The American Dream: All But Gone

 In 2000, I worked as a track coach and substitute teacher, applying and ultimately failing at securing a teaching position. I lived in a nice little town, Mancos, Colorado, and as I taught, I met many families where, upon high school graduation, their sons and daughters were unable to secure housing close to family and friends. There was little work and the housing prices were well out of the reach of these young people. 

This was prior to the wave of greed that ravaged this country after Covid. Understandably, with workers falling ill, and a broken supply chain, the costs of doing business increased, sometimes generating prices beyond what people could pay. We saw this in the prices of groceries, household goods, and especially housing. And worse, after Covid had come and gone, the increased prices remained the same and others actually increased. 

We are living in an era where profits and corporate management incomes have increased substantially. Now I don't begrudge people wanting to better their finances, but this system cannot exist without growing our level of poverty. 

When more people start falling out of the economics of today, they will not have the cash to pay for rent, transportation needed to acquire a job, food and healthcare. When they rent now, they know that  they will need to pay $100 to $200 monthly increases per year. They also know that the only way to keep on top of their finances will be to purchase a home, which they can no longer afford.

There are now 37.9 million people in the US living in poverty with more to come if nothing changes. We have many property investors buying up and homes. As they do, there is a  decrease the supply, making homes even more expensive, and as homes become more expensive, more families are evicted and then falling into poverty.

What happens to people in poverty? Since they cannot earn as much as they need, they become desperate, and desperation may create more theft, broken families, homelessness, and something else. Businesses rely upon customers having the income to purchase their products. If their paying customers thin out due to inability to pay then there will be business closings and possibly bankruptcies. This process will cycle and with more and more people losing jobs due to closures and bankruptcies, more businesses causing more people losing their income, then becoming incapable to purchase items in stores.

We need to see and change this. If we cannot reverse these trends, we will become just another banana republic.