Almost half of US families can't afford basics like rent and food
Source: CNN-Money
by Tami Luhby @Luhby
May 17, 2018: 10:44 AM ET
The economy may be chugging along, but many Americans are still struggling to afford a basic middle class life.
Nearly 51 million households don't earn enough to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a cell phone, according to a study released Thursday by the United Way ALICE Project. That's 43% of households in the United States.
The figure includes the 16.1 million households living in poverty, as well as the 34.7 million families that the United Way has dubbed ALICE -- Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. This group makes less than what's needed "to survive in the modern economy."
"Despite seemingly positive economic signs, the ALICE data shows that financial hardship is still a pervasive problem," said Stephanie Hoopes, the project's director.
California, New Mexico and Hawaii have the largest share of struggling families, at 49% each. North Dakota has the lowest at 32%.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/17/news/economy/us-middle-class-basics-study/index.html
dalton99a
(81,468 posts)Botany
(70,501 posts)n/t
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)Botany
(70,501 posts)..... has filled their heads with toxic lies.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)statement is what jobs are available for the most part will not support someone.
But we will not do anything about it because before we can even get there people are whining about public employee pensions.
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)same inane destructive beliefs.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)Never mind rent, food, education, and other basic needs being met.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)RKP5637
(67,107 posts)the world from.
Bengus81
(6,931 posts)Jimvanhise
(301 posts)This story will never appear on Fox News where poor-shaming is the order of the day. On Fox News there is no such thing as poor people in America, just people who made "bad decisions." Several years ago Bill Moyers did a program on poverty in America and Bill O'Reilly attacked him for "trying to make America look bad."
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)Wednesdays
(17,362 posts)Last edited Fri May 18, 2018, 12:57 PM - Edit history (1)
but decisions to become "lazy freeloaders." It's amazing how millions more people make such decisions when a recession hits.
Edited in case my sarcasm was unclear.
Le Gaucher
(1,547 posts)and have a slight shot at saving for a rainy day
logosoco
(3,208 posts)The first one with the grandsons being home from school for the next couple of months. Many prices were much higher than the last time I went. No good deals in the produce section (hopefully it is too early, but from what I am reading I don't expect many in the future).
And I think we are doing better than many families (but we are not a fancy people!). So if we are feeling the pinch, I can only imagine how it is for those already hurting.
tblue37
(65,340 posts)and ongoing detentions and deportations, farmers can't get enough workers to harvest their produce, so I bet fruit and vegetable prices will soar this year.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)Went to get groceries for a friend Wednesday, with tomatoes always on the list. I was worried 'cause I had been reading all the stories about American farmers not getting enough pickers for the crops due to tRump running off all the immigrants, and in fact saw photos of tons of tomatoes rotting in the fields in Florida.
The best ones at my Kroger store were imported from Canada for $2/lb, or around $1/each. I wonder how long even that will last with NAFTA negotiations falling apart. A lot of items look high to me, although some such as milk still seem OK. Grain products seem to have gone up considerably in the past months.
I've noticed a lot of produce coming from Mexico and Central America in the past, and I'm worried that tRump's economic and physical walls will put us all in the poor house.
.........
niyad
(113,284 posts)RKP5637
(67,107 posts)the crap and vote accordingly.
niyad
(113,284 posts)airmid
(500 posts)back in with my grandson (Mom is an addict). I'm not sure I can stretch my budget any further. I lost my food stamps several months ago due to a paperwork snafu. And though they admitted it was their fault, they still kicked my off for a minimum of a year...
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)Food banks like my neighbor goes to have really helped, and I even take what he gets in excess to some other friends that are struggling. I do fear that scarcity may become the norm due to farmers and meat producers losing their labor supply. We may need to ask our large grocers and local corporations to cough up more to help, and it may be wise for us to build a little hoard in can goods for hard times.
Thank goodness tRump and his gang of thieves will be out soon, although not soon enough for us.
Best of luck to you.....
airmid
(500 posts)staples like flour and such, I have some areas to forage for free berries and greens and the occasional mushroom patch. Got the veg garden going now and a few chickens someone wanted to get rid off. They lay a dozen or more eggs a week. I dread winter....
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)We don't have enough of that these days, sharing of skills with our youth. Glad you have a place to keep chickens. Maybe you can get to where you can sell a few eggs, and perhaps a fryer now and then. Many people where I was raised in the country had a chicken coop and my mom got her eggs and fryers from local farmers. I always loved fresh picked turnip greens in the spring, but have not had a mess of those in close to 50 years (I live in town now).
