@hosford42 100% agreed.

I've been homeless and eaten from dumpsters. No "think positive" mindset will get you out of that. You literally need someone to give you a chance to elevate your position in life.

It could be someone helping you fix your car, a place to sleep for a few weeks/months as you get back on your feet, a few weeks of groceries, a job, or nice clothes so you can go to job interviews and be presentable.

At present, I think the number of people that say they're willing to help VS the actual number of people willing to help has a large divide between them - with the willing to help being very small.

@hosford42

Whoever thought up overdraft fees was an extremely unethical sadist and I want to hit them really, really hard.

@hosford42 rent is a huge thing too, I was absolutely shocked when I was able to buy a house how much that alone changed my life, it took almost two decades of having a high paying job and practically living like a pauper to save up enough for the down payment and get the loan.

My monthly costs cut to 1/3 of what they were while I live in a much nicer/safer area, have a huge back yard, and a good sized house with garage. (moving from slightly-larger-than-studio apartment and street parking)

@hosford42 Once Upon A Time, if you wanted a job in the computer business you needed to read Computing and Computer Weekly (both weekly trade newspapers) because that's where all the jobs were advertised.

These comics were free ... if you had a job in the computer industry, otherwise you had to pay for them.

So ... well paid computer people looking for an even better paid job got the job ads for free, whereas unemployed computer people looking for any job at all had to pay to read the job ads.

@hosford42

cc @uneheuredepeine

@hosford42 Well said and totally true.

Also, there are no, "just do X" solutions. The way that the whole system ... everything ... is set up in the U.S. does not account for the welfare of all citizens, and the bureaucracy of certain things (taking care of an expired drivers license or ID, or getting a copy of a birth certificate, for example) can make it nearly impossible to overcome.

@hosford42 this is something that has deeply bothered me the last 10 years or so as I’ve gone from “mostly broke college student” to “pretty successful tech manager”.

As I earned more, I could save more, and relied on credit less (no more rolling balances on my cards). And ironically it was only when I no longer seemed to “need” the credit that I got card offers for lower interest rates and my credit limits ballooned (again, despite rarely ever getting close to those limits).

The worst is how credit “worthiness” is used to gate-keep housing. The lower your score the more likely you’ll be turned away from housing opportunities, even if you actually have the money to pay for it.

@hosford42

thank you for sharing - so true 🖖🏽

we need universal basic income #UBI as a starter.

@hosford42 it's probably more expensive for me not to have a vehicle than to have one. Paying relatively large amounts of money to have groceries shipped to me etc.

Can't ride busses because of pinched nerves (rapid stopping, bounces constantly, hard seats), so if it isn't a medical appointment (or is, but forget to contact Medicaid contractor for pick up), but absolutely necessary, paying through the nose to Uber to get there.

@hosford42

It is never a bad time to post about the Vimes 'Boots' Theory of Socio-economic Unfairness. #BootsTheory #VimesBoots #Pratchett #TerryPratchett #Discworld

@hosford42 I have a friend who was engaged to be married. Lets just say that didn't happen. He and his partner split. He decided to live out of his car and travel the states for a year to reflect. He thought living out of his car would save him tons of money.

Turns out it was way more expensive to do so. Between the maintenance, gas, pay to park, pay to sleep, eating what he could put of his car. All of it was more expensive than his rent.

It's sad that it's far more expensive to be homeless

@hosford42 it's also gross how people with a lot of money can just ... be given more money by banks?

Like, there was a new account bonus I noticed in ads last year. If someone signed up for a new bank account with $250k, they would be given an extra $1500. For free, just for signing up. On top of whatever interest that kind of money gets already.

@hosford42 I still don't know how my parents did it. Working odd jobs plus finding the time to apply for government programs plus working in a community garden that was essential for putting healthy food on the table, and canning the excess so we'd still have healthy food in winter.

I only get a taste of it when I'm unemployed: suddenly my checking isn't free, I can't pay off my credit cards every month, no health care spending account, no tax breaks, deferring medical care “til later.” That's, like, nothing, comparatively.

@hosford42

No doubt about it. Money is magnetic. It attracts more of itself.

@hosford42@techhub.social As someone else who has been on both sides of that fence, I can definitely confirm this.

And I want to add that in my case, this was in the Netherlands; people often believe that this is just a US problem, but it's really not. It may be *less* bad here, but it's still bad.

Here's a concrete example in my case: social.pixie.town/@joepie91/10…

Sven Slootweg (@joepie91@pixie.town)

Attached: 1 image · Content warning: debts, poverty is expensive

^Pixietown

@hosford42
@DannyRedwoods

It's also incredibly irritating that everyone blaming poor people for their "bad decisions" has a ton of bad decisions behind them that they were shielded from the full brunt of.

(Look, even when you don't have a ton of money to pull you through, if you even have a little savings, or a strong professional network, or own a home, or... Any number of things can make the difference between being ruined by a "bad decision" and getting through without too much difficulty).