Another Working Poor

First I want to comment that the small number of entries here suggests that this is not an effective means to gather information - typical government move. Multiply each of these by 100,000 and you'll be getting there.

I share a common thread with several of the entries. I am educated - a teacher with two university degrees and over twelve years of teaching experience; I was a single parent - abusive marriage and the resulting poverty that that brings; I work part time - making too much money to qualify for any government assistance, but not enough to live on; and I have some depression/anxiety issues, recently compounded by the drug/gang/thief/crazy occupants of the rental house next door. I know what it feels like to not have money to feed your children, and the embarrassment of not being able to pay school fees. I cannot afford to have my chipped tooth repaired and know what it is like to eat sketchy meat. All the while I watch the people next door walk away from a fully government furnished house (knowing that the government will pay for new furnishings), driving new decked out Caddies and trucks. They get tax refunds while the government takes 25% of my meager pension income.

Last year I was teaching GED at a facility for adults who could not succeed at any of the other institutions in this city. We had tremendous success and helped several people get off social assistance and into the work force or continuing education. The facility was closed because the government funding we survived on was reallocated to race-based institutions with the same mandate we had, but not the success rate.

I am 57 years old. I don't fit into any of the nepotist, race-based, perky-blonde hiring quotas that I have encountered and I can't afford any further education that might qualify me for work that I am not "over-qualified" for. When I started teaching, I did not think I would be here, at this time of my life.

Passive listening is not enough. The government promotes systems that keep the poor, poor and make the rich, richer instead of rewarding those who contribute to society.