- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
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I think this is slightly unfair. I think if we Americans work hard we probably still won’t be able to afford basic necessities
What country “guarantees” basic necessities to all their people? Food? Housing? Clothes?
China does. And in Western Europe no one needs to live on the street (if they agree with getting the help they need) and is provided with some income for basic necessities?
Education, healthcare…
And yes, the state can put the means to provide affordable housing and even affordable food, but billionaires will tell you that’s a commie thing.
(Well, not billionaires themselves but their paid puppets)
Why you still need to whitewash billionaires? Do they owe you money /j
I’m German.
I used to be poor as fuck, didn’t have a job, had lots of medical issues due to being very overweight, was depressed and dysfunctional, also a stoner on top of all that. That was basically how I lived from 2000 to 2009.
But the state paid my rent and gave me some money so I would at least not become homeless. And then, a guy at the “Jobcenter” said hey, wanna have a two-year state sponsored job training? It’s 18k Euros, but the German state will pay for it. All you gotta do is see a doctor every month and have him certify to us that you’re off drugs.
I said fuck yeah, let’s do it. Last chance to get my life back on track.
Fast forward to today… I’m married, have a well paid job as a software architect, earned enough money I could probably live independently for over two years, have a handsome ETF portfolio.
In America, I would have been fucked. If you’re poor in Germany, there’s always a way out if you just get your shit together.
Heart warming. Are they this kind to immigrants? I’ve been thinking about heading that direction for a few years. People keep telling me EU is in decline. But they still seem nicer than the Americas
Gratuliere, freut mich. Solche Geschichten hört man viel zu selten.
Nur den Mythos der Sozialschmarotzer der immer gerne genutzt wird.
Danke dir. Ich hatte natürlich sehr viel Glück, dass sie im Jahr 2008 gerade Geld im Topf für sowas hatten - und dass ich einiges an IT-Vorkenntnissen hatte. Sonst wäre der Jobcentertyp nicht auf die Idee gekommen, mir das zu bewilligen. Aber ich bin dem heute noch extremst dankbar für die Chance.
I’ve been in psych care (not anymore, as of a few days ago. go me amirite) for 30 years. I’ve paid nothing for it. On top of that, I’ve not worked much because disabled. The government paid me welfare for it. I feel bad for Americans, they would actually pay LESS if they adopted socialised healthcare
Reading this while working a shift that will put me at 85 hours of work this week. Will be able to buy groceries this month and pay for the surgery my cat needs. Also, am tired AF.
I’m sorry :( I hope your kitty will be okay. I have a $4K vet bill to pay too, but i love my cat, as I’m sure you do yours, so we make it work, no matter the sacrifice. Anyway, best of luck <3
Vet bills are the worst, but my cats don’t have the option to do anything about their situation or choose to work different jobs or change things about their life so it feels wrong to decline medical care and potentially make them suffer when they don’t get a say in the matter. I can make that choice for myself and my own medical care, but it feels cruel to make that choice for them, you know? They’re stuck in whatever life I give them, so I try to make it better than mine.
I hope your cat is ok!
I wish my ADHD and other issues would let me work 85 hours a MONTH with my toddler around all day every day. I’d be able to pay myself a very decent salary for the part of my country that I live in right now. If I could consistently work a reasonable 150 a month, I’d have the deep into 5 figures amounts of debt my ex put me into, paid off in 2 years. Worst part is, I used to be able to work over 200 a month easily, but I wore myself out like that and now that I’m an exhausted single parent, it’s so, so hard to get anything done.
Best of luck to you and your kitty. It sucks that you need to work so much to be able to afford necessities.
See, now I have to know what’s wrong with the kitty.
Yeah, will the kitty be OK?
(Also, all the best for you, I hope things change for the better real soon.)
Kitty will be ok, thank you. Just needs teethies taken care of. If we’re lucky not pulled, just anesthesia and deep cleaned, so not really surgery, but still expensive as hell. If not lucky, teeth pulled and painkillers, so more like surgery. He goes in tomorrow, both of us will be very unhappy.
