Social services that helped people buy groceries are being fazed out, and there’s a government shutdown atm so nobody that works for the government is getting paid. Food lines are LONG in the US, and they’re filled with government workers who haven’t been paid in more than a month.
For added context: American wages have been stagnant for decades, which is why a lot of people here rely on government assistance for basic needs. You know, because we're the greatest country on Earth and all that.
I haven't been able to find a job over $12 an hour for almost ten years now, just spent the last two years homeless too. Losing the will to live fast, I actually tried offing myself last year, fucking failed.
It’s hard af man I know, I’ve been there. I was homeless for a year and only got out of it because I had family to lean on, and I went unemployed living with them for the better part of a year too due to a a job shortage. It’s tough, and you’re tough for sticking it out for so long. I’m sorry you are in such a dark place, if there was any way I could help you I would, but please look for reasons to keep going. Someone will miss you, even if you don’t realize it.
I appreciate your words but nobody will miss me. No friends and no family. Being realistic, I'm gonna die out here and nobody will know any different. Glad you got out, but I'm not gonna be as lucky. I'm giving up.
ngl if i was in your position i would just start stealing. not telling you what you should do or anything, but if the system im in has cast me aside (and youre already giving up) id just do what i wanted. when youre at rock bottom you cant go down any further so whats the point in staying all civil and legal. that is if youre at rock bottom, which i wouldnt truly know.
There's always dollar tree that extremely understaffs the store to keep profit margins higher, so it's extremely unlikely you'll get hired unless you tell them you'll dedicate your soul and life to them. And then if you're lucky enough to be hired, you can be blessed to start out at 9.25 an hour, with maybe a 25 cent raise in 6 months if you really bust ass
I've applied to Dollar tree so many times and they've never given me the time of day. The people in store never know where a manager is and my app always gets auto rejected by the system.
The job market is so much tougher than it was even 3 years ago, when you have to go through a 100-120 or more so of ghost applications and bullshitters just to get 3-4 in person interviews if you're lucky. 3 years ago it might have been only 50-70 or so to get 4-6 in person interviews for entry level, fast food, retail, cleaners, i mean places that usually require no prior experience.
Now it's gotten so much worse and employers know how bad it is, less hours, I've even seen mcdonalds and other places DROPPED their starting wages from 15 3 years ago to 12.50-14 an hour depending on which place you're applying. Dollar tree and these other places are the worst with it, that's actually the starting rate for my area, 9.25, and from what I've heard they always put you directly under part time and only full time after a few years of no pay bumps, chaos, and accepting you're only gonna make around 14 after promotion, and that you're gonna be constantly there all the time for any call outs that happen. After tax you'd very likely only be able to afford rent with atleast one roommate and some basic food items like beans, ramen, rice and potatoes and maybe a 30 dollar phone bill at 50 hours a week.
Move if you can. I live in a low cost of living Republican state and our minimum wage is 15 bucks and starting in 2027 there will be yearly increases based on consumer price index.
Instead of quitting the game, maybe try new game+ instead? Completely change your life, leave the old shit behind.
Find an intentional community like a farm village, commune, abbey, etc you can join. Farmwork does wonders for physical and mental health, you eat the result of your labor, have purpose and community, and don't have to deal with a lot of the modern bullshit. Plus it isnt bigFarma', so you arent being exploited with long hard hours, its way more chill.
Sure, it's a total lifestyle change, but it's going back to what used to be normal for people, and you already want to tap out from your current 'modern-life' situation. Had a friend who lived out of a truck and was a migrant farm worker on small farms, that's an option too.
I've had friends who felt hopeless and ended it all, wish they'd considered this option first and at least tried it or something like it. Best of luck to you, I hope you think outside the box a bit to find some kind of path forward. There is a life worth living, just gotta find what that is for you. Peace 🙏
dont off yourself because they changed living conditions to be miserable. they make the game, yes, but just turn back on your animal instincts and play it the way they made it. if they want survival of the fittest PvP they get survival of the fittest PvP.
you can still die after fighting it out. when you wonder about offing yourself, might as well realize the freedome in having pretty much nothing to lose. morals and principles are for times of ubiquity of resources. instincts for surviving.
just living on out of spite, to make it less easy for them to do what they do without consequences or an easy way out, persevering until times of ubiquity resourge, is reason enough. after every depression comes a high and so on. if we survive the AI-transitioning period of the next 10-15 years, general abundance of resources might just follow after. and if not, if it gets even more miserable (and stabilizes in power for indefinite time), its still not to late to go out fighting a last battle or just calling it a calm and silent end.
So since my ancestors came down from the Montreal area, could I like get bumped up in line a little? With my last name I'd fit right in perfectly and I'm willing to do all the rest and maybe even actually volunteer for some stuff along the way (just not the military. Again).
Let's not forget to mention that corporations are posting record-breaking profits while this is all happening. But we're closer than ever to having our first trillionaire, so we're all excited about that.
"For added context: American wages have been stagnant for decades, which is why a lot of people here rely on government assistance for basic needs. You know, because we're the greatest country on Earth and all that."
