hello. my name is mike ambs.

When welfare applicants finally prove that they exist, and show their material worth to be nothing, they usually receive far less than they need to live on. That’s what happened to Curtis and Concita Cates. The maximum amount of aid that a single adult is eligible for in Santa Barbara, they learned, is $291 per month – $200 in food stamps, $91 in cash assistance. The waiting time for Section 8 housing, if you have priority status, is six months to a year. If you belong to the vast majority who don’t have priority status – if you’re not elderly, disabled or a veteran with dependents – the wait is between four and eight years.

The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America’s Middle Class, via peterwknox

When I was very little, my family was so poor that we didn’t even qualify for welfare.

I don’t think most people truly understand the stress of being that kind of poor. Your relationships change. Your motivation changes. Your logic changes. When the value of your time and energy is less than zero, you start to make decisions that reflect that value.

However living better now, Coogi sweater now and all that shit — but even long after leaving welfare behind, my parents still make the occasional odd decision or get into seemingly silly arguments about things that would only seem meaningful when using the logic of poverty. I realize now that they will never get over it (and in some ways, I probably won’t either.)

(via kenyatta)

Source: peterwknox