The threshold household income where a family can afford housing, healthcare, childcare, and transportation without relying on means-tested benefits is a lot higher than the official stats suggest.
The threshold household income where a family can afford housing, healthcare, childcare, and transportation without relying on means-tested benefits is a lot higher than the official stats suggest.
Part 1 is the one I have more experience with and yet so many people refuse to believe it exists. Prefect example. Last year my son for approved for SSI benefits, about 300 dollars a month. Great right? Some much needed wiggle room for a family that relies on disability benefits, SNAP, housing assistance, etc right?
Well that income change triggered a reduction in our SNAP benefit and an increase in our income based rent. So that additional 300 a month cost us about 250 dollars in benefits and now we have to keep meticulous track of where every cent of that SSI gets used on our son’s behalf. Lucky for us in this particular instance we’re allowed to just say “we’re putting it all towards rent” every month and have it be fine.
The system wants everyone Numb or Dumb.
For extremely successful people, they are busy out of their minds and distracted with sports, shopping, zoned out on comfort and affluence living in a privileges bubble.
For everyone else, the situation is just this futility of never being able to make it. The system is geared to keep everyone stuck and subservient and employable and dependent. Caught in a system of traps that seem designed for maximum inertia.
People either don’t Want anything to change or feel Powerless to make it change. I don’t meet many people who are working to replace the system.
what are they going to replace it with?
nobody is offering them a compelling alternative.
the current system works for 10% of the population, which is enough for most people to feel like they have a shot at making it.
I’ve not beaten the system but am better off and am now out on a limb, but i went from working for someone else to self employed.
My business makes more money now then I ever could working for someone else.
But fuck is a lot of work and if I screw it up it will al go away.
When my youngest son was born we were barely making it and looked into getting benefits.
We were told we were disqualified for around $500 a month of various benefits (housing, food, etc) because I made $50/month too much.
The eligibility cliffs are a rough place to be yeah. Even when you don’t immediately lose the entire benefit you get screwed but my Gods do you get screwed when it’s just “Nope, you make too much money. You get nothing.”
Having to be very careful about pay ranges for jobs you pick up because there’s a big glaring red zone where you lose a bunch of benefits without making enough money to replace them. That raise you just got? That was actually a pay cut nerd. Have fun.