I work full time for CVS and I have 26 cents in my bank account, nevermind 500. I literally cannot save, every cent is expenses. When an emergency happens I am straight up fucked every time.
An emergency happened for me in june and I was homeless by July, working fucking full time. Thank fuck I have a family I can stay with.I fucking hate this country. Literally standing in line to donate plasma for gas money. Christ.
Yeah 63% seems way too high. The median wage in the US is like $50k. That’s not a ton of money, but half the population should definitely be able to find $500 in an emergency.
True, financial literacy is pretty lacking, but that’s more of an education issue than “their fault”
Most dealerships and banks will happily approve a loan that’s too high to be realistic. It’s predatory, I make $20/hr and got approved for up to $300k for a mortgage. I bought a house worth half that and it’s still a lot. Just feel like banks really shouldn’t let people sign loans worth 80% of their monthly income
Financially illiteracy is a point; but it’s not a point for 50+% of the US. Median wage is $50k/year, which is far too low to ever purchase a home, so they’re affected by the median rent being $1,383. which is half their net income.
As a non American can I ask about your monthly budget? I’m really curious as to what’s really going on and how much it’s costing because everyone from different states are talking differently.
to an extent, it really does differ by state. however, housing costs went up significantly for both buying a house or renting in the last 2 years.
I live in the greater Seattle area, but not in Seattle, which is fairly expensive. I make about $50k per year, which is about $3400/ month take home after taxes and paying for health insurance. $1550 of that goes to rent. internet costs me $60/ month; I could get cheaper, crappier internet, but this way I also get to work from home a few days a week and enjoy online video games. power varies, depending on if I need to run the heat. for the summer, it’s about $60/month, in the winter it might go up to $200/month. I don’t do well in the cold, I could save money but sleep poorly and risk getting sick by not warming up so much. my brother has a deal for phone service, so we share a family plan where my share is $30/ month. I don’t have a car now, I ride the bus generally. that’s about $50/ month, but varies if I need to be in the office more or go more places than my usual sedentary habits.
if you’re keeping track, that’s about $1600/ month left after allocated expenses. I haven’t talked about food or other household necessities, or any fun leisure stuff. you’ll also notice I don’t have any student loans or medical debt or a car loan. I did spend a full year unemployed during covid, and ran up my credit card staying afloat. so I’ve got about $20k debt that I put at least $500/ month toward.
getting a car would be prohibitively expensive here - in addition to the cost of the car, I’d also be paying $100/ month to park it, +gas, +insurance. I’ve lived in other states where not having a vehicle meant you couldn’t work, because there was no effective public transit. usually those places didn’t have the parking expense, but gas and insurance alone are more expensive than my transit costs here usually are.
I’m pretty ok for this area. my rent is pretty cheap for a studio apartment (no bedroom, just living area, private kitchen, private bathroom). my debt is fairly low, and my credit remains pretty good, so if I need a loan it’s an option.
The US is massive and each state and city can have wildly varying costs of living and pay.
So it’s a bit hard to compare someone from NYC to someone who lives in Austin Texas.
Generally on the north east coast the cost of living is high due to density and so wages/salaries tend to be higher than somewhere with a lower cost of living. As you move into the mid west and central US things tend to come back down before going up again on the west coast.
America is kinda fucked up. Seeing it from the outside, nothing is surprising, the solutions are fairly obvious. If nothing else, the direction in which to go. Yet, it’s just dumb and dumber.
You had a real shot at change with Bernie Sanders. At least one of the three pieces. At this point, you’ll have a revolution within the next 5-10 years that changes the two party system, or it’s lights out.
That guy doesn’t understand his own lyrics. He says he’s not a Republican and is upset that Republicans are using his song, but he’s using all their talking points.
The song is not about “rich men” in general but about politicians in Washington DC. Those are, specifically, the “rich men north of Richmond” he is discussing.
His claim is not that business owners pay too little, but that the government is taking too much, and giving it to welfare queens.
You may want to consider reading the actual lyrics.
Yes that is one of the things he talks about, among many. funny enough he only mentions the word politician once when talking about miners and doesn’t call them rich men. almost as if he wrote the song that way on purpose. Which is why it’s so damn popular with people of all classes, colors, and political leanings.
He mentions politicians every time the chorus comes around. That is what “rich men north of Richmond” means. That’s why he isn’t calling out wealthy people south of Richmond. DC is north of Richmond.
I can’t tell you why the song is popular, but I can definitely parse the meaning of the lyrics, which you seem to be struggling with.
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
Cause of rich men north of Richmond
This is explicitly about politicians. The entire song is.
The only other lyrics with any content are
Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down
Lambasting “welfare queens” and taxes.
Needless to say, this song isn’t popular with me, because I am capable of understanding both the lyrics and how taxes and welfare work within the context of the economy.
At no point does he decry wealthy business owners or anything of the sort, which sort of takes away from your “any political leanings” argument. This is very explicitly one political leaning, and from a person who isn’t very knowledgeable.
As i said in my comment, he mentions politicians 1 time. You can’t think of any other rich cities north or Richmond? Because i can think of a couple. If you choose to read between the lines and interpret it in only a way that you don’t like, then that’s on you.
Art can be interpreted, yes, but if I look at a picture of the Mona Lisa and think it is an excellent painting of a duck, I am incorrect.
There is, in fact, a correct way to interpret poetry and verse. I should know, because I literally have a degree in it and used to teach high school English.
The specifics of this song are not open to interpretation - it is a song about how the federal government gives “hard working men’s” tax dollars to “undeserving” people on welfare.
By the same token, Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is not about global warming.
It’s okay to be wrong and it is a sign of self-confidence and intelligence to accept when you are wrong.
You can still enjoy the song if the actual meaning makes you feel good, or even if you just think it’s a banger. No one is trying to take that from you.
Agreed it is OK to be wrong. He does say after all “people like me, and people like you”. There’s the 1 line about politicians and the rest is about everyone.
A simple blown tire that renders you only reliable way to work that doesn’t pay enough to cover your basic living expenses is a catastrophic emergency that could cost around 500 bucks.
Seriously, that’s what it ended up costing me, and I did part of the body work needed to be able to fit a new windshield in right. If I hadn’t kept the tools around, that would have been another 500.
Mind you, the 500 I did pay out included some other body work I just couldn’t physically do. The glass and installation of the glass was “only” 150 ish (can’t remember what the tax was).
The one before that, that was barely under 500 was the AC unit for the house freezing up and fucking the compressor.
And 500 is a single emergency. You get hit by multiple, and you’re fucked .
Nobody has any fucking money. You can’t afford medical, you can’t afford a house, you can barely afford a car. You can barely afford rent. Everything is more expensive. Food, gas, everything. Wages can’t keep up with inflation and employers could give a shit.
What the fuck is this? “How employers might help change that” Answer: they wont, they just might be forced to let employees give themselves a fee-free loan from their own retirement account, oh and here’s a slightly different new emergency savings account. It’s still all just your money…What the actual fuck?
What about the half of US workers that don’t have a retirement account? I guess fuck them?
Paying higher wages doesn’t get people to start bank accounts, much less retirement accounts.
Many people on the poorer end of the spectrum literally hide money in their walls/mattresses rather than get bank accounts - I know many of these people firsthand.
Add comment