Saletan gets upset that poor people are being treated like children. I agree, poor adults should be treated like adults but to contend that being poor does not make you more vulnerable... get real, of course it makes you more vulnerable. If my landlord tries to screw me over I easily google local landlord tenant laws from my apartment and maybe consult a few lawyer friends for free. Some poor (financially) mom working long hours with a long commute has to trek to the public library to do the same thing and probably doesn't have so many lawyer friends to consult gratis. Plus, if my hypothetical landlord tenant dispute really starts to annoy me I just move because I have the financial resources to do so, unlike someone who can't just break their lease and pay the consequences. If you are poor in this country you are more vulnerable than someone who is well off. How can anyone argue otherwise? A poor person still has choices but to argue that those choices are not circumscribed by finances is untenable. Being poor does not make you a child but it does make you vulnerable.