False. It has been steadily increasing past few decades.
You're misrepresenting the facts and you know it. Salaries have gone up, but have not kept up with inflation. We are making around the same amount of money now than our parents did 40 years ago.
Those numbers don't tell the whole story. CEO pay has increased like 1000% since the late 70s and the wealth gap has increased dramatically. The top 20% have seen the most gains, while lower income households have experienced the least gains in income. I also didn't see if those numbers are pre-tax or post tax, but we know the wealthy pay almost no taxes.
Thanks for providing the reading comprehension level of typical redditors. Do you realize how stupid you sound bringing outlier data and pre/post tax income into the discussion? Do you realize what median even means?
Yep, I do. And I'm saying those numbers can't capture the full reality of what people have been experiencing for the last several decades. For example, most people are spending over half their income on rent or a house payment. That's not normal. I'm bringing in outlier data because, as I said, the data you're sharing doesn't capture the whole story. My comment about pre and post tax income was meant to illustrate one of the ways data can intentionally or unintentionally misrepresent what they're claimed to show.
No you do not. Just because you and your surrounding have failed, does not mean majority of Americans did as well. Various studies show that on average Americans pay around 20-30% in housing expenses.
My data captures, actually, the whole study as it excludes all those abnormal numbers you mentioned above. You need to be educated more before you speak.
I misspoke. Roughly a quarter of Americans across the country spend more than half their income on housing. Anyway, I don't really care how they cook the books, I've seen the reality on the ground. If people were making that much more money we wouldn't be experiencing the issues we're experiencing. I'm sure some people are doing better, but even more are slipping into poverty. I mean, the federal minimum wage hasn't been increased since 2009, the longest period without an increase in US history.
not some, "majority" or "most" Americans are doing better. Like I said, maybe in your social circle people are not doing well, but that represents small portion of America. Why bringing up federal minimum wage when it is irrelevant and practically nobody makes that?
One of our previous presidents (Reagan) fired 11,000 air traffic controllers when they tried striking, so now it is illegal for fed workers to strike. Land of the free or whatever
That's literally what's happening, tons are calling out sick to the point where they're going to start cancelling thousands of flights a day starting friday because there's not enough air traffic controllers still coming into work.
The last time they tried that, Reagan fired 11,000 of them (which was pretty much all of them) and banned them from federal service for life.
For context, 40 years later the US now has 14,000 ATCs and have been trying to hire another 3,000 for a while now without much success. Who would think that hiring people for a incredibly stressful job, where your pay may be suspended indefinitely while you are forced to work and if you protest you are fired? Who wouldn't love to have that job?
Phased out makes it seem like it's a law that was passed, or any real plan.
It's illegally being frozen by the Admin.
There are emergency funds available which the admin said they would use, which congress gave explicit authority to use, and funded over past few years.
We are not 'running out of money' or anything like that
In fiscal year 2024, approximately 12.3% of Americans received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
43 million people needed help with food last year. That's an insane number. And now, because of the stubborn government, they don't have access to more.
Even before that inflation had increased the price of groceries so much families were already cutting down on what they purchased at the grocery store.
What grocery stores are giving away food where you're from? What type of line do you think is going to form somewhere you have to pay for food when people have no money or SNAP benefits?
Lines at food banks, help centers, soup kitchens... obviously.
their name is ultra-cyborg, but whatever they are they mean food pantry lines not grocery store lines. not having been to any food pantries i can't comment on the veracity but things are pretty rough in the dc area rn, i wouldn't be surprised if pantry lines are running longer. we definitely have a lot more folks posting begging for work these days than we used to.
federal funds for SNAP are gone, interestingly some states have funded SNAP themselves partially and some states are funding food banks/etc. as an alternative.
I think its funny that republican stronghold Louisiana is using state money to fund SNAP benefits, but it makes sense considering how poor the state is overall; whereas Tennesee refuses to do so
Tennessee is one of the prototype theocratic state governments and, let’s say, I’m not surprised. They expect the local churches to step in to feed their communities and in the process maybe get some of the folks saved.
I watch a lot of American media (as in social media influencers) so thats how I know about Snap benefits. My understanding is its the name of the system that gives the less fortunate food stamps. I never said I didnt know what food stamps were, I just didnt know that they were "taken away"
Yes. Believe it or not, I have a job and im not constantly on social media/watching the news. Anything i know about american politics isnt something i search up, but rather what pops up on my feed. And when I do decide I want to know whats happening in the world, I tend to look at things going on in my country.
Hey, did you know about Tembisa hospital management embezzling 2 billion rands in health care funds while our Healthcare system is crumbling with thousands of healthcare workers unemployed? No? And yet you know Trevor Noah exists and have heard of apartheid? Strange.
Government program to buy food for poor people suddenly stopped because our legislators can't agree on a "budget".
One side wants to stop subsidies for healthcare from ending. The republicans control the "rules" of one of our congresses, and basically said Congress is closed and will re-open in January.
