*PostScript: I am now informed that Tay Tonday is a songwriter & I must’ve been living under a rock not to know them. Learned something new in this world of information overload.
He’s the perfect example of the beta or obsolete nature of the internet and tech culture. Instant networked fame that made the pipe owners rich while creating a pure one hit wonder ideology for youth online. That post offers more value than his song to fame;)
It's Tay "Zonday." And, while being a meme at the time, he's a tragically underrated songwriter. He just needed a better mastering engineer for his final recordings.
Are insurance companies so strong that they are able to overrule the rest of the population? How do we deal with this? Other developed countries have implemented it with great success and great benefit to the public.
You need organized voters. Make it so If you want a job as a congressman, then you need to fight for universal health care. But there's too much paid for propaganda and lobbyists fighting change.
It's going to have to get pretty dire before red states will break out of their MAGA mind prison and blue states will put aside identity traumas to correctly identify their shared enemy.
Are they? I used to be very poor. Concerned about how I keep the lights on, genuinely we were on a prepayment meter.
Now, not so poor. Lots of Christmas lights up, heating on as it’s cold and looking forward to Christmas.
Answer. Got my head down and worked hard.
Thing is, lots of people work hard and are still in the same position. It's not always as simple as you say. It's nice that you've been able to get where you're at tho. But the situation isn't always black and white.
I agree. Which is why black and white statements shouldn’t be made as outright truth. Mine was made to show the previous black and white statement isn’t always true.
Merry Christmas.
I saw it as a general one, and there's always different situations where it isn't always the case. But sadly for a lot of people, it is. Merry Christmas.
Very true.
Look to help yourself while also looking to help others. I was helped when it was tough and try to help others where I can now.
Excepting your position and expecting others to help is not the way though either. There’s always something to be grateful for.
The majority of the poor are children, aged and/or disabled. I'm glad you rose out if poverty by working hard, but you also almost certainly had help from others, had opportunity to make more money and had the skills and personal attributes that opened up those opportunities.
Apologies for the delay in response. I’m not a big social media guy.
You’re completely wrong in your statement and that is the fundamental reason for most. We allow the obstacles to become excuses. It’s not easy, I didn’t have help from others, I worked hard and pushed. I didn’t wait for help.
Good for you. I've nothing but respect for your struggle and triumph. I simply don't believe everyone who's poor has the means to overcome the obstacles they face. Each of us is different, and so are our particular challenges. I get that you have another perspective, fair enough.
1/
However, your lives experience doesn't negate others' and doesn't mean they don't need or deserve help. Rugged individualism is fine, but it is not an adequate answer for modern pluralistic societies that are based on capitalism.
2/2
I always felt bad for people who couldn’t afford to fill up their gas tank but would also put $10 in everyday. Filling up may cost more upfront but a full tank lasts longer than a quarter tank does.
That mattress to back surgery jump is a little crazy , you got a gym membership, chiropractor, yoga mat…. Tons of interventions before full blown BACK SURGERY and if not, it wasn’t the mattress fault.
So true. Not just health. Have you ever wondered why so many cars pulled over with hoods up on highways waiting for repairs seem to be driven by the disadvantaged? Preventive maintenance costs $$!
All preventative care is dependent on beginning with the amount in life to always be preventative. Like society is designed for nepo trust funder’s to have a future only in literally everything from vehicles to healthcare.
I get it. Since losing too much in bank and credit in double whammy of 2008 recession, and needing to assist a relative through medical expense hell .. it's been day-to-day survival. And if like me you're over 55, employers and life charge extra for oxygen.
$50 NSF fee for me in 🇨🇦 and they try again in a week....and if it's still not there, another $50. So now my bill that bounced costs another $100 because I have to pay the NSFs and the actual bill....being poor is expensive
There is a statiscal reort on inequality, the Gini coefficient. Is this just a capitalist inevitability, or is it inevitable in any grouping of people.
Always the same story. Here in Chicago, if you can’t pay a parking ticket in 30 days, it doubles. If I couldn’t afford $100 3 wks ago, how can I be expected to pay $200 now? And on & on w more fees etc, until they take the 🚘. It should be (or prob is) unconstitutional. No one signed up for this.
