“… the inability to foresee potential negative outcomes …”

I read that phrase somewhere yesterday. I don’t remember where, so I can’t properly quote it to you. But it stuck with me.

“The inability to foresee potential negative outcomes.”

We had quite a conversation over at my BrickFriend’s establishment earlier this week about the evils of the marketing machine in this country taking advantage of the poor and disadvantaged causing them to want things they cannot afford. In the case of the African-American underclass, it’s “bling.” He wrote quite a piece and then the comments are all quite good. But (as my dad was fond of saying at dinner) “something” was missing.

That was it. The poor and disadvantaged in our country and particularly the poor, disadvantaged, from the inner-city do not have the ability (or are not taught, given … whatever) to foresee potential negative outcomes. So they remain easy prey for shysters and their own proclivities for “bling” or simple human laziness. They cannot foresee the potential negative outcomes in “easy” credit, and 7 year payment plans for crappy cars (even if it is a knockoff SUV), or that $600 a year is far too much for a $10K life insurance policy. They cannot foresee that those terms are a form of imprisonment. The elderly usually cannot either.

We wonder why there needs to be more enforcement of the laws, or more laws. I think maybe we just need to take care of (mentor) our neighbors. Now I just need to find them ….