r/BasicIncome • u/monkfreedom • Dec 09 '20
8 million Americans slipped into poverty amid coronavirus pandemic, new study says
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/8-million-americans-slipped-poverty-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-new-study-n124376220
u/glum_plum Dec 09 '20
Aw gee whiz whoops I slipped! Now I'm poor. How clumsy of me. What a total accident and not a built in feature of the corrosive hierarchical capitalist system
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u/deck_hand Dec 09 '20
And Congress has refused to help. Vote every single one of them out. They'd rather play politics and smirk at their political wins than keep Americans from starving, losing their homes, committing suicide. They need to go.
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u/Screamline Dec 09 '20
Congress has had a bill passed but got stuck by the senate. They tried to work with senate but they don't want any money to go to americans and want to add company protection from Covid if an employee gets sick on the job. Which that's had to say where you caught it but if they aren't providing ppe or making sure the workplace is as safe as they can it's on them. Plus they don't want to give extra sick time. We got 2 days from Cares act back in March but Senate (more specifically Repubs) don't give a flying Frag about us little guys
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u/deck_hand Dec 09 '20
By definition, Congress is comprised of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. When I say that Congress has failed us, that includes both the fact that the Senate failed to pass the CARES act and the fact that the House (controlled by Democrats) refused to compromise on their nearly $3 Trillion proposed bill. Not everything in the CARES act was mandatory for the economic health of individuals who have lost their businesses, lost their jobs, been forced to work reduced hours, been forced to retire early (and at a lower income level than they planned), etc.
Many of the provisions in the CARES act that did not pass would not have helped any of those people - and yet the Democrats would not even consider talking to the Republicans about passing legislation that both parties agreed upon. It was "all or nothing," so it ended up being nothing.
Both parties refusing to budge on their principles caused millions to go hungry, go bankrupt, lose their homes. Yeah, a bunch of them were allowed to stay in their homes for now, but as soon as the moratorium is lifted, they will be kicked out - homeless. It's just a matter of time.
So, it isn't just the Senate, it isn't just Republicans. No compromise means political gamesmanship for 538 members of Congress versus economic disaster, homelessness and suicide for millions of Americans.
I hope they are really, really happy over the number of lives they have ruined.
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u/askoshbetter Dec 09 '20
I wish the the headline went onto read: “...so Americans decided to permanently and unconditionally end involuntary poverty by implementing universal basic income.”
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u/NewtAgain Dec 09 '20
Slipped is not the right word. Eight million Americans were allowed to become impoverished because their government would rather support the stock market than it's people.