It’s so true. In big and small ways every day. Can’t afford a wheel alignment, next year you can’t afford the tires that got messed up. Put the tires on a credit card and can’t pay the minimum one month, boom $50 late fee. Credit score goes down, boom interest rate and payments go up….endless cycle😥
I live this. I have good insurance but with co pays and deductibles I put off tests I need. I’m an independent contractor who pays my own insurance. Have to wait a year with my dental so they will pay for a root canal- a year.
How about, say, shoes. A poor person can afford $20 shoes that last a few months, then have to buy more. End up paying $200 over 2 years for shoes. But if they could have bought $200 shoes off the bat, they could last them 5 years 🤷🏼♀️
Yeah, this is a not-infrequent topic of conversation with my wife. If we get hit by a large, enexpected expenditure, she’ll say, You know, if we were living paycheck-to-paycheck, this would have sunk us.
Americans have figured it out. The fact is that there's a wall of corruption and lies in between where we are and where we need/want to be. The "representatives" that speak out on this speak out of two sides of their mouths as they get handouts from lobbyists.
There are many countries where insurance companies are not allowed to make profit. I live in one of them (NL). You also deserve this don't let them scam you. It works much much better, look at our health-life expectancy comp. to the US!! So fight hard against this injustice & make Trump complicit!!
This is sad but so true. And then paying insurance on top of it all that rarely covers anything you actually need it for. It’s literally like funding someone else’s business that we don’t get to cash in on bc we don’t meet the “terms and conditions”.
Indeed, on a smaller level, can't pay for the expensive work boots that last for years? Buy the "cheap" ones that have to be replaced every year, even if you don't sustain an injury caused by the inferior product.
Can only afford cheap processed food, pay for it with diabetes, and more.
The cheapest foods are also fattening leading aholes to say "they seem to be getting plenty to eat". Yeah, you try living on hot dogs and Velveeta and McDonald's and get back to me.
When my son and I were in poverty, all I could think of was how expensive it was to be poor, and how amazing it would be to have enough money to get my car tuned up on a regular basis vs. having to drive it into the ground (lack of public transpo was also expensive if you had to get to work).
This & we need to think about the impact if Medicare is minimized.. as a senior who has medicare and a supplement I receive excellent care, if they do away with the ACA who will insure a 77 yo with chronic heart issues, arthritis and neuropathy in both legs??
Selfishly I hope they leave it alone.
Overdraft fees are the perfect example that even young people can relate to. When you're getting charged money for not having money, you know you're poor.
Banks make their money's off the poor. To not have monthly fees, in 🇨🇦 anyway, you must keep a balance of $3000 in your account, for the ENTIRE month, to not get charged. As a poor person, I can't keep that kind of balance. I live cheque to cheque
It's why I don't have automatic bill payments on my utilities. If the payment bounces, I would get charged NSF fees to the tune of $50/bill and get cut off. I'll just take the cutoff, thanks, don't need to pay the bank too!
But if you have enough money to not worry, most places give you a discount for doing automatic payments. So, the working class pays more to pay their bills out of fear of overdraft fees.
When I was a young woman I asked my bank for a $100 overdraft protection. The manager laughed and said, "We'll never extend you credit." I immediately changed from Royal Bank to CIBC. When I asked them for a $100 line of credit, they laughed and said, "Would you like $100,000?"
But they're a must. You are borrowing money. Those of us who need a line of credit for business must pay interest on what we borrow. If everyone could freely overdraw their account, would banks have money to lend?
Their business is lending money. You don't go to work saying I will give you one free hour of work to your boss. You don't expect a restaurant to give you free breakfast.
No, but you're getting a loan just the same. And it is a far more dangerous loan for the bank because you didn't get a credit check, sign an agreement, or give collateral.
You can say that, but many banks have a minimum interest charge. When we were in business, we we needed a secure banking system and if they gave away free money, howv
would they have money to lend. E
When you buy groceries, do you expect one free apple?
The bank could decline the charge, they used to. Until they found out they could make billions a year on overdraft fees.
Banks got along just fine for hundreds of years before overdraft fees were invented. It's just a system designed to prey on the working class. Not a loan with an interest rate.
