[lit-ideas] Re: [lit-id] The Poverty of Heritage
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 20:47:43 -0700
Budgeting $700/mo:
>
> Incidentals (newspapers/coffee/books/candy bars/): forget it
> Savings: forget it
> Car repair: forget it
> Wear and tear on rugs, furniture, etc.: forget it
ck: Robert, this budget is very, very close to real for people with
disabilities (my area of casework expertise). The usual amount is $750/mo.
The lowest-cost apartments in this town--famously inexpensive, or so it was
until the housing boom found Fresno--are about $600/mo. People on SSDI do
not qualify for food stamps, but they do get free medical care.
Unfortunately, that's the emergency room at University Medical Center,
downtown. People with disabilities used to get free medication, if they had
no assets. Now, with Bush's prescription drug "benefit," each medication
costs about $3--cheap, unless you're talking about someone who has a TOTAL
of $150/mo, after rent. Electricity and bread or tortillas, with beans,
accounts for the rest.
See the relevance of housing costs, as I've been screaming? Huge proportion.
Experienced secretaries at the college I attend earn just $1400/mo (ah, with
health insurance!). They're not making ends meet with rents of one-bedroom
apartments now averaging $750/mo. But as I say, this is a very, very
low-rent part of the country.
True, I'm looking at a small portion of the US population--the portion that
has the wherewithall to jump through fiery hoops to get what amounts to
welfare for poor people who are incapable of working--what Reagan used to
call "the truly needy." As Lawrence points out, the US is the world's
richest country.
And this is the best we can do? No. This rotten situation of growing poverty
is the reason that the wealthier people feel unsafe behind gated,
intercommed, programmed communities. If nothing else, life is pretty boring
without vacations, little concerts and other distractions--without anything
to look forward to besides sex and more births. So in a town like Fresno,
you get dumb, dangerous entertainments like street racing, and tons of cheap
street drugs (meth variations). Julie knows. We live around the same
neighborhoods, it seems. Okay, I'll stop now.
Carol
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
