Thursday, January 22, 2009
Why Poor People in the U.S. Don't Help Each Other So Much...
This would also be why refugees often do better than poor Americans in their OWN country...
There are a lot of good programs to help poor people here, BUT ALL these excellent programs don't allow people sufficient funds to lead decent lives, even at a minamalist level. What is even worse is there are penalties for ANY action that would help people to pool resources.
People on Social Security, SSI, SSD, SSD Retirement for example face penalties if they get married. They can lose depending on the income of their spouse from one third to ALL their benefits. Now if they happen to marry someone with SERIOUS money, I could see it, but frankly few people in this catagory have a great dating pool! Few have the ability to marry into money therefore.....
People on actual Welfare, can't pool their resources so easily EITHER! It affects things like food stamp benefits. Food Stamp benefits are pretty key at any of these income levels to survival given the outrageous rents people pay in many American towns and cities. All your cash is generally going to 1. rent 2. utilities 3. cleaning supplies if the first two don't kill you 4. clothing. 5. entertainment if there's ANYTHING left. Utilities are the most unpredictible cash expense for many people.
Here's the rub, a few people sharing a house can actually SAVE THE GOVERNMENT MONEY!
1. Utility bills get divided up
2. It may well build in childcare for poor women with small children.
3. Cuts down the physical burden of housework since that in most cases is shared
4. Provides reenforcement for people who need company.
(If you have someone around who is helpful, you don't go out and do drugs or get drunk just to feel better! You may have the emotional support you need right there even if it is 1 a.m. or 3 a.m.)
5. Especially for women shared houseing can enhance physical security. (I personally feel safer living with a few other people!)
If you feel safer in the first place and you are a woman, you might be less likely to accept an unhealthy dating relationship for economic reasons. If women sheltered for example their abused friends more often, fewer women would go back to bad relationships.
Males in communal arrangements benefit too. Someone generally has cooked dinner, someone generally does wash the clothes, it doesn't always have to be the person who got them dirty!
If people have set up a clean and sober environment, there is as mentioned before some built in support and that is really helpful to people who are trying to kick bad habits.
The spiritual dimension can be very good too!
Tweaking the rules so people could do more mutual aid would really help our whole country.
There are a lot of good programs to help poor people here, BUT ALL these excellent programs don't allow people sufficient funds to lead decent lives, even at a minamalist level. What is even worse is there are penalties for ANY action that would help people to pool resources.
People on Social Security, SSI, SSD, SSD Retirement for example face penalties if they get married. They can lose depending on the income of their spouse from one third to ALL their benefits. Now if they happen to marry someone with SERIOUS money, I could see it, but frankly few people in this catagory have a great dating pool! Few have the ability to marry into money therefore.....
People on actual Welfare, can't pool their resources so easily EITHER! It affects things like food stamp benefits. Food Stamp benefits are pretty key at any of these income levels to survival given the outrageous rents people pay in many American towns and cities. All your cash is generally going to 1. rent 2. utilities 3. cleaning supplies if the first two don't kill you 4. clothing. 5. entertainment if there's ANYTHING left. Utilities are the most unpredictible cash expense for many people.
Here's the rub, a few people sharing a house can actually SAVE THE GOVERNMENT MONEY!
1. Utility bills get divided up
2. It may well build in childcare for poor women with small children.
3. Cuts down the physical burden of housework since that in most cases is shared
4. Provides reenforcement for people who need company.
(If you have someone around who is helpful, you don't go out and do drugs or get drunk just to feel better! You may have the emotional support you need right there even if it is 1 a.m. or 3 a.m.)
5. Especially for women shared houseing can enhance physical security. (I personally feel safer living with a few other people!)
If you feel safer in the first place and you are a woman, you might be less likely to accept an unhealthy dating relationship for economic reasons. If women sheltered for example their abused friends more often, fewer women would go back to bad relationships.
Males in communal arrangements benefit too. Someone generally has cooked dinner, someone generally does wash the clothes, it doesn't always have to be the person who got them dirty!
If people have set up a clean and sober environment, there is as mentioned before some built in support and that is really helpful to people who are trying to kick bad habits.
The spiritual dimension can be very good too!
Tweaking the rules so people could do more mutual aid would really help our whole country.
# posted by Katja R. @ 10:37 AM 
