going to do well for us. 11:18 So we follow this person. 11:20 So the payday loans, they'll charge with. 11:22 You go to the loan and you say, You know what? 11:23 I'm running a little bit short on cash. 11:26 They'll say, Well, it doesn't matter if you're 11:27 running short on cash. 11:29 Come on in here and we'll give you a loan. 11:31 We'll give you some money. 11:32 We'll float you till the next week. 11:33 You're living check to Tuesday. 11:35 We'll float you some money to live the rest of the week 11:37 until your next check, until your next payday. 11:39 So that person goes in and gets the loan out, not knowing that 11:43 that person is being charged, between fees and interest, 11:45 2 to 300 percent interest rate on that loan. 11:48 Oh! 2 to 300 percent! 11:49 Absolutely! Absolutely! 11:51 And they're doing it, and they're doing at Gold's, 11:54 and all these Gold shops, you know. 11:56 And see this is why we have to come back to Christ, right? 12:00 Because they're playing on what the world thinks is important. 12:07 Right? Gold stores, pawn shops, you know, the Gold stores that 12:11 are popping up in neighborhoods everywhere. 12:13 Why? Because they recognize that if a lot individuals 12:16 want that shiny object. 12:18 They want that, Oh, wow, can I have that watch? 12:21 Or I've got to have that jewelry. 12:22 I've got to have that ring. 12:24 And have all these things that are meaningless. 12:26 They're worthless. But all of a sudden they run out of money. 12:29 They have to pawn them. 12:30 So the Gold stores are popping up so the people can pawn their 12:33 jewelry, and they can capitalize off of individuals buying 12:36 jewelry that they couldn't afford in the first place, 12:38 get the jewelry, and then pawn it back to individuals. 12:40 And it's perpetuating poverty. 12:42 So wait, the Gold store is a store that sells gold and then 12:46 also they can pawn it? Absolutely! 12:49 Oh! Absolutely! They sell it because it's a shiny object. 12:52 Right. They know that individuals in poverished 12:54 communities, sometimes when you have a level of individuals who 12:59 have not had a lot of capital, have not had a lot of money, 13:02 who are poor, they might be a little insecure. 13:05 So they attached themselves onto these items: 13:08 this gold, these brand name clothes. 13:13 Or, you know, these shiny things, this jewelry. 13:15 And so they say, You know, what I am now defined by what 13:18 I'm wearing, as opposed to what Christ has put inside of me. 13:22 I'm now defined by what I'm wearing. 13:23 So they'll buy it, and they can't afford it. 13:25 But they know full well that's why they put the Gold store 13:27 there, that those individuals are going to 13:29 eventually have to pawn it. 13:31 So when they have to pawn it, they'll buy it back at a cheaper 13:34 rate, and it's a circulate. 13:35 And then when that person can finally get the money to get 13:37 it out of pawn, they're going to sell it back to them. 13:39 So they're not only buying the jewelry, but then they're making 13:43 more, they have to continue to buy it over, and over, and over 13:46 again until they finally lose it, and then that gold, 13:48 that ring or whatever is sold to somebody else, 13:50 and it goes right back into the circle again. 13:52 This is what they're doing in our communities. 13:55 They are praying upon the worldly desires of us to have to 13:58 get rich, of us to have an image that fits with what the world 14:02 thinks is appropriate, and what we're supposed to do 14:04 that we can't afford. Right. 14:06 And we can't afford this lifestyle. 14:08 The next thing we have to go back to the pay-day loan and get 14:11 additional money out, pay the 200 to 300 per cent 14:13 interest rate, and the next one we have here is the pawn shop. 14:16 Now story: I walk into one of the largest 14:20 pawn shops in Detroit. 14:22 Now I actually reached out to them for partnership because 14:24 I figured, I said, Listen, I want to work with you all. 14:27 Because the people that you're serving are the people that 14:30 I want to educate. 14:31 So is there something that we can do, 14:32 that I can educate your people? 14:35 I'm laughing because I don't think a pawn shop wants 14:38 to work with you, because you're going to be teaching 14:40 people not to pawn their stuff. 14:41 I told them. I told them that. 14:43 I said, Look, I think it would be good for community morale. 14:46 And they actually let me do a couple of workshops 14:48 in the pawn shop. Really? 14:50 They sure did! I did a couple of workshops in the pawn shop, 14:53 and educated them about credit, and budgeting. 14:55 And I was very candid about my goal was to make sure these 14:58 individuals who come in here don't have to keep 15:00 continuing, tends to come in here. 15:02 And so they took me on a tour of this pawn shop. 15:05 They took me in the back room. 15:06 It was a huge facility. 