Well this one shocked me and I am not easily shocked. Studies have shown the Income Inequlity has tilted to the point of homelessness or edge of it for working people and those on fixed incomes trying to house those on minimum wage if they are lucky enough to be employed in the first place.
http://nlihc.org/...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
This map is scary and real.
See how very bad it is for renters or people who do not outright own their homes. I went to this site out of frustration of trying to struggle each month and each month getting worse like so many everywhere. This is a wake up call, or should be. The interactive map will show you even county by county how the rent cost does not equal the pay scale of minimum wage workers. It also shows that even two jobs will not cut it.
This is appalling and instead of talking about the problems in Iraq, people need to look at their own reality right here in America.
I thought it was just me. I thought since 2010 i had screwed up somehow on making food choices or living beyond my means a bit but to live within my means would require a shack in the woods with no electricity, or the kids quitting college or kids moving out of our home or sickness or aging just disappearing. I needed answers and what I found out is that no where is much better than anywhere else . The medical care is better in some states. The people are nicer in some states. The reality is the same though. If you are a minimum wage earner or even on a fixed income that basically works out to minimum wage ..depending on family size..then you are screwed.
From The Washington Post
If you're living in a one-parent household making the $7.75 minimum wage in Hawaii, you would need to work 163 hours a week to comfortably make your rent payment on a two-bedroom apartment -- giving you a luxurious five hours a week to sleep, eat or spend time with your family. To comfortably afford a decent two-bedroom home on a 40-hour work week, by contrast, you'd need to earn $31.61 an hour.
The map above shows the hourly wage that a household needs to earn in order to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment in every state, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. High hourly wages are necessary to afford decent housing in Washington D.C. ($28.04), California ($26.65), New York ($25.67), New Jersey ($25.17), Massachusetts ($24.64), and other states.
I could not upload the map image but is right there in the links. Click on the Link and find your state and county.
What the hell ? This is beyond income inequality.. This is really refugee stuff.
This data comes from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group for affordable housing, which has published an extensive report comparing the cost of renting with wages in each state. The group defines housing affordability as paying less than 30 percent of your income to housing, a common standard for the industry, and it assumes a "fair market rent" as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
We need to stop telling these wingnut families and friends to go ahead and vote against their best interest.. They can argue their single voter issues but they can't argue the facts of their own poverty level.
I am in the meantime counting up my change for this month's rent and gas to go back and forth for my husband's major operation day after tomorrow. I am pretty damn scared. I knew I would die. I just never thought we would die this broke. Wow.. what a bitter dose of reality one faces when they check out FACTS.
I cannot budget what we don't have.. i think i need to write a song with that title.
Damn Scott and all the others for not expanding Medicaid. It is depressing and hard enough to cut back to the point of ruin but to do it sick is just slow torture.