A compilation of articles and videos regarding income inequality in the United States

Fuck this country.
 

They lived paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic. Then their worst nightmare came true

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  • Roughly 1 in 3 households had trouble making ends meet right before the coronavirus pandemic.
  • By September, nearly 5 million more people were living in poverty than before the pandemic, according to one study.
  • Some groups, like minorities, low earners, women and those without college degrees, have suffered the most, according to financial experts.
Vicki Honeycutt lost her job in March, one of millions laid off in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. To make matters worse, Honeycutt, an executive assistant at a bank, had no savings.

Biweekly paychecks of around $1,600, after taxes, were devoted almost entirely to bills, including $1,100 in rent and medical expenses for her daughter, who has a rare autoimmune disorder. Honeycutt’s husband, James, is a veteran with a disability that makes it difficult for him to work.




“I was always finagling, and we didn’t have anything left over,” Honeycutt, 53, said.

Over the last few months, she’s applied to more than 100 jobs but nothing has panned out. She and her family are now being evicted from their house in China Grove, North Carolina, where they’ve lived for 10 years.


“My husband and I used to kid around and say, ‘We’re just a paycheck away from being homeless,’” Honeycutt said. “Our worst nightmare came true.”

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, a large share of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck, teetering precariously on the edge of financial ruin.




Years of stagnant wages, especially among low-income earners and people of color, coupled with the rising cost of living, made it harder and harder for many people to put much if any of their earnings away in case of an emergency, let alone for goals like buying a house, sending their children to college or preparing for their old age.
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'The Supreme Court ruled in favor of scam artists,' FTC chief says after justices gut agency's powers​


In a 9-0 ruling, the justices said the Federal Trade Commission cannot force companies that engage in wrongdoing to pay restitution to consumers.


Tucker freed from $1.3 billion debt​

 
ProPublica scored a fantastic scoop when it obtained and meticulously analyzed 15 years of raw income tax data on the wealthiest Americans. This leak of Internal Revenue Service records is by far the biggest and most important tax news in the 55 years that I've reported on taxes.

 


It's almost like the USA is a pyramid scheme.
 
Something some Boomers have benefited from that other generations haven't (yet), is inherited wealth. A good example is my step-mother's mother. As far as I know she has never worked a regular job, but because of what she inherited from her parents and when her husband passed (both of them now), she has no need to worry about money. To the point that she went to open a safety deposit box at a bank, only to find she already had one there. There's something else, but... well, that's something I'm not supposed to know, so I can't tell.
 
Something some Boomers have benefited from that other generations haven't (yet), is inherited wealth.
That shouldn't affect the 35-year-old plot points per generation much, where it looks like 2x share for each generational step backwards.
 
 
Not sure where this should go, but here's something I watched recently and it has me thinking. A dangerous thing, for sure.


Honestly, everything is this way, not just art. Cars (especially collector/desirable), houses (real estate in general), etc.

It's all so rigged at this point, there's no seeming way to win and there's so many people that go along with the game. I just want people/myself to do an honest day's work, have a decent home, a decent mode of transport and a hobby or two. These people just want it all.
 


Seems about right to me.
 
Seems about right to me.
I wonder what might have happened in the 1980s to cause this drastic change... it's a mystery, I tell you!

Also, and completely unrelated: fuck Ronald Reagan.
 
I wonder what might have happened in the 1980s to cause this drastic change... it's a mystery, I tell you!

Also, and completely unrelated: fuck Ronald Reagan.


But he is the saintly grandfather figure that is convenient to throw up on a pedestal once in a while. Kind of like:

 
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