US poor face economic hit as shutdown, childcare cliff, student loans converge
US poor face economic hit as shutdown, childcare cliff, student loans converge
Lower income households and Black and Latino communities will be hit hard when a confluence of U.S. economic events kick off next week, including a sharp drop in childcare funding, economists, analysts and government officials said.
About 12.4%, some 41 million, of the U.S.'s 333 million people live at or below the poverty line, the Census Bureau calculates, which is set at about $29,678 for a household of two adults and two chidren.
That rate fell to a record low in 2021 thanks to COVID-19 federal support, but has jumped as these programs expired.
Hardline Republicans in the House have rejected a deal the Republican-led House negotiated with U.S. President Joe Biden in May for $1.59 trillion in discretionary spending in fiscal 2024, paving the way for wide swaths of the government to shut down for the fourth time in a decade.
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A shutdown could cause a rapid loss of food benefits for nearly 7 million low-income women and children on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infacts and Children, or WIC, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
But don't worry, the Pentagon is exempting Ukraine operations from the government shutdown.
Really shows the priorities of this country.
And Congress will still be paid don't forget that.
This is constitutionally required as per the 27th Amendment.
The optics are gross, admittedly, but it would literally violate the Constitution to suspend their pay. It also does neuter a potential strategy of a coalition of wealthy Congress critters simply doing nothing as an intentional effort to cut off their opponents' income and pressure their direct personal finances.
This probably wasn't a consideration during the drafting of the amendment, but it's not as if we're going to be touching the Constitution any time soon, so here we are.
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They do, yes, but it's obviously a big disruption, especially if they start missing pay checks.
Yeah but my landlord doesn't take future back pay as rent
Would you prefer the Pentagon stop operating?
The entire thing is stupid, but there's one party that's squarely responsible for this. Go ask the House GOP why they don't care about halting SNAP payments, but I don't see how enabling Russia to slaughter more Ukrainians would be better.
Yes.
Government shutdowns would have be much less frequent if they shut down the entire government.
I would prefer we feed the hungry.
Ask Kevin McCarthy to go wrangle his clowns then, since he's in charge of that particular circus.
How about I ask America to not be a country that puts war before people? Why must you defend this shithole country for the evil it does?
Ah, my apologies; I didn't realize I was talking to a clown. Enjoy waiting around for the revolution. It'll be here any day now, I'm sure!
Is it funny to you when the poor starve while the war machine marches on uninhibited?
Your impressive lack of ability to have a conversation with any amount of good faith is pretty entertaining, yes.
Speaking of the poor starving, while you're talking to McCarthy, hop over the to Senate and ask the Republicans (and Manchin and Sinema as well, but also 50 Republicans), why they ended Biden's child tax credit that caused significant measurable reductions in child poverty and food insecurity?
You know, since you seem to care so much about these things.
Republicans belong in work camps my dude.
But why do you refuse to acknowledge that this is a structural problem with America's government? This is the only country where the government is structured so it can "shut down" while not causing snap elections and all the politicians still get their paychecks. What the fuck?
Why the fuck is the government structured so it can continue to funnel money into a foreign war completely unrelated to the defense of the homeland, but it can't do the same to the hungry at home? Why is the government structured in a way so one of the only two parties is literally anti-government?
You're blinding yourself to fundamental problems with America's government by only blaming Republicans. Republicans are just taking advantage of a badly structured polity.
Okay, that's more like it.
You're absolutely correct, it is a massive structural problem. It's incredibly stupid and causes an obscene amount of pain every year or so because the structure of government enables a few children causing a tantrum to grind everything to a halt.
But once you'd identified that, what next? This is one of the many downsides of being stuck with one of the oldest active constitutions in the world that was envisioning a very different environment than what we have now. The simple fact of the matter is that we're not going to see a Constitutional Convention anytime remotely soon (and given how disastrous that could be, probably for the best). So, what is the point of spending energy being angry about these structural issues when that won't actually accomplish anything?
Believe me, everyone involved in government right now knows that this is incredibly stupid. It's not as if no one has ever considered this before. The problem is, no matter how frustrating it is, being angry at these structural issues doesn't actually do anything, because we're stuck with them. While I do think it is absolutely important to raise some awareness about those issues, that doesn't really help the acute situation right now.
So yes, it is horrific that welfare payments will get halted by this, I completely agree. I don't see where I ever "refused to acknowledge" the structural issues that caused this. They're not a secret; everyone vaguely knowledgeable about politics knows them.
So yes, it is horrific that welfare payments will get halted by this, I completely agree. I don’t see where I ever “refused to acknowledge” the structural issues that caused this. They’re not a secret; everyone vaguely knowledgeable about politics knows them.
Your first response was to dismiss my criticism of America's government by creating a false dilemma between funding war and feeding the poor. Then followed that up by dismissing my criticism by telling me to only blame McCarthy. Then followed that by mocking me and the very concept of government critique as pie-in-the-sky revolutionary idealism.
Over and over you deflect from America's structural problems.
Knock it off.
The machine must be fed. No matter what happens, the machine feeds.
At some point replacement cogs are going to start running low.