The terms poverty industryorpoverty business refer to a wide range of money-making activities that attract a large portion of their business from the poor because they are poor. Businesses in the poverty industry often include payday loan centers, pawnshops, rent-to-own centers, casinos, liquor stores, lotteries, tobacco stores, and credit card companies.[1][2][3] Illegal ventures such as loansharking, drug-dealing[citation needed]orprostitution[citation needed] might also be included. The poverty industry makes roughly US$33 billion a year in the United States.[4][page needed] In 2010, elected American federal officials received more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions from poverty industry donors.[5]
The pawnbroker, the subprime auto lender, and the rent-to-own operator might say the same. These and other merchants, part of what might be called the poverty business...
The poverty industry has given huge contributions to lawmakers. According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, payday lenders donated more than $1.5 million to federal office holders during the 2010 election cycle.
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