A Story of Systemic Poverty
Picture this, you’re a typical white kid who grew up in a poor urban neighborhood in Michigan. An area that once had economic opportunity is now cluttered with abandoned businesses and rundown homes. While never being homeless, you grew up in an abusive home that was economically unstable. With 40 percent of Americans struggling to pay for at least one basic need such as food or rent your experience is not all that uncommon.
You graduate high school and make the conscious decision you want to create a better life for yourself and your family. Wanting to escape endless poverty you’re told college is the solution.
You’re only 18 at the time and don’t fully understand how loans work. Your friends and family would shame you if you didn’t go to college. And forget community college that’s for idiots! You better go to that expensive state school all 4 years! You’re now part of the American public that owes a combined $1.5 trillion in student debt.
Despite only 16 percent of poor students graduating college you’re able to defy the odds and graduate with $37,000 in debt which is the national average of a recent grad.
Time to look for work to start paying off that loan. However, 67 percent of recent college grads don’t have a job lined up when they graduate so you’re forced to take a low-skill job at a local factory while you still look for work. However, you’re like the average American who has to commute 16 miles to work. You’re going to need a car.
You have now borrowed more money to purchase a car. It’s not much, but it will get you by. You can’t afford a newer, more reliable car, so you buy a car with high mileage that probably needs some work. Because you have no credit and limited income your interest rate on the car loan is high. Because you’re poor you’re going to wind up paying a lot more for that vehicle than someone with better credit. It’s a small loan and it’s only for a few years but you can’t afford to see a mechanic. You better hope that car lasts.
Sure enough in under a year the car breaks down and you’re now relying on public transit to get to work until you can save up the funds for the car repair. The car repair is going to be about $1,000, which is too bad, considering you’re one of the 61 percent of Americans that cant afford a $1,000 emergency. That’s when you get the news. The company is now outsourcing your factory job and without warning you’re laid off. You didn’t work at the job for a full year so you don’t qualify for unemployment. Problem is, you still have some payments left on that car. With over 7 million Americans 90 days behind on their car payments, that car is now in danger of being repossessed.
Looks like you’re going to need some additional funds.
To keep your head above water you take out some credit cards with the intention of it being a temporary solution. Congratulations, you’re now one of the millions of Americans who are over $420 billion dollars in credit card debt, with the average American just under $7,000 in said debt. With high APR’s recently reaching an all time high of an average 17.55 percent it’s increasingly expensive to borrow money and you’re now maxing out your credit lines.
With financial insecurity and debt being a major contributor to depression your mental and physical health begin to deteriorate. You’re one of the millions of Americans without health insurance, so seeing a doctor is not an option.
The physical and mental pain are too much to endure so you turn to opioids. The loss of manufacturing jobs increased the use of opioid abuse in America and that’s what others in the neighborhood have turned to as well. The pharmaceutical industry has lobbied heavily to make opioids more accessible so even someone like you can get your hands on them on the black market easily.
You feel completely worthless. You feel you have no positive way to contribute to society. You’re hooked on opioids and don’t have many friends or family who can help you. You’re about to be evicted from your apartment, your car is gone, you’re buried in credit card debt and due to more lobbying you’re unable to declare bankruptcy on your student debt. Despite still being young, you’ve lived an entire life with a metaphorical anvil on your chest. You did everything you could to beat the odds but there was just too much stacked against you at the start. You hear stories how people defy the odds, but you didn’t. You’re worthless, and you tell yourself that every day. One night it all becomes too much to handle.
You become a statistic. One of the 45,000 people every year who commit suicide due to the feeling of worthlessness and shame that comes with being unemployed.
Your story makes the news. “Man Found Dead From Drug Overdose”. People on social media share the story and make comments that point out how you were a loser, how you should have worked harder or how they were in similar circumstances but succeeded anyway. The news cycle passes and just like that time soldiers on leaving you forgotten.
But you’re story is not uncommon. Thousands of Americans wake up everyday on a similar path. They went to school, they tried to find work or they got laid off after innovation or cheaper foreign labor made them obsolete. Politicians claim they want to help but do little to address the economic and social structures that put you in this position.
Maybe you should have taken more personal responsibility in life. Surely there is more you could have done to avoid this. But when you’re born into a situation where your head is below water there needs to be a way to keep you from drowning.
While this story is fictitious, it’s a reality for thousands of Americans. Consider donating or volunteering at your local homeless shelter to help get someone back on their feet.
I write about business and politics. That’s about it really. Follow me on Twitter for my hot takes.