But, can't you put a stipulation on your account to not honor overdrawn checks? Personally, I would think that is a service you want. But, like any service, there's a fee.
I don't overdraw, so I'm not sure what the bank does. But the business that has a check returned charges a higher fee for that than the bank does or so their signs say.
True and these banks were bailed out and we shouldn't have helped them. People quickly forget about when you helped them so it's best to say sorry we can't afford to save any industry like banking and real estate. We have health care and food shortages that are more pressing.
And the banks have the audacity to say the overdraft fee cap will hurt people who are poor. It's staggering that the public has become so stupid and complacent that such blatant avarice can be spoken openly.
What Americans need to understand is that THE OPPRESSED ARE NEITHER RED or BLUE. And until you stop making it about Red & Blue the oligarchs win. STOP MAKING IT ABOUT RED OR BLUE! Just stop it. Fack.
YOU ARE OPPRESED. FUCKING PERIOD. END OF STORY.
NOW DO SOMETHING, TOGETHER!
Same. This quote has been guiding my purchases for years. When I can afford it... I choose the higher quality longer lasting option. I buy local food when I can... I think I am healthier and wealthier because of this quote.
Barbara Ehrenreich wrote "Nickel and Dimed" in 2001. I'd say not much has changed in the past 23 years, but things have definitely changed. For the worse.
Another example is crime. If you steal a loaf of bread for your family or diapers for your kids you will get a fine that might be detrimental. If you’re rich you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want because paying fines and lawyers is the equivalent of buying a happy meal
Look to places that seem to do it better. Sweden, Japan. Germany, Universal healthcare, Guaranteed basic income. High income taxes, but at the end of the day a better life. Teach children consensus and community, not competition and individualism.
Also, there should be more than just fines especially for repeat offenders.
But we also shouldn't focus solely on punishment. Someone keeps stealing? Help them out. People frequently speed here? Maybe the limit or the road needs changing.
I do not know. It is a mess. We need truthful leaders who care about us...not their rich friends. We are in for 4 yrs of heartache as Trump's rich buddies twist our lives into a pretzel. Trump just said it will be hard to Lower prices. DUH!
UBI should be implemented as soon as possible -- but it'll be crucial to continue to protect and expand spending for healthcare, education, transportation, etc. UBI mustn't be used as an excuse to reduce/eliminate other social spending because "UBI will cover all of those expenses for families."
Everyone Is going along with
the system. We don’t have to.
We will continue to be
hyper exploited more and more.
It’s possible people are
finally starting to say hey
wait a sec-this is no go
already right here.
I wish some notable reporters & media folks would start talking about how Trump might be considering implementing Universal Healthcare-hinting that that’s what his “concept” is.
It would put pressure on him to have to deny it-especially if the public started to think it was his genius plan. 🤔
Being poor is always MORE expensive. trying to get out of it is so difficult bc you never get ahead. If your shoes cost $120 and last for 6 years, it’s less money than $40 each year for crappy shoes. But you don’t have $120 to spend today or you don’t eat, and you need shoes. 😞
And the interest free services that offer you 4 payments of $30 look attractive until you realize the payments are every two weeks. I’m sure penalties for missing a payment, which people do. Just a bigger hole.
Captain Samuel Vimes, the commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who uses boots. The theory states that:
Good boots last for years.
The wealthy can use their money to make decisions that leave them richer and better off.
It's cheap to be rich and expensive to be poor.
Sir Terry Pratchett
Ain’t this the truth. So many former Dems turned cult members cry Dems use to be for workers now just for poor (as if that so terrible).
AI and anti worker Cult leaders plutocrats majors change many of these former Dems back. Especially when they become poor and there are no programs to help them.
I remember once hearing the lyrics of a song “poverty is the worst form of violence” . I didn’t grasp it as a young 20 something but at 45 I totally get it
Our national conversation about "the poor" is always guided by the wealthy and privileged, never actual poor people. I am so tired of hearing how "the poor" need education, training, skills, etc. Most poor people in America are children, senior citizens and the disabled. They need $ not "training."
Which is why people had no empathy for the Health Care CEO. It's NOT because they are terrible people. It's because the CEO's who make the decisions to unnecessarily fleece us for their RECORD profits, are the terrible people. There are MANY CEO's, or positions that would get the same response.