Canning was an annual ritual back then, with the kitchen hot as blazes for days. But, that food really was great in the winter. Good times back then. Everything was much simpler and people shared and appreciated the little things in life.
Best wishes to you and I hope some things come along to make life easier on you. DU is a good place to share our trials and tribulations.
notdarkyet
(2,226 posts)I was shocked. Ive never done an application so long and arduous with them before. I kept saying why are you asking this, they never have before. Did I make or sell things? They wanted access to my bank accounts and I said no, and they went and got them anyway. Two hours pre interview then a three hour interview to finish the process. I realized it is all to discourage people and like above find a reason to deny you. I am probably going to be denied because a community group just gave me a grant for 480 for utilities.
airmid
(500 posts)CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)I used to live in a place that was a nightmare. Part of it was Section 8 and the other part was for anyone that cared to live there and pay "normal" rents.
Said place was an old WPA residence for workers, no insulation, a well that was not clean, etc. etc. ... aka a DUMP of the worst sorts.
Fortunately I managed to get out of this place and housed elsewhere.
I ran into the woman that was (is still?) the manager for these rentals and she informed me the rent was now $1100 a month and that there were two places left where the tenants were on Section 8, the left had left/relocated.
$1100/mo. for a place that would not even pass code?
I feel sorry for anyone having to pay such an outrageous amount of money to live in such a place.
The rent was $400/mo. when I lived there! $400/mo. and NO, it was not worth $400 a mo. and is not worth $400/mo. today!
GREED KILLS.
& recommend!!
IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)Repub oligarchs view poverty as more of a solution than a problem. They want a servant class like back in the old days when America was great. Ironically, back then many of the impoverished marginalized immigrants were from Europe.
Bengus81
(6,931 posts)like it's done here those tax cuts are meaningless.
TimeSnowDemos
(476 posts)Is that there's still a social safety net that's not based on revenge or punishment.
Here in Ireland families get a monthly children's allowance that's not means tested. If you're a single parent you get more. If you're jobless you can arrord to live, cheaply, but you won't be evicted.
Kids are given school clothes allowances if need be, families can get emergency payments at Christmas, etc. Etc. Etc.
And as a result there's very little economic strife...
Yes, some countries do more than others, but nowhere is like the US.
At this point I wouldn't dream of moving back as I'd have to sacrifice way too much.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)TimeSnowDemos
(476 posts)CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)I understand there is a homeless problem and lack of adequate housing in Ireland.
I also understand that there have been many cuts to the healthcare system (long long waits) and also to the elderly that rely on services.
I also understand that some very greedy and corrupt politicians are running Ireland today.
Please tell me that none of this is true.
Welcome to the DU btw!
TimeSnowDemos
(476 posts)There is - relative to other EU countries - a housing problem in DUBLIN. Not in Ireland.
That's mostly driven by the relatively unregulated housing industry... the same thing that drove the Celtic Tiger... and all that that implies...
Saying that, the housing crisis is EXTREMELY small potatoes compared to everything else I mentioned, and only really is out of control in Dublin.
Now, check this out, this is what the Irish think about all of this:
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/fix-it-like-finland-nowadays-there-isnt-a-single-rough-sleeper-on-helsinki-streets-3960600-Apr2018/
Not only are their massive protests to "fix" the homeless problem (imagine that in the US) but the most likely fix will be to simply house people. Go figure.
Ireland isn't perfect, but I can list a dozen things I have here that I'd lose if I went to the US and... aside from cheap food... can't think of a single thing I'd gain.
As far as greedy people, etc., Ireland is small. Imagine if the entire US was Massachusetts. The chances of it not being corrupt would be essentially zero. Everyone knows everyone... people help their friends and family... but it's NOWHERE NEAR as corrupt as the US.
Not event he same ballpark.
BumRushDaShow
(128,905 posts)Well there are almost 36 million Irish (and/or descendants) here in the U.S. vs almost 5 million there.
CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)My niece left as she couldn't find work. She is in Abu Dhabi now. She had to leave to find work as an R.N.
I have lots of family there that I hear from often.
I think it depends upon who I am speaking with but yes, you are quite right, there is a homeless problem in Dublin no doubt.
I hope you like it there. It has changed dramatically over the years, that is for sure!
Thanks for the reply!
TimeSnowDemos
(476 posts)... For economic reasons.
The unemployment rate is 6%. There's actually a lot of inward migration these days... And they expect another million people ro live here in the next 20 years or so!