15:08 And I saw these fur coats. 15:12 I said, What are these fur coats? 15:13 Well, this is the gig. 15:16 The people who are mostly poor will buy these fur coats. 15:21 Because you have to have a fur coat, right? 15:23 Because that defines you. 15:24 Again, worldly standards allow you to define you, 15:27 as opposed to what Christ has given you. Right. 15:29 Worldly standards are now defining you. 15:30 So you have to have this fur coat. 15:32 You buy the fur coat in the fall. 15:33 You wear it in the winter. 15:35 You pawn it in the spring. 15:37 You pay fees on it throughout the summer. 15:40 You take it out in the fall. 15:41 And it goes on and on. 15:43 It's an endless cycle that individuals who are 15:46 impoverished, who have to attach themselves to this worldly item, 15:50 now are continuously paying on this worldly item, 15:53 henceforth making that worldly item even more and more pricey 15:56 to those who can't afford it in the first place. Right. 15:58 There are televisions in there. 16:00 There was this one television I saw in there it was in there 16:03 for over four years. 16:05 I calculated the fees, that the fees on that television alone 16:09 was worth more, almost twice as much 16:11 than the television itself to buy brand new. 16:14 Let me just ask you this, Ryan, because I have 16:16 never pawned anything. Right. 16:18 I don't know how that works either. 16:19 I'm ignorant as far as that's concerned. 16:22 I learned a lot walking through that store, I'll tell you. 16:25 I would believe it. 16:26 So you take an item to the store, and you're kind of 16:31 selling it to the store? 16:33 Well, essentially you have an item, and let's just say you 16:35 have a shirt or whatever. 16:38 And this shirt... No, a television. 16:41 So this television you might have bought for $300. 16:45 And now you have... You've been light on funds. 16:48 So essentially you take this item to the pawn shop and they 16:53 might say, What's it worth? 16:55 We'll give you $50 just to hold it. 17:00 And then if you can't you have to make payments on it. 17:05 And then you have to make payments on it 17:08 over and over again. 17:09 To pay back what they gave you for it or? 17:12 They're holding it in storage now. I see. 17:14 They're holding it now. Okay. 17:16 And so they're giving you a loan against this television. 17:20 Right? And so don't mean the loan, I'd say might not be $50, 17:23 but it might be as much as $150 maybe $200, but it's never going 17:26 to be as much as the TV is actually worth. 17:29 Because they're going to want to make sure they, if they have to, 17:32 turn around and sell it and make a profit. 17:33 So they're never going to give you what it's really worth. 17:36 So they might give you this loan for $50, $100, maybe $150, 17:40 or what have you, and then now you have this $150 that you take 17:43 and you pay towards your rent, or whatever it is. 17:45 But you have to pay that money back. 17:47 So over time after you pay that money back, eventually maybe you 17:51 you get your, you get your paycheck. 17:52 And you come back and you get, you pay the money back. 17:54 You owe that plus interest. 17:56 And interest is usually around, at least in Michigan 17:58 where I live, around 3%. 18:00 And they capped it at 3% per month. 18:03 So it's not 3% a year. 18:05 They say, Well, it's actually pretty low. 18:06 No, that's 3% times 12, which is 36% interest rate. 18:10 Wow! Because every month? 18:12 Every month it's 3%, yeah. 18:14 3% added to the previous 3%? 18:16 Yes. And now there are different laws in different states. 18:19 In Michigan they've capped it out at 3%. 18:21 In many of the states they've actually allowed that to 18:23 go even a lot higher. 18:25 There was legislation that they tried to propose to, 18:27 and now get this, this is very intriguing to me. 18:30 They proposed legislation to raise the level of interest rate 18:35 up from what pawn shops can actually charge. 18:38 Now there were a few pawn shops that were the big ones 18:41 actually opposed them being able to raise the interest rate. 18:45 Now you would say that's the contrary to 18:47 actually be making money. 18:48 Well, no, because what happens is this: they're banking on the 18:51 fact that they don't want to gouge their customers. 18:54 They want their customer to be a repeat customer. 18:57 And this is verbatim of what they were saying. 18:59 They want their customers to be repeat customers. 19:02 Because as long as they continue to come back they can continue 19:04 to make that residual income from their individuals. 19:07 So they don't want to gouge them out to make sure that, 19:09 to make John or Susan so strapped for cash that they 19:13 can't afford to continue to come back. Right. 