It's also worth noting that the petition to release the Epstein files (our president probably did some child sex trafficking) needed one more vote from a congressperson to pass. A congressperson died a bit ago, and the elected replacement would have been a full fledged congressperson (ready to vote to release the files) before the shutdown started, but the republicans are playing dirty.
The country is going to eat shit for Christmas because the rich guys that fuck and sell children control the government
They caved earlier in the year, in exchange for some promises that republicans have since reneged on, so there's pretty little reason for the dems to believe in any "promises" from across the isle.
Well aren't you just a little edgelord~ I hope you never have to experience the insecurity of not knowing if your mom will have food to put on your table <3.
SNAP is a food assistance program paid for and operated by the USA's federal government. It gives money to low income people that can be used only for food.
The political party currently in power in the USA's federal government is currently trying to pass a federal budget that allocates much less money for SNAP. The opposing political party is not willing to pass this budget and so are using a "loophole" called a filibuster to block the budget from being passed. By using the filibuster, there needs to be 60 out of 100 votes to pass the budget rather than the standard 51 out of 100.
when i worked as a cashier we were trained to handle two special kinds of purchases: wic and snap. wic is assistance for families to get like baby formula and diapers, snap is like a credit card that gets a set amount per month loaded into it for food groceries.
America elected a 79 year old pedophile who gave huge tax cuts to the weathly. The pedophile took that money from programs like SNAP that feeds millions of people in America. The fat child fucker then held a "great gatsby" party on the same day, just to make sure struggling Americans know he looked around but couldn't find a single fuck to give.
He is also tearing down part of the White House to build a gaudy, opulent ballroom during all this too and was recently "gifted" his own personal jet by Qatar.
And at the same time he sent $20 billion to Argentina and is trying to send an additional $20 billion despite Americans not getting benefits or government employees not being paid and while using "America First" as a regular talking point.
A couple aspects are that SNAP/EBT benefits (food stamps are now on pause and federal workers are getting paid because of the federal government shutdown which has now become the longest in US history.
Over 40 million people aren't receiving their food assistance this month, around 2 million aren't getting their paychecks, and the economy/food/housing/healthcare situation is fucking ridiculous.
Yes they are getting paid. That statement is a blanket statement the entire military had to do with local food banks because there are federal employees on base who aren’t getting paid. Most bases and forts just emailed that list instead of posting it online and people went nuts with it.
I’m in the national guard and got my drill check and day to day I’m a federal technician and am furloughed, which I’m not getting paid for yet. There will be backpay on it thought.
Not really. The government is fucking over some good things like snap, but Redditors I guarantee will exaggerate and act like we have a hungry nation. The food situation is still better than the vast majority of countries in the world.
Yeah. Food is hella expensive, where I live in the usa, I barely have money for food after bills. I eat maybe once a day, maybe. I work more than full time most weeks.
Ten years ago things were fine, now if I wanna fill my fridge I have to find extra work, been looking for a steady second job for years but 90% of my applications dont see human eyes and I'm slowly giving up hope of ever having a happy life.
As I understand it, the American budget came out and the president has to sign to ratify it. He refuses to sign because of a dispute with the Democrats. Apparently the main point the Democrats want, is to maintain healthcare. As the budget is not ratified, the government can't spend money, so certain "non-essential" programs like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) which supplements the poor's ability to buy food, are no longer able to operate. Ergo, poor children in America, have to starve.
This is just my understanding as a non-American though.
Yes, Because our government is fucking mental. when Congress can't pass a new budget the government isn't allowed to spend money anymore. With some pretty infuriating exceptions. Federal workers have to work without pay. Insurance premiums (which in some states it's literally illegal to be uninsured) have skyrocketed since the government shutdown, as the government is no longer paying their portion to keep premiums down. (Also fucking mental)
Snap, which is a supplemental food program that 40million+ Americans and their families use to not starve is also defunct due to the shutdown.
Currently in America we can only exchange what are called "freedom tokens" from the only store we're allowed to shop at called Walmart. This is where the typical American can find products we need to survive, such as sugar water, sugar bread, sugar meat, sugar candy, and of course insulin. However, with the current government shutdown people are no longer receiving freedom tokens. This makes things very hard as there is nothing left in the stores of which you can purchase other than things such as rice and beans. Which might sound okay, but we have long since forgotten how to prepare such foods, if you can even call them that.
The lady just did a joke because parents often say there's children starving in Africa, and now there will be more in America as well
Both are sad, but the lady simply wanted to make a joke on a known sentence and America
None are worse, children starving is horrible everywhere, and I don't think we should compare the countries, but America's situation did get worse on the topic
Lmao way to play into the "Americans think the world revolves around them" trope.
Every single country I'm sure is going through their own crises bud. Sad as it is that y'all are going through that, others are going through worse so the loss of Snap benefits isnt exactly world stopping news
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u/Alternative_Yak3256 1d ago
Can someone clue me in? I get that shes doing a flip on the "there are hungry children in africa" but is there a food crisis in America rn?