What is the actual baseline for american to at least afford a cheap house and live a just-ok life, assuming you’re single? As in you can afford food, transport, and just tiny bit of saving? I’ve been hearing that it’s bad, but not sure how bad it is.
I’m trying to think of different places I’ve lived, because the cost of housing / food / other changes. For example, when I lived out in the sticks, rent was cheap but food, gas, and incidentals were hella expensive. I’m near a big urban area now, and it’s expensive rent, cheap gas (due to using less), moderate food, moderate incidentals.
Anyway, more relevantly, I know people who can get by with incomes of ~$18.00/hr full time jobs. Anything that is unexpected kills them though, whether it’s car trouble, medical issues, or otherwise. You won’t be in a house though, unless you’re renting a room. You won’t be in a rat-infested hole, but something like a one bedroom apartment or two bedroom with a roommate. I know of a few folks who are raising a family on that salary, with the caveat that family helped them with housing (either an inherited property or similar). This is in an area where you can find cheap housing due to natural disasters and generally ‘rural’ areas that are basically paying developers to build cheap housing (i.e., looks like it’s decent but is basically matchsticks and glue).
I helped people budget when they were making $11.00/hr full time, and that’s where you start seeing a lot of compromises made (it was also 10 years ago, so things have probably gotten worse). Kids and parents are stuffed into tiny rooms in bad apartments, a car is held together by tape and a prayer (and if anything happens it’s going to be scrapped and they’ll try to scrape by with a wreck they could get running, and then hope they never get seen by a cop for its numerous problems / lack of insurance/registration), and hopefully they’ll be able to get a few government benefits to get the kids help for medical benefits.
I’ve worked with people making the federal minimum of $7.25/hr, and they rely on the government to have any hope of a not-horrible life. They’re either in government housing, or in a trailer with 5 people living in it. The car is shared between several people; they walk to work, even if it sucks and is an hour+walk, because they’ll be fired in an instant if they don’t show up; they’re probably on food stamps, utility help,etc.; medical is basically call ems and get to an emergency room if they’re keeling over (and hope that the er can fix it, i.e., that it’s not something that just gets ‘stabilized’); bills are always piling up… it wasn’t pleasant.
So, all that being said, I’d peg it somewhere around $25.00/hr. That’s where my higher paid coworkers seem to start looking at houses, and talk about starting families. I’ll have to go look at the numbers (and we know that those are probably fucked due to the administration right now…) but I think that’s near or above median income in america. That would mean 50% of the population isn’t going to be living “just ok,” which really sucks to think about.
Depends on your area (because of the housing market and local cost of living), but in my area in California, if you are not making $150,000 or more annually expect to be in a lot of debt and never owning a home.
I’m assuming that’s a pretty high cost of living area compared to Bumfuck, NW though. Sucks for anyone working a low wage job in said HCoL area of course, but this is somewhat of a state issue rather than a federal one, since HCoL states and areas should have higher minimum wage than federal minimum wage. And I mean California is at least doing that already, but I think even Cali needs to double its current minimum wage.
Note: I’m not even American, these are just my ramblings.
We have I believe the second or the highest minimum wage in the nation. Although our housing/utilities market is the most fucked up.
The American dream 🦅🗽🇺🇸
Don’t forget be extremely lucky.
7-18-27-34-38-51
Work 7 days a week, 18 hour a day, 27 days a month, 34 years of your life, additionally 38 years of your life, 51 weeks a year?
You’re only working 7 days a week and 18 hours a day? Rookie numbers.
I created an extra day and work 20 hours in each of em. No wonder you pansies can’t afford health insurance.
So you created an extra day just so you can rest 4 hours in it? How lazy can you get?
Shit! Look, I’m shocking at maths. Help me figure out how to give the man more of my hours.
That is still equivalent to working only 24 hours each day, except 2.
What are you doing with those 8 hours?!? Watching Netflix?!? Eating your poorman’s avocado?!?
I can’t do math; I thought this was good. Should I make more days or work more in the ones I already have?
Or give up some years to the world’s largest military.
