Author: The poor drive our economy

Brenda Wade Schmidt
View Comments

Author John Hope Bryant said Thursday that most people, including those in Sioux Falls, never got the memo on the language of money.

They have been left out of financial literacy and are unable to make their money meet their monthly expenses. "Too much month at the end of their money," Bryant said.

Bryant, 48, was in Sioux Falls at the invitation of the local company Meta Payment Systems, a division of Meta Bank. He spoke to more than 100 people from businesses and nonprofits about helping grow the middle class. His stop was part of a multicity tour for his latest book, "How the Poor Can Save Capitalism."

As an answer to his book's title on how the poor save capitalism, "The poor are already saving Sioux Falls," he said.

"The poor are already saving the economy, but we don't give them any credit for it."

They are doing that because they spend 70 percent of what they make on consumer goods, which drives business, Bryant said. "The wealthy are not driving business because they can't." There are not enough of them, and they tend to save their money rather than spend it, he said.

Business and community leaders all over the country need to make sure those who run out of money before expenses have access to financial literacy and role models so they can add their entrepreneurial skills in business startups and job growth, he said. Big business and government aren't job creators. In the meantime, America needs a million startup companies a year.

Meta Payments president Brad Hanson said Bryant's message matches his company's business of financial access for all. With prepaid credit cards and other products, customers can participate in the economy more easily.

"We hope we can create some model banks," Hanson said. Those banks would allow people access when they walk in the door, not just if they are a traditional customer, he said.

Looking at Sioux Falls is not like seeing other cities because it's better here, but the city needs to be thinking ahead to preserve that legacy, Bryant said.

For starters, the city has to be a magnet for young people, keeping them here instead of losing them to other cities more diverse, he said. The city also has to be a diverse place where everyone wants to come and live.

"We have to have more conversations that are outside our comfort zone," he said. "We need more constructive friction."

View Comments