according to the u.s. social security administration, 155,349 people earned net compensation over $1 million in 2024, with 293 people earning over $50 million.
in sharp contrast to those numbers, 47,025,849 people earned less than $20,000 that same year, with 13.7 million of them receiving under $5,000 for the entire year!
every day people around the world complain about discrimination, which usually means that someone else has prevented them from doing something they wanted to do simply because of their age or their gender or the color of their skin or their sexual orientation or their religion (or lack thereof) or their physical condition or even their immigration status…. and i’m sure there are many other people who feel put upon for a myriad of other reasons.
but there is one particular group whose very survival and continuing existence is being eroded by what basically amounts to legal discrimination, and that group is the poor.
while the poor will always exist as long as inequality rules the hearts of humanity, the cruelty and contempt that they are subjected to on a daily basis serves no purpose, and is a blatant example of the discrimination known as poverty shaming, or, even worse, poverty blaming, in which a person is told they are lazy, worthless, and just not trying hard enough, when, in truth, it is the system that is defective, not them.
children born into poverty are more likely to have issues related to nutrition, for obvious reasons, but the less obvious emotional issues brought on by poverty centered teasing and bullying cause even more long term damage (why are children so quick to point out who’s wearing what and who owns which phone?).
after high school, most poor children will go straight to work, both out of need and because college is financially out of their reach (there are only so many scholarships, and loans depend on credit scores the poor just don’t have). because they lack degrees, these kids will work minimum wage service industry jobs, or, if they’re lucky, apprentice/intern with someone while learning a better paying skill or trade.
but jobs will be difficult to find thru-out their lives now that most employers ask for that dreaded credit score on the job application, and won’t hire those with scores they deem too low.
at this point you may be wondering what your credit score has to do with getting a job, not realizing that credit reports have evolved from simply determining who owes what to whom, and how quickly they repay debts, into an effective discriminatory weapon against the poor.
a low score (under 600, in most cases) can lock a person out of an education, a job, a bank account and even housing…..
and it needs to be pointed out that these low credit scores are not necessarily the result of bad credit….. more often than not they are due to no credit history at all, indicating a life lived on a cash basis, without loans or credit cards, because, guess what, you have to have credit to get credit. of those low scores that actually are due to bad credit, most are unpaid medical bills (because the poor rarely have healthcare) or foreclosures due to unforeseen circumstances and no savings.
simply put, a low credit score can digitally lock a person out of an education, living wage employment and housing, leading to homelessness, which in itself locks that same person out of a drivers’ license, passport and bank account due to the need for proof of a stable address…….
with nearly