Oh that’s a terrible plan. Veterans are far more likely to end up poor than rich, and that doesn’t include the ones who never come home.
yeah i know. thanks. how do i get the fuck out of here. alternatively, euthanize me cap’n.
yeah its like. where is all this fentanyl im always hearing about?
The cops have cornered the supply.
It helps to be born to the right family in the right location.
Hi, I’ve been traveling for 15 yearsish and it is an absolutely dynamite financial decision in terms of saving money and accruing capital. It costs about $500 usd per month (rent, utilities, wi-fi/data, groceries) to live in most countries.
If you’re a fluent English speaker, you have a guaranteed job with nearly 2 billion English students looking to pay you $10 to $100 per hour for a skill you’ve been practicing your whole life.
If you want any info/details/context, ask here, the Travel community, or message me.
Use the bang option. [email protected]
Good idea, thanks.
Your link is busted friend
Fixed, thanks.
No worries, is this the travel community or is this your instance, or both potentially, some elaborating might ease the situation
Travel community, I understand less than a step above nothing on the backend of lemmy.
I really don’t mean to dig deep but it seems like it’s just you posting. Is this a sub you’re trying to get off the ground or something?
Yep. There are no active travel communities on the fediverse, and especially at a time when so many people are talking about living abroad, there should be a resource available for them.
I should mention that one lemstituent has already started living abroad because of this information being available, so it’s definitely been worth the effort.
Other countries provide housing, clothing, food and water for free?
In Germany, those are viewed as basic human rights. So, yes. Ask yourself how humane the American system is if it doesn’t.
Show me where Germany gives you water for free, or food?
On welfare they pay your rent. Tap water in Germany is perfectly drinkable, so - free water. Food? Bahnhofsmission. Also, the free money you get on welfare allows you to get food.
As a matter of fact. Yes. And you won’t believe it, that’s even cheaper than millions of fentanyl addicts.
In Denmark we quite happily pay a fuck tonne of tax but you get a lot of bang for your buck:
you get money whether you’re a student, unemployed, to old or mentally/physically unwell to work, or one year after you’ve given birth. If you’re homeless you can get accommodation (not sure how this works though). Parents get some money for clothing and food for their kids until they turn 18. No free water though, but like clean tap water for 2 USD/ cubic metre so pretty affordable
But only if the billionaires and politicians agree… Duh.
If you are a complete psycho and absolutely bloodthirsty, you have a bright career in the military. And if you are not the military can turn you into the desired psycho!
1 Millions kids of 14 Million live in poverty in Germany.
In a country where there is an actual social security network, not least free healthcare. The rate is much higher for the US, which doesn’t have any of that, so being poor in the US is much much worse than being poor in Germany.
Americans who have never left America dont realise that dirt fucking poor looks largely the same around the world. The fact that we have socialised medicine doesnt turn not having the money for groceries into a utopia.
Free access to healthcare goes a long way, and it changes the system in a number of ways.
In America, imagine an entire parasitical industry exists. It exists by collecting money from people in exchange for offering them access to healthcare. The more treatment someone receives, the less profit that industry makes. The more hurdles they place between a patient and the services they need, the more money they make.
Imagine having a medical condition but knowing that if you lose your job, you might lose access to the treatment for your condition.
If you are poor enough here in the US, you might qualify for MEDICAID. Depending on where you live, you likely have to jump through a ton of arbitrary hoops to keep your coverage. If you get a job, maybe a raise or extra hours, even a slightly better job? You might lose your MEDICAID.
Or some politician decides to cut the optional state expansion to MEDICAID. With less income from these sources, the only hospital near you might decide it’s not profitable to stay open and now you have to travel an extra hour or two to the nearest hospital.
It doesn’t need to be a utopia. It just needs to be better than this.
In the US 36 million people, about 11 % live in poverty. Another 2 % rely on SNAP and similar aid to keep above the poverty line.
In the US 10 out of 73 million children live in poverty, about twice the rate of your claim.
Also, please link your sources.
Using a different way of measuring. Using the same way, USA is 1 out of 5.
Which is abhorrent, but for scale it’s one out of six in America so…
