I met a gentleman who comes from Ghana. He had an interesting viewpoint on mileage rewards credit cards. He's an international student at our local university. (1) Before he came to the US, he'd never heard of mileage cards or rewards cards. (2) He believes these are just another one of the small ways the US is keeping other peoples in poverty. Let me explain his viewpoint.
Mileage rewards, in his mind, means the airlines just charge more to everyone else who flies without the free miles. The cost for him to fly home or to conferences in Europe to further his career and contribute to the global discussion on poverty can equal a year's wages to the people in the village he grew up in.
I very much try to stay social conscious with my purchases. Not buying brands of clothes who are known users of factories known to violate human rights, for instance. I'm aware that when I use my CC, the merchant pays a fee and in many cases this means that everyone -- including the people paying cash -- pay more. People using SNAP pay more (meaning I pay more in taxes). But in a way, I figure we ALL pay more to the grocery store merchant, so in a small way I'm hurt as much as everyone else by the increase in costs from merchants.
What are your thoughts? Have you ever thought of mileage rewards CCs as adding to the wealth disparity in the world? Do you ever think about your spending on or use of those rewards as adding up to part of the "problem"?
June 18, 2018 at 11:08AM