Can't afford to go to college? for the rest of your life you'll likely be stuck in a lousy low-paying job paying for all those things you couldn't pay for. And if you go, and graduate with over 100,000 in student loans (+interest), good luck...
They are, poverty is directly linked to crime , this ain't complicated, only republicans don't want to understand ..
Bc many European countries prioritize their citizens over profits , they have a much higher quality of life in the global index ranking , than the US does .
Our Premier in AB always on record saying anything before stage 4 cancer is preventive.....meanwhile she has gutted our healthcare. A young father, in Edmonton died waiting to even see an oncologist because the wait time is now MONTHS. He left behind 2 young boys and his wife
yep... same old playbook.
Gut the system.
"oh, look, the system isn't working because it's government!"
Privatize.
Those that advocate this should just move to the US. Canadians can clearly see how bad privatized HC is.
True. Also diversity, equity and inclusion have been made into a liberal plot to hand their homes to "illegals" and their jobs to black people.
The right wing media is a propaganda machine that has created a cult that has been taught that being good is a bad thing.
just had this conversation with my hubby, even with the COLA, we still get poorer every year! 😢 I don't think we (hubby & I) will survive drumpf 2.0...
The same principle applies to many things: that noise your car is making will only get worse and more expensive to fix. Just like the nagging problem with your home.
The cost-cutting thugs who take over next month want to slash all safety nets, including SNAP (food) benefits. And SNAP benefits are already slashed every January for recipients of Social Security benefits b/c of the paltry SS COLA. It’s probably gonna get worse.
Not “spending” taxpayer money is how so many Republican states and counties fell upon this very same kind of decay and poverty. I drove through one of those areas the other day, and I came away very happy for the relatively high taxes I pay in my blue bubble. Taxation is investment in society.
My daughter, Sabrine, needs🇵🇸💔🍉❤️🍼 your support to meet her essential needs during these challenging times of war. Your help will also empower me to continue assisting other children affected by the conflict.
Every contribution brings new hope and a be
It's hard to get a job if your teeth are decaying or you're in pain as a result. Canada has instituted a dental program for people with low income and I believe the plan is to eventually cover all.
The reverse is true, if you're rich.
You are handed advantages from birth. And you have to fail hard to be truly poor, there's always connections, family, friends, business acquaintances, skills and education you benefited from while you were young, etc.
Even if they do 'fail hard' one of their pals always bails them out. But they don't like regular people being bailed out by society.
Seems a little entitled, no? 😡
A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years.
A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
Universal Health Care is the only way to go for America. Only vote for the people who will deliver it. Guess another 4 years before it can become a reality. 🥲If then🤷♀️
Then there is THIS... if you make less than $28,600 you will pay $66 more per month - a toll for the troll we know as TFG! If you make more than that... sorry! Meanwhile the wealthy will get PAID by the troll! Let that sink in... This is oligarchy 101!
We live in a society where "people of means" are elevated above the common man. Actors and movie stars are idolized. Musicians are worshipped and THINGS have more prominence than actual thought. They WANT the things the wealthy have and they ignore the fact that many of the wealthy have no morals.
Great analysis and totally true. Certainly here in the UK certain "celebs" and business leaders are placed on some pedestal as some kind of super race. This effectively renders the rest of us as second class citizens who are expected to "know their place".
Not even mentioning, can't pay for your kids lunch, now charge it to your card + interest just to keep them alive. Then if you can't pay the minimum balance, pay overdraft fees. All this till you finally snap and end up in jail. Human beings have limits, that is a fact.
They are. Was listening to pod cast recently making the same point through example of 'true cost' of cheap shoes.
Shop in charity (US Thrift?) shops, save money and buy better quality than could normally afford. Plus benefit of not helping slave labour of cheap clothing manufacturers!
Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD5_GUovjiM
Are insurance companies so strong that they are able to overrule the rest of the population? How do we deal with this? Other developed countries have implemented it with great success and great benefit to the public.
Now, not so poor. Lots of Christmas lights up, heating on as it’s cold and looking forward to Christmas.
Answer. Got my head down and worked hard.
Merry Christmas.
