The Dying American Dream
by In California, it is very hard to make a living.
In California, we have workers striking saying that 10.00 an hour is a poverty wage, Gee that I what I make an hour, so when they get their raises for striking I hope I get a raise also, either that or the company will fire us all, then we can all be homeless.
Living in California is not cheap nor an easy place to try to get help, since they think you have money if you do not live in the bad area of the city. It is hard with two incomes can you imagine how it is with only one income? It is not easy paying all of the bills and taking care of your children on wages that do not even cover your bills and you have to scrape just to get by.
We need help in getting better hourly wages, so we can take care of our families, it amazes me that we do not have a state budget yet, however those legislators have plenty of money and they keep getting raises when the average Joe is trying to not be homeless at the end of the month. They should stop getting raises and give the money to get the budget back to normal. They are just as much as responsible for all of the waste and stuff going on. Greed gets you nowhere, look at California learn from it.
We have created monsters here in California, we have people thinking we are a rich state, when in fact we are a very poor state and you need 3 jobs that pay 11.00 per hour to live here. The homeless rate is rising and rising fast, the prices keep going up however the hourly wage stays the same.
The way our state is right now you would think that it would be easy to get assistance (food stamps) however it is not, it is like pulling your own teeth just to qualify. Food is not cheap here; for example a loaf of bread is almost 3.00, now tell me who can afford that?
People say to move out of state, that would be great but where do we get the money to move with, when at the end of the month we are turning in cans just to get a gallon of milk. I never thought it would be this bad, I am looking for two more jobs right now just to cover the monthly bills, we have stopped doing everything extra, I do not even know where I am going to get the money to buy clothing for my children before school starts.
However, I will keep my head held high and keep the faith within knowing I can work 3 jobs and take care of my children and live a little, after all isn’t that the American Dream? I do not think so; the American Dream has never been to be hungry or homeless.
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Post CommentElisbeth Rooney
On July 23, 2008 at 12:37 pm
This article couldn’t possibly be any more truthful.
I actually did give up and move from California to the Midwest because on a Disability income of less than $850 per month it is humanly impossible to reside in California and not end up homeless.
It amazes me that even the poorest people in California (those who survive month to month on an SSI check) are declared ineligible to collect food stamps in California because they get too much money.
There is not a valid reason for why it should cost so much more to live in California than to live anywhere else. When I finally gave up and left my rent had climbed to $800. a month for just about 450 sq ft of living space. Here in the Midwest I live in a 3 bedroom house with a fenced yard for under $350. a month. I can still get a loaf of bread here for 79 cents and you can’t make me believe that it costs so much more to make bread just because its in California.
Something has to be done and done soon to bring the cost of living back in line with what people earn or California will lose its’ most valuable asset… People who care…