The difference in Europe is smaller I think. 80% of salaries fall within a fairly narrow band.
Re:Being Poor (2005)
by Arete314159 on Saturday May 22, 2021 @06:27PM
(#27250823)
The main difference in Europe is that healthcare is free. So if you're working a crappy job that doesn't offer healthcare, you can still go to the doctor. In the US, you can't afford to go, the small problem snowballs into a huge problem, and either you end up with an ER bill that permanently destroys your credit or you end up so sick you become unemployable, creating a downward spiral to misery.
Aren't there welfare programs in the US?
> Aren't there welfare programs in the US?
Welfare supports are very patchy, mostly run at the state level. As a general rule of thumb, long-term cash benefits are almost impossible to access, and "in-kind" benefits like subsidized housing like subsidized housing tend to have long waiting lists.
"Food stamps" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assista...) are one of the larger broadly-available benefits.
Re:Being Poor (2005)
by fdroidmstrrce on Saturday May 22, 2021 @07:24AM
(#27245476)
That doesn't reduce the stigma.
I am annoyed waiting behind food stamp people at the grocery store making decisions between juice boxes and crackers at the checkout. Meanwhile I am too frugal to buy either of those.
My wife is treated like crap by Medicaid patients significantly more often than other patients.
There's a stigma that will exist regardless of the welfare state.
Not to mention that, from all I've seen and heard, European poor is also quite better off than US poor.
US poor means poor && deemed as a personal and moral failure && left socially unsupported && looked down upon in a class-aware way that's even worse than UK's traditional classism && getting into much more dangerous situations with much more crazies around, some of which will even be armed.
And as US poor, you also remain the one segment of society people can freely joke around and look down upon. They might pretend to support blacks, gays etc. in the asbstract, but could not care less if those are also dirt poor. As for the white poor, they don't even have the redeeming token minority status qualities so are open season for everybody - you could call them "white trash" with impunity.