Waking Up Broke

I had my recurring dream/nightmare right before Thanksgiving. The dream has many versions but the same theme each time. I am broke. I have had this ongoing dream/nightmare for almost 40 over years.

I have been broke at times in my life. Growing up on the farm we did not have any money. I kinda of knew we did not have any money, but I had plenty to eat. In fact, I was a husky kid which is what you mom says when you are fat. I had one pair of overhauls and a Sunday church outfit. For clothes, thats all one really needs. I do remember Christmases with no presents. I did know our relatives in town had running water and indoor toilets. I remember the first time i saw an indoor toilet, I thought, wow, this is living. Even when my mom got her first teaching job, I knew we did not have money compared to most of my friends. But I continued the husky trend for a few years.

Interestingly, after my Freshmen year in college I had money. During my junior and senior year, I worked about 25-30 hours averaging about $2.00/per hour [minimum wage then was $1.60]. So I on the average I made over $200+ per month. My apartment rent was $35 a month, Blatz beer was about $1.25 for a case, spaghettios probably ten cents a can. After paying tuition, I had enough cash flow to take a young lady or two out for food and refreshments.

[FYI, adjusted for inflation, $1.60 in 1971 would be about $13.00 today. However, minimum wage is $7.25. Not keep minimum wage up with inflation is one of the many ways Republicans in specific and baby boomers in general have screwed younger generations.]

But when I got married and we had our first kid, that’s when I failed financially, spectacularly. Interestingly, when you have no money and are worried about paying bills, one does not dream about being broke. No, the broke dreams started a few years later when my little firm started growing and my income increased annually. For 25+ years I was convinced on Sunday night I would be bankrupt on Monday morning. Then at night I would dream I was broke. It was a nightmare. The reason it was so scary is I had little people dependent on me.

So when I had the dream the other night, it was not unusual, but what was unusual is it has stayed with me every day since. Not for myself, but for all the Americans who are broke. Think about the following:

• About 50% of Americans have $500 or less in savings. In essence they cannot cover any type of an emergency.
• Over 40% of Americans on SNAP benefits are working poor and another almost 40% of those receiving SNAP benefits are children. In summary, about 80% of Americans receiving SNAP benefits are children or working poor.
• Tariffs have increased costs for families. This hurts the working poor the most as there is no discretionary income in their budgets.
• With the end of ACA subsidies, insurance costs will increase by anywhere from 26% to over a 100% per month. Again, this affects low income households the most. Note: About 530,000 Americans go bankrupt a year compared to a total for other advanced countries of zero. That’s right, zero.

801 US billionaires hold a total wealth of about $6.22 Trillion dollars. The combined cost of SNAP and ACA subsidies is about $238 Billion which is less than 4% of the net worth of these 801 Billionaires. Think about this, people will go hungry in the US or go without medical care because of Billionaires. To Billionaires, $238 Billion is rounding error. For much of the US its food and health care.

Note, a significant percentage of Billionaires inherited their wealth. They did nothing to earn their wealth other than pick the right parents.

Republicans want to blame the poor for being poor. This is not true. In 1965 CEO to worker pay was a ratio of 20-1. Today its 285-1. The increase in the Ratio of CEO pay has had no benefit for middle and low income Americans. Workers are working has hard today as they did in 1965, but CEOs, upper management and stock holders are taking all the money.

While CEO pay has increased, the buying power of low income wage earners has decreased. In 1970, a college student working 1,000 hours a year at minimum wage could pay for tuition and room and board at a MN state university. Today if a student works a 1,000 hours at minimum wage they are living in a tent and begging for food.

In 1970 48% of Americans who were 30 years old owned a home. Today its 12%.

Today the top 1% of net worth, about 1.3 million households, own about 31% of the Americans total wealth. This is an increase from 23% in 1989. By comparison, the bottom 50% of net worth, around 66 million households current net worth is about 2.5%, a decrease from 3.5% in 1989. What this means is that a few people have more money and a whole lot have a lot less money or they are perpetually broke.

I am not broke, but much of our country is. And this is our National nightmare. It easy to blame Billionaires and they are part of the problem. But the real problem are Republicans who support the Billionaire agenda. Trump’s “big beautiful bill could as easily be called the Americans are going broke bill because that is what it is.

Each day, millions of Americans wake up broke and for the majority of them, its not their fault. They are working, but their wages do not have the buying power wages had years ago. It not their fault that tariffs are making living needs more expensive. Its not their fault they cannot afford health care. They are poor and will continue to be poor as long as Republicans are in charge. Their only hope is a substantial increase of taxes on the very rich and significant increase in wages and buying power for the working poor.

In America today, the country may be rich, but a majority of the people are not. They are living the night mare.