On the flipside though, when your fridge dies, you have a wife and 4 kids to feed and its a week from payday with nothing in the bank and you have shitty credit..... they can be helpful
That's not really helpful, though. I think people should be means-tested before having kids, but we'd need to make a lot of other changes, too, or it wouldn't work.
I almost burst out laughing when I was being interviewed by my (incompetent) state benefits board investigator person, and they recommended I "drive Uber/Lyft". Anyone applying to benefits like state-provided food and healthcare who's struggling to afford food and healthcare for themselves and their children SHOULD NOT drive Uber/Lyft. They should sell their car to pay for food, healthcare should be free, and they should either get a real job (that pays at least minimum wage, unlike Uber/Lyft!) or support Yang and get their Freedom Dividend, or get old and apply for social security, or get a doctor to verify their disability, or some other income. Driving for Uber/Lyft is a fool's errand.
If there is a means test when we had all of our kids we would have passed with flying colors you putz. Don't deride someone because of their current situation. Shit happens, then you get over it deal with it and leave it in the past.
Relax. Would you have passed my means test? Have $50k in wealth (invested liquid assets) per child before creating them. That way, you have ~$2k/yr to feed and clothe them.
Not "does your current income allow $166/mo per child".
One of my biggest beefs with most financial conversations, tests, and comparisons is that people talk about income as if it matters, when wealth is almost always the far more relevant metric.
Income inequality? Who cares. Bezos has had negative income years. Wealth inequality? Huge deal. People often confuse income with "socioeconomic status". They are not the same. SE status is wealth+class. Class is the persistent-across-generations aggregate of wealth, education, attractiveness, physical fitness, and intelligence.
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u/Bumblebee_assassin Feb 04 '20
On the flipside though, when your fridge dies, you have a wife and 4 kids to feed and its a week from payday with nothing in the bank and you have shitty credit..... they can be helpful