A budget that hurts already hurting Americans
President Trump recently proposed a $4.8 trillion dollar budget for the 2021 fiscal year. The proposal is called “Budget for a Better America.” But this budget disguised as a way…
Category: Budget
The bureaucracy of feeding your family
Where I live, in Missoula, Montana, the median area income is $54,311. Despite working three jobs, I make under $20,000 annually, or roughly 30% of the area median income, and…
The Tyranny And The Comfort Of Government Cheese
Co-published with Taste Government cheese shows up in the punch lines of jokes and song lyrics, but to those who have actually lived on it, it’s both a cornerstone of…
The Class Politics of Decluttering
In a piece published by the New York Times, writing fellow Stephanie Land explores the role that class plays in the minimalist movement. She writes that, for many Americans, a minimalist life is an economic…
Just Because I’m Poor Doesn’t Mean My Kid Shouldn’t Have Nice Things
Originally published on She Knows. My daughter and I were living in a conservative area when I started to notice an outcry to test people receiving public assistance for drug…
The Art of Balancing the Ledger While in Poverty
Originally published on Talk Poverty and CommonDreams. When you live at or under the federal poverty level, you’d better be good at crunching numbers. Every cent coming in or going…
I Lived On $6 A Day With A 6-year-old And A Baby On The Way. It Was Extreme Poverty.
Originally published on The Guardian. It didn’t take me long to go from financial stability to fearing homelessness. In January 2014 I was 35-years-old, raising a six-year-old nearly full-time and…
Making Minimum Wage a Living Wage
Overall, 77% of those who watched The State of the Union Address were pleased with what the President had to say. It was a passionate plea and directive to the…
The Poverty Predicament
The word ‘poor’ is treated like a four-letter word by politicians. But with the downturn of our economy and slow job market, the issue of poverty has become more serious…
The High Cost of Low Wages
As Congress debates the fiscal cliff, hopefully avoiding balancing the budget on the backs of workers, they should look at retail industry workers. The retail industry has bounced back from…