I love how nobody has anything to say about my financial literacy comment and how I've managed to pull myself from a prison cell to semi-successful business owner without any help from the government. Stories like mine are the ones you guys don't want to hear. Stories like mine don't fit the liberal narrative. You wanna talk about adversity and discrimination? It's illegal to discriminate against minorities. It's illegal to discriminate against gays, women, muslims, etc. Discrimination against me is perfectly legal and even encouraged in many areas. I've been turned down for housing, jobs, business opportunities, professional licensing and its all fucking legal. Did I sit around and whine? Did i waste my time protesting my oppression every night? No, I busted my ass and worked a shitty job, ate ramen, drove a shitty car saved up and took shit into my own hands. But that's me. That's not for everyone I guess. Maybe you can understand how that has shaped my views though.
I didn't comment because it was silly. It doesn't matter what you say "it should be". What matters is what it is. Single person stories are irrelevant.
Tell me again how a median wage worker can save enough to retire?
The U.S. Census Bureau lists the annual real median personal income at
$35,977 in 2019 with a base year of 2019 for all people over 15 years old. Or
$3000/month source: Note that median personal income means half of everybody in this country makes less.
Single-parent owners had median monthly housing costs of
$524,
source:
Cost of food per month for family of three: $
477 source
Average cost of transportation per month: $9737/ yr or $
811/month
source
Typical spending on clothing in the US per month: $
200/month (low estimate)
source
Amount parents should put away to fund a kid's education after HS: $60,000 or 2,000/yr over 30 years or $167/mo per child. For two kids,
$334/mo
source
Average heating bill per month: $
63/month
Cost of unsubsidized healthcare insurance per month: $
1077/month
source Hopefully nobody needs it because deductibles and co-pays will bankrupt a single parent.
Total montly cost of housing, food, transportation, clothing, education, heating and healthcare: $
3486
These are typical costs, and wages.
Out of $3000/month income, Assuming no SSI, and no medicare deductions and no taxes other than sales tax which is baked into the above figures, There is nothing left. In fact some items will have to be cut by a total of $486. This doesn't allow for emergencies or the costs that a person runs up if they or their kid needs serious medical attention. It's not possible to save in this situation. It's not possible to stop working and get retrained either.
These are the people that just a two years ago we championed as essential workers and they are. So, I'm not really interested in your story, I'm interested in how you are devaluing these essential workers and prescribing a life debt without hope.
You must know that median and lower income workers work really hard for a living. These people aren't as you describe and eff you for saying that.
Laughing out loud about how you think your personal story is so important and these hard numbers are not.