@lemmy.world
We (the middle class) went from capturing 25% of GDP in the 60's and 70's to capturing 7% today. Wealth inequality is the highest it's been since 1929. The only metals getting purchased now are the ones going into datacenters, which will likely only get paid off by a further reduction of our GDP capture once these companies go belly-up.
I hear you on that one. Retirement savings? I don't really know what that is and in all honesty I think it's an urban legend...
What really gets me is the debt tranching. Same game as '08 just with datacenter loans instead of mortgages and much bigger numbers. These guys have over $662 billion in debt OFF BOOK, which is 113% of their on-balance-sheet debt. That's according to Moody's. But other numbers are even more disgusting, Meta's hidden debt is around $420 billion -- three times its transparent debt. Who's going to get stuck with all this debt once it pops? The same people who got stuck with the MBS bill. You and me.
There's tons of value! Venture capitalists and tech firms sinking their last dimes into circular debt... The government changing finance rules so investment firms can sink your 401k retirement funds into unregulated private equity firms so they can sink YOUR last dime into AI... Investment banks tranching bad AI debt and reselling it just like they did back in '08 with mortgage-backed securities... There's tons of value. You just need an Enron mindset...
Both parties make their money by serving their puppet masters who steal money from us. The middle class used to capture 25% of GDP back in the 70's. Now we're lucky to capture 7%. And we've had plenty of politicians from both sides that just made the problem worse. It's not Dem's vs. Rep's, it's the rich enslaving the poor. Always has been, always will be.
Yeah it can be tricky here in the States as well. Bank accounts are easy enough (any residential address will do), but for your driver's license or voting registration it gets more difficult -- you have to have "proof of residence". Which means you need to provide 2 documents. Lease agreement (in your name), utility bill (in your name), insurance bill (in your hame), mailed bank statement (unopened) less than 30 days old, etc. For a homeless person, that's impossible so losing an ID is a huge issue. Many states now will allow for a letter from a shelter and/or proof of homelessness as proof of residency, but that also brings up issues with insurance and benefits because 200 people will use that address for their ID's. So the insurance companies know it's a shelter (ergo higher rates) and many Federal benefits get denied because it sets off their fraud flags.
I'll ride out what's left on SSVF. I've been in touch with American Warrior Partnership, they said they might be able to help extend my stay since the SSI claim is pending. But as usual, "no promises" on that one. Hope for the best, plan for the worst!
I would love it if HUD/VASH came through, but I've been told not to get my hopes up. Seems here, there's a limited number of seats in that program and they tend to reserve it for people who are already on VA disability (and apparently they can't even house all of them). So hopefully the SSI goes through. I'll be leaving Denver either way, like you said it's just too big. At my ripe age of 52 I like peace, quiet, and no people!
Yeah it's totally hosed. I had a friend (electrician) whose wife had MS. He had to turn down any amount of overtime even though they really needed it, because anything over his 40 hours would cancel her benefits and really put them in a bind. And that's without counting the monthly asset cap. I finally got all my documents in one spot (Google Drive) -- stenosis stuff, CES stuff, PTSD stuff... Makes it a lot easier. I submitted it all to SSA just to find out they have you sign a document giving them access to all of your doctors anyways. But at least it's all there for any other entities that might be able to help but need the records.
Yup. You have to have less than 2k in assets to apply. Then the application process can draw out into years. My case literally sat on a desk for 9 months until I finally got an attorney. If you have to go the SSI route, make sure you have plenty of medical documentation and get a lawyer first.
Yeah I think my limit is $2k for all assets minus a vehicle. So I'll never be able to have more than $1,100 in savings because the monthly $924 deposit would put me over the limit and they'd kick me off. First, last and deposit to rent a place cost way more than they'll allow me to save.
Similar position here, I'm 52. My best case scenario is SSI, which only pays $900 per month plus back pay from November of 2025. If it goes through, great, I'll be getting a used vehicle and going campsite-to-campsite with it. If not, I'll hitchhike down to Houston and set up at my old camp and see how long it takes the police to sweep again. Those are my only two options, and one of them I have zero control over. The frustrating part is you spend a majority of your life paying into all these "safety nets" that seem to evaporate when you need them most. At this point, I'd rather Uncle Sam just refunded every dime I've paid in taxes and call it even. I'd likely be better off!
My advice -- write them down. Hopefully you won't need them. But if it does happen, the initial panic overrides logic. You'll end up packing stupid things like a lamp and completely spacing out the important things like your birth certificate, social security card, and DD-214 if you were military. I've seen more "new homeless" do exactly that and those documents can take months to years to replace. Things like silverware are not necessary, you won't be cooking and most fast-food joints have plastic utensils you can get for free. Find out if there's any homeless day centers you can use for mail, find out where your social services office is so you can apply for EBT and Medicaid. I can't stress enough about credit cards, make sure to get the balances down to zero if not already. It's hard to make payments when you're on the streets, and having that kind of borrowing power is an absolute must should an opportunity come your way like an out-of-state job. With any luck, you won't need any of it and you can throw that plan away later. But it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. And be sure to check out www.freecampsites.net, that at least eliminates a lot of the "where will I go" worries.
Yeah it's a pickle, and I've been there. I wasn't always homeless. And like you said, the employment options available now really don't cover the bills. The few options that do (ie: HVAC, offshore oil, electrical) are a no-go for me because of the spinal stenosis. Immediate needs trump retirement, it's a shame that you have to do that though. Having a spouse to support is a whole different game, I've been single which makes things easier and more difficult at the same time.
The one thing that helps (homeless or not), keep a loose plan "if all else fails". Scorched-Earth type plan if absolutely nothing works out. Hopefully you never need to use it, but just having one is a comfort of sorts.
