I heard this report on NPR today when they were doing stories on the economic ramifications of the unbelievable amounts of snow in New England - and how the conditions have a far greater impact on hourly employees and the working poor.
(And some people have the nerve to defend the so-called "free market economy" - the corporate economy that puts profit above people. And some people may consider my views, beliefs, values and philosophy too liberal, too radical, too left-wing. I reject that characterization. My beliefs, values, and philosophy are NOT liberal, radical or left-wing ENOUGH, because I am, as the title of this blog states, a Reluctant Rebel).
Anyhow, the story relates the plight of a homeless woman who works in food services, and who, in addition to not getting paid if she took a "snow day" would likely be fired. Her hours-long bus journey each day to bring her child to her mother's and pick the child up in the evening to return to the shelter is made more grueling with the snow.
And she hasn't the option of not returning to the shelter because any sheltered person who does not sleep in her bed overnight loses the bed to another unhoused homeless person and may have to wait for another opening.
Leon and I spent several days shoveling out our home - but thankfully we have a home to shovel out.
Listen to the story:
Unfortunately I don't have an answer, a solution to the plight of the poor that will change their lives in any immediate way, but if the 1% or even the top 10% of wealth-holders paid their fair share of taxes some of this artrocious poverty and injustice could be alleviated.
2 comments:
I wonder why the woman's mother doesn't let her and the little girl sleep at *her* house. Especially in such awful weather.
Like you, I am distressed by such stories, but there are many - and no solutions to cover them all.
The NPR report added the info that if the woman did not return to the shelter in the evening, she would lose her bed to another homeless person and be unlikely to find another opening, especially in the middle of winter. For whatever reason, her mother could not accommodate her daughter and granddaughter on a permanent basis - could be that she lives in a one room senior housing complex or the like.
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