[loco5niner]

When you are saying "that is not necessarily a lesson that needs to be learned by those who are poor".... are you referring to my statement that "buying shiny things is less important than establishing an emergency fund"?

If so, we definitely disagree. Those are the people in most need of an emergency fund.

You mentioned safety nets earlier > the development of safety nets for those all too common but expenses expenses

I would argue that a personal emergency fund is the first form of safety net that everyone should have.