I'm very sorry to hear that. In all honesty, the worst part about being homeless is the beginning (anxiety). No matter what happens, you will live, whether you slept under a roof the night before or not.
If you can, try to be a little proactive about it. That will take away at least a little bit of the anxiety. Make sure you have two large duffel bags, a backpack, cheap tent, and a sleeping bag. If it happens, you'll need all that plus a good jacket, clothes, and toiletries. Laptop if you have one. Pack light, you'll have to carry all of that around until you find a "spot" where you can leave your tent up during the day. If you have a car, that's a game changer. You're mobile and you have a safe place to store stuff (BLM and Forestry land offer free dispersed camping for up to 14 days). First thing you'll want to do if you lose housing is get on EBT and Medicaid. Those are lifelines.
And whatever you do, don't wait for an eviction to leave. That will make getting rehoused 10,000 times more difficult. Avoid other homeless in the beginning, addicts will tell you anything to steal your stuff. And don't lose hope. Best of luck to you.
In 40 years, GenZ will be the new Boomers. They won't understand the new Generation D (for "dummy") that's too lazy to make their own bowl of cereal without a robot doing it for them. GenD will call GenZ out of touch because they choose to bathe themselves alone rather than shower with a bathing robot. GenZ will reminisce about the brief time they drove their own car, how this new generation just doesn't understand, and the few remaining GenX'ers will one-up them from the retirement home with talk about stick shifts. Oh, how that new lazy generation knows nothing about the hellscape of manually vacuuming the house. Or having a job. GenD will put down GenZ about not knowing how to live in a fully-automated world, while GenZ quips back about how they were the ones that built that fully-automated world. The big generational debate will be on whether or not to elect robots to Congress or just have AI run the country. And that GenD should liquidate and redistribute the wealth GenZ is hoarding. I hope I'm still around, and I hope there's popcorn!!! :-)
Similar deal here in Denver -- SSVF had a ton of funds and was housing vets left and right (9-month housing limit, though). So the guys at the VA resource center sent me over to VOA, a week later I was in a hotel and a few weeks after that they moved me into the apartment I'm in now. I applied for SSI, got a lawyer, but we're still stuck at step two with SSA and my housing ends on September 30th. I hope your housing lasts long enough for you to get whatever you need taken care of, and I really hope SSA expedites my case. If approved, it won't be enough to cover the rent where I'm at (rent is $1,400 - SSI is $900), but at least with the back pay I can get a van to sleep in and never panhandle again. Good luck my friend!
Likely the same misconceptions I had before I became homeless -- All homeless people are drug addicts. They're lazy and choose the "lifestyle". They must have "burned everyone they knew" in order to end up like that. They choose not to work. They're all guilty of a crime so horrible nobody will hire them.
The reality is 180 degrees from what most people think. Most homeless (myself included) don't use drugs at all. Many are disabled. Able-bodied homeless come and go, many of those are back in housing of some sort in 3-6 months (they usually still have a car to sleep in and use for work). Many homeless are orphans, zero family support. Others, like me, are just older and came from small families that are gone.
The fact is the homeless you see are addicts. The homeless you don't notice stay clean and stay hidden. The latter outnumbers the former, and on the whole you wouldn't know they were homeless unless they told you.
I was born in the early 70's, so the whole "work your way out of it -- pull yourself up by the bootstraps" still rings in my ears. But the reality is nobody hires a homeless person. I've taken jobs before the stenosis got bad. As soon as someone found out I was homeless (someone always does), that was it. "We really feel bad about your situation and we wish you the best but we just can't have this kind of image..." and you're cut loose before you even have the minimum number of hours to collect unemployment. Back to square one, only with your pride hurt that much more. The flip side is you do take a job, issued uniforms, and then an addict steals them (or police sweep your camp) while you're at work. Occasionally you get the "nice guy" who offers to pay you to paint a shed or something else on his property. Only after you finish he refuses to pay and then calls the cops on you. That's happened to me twice.
About the drug issue -- there is one and it is a real problem. But I do have to say that in my 13 years I've seen plenty of people who otherwise never would have touched a drug end up addicted within a 6-month time frame. It's always the same story. Starts with "I'm going to get out of this" and ends with futility. After a few months the reality sets in. Too damn hard to shower and panhandle to eat everyday and then try to get a job on top of surviving. And many have the same employment experiences I just wrote about. After that, they lose hope. Starts with weed, ends with meth or heroine. Just last month I got a phone call from a guy I know in Houston. A young kid we both liked was found dead under a bridge with a needle hanging out of his arm. Turned out to be fentanyl. He was 22 years old. The mortality rate for young people on the street is far greater than for older people (to a certain age). There is a dynamic there but I'm already a little off-topic.
So to sum things up, there's really no "biggest misconception" about homelessness. It's the entire view of homelessness that is a misconception. You don't need to be a criminal, you don't need to be an addict, you don't need to do anything wrong, you don't need to be lazy -- it can, and does, happen to people from all walks of life. Once you're there, you're generalized into extreme negativity. You're viewed as an addict even if you've never touched a drug. You're viewed as a criminal even if your record is clean. You're viewed as lazy even if you're a very hard worker. Heck, I have a 738 credit score and 4 major credit cards, all with zero balances. Most housed people don't have that. But I'm less financially responsible, somehow. Thank you for your question!
My application went in for HUD/VASH last month. But the stenosis isn't considered a service-related issue so I don't get VA health benefits, and HUD/VASH has a long line of vets on it. People with service-related disabilities go first (as it should be). So it's basically a lottery ticket.
Sadly enough, there is no place in the United States with available housing vouchers. Section 8 and the like have 5-10 year waiting lists in most cities. Yes I've applied. Another lottery ticket!
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