19:15 They want them to come back. 19:16 They want them to pawn more items; come back so they can 19:18 continue to make them collect that interest rate from these 19:21 individuals over time. 19:23 And that is the way they sustain their business. 19:25 It's a multi-million dollar business model based upon 19:27 the fact that we are not budgeting, we're not improving 19:31 our credit to make sure that we can get legitimate loans, 19:33 and we're buying things that we can't afford. Right. 19:36 So all of these things are Scriptural. 19:38 And if we just follow the Scripture all these things 19:42 would be closed down. 19:44 I mean the next item that we have here is the 19:46 refund anticipation loan, RAL. 19:48 Now every tax season this is something else, right? Uh huh. 19:53 This is funny to me because in many you have the, you know, 19:59 many different tax firms and what not. 20:01 They'll charge these refunds. 20:03 They call them Rapid Refi. 20:04 And they'll say you can get your money right away. 20:07 And that sounds really good. Right. 20:09 Oh, you know, I can get my money right away. 20:10 But what they're not telling you is that if you get your rate 20:14 refund anticipation loan you go in there and let's just say you 20:18 get an estimate tax return of a thousand dollars. 20:22 That's an estimate, or a guesstiment. 20:24 They're guessing how much return you're going to get from looking 20:28 at your paperwork. Right. 20:29 So they say, Here's a thousand dollars right now. 20:33 You can have it and you can walk out the door 20:34 with that thousand dollars. 20:35 Sounds like a good deal. 20:37 So many individuals say, Sure, I'll take it right now. 20:38 I'd rather have my money now than later. 20:40 They're not saying it's also attached to fees, 20:43 it's also attached to interest to the tune of almost 4 to 500%. 20:46 In many, sometimes to almost 300%, but sometimes 20:50 as much as 4 to 500%. 20:51 I've actually seen. 20:52 How can that be legal, and who? 20:55 See, this is what blows me away. 20:57 Because we put politicians into office to protect our interests. 21:02 Right. Whose interest is that; 4 to 500%? 21:07 They do have these things called usury laws 21:08 that are on the books. 21:10 But many politicians don't follow the usury laws, 21:12 because a lot of the biggest lobbying firms are those 21:14 individuals who are these payday loans, cash advances. 21:18 And these individuals, who many individuals who used to be 21:21 in office, when they left office went to work for these 21:25 institutions making all this capital that they were 21:27 exploiting individuals who are poor. 21:29 So it's a circle, it's a circle. 21:31 So for those individuals who are using check cashing, 21:35 obviously the solution is to get a bank account. 21:37 For those individuals who are using the payday loans, 21:40 we have to learn how to budget effectively. 21:42 For those individuals who are using a refund anticipation 21:45 loan, we have to understand the beautiful thing 21:48 about electronic deposit. 21:49 And the beautiful... Now what that means is this: there's, 21:52 they didn't, for that individual who got that thousand 21:55 dollar loan, real story. 21:57 Someone got a thousand dollar loan, or Rapid Refi. 22:00 Got the money, then she got her actual tax return for $500. 22:06 So it wasn't $1000. 22:07 It was only $500, because remember it was a guesstament. 22:10 It wasn't the actual thing. 22:11 So she got a $500 loan, no $500 tax return. 22:14 She goes in and says, Okay, well, I spent my money 22:18 and here I'm trying to get it back. 22:20 Well, you actually owe $1300 now. 22:22 You know, because at that particular firm 22:24 it was a 300% interest rate, and the fees 22:26 had already tacked up. 22:27 Well, you owe us $1300. 22:28 Well, I don't have the money. 22:30 I only got $500. What am I supposed to do? 22:32 Well you're on the hook. 22:33 I don't know what, but you have to pay it back. 22:35 Now she's in the cycle. 22:36 She's in the cycle and you have to pay off as much as you can, 22:39 and whenever you can. 22:41 But that tally is always going. 22:43 It's always going, and it keeps you... 22:45 The number one thing that keeps payday loans and refundages 22:48 to patient loans and business is returning customers. 22:51 They are banking on the fact that you cannot pay that 22:53 entire amount back. 22:55 Because they want you to come back and continue them, 22:56 and pawn shops as well. 22:57 They want you to keep continuing to pay for this 23:00 additional amount of money. 23:02 How? That is so stressful. 23:04 Like, first of all, you have to read the fine print. Absolutely. 23:09 Right? Because you're signing something that's saying, 23:11 or I'm going to pay you back plus 3, 4, 500 times interest? 23:17 Yep, exactly. I can't even... 23:18 I had a friend that did something similar. 23:21 Uh huh. Needed some extra money. 23:23 Did that and got... They charged him so much for interest that he 23:31 can't get out from under it. 23:32 It's just... it, you can't get out. 23:35 This is what, what ails me, what gets me so frustrated 23:40 is that we continue to use these stores. 23:42 And many individuals get mad about these stores, 23:44 but they refuse to do the things that are necessary to help. 23:48 If they don't, if you learn, if you already know the 23:51 principles yourself, then educate someone else about 23:53 how they can use the principles. 23:54 Because the bottom line is I can't keep getting mad at the 23:57 shark for coming after me if I keep cutting myself 24:00 and jumping in the ocean. 24:01 A shark is going to always come around. 24:03 They're attracted to blood. Right. 24:05 This is what they do. Right. 24:06 If we stop cutting ourselves it's from an ocean. 24:08 Then they're not coming after us. 24:10 And then we can talk about the Lottery tickets. 24:12 Lotto, Lotto is a 70 billion dollar industry, 24:15 billion dollar industry. Billion! 24:17 There is one zip code in the south side of Chicago, 24:20 one zip code that spends over 23 million dollars a year 24:23 just on Lotto tickets. 24:24 In the south side? That's one of the poorest sections. 24:28 Yes, one zip code. 23 million dollars a year on the 24:32 south side of Chicago. 24:33 There, and now on an average, each adult in America 24:36 spends $300 a year. 24:37 Now there's a positive coorelation between the amount 24:40 of money spent on Lotto tickets, and poverty rate. 24:43 So the deeper you are in poverty, the more you 24:46 spend on Lotto tickets. 24:47 On average an individual earning $13,000 or less, 24:50 almost spends between 9 and 10% of their total income 24:54 on Lottery tickets on average. 24:56 So $13,000 would be $13 hundred for them on Lotto tickets. 25:02 Yes, on average, and on across the country. 25:04 So you, what's happening now is this is why we need Christ. 25:08 Because people are more dependent on luck. 25:12 They look towards luck more so than what God has given 25:17 them to be successful. 25:19 So as long as you're looking towards luck, 25:21 and every time they do that scratch off, which is liable to 25:23 return with a Lotto ticket about 67 cents. 25:25 For every dollar you spend you get 67 cents. 25:28 So you're losing 33 cents every time you spend a dollar on 25:30 a Lotto ticket on average. 25:31 So they're scratching that Lotto ticket. 25:33 They're doing that, and they're banking on 25:35 the fact that they can win. 25:36 So, and then lastly, on line scams. 25:39 You have to talk about that briefly. 25:41 The bottom line is this. 25:43 I want to just give some tips. 25:44 And I want to talk directly to the people. 25:46 Because our Lottery is just... You all, people are getting 25:48 all these scams, this Western Union scams. Listen: 26:19 If we just used those four tips than all this fraudulent stuff 26:23 this scam, all this stuff, will be null and void. 26:26 This is so rich. I wish we could do another part. 26:30 I'm serious, because there's so much going on with this. 26:35 But you have a take away for us. 26:37 Absolutely! Let's go talk about it. 26:38 Yeah, for real. Uh huh. 26:47 Proverbs 4:13 says, Keep hold of instruction. 26:50 Do not let go. Guard her for she is your life. 26:53 What is the most precious commodity in our communities? 26:55 Many will say it's money, or perhaps time. 26:57 Unfortunately, for those who exploit poor people, 27:00 ignorance is the most precious commodity. 27:02 I'm ignorant of many things. 27:04 I couldn't tell you how a rocket flies, 27:05 or how to build a car engine. 27:07 However, when it comes to knowledge about important 27:09 issues that can improve our economic standing, 27:11 there is nothing wrong with being ignorant, 27:13 but there is something wrong with staying ignorant. 27:15 So what truly is the most precious commodity 27:17 in our communities? 27:18 It certainly isn't ignorance. 27:20 It is love. The Bible states our love must not be a thing of 27:22 words and fine talk, but must be a thing of action and sincerity. 27:26 1 John 3:18, We say we love our community, but if our actions 27:30 were in line with what we were saying, 27:31 than these establishments wouldn't be 27:33 allowed to exploit us. 27:34 Our communities are stronger, smarter, and better than what 27:37 these predators perceive us to be. 27:39 So let's take action. 27:40 Stop using these establishments. 27:42 Improve your credit. 27:43 Open bank accounts. 27:44 And you will see them start to shut down without even 27:46 a need for a protest. 27:48 As always, if we at Dollars & Sense can help you, 27:51 please email me at: 27:54 Or chat with us on the Dare to Dream Network Facebook page. 27:57 Until next time, be the change you want to see, and remember 28:00 the purpose of life is a life of purpose. |
Revised 2021-05-11