The Irish love to moan like everyone, and the problems here Re made out to be extremely dramatic, but they're not.
byronius
(7,394 posts)He talks about it in 'Schrodinger's Cat', and suggests that if we do not evolve swiftly enough away from standard shark-tank capitalism we'll be sewing the seeds of social catastrophe. Pain all around, rich people included.
His solution is a little fanciful, but he wrote it in the 80's. It's still a powerful conceptual work.
Guaranteed Basic Income is a thing to do. Money is just a marker. People are the asset.
Response to DonViejo (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
hlthe2b
(102,236 posts)moondust
(19,979 posts)with gas prices rising and in turn boosting prices on groceries and other necessities.
Quick! Somebody call Paul Ryan who can fix it with more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires! That's the ticket!
F'ing pathetic.
CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)Depressing as all hell this reality is for so many people throughout the entire world.
So much for MAGA!!!
Dump tRump!
Mr.Bill
(24,284 posts)I know the people who own it. It is a well-kept and very clean store. The upside is you are kind of forced to explore some new foods and flavors since selection is often limited. (Like yogurt? Hope you like the Blueberry Apricot flavor, because that's all we've got. ) The downside is when you find something you really like that is a great deal they probably won't ever have it again because it was a discontinued product.
I see the whole Grocery Outlet experience as kind of an adventure, to be honest.
CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)I'm drinking a glass of cranberry sangria right now.
The biggest selling item around here is ... YOGURT.
Seems they can't keep it in stock!
A new experience; that's a good way to view it!
CousinIT
(9,241 posts)It means let all these Americans die:
The poor.
People of color.
Women (except wealthy white ones)
Anyone needing healthcare who can't pay out of pocket.
The elderly.
Workers.
Middle class.
LGBT people.
Immigrants.
Asylum-seekers.
ANYONE not white, heterosexual male, "Christian", and wealthy.
When they say "drain the swamp", they mean LET. THEM. DIE.
That's done by gutting social security, medicare, medicaid, SNAP, ACA, HUD, public education -- and anything else that serves the masses.
When you hear Trumpublicans say "drain the swamp" --- it does NOT mean what you THINK it means!
Look at their ACTIONS. Don't get hung up on their words and phrases. Their words and phrases were carefully researched and are applied to elicit visceral emotional responses BEFORE the thought process about what is actually being DONE can kick in.
Just so you know....We are being PLAYED.
CountAllVotes
(20,868 posts)And many of them are very well off -- even millionaires are on Medicare!
As for the disabled, best we pretend that they do not exist!
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)Or so the repugs would have you believe. I am disabled and tRump and friends want to take away everything that disabled folks all too often need to survive - section 8, medicaid, etc. I LOATHE the repugs!
ancianita
(36,048 posts)15.6% is much less than the claimed 43% of households.
Because my calculation means that around 84% are doing okay.
Not saying that we shouldn't wipe out poverty, but the OP claim doesn't sound correct.
NickB79
(19,236 posts)A household being anything from a single 20 yr old to a married couple with 10 kids and a retired parent living in the basement.
325 mil is the US population; there are approximately 100 million households in the US.
ancianita
(36,048 posts)I'm trying to grasp big numbers lately, so I'm going for individuals, too.
Divide 126.2 million households into the 325.7 million population and it's 2.6 people per household X 51 mil households, or 131,622,029 poor people.
The numbers are ridiculously big for such a rich country. But the two-part wrecking of America is, to the globalists, coming along nicely.
HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)more than 51 million people - maybe three times as many. Or if the data is correct:
43 / 15.6 = 2.8 people per household.
ancianita
(36,048 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Let's get rid of 'em before they finish the job!
RussBLib
(9,008 posts)My wife and I have comfortably retired, but I'm pretty certain that if we had had children, we'd be really struggling. Probably not retired but still working.
haele
(12,650 posts)They've got their problems based on missed opportunities and their own choices as to what they think a "job" should be, true - but the jobs available to them are not living wage or are not full time. So, we've got guardianship while they're getting their lives together and starting over again. I figure if they can get jobs and start banking overages - and don't have any more kids or take outrageous student loans out - they'll be able to take the girls back full time and be somewhat secure in maybe six or seven years.
And that's putting a burden on our ability to maintain our house and get our retirement in order - and next year, I'll be looking at 60 coming up. I don't see myself being able to retire until I'm 70 at least, the way things are going.
Haele
Orsino
(37,428 posts)That manifests erroneously as racism/xenophobia.