It’s not just the private sector that’s preying on the poor. Local governments are discovering that they can partially make up for declining tax revenues through fines, fees, and other costs imposed on indigent defendants, often for crimes no more dastardly than driving with a suspended license. And if that seems like an inefficient way to make money, given the high cost of locking people up, a growing number of jurisdictions have taken to charging defendants for their court costs and even the price of occupying a jail cell.
The poster case for government persecution of the down-and-out would have to be Edwina Nowlin, a homeless Michigan woman who was jailed in 2009 for failing to pay $104 a month to cover the room-and-board charges for her 16-year-old son’s incarceration. When she received a back paycheck, she thought it would allow her to pay for her son’s jail stay. Instead, it was confiscated and applied to the cost of her own incarceration…
.. I could propose all kinds of policies to curb the ongoing predation on the poor. Limits on usury should be reinstated. Theft should be taken seriously even when it’s committed by millionaire employers. No one should be incarcerated for debt or squeezed for money they have no chance of getting their hands on. These are no-brainers, and should take precedence over any long term talk about generating jobs or strengthening the safety net.
Before we can “do something” for the poor, there are some things we need to stop doing to them.
From Barbara Ehrenreich with “How the poor are made to pay for their poverty” in The Guardian. Essential reading for policy makers. The slippery slope where extra government fines, fees and policing ensnare the poor and if they can’t pay these charges they begin to land in jail is one of the key factors behind the over-representation of Aboriginal Australians in prison. Traffic violations as a conveyor belt to incarceration.
blue milk 
If you haven’t area it yet john Scalzi s essay on being poor is well worth reading. It mentions some of those traps and others, but its more about the experience rather than systematic analysis.
I fear we are well down the same path in oz, BTW. The private prisons etc suggest we’re (as usual) following the USA a few years behind. I do wish we had a left wing party to help the greens win power.
Moz, do you mean the one where people posted what poverty meant to them, and someone (not from the US) posted how weird it was that so many posts began with “Your car….”?
Reading that got me thinking about the society that results when almost all infrastructure decisions are made assuming that every adult (or, in the US, everyone over 16) can and should afford a car.
So, when it’s time to start picking on the poor, agents of the state can start pulling over drivers and finding that they haven’t paid all of the taxes and insurance for their car and licence.
Alternatively, they can tour trains and bus stops. I was in a train from Liverpool to Central Station, Sydney, in the runup to the 2000 Olympic Games, when two police boarded. One had a loud voice and an American accent, and he did all the talking. He went up to a passenger who had his feet on the seat, obliged him to give his name and address, then told him they were taking him in because he had a warrant (for child support or something; I don’t remember). The Aussie passengers all watched dumbfounded.
At about the same time the railways ran a campaign in conjuction with one of the tabloid papers, publishing the names, photos and “excuses” of passengers accused of fare dodging in the paper and on posters at the stations. It didn’t seem to have any great success, and they dropped it after a few months, but it makes me fear you’re right that we’re following the US.
[…] It’s not just the private sector that preys upon the poor (bluemilk.wordpress.com) […]
Only today I became aware of the new Work and Development Orders in NSW which allow people with fines to reduce their debt through voluntary work, participation in medical treatment or attendance in a course. At long last…a positive initiative to address issues associated with unpaid fines/debts in this State.
[…] It’s not just the private sector that preys upon the poor […]