Look to help yourself while also looking to help others. I was helped when it was tough and try to help others where I can now.
Excepting your position and expecting others to help is not the way though either. There’s always something to be grateful for.
You’re completely wrong in your statement and that is the fundamental reason for most. We allow the obstacles to become excuses. It’s not easy, I didn’t have help from others, I worked hard and pushed. I didn’t wait for help.
1/
2/2
1. After you have to pay for that root canal, you're going to need to pay for a crown to go on top of it.
2. There should be ALT text for this TEXT O(ONLY GRAPHIC so that it doesn't look like just another engagement farming post that can get you blocked.
‘Chocolate Rain’,
I ❤️ that tune
To simplify the idea, compounding interest has a cousin, compounding opportunity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient
That's what's wrong with for profit health "care".
I hope that Americans figure that out some day.
Can only afford cheap processed food, pay for it with diabetes, and more.
Selfishly I hope they leave it alone.
That's a crazy interest rate compared to a loan. Banks do just fine, they don't need you to defend them. The govt does that plenty enough.
Then it's not a loan. Stop calling it one.
would they have money to lend. E
When you buy groceries, do you expect one free apple?
Banks got along just fine for hundreds of years before overdraft fees were invented. It's just a system designed to prey on the working class. Not a loan with an interest rate.
YOU ARE OPPRESED. FUCKING PERIOD. END OF STORY.
NOW DO SOMETHING, TOGETHER!
Because one way or another, they'll use you to enrich themselves
Rough numbers but it shows the idea.
But we also shouldn't focus solely on punishment. Someone keeps stealing? Help them out. People frequently speed here? Maybe the limit or the road needs changing.
#TheGreatDictator
https://www.scottsantens.com/universal-basic-income-as-the-social-vaccine-of-the-21st-century-ubi/
the system. We don’t have to.
We will continue to be
hyper exploited more and more.
It’s possible people are
finally starting to say hey
wait a sec-this is no go
already right here.
It would put pressure on him to have to deny it-especially if the public started to think it was his genius plan. 🤔
Good boots last for years.
The wealthy can use their money to make decisions that leave them richer and better off.
It's cheap to be rich and expensive to be poor.
Sir Terry Pratchett
AI and anti worker Cult leaders plutocrats majors change many of these former Dems back. Especially when they become poor and there are no programs to help them.
Warning: It has the staying power of Disney’s “It’s a Small World.”
https://moneywise.com/managing-money/budgeting/boots-theory-of-socioeconomic-unfairness
As the joke goes, they're not poor - they're temporarily inconvenienced millionaires.
Bc many European countries prioritize their citizens over profits , they have a much higher quality of life in the global index ranking , than the US does .
It's a worldwide methodology to maintain the global plutocracy
Gut the system.
"oh, look, the system isn't working because it's government!"
Privatize.
Those that advocate this should just move to the US. Canadians can clearly see how bad privatized HC is.
The right wing media is a propaganda machine that has created a cult that has been taught that being good is a bad thing.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31964705564&dest=usa&ref_=ps_ggl_18382194370&cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780312626686USED-_-keyword=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0--6BhCBARIsADYqyL9xXIFEpiT4556D1kmKU-kskFnkfsYQ0nbLPMSw3SIK1v6S51tIBeoaAvZ9EALw_wcB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
https://youtu.be/oet62-F2Q9c?si=kmEj4LQg8q5IDwCx
https://www.clasp.org/blog/the-enduring-effects-of-childhood-poverty/
Every contribution brings new hope and a be
That’s Mr Chocolate Rain to you ma’am!
https://x.com/TayZonday/status/1020003667921940480
Buy $20 boots every year.
https://youtu.be/EwTZ2xpQwpA?si=95DAyJNvIFsQXall
A parent thanking RFK.
Great no autism or ADHD.
You are handed advantages from birth. And you have to fail hard to be truly poor, there's always connections, family, friends, business acquaintances, skills and education you benefited from while you were young, etc.
Seems a little entitled, no? 😡
A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years.
This guy is surprisingly down to Earth btw
Shop in charity (US Thrift?) shops, save money and buy better quality than could normally afford. Plus benefit of not helping slave labour of cheap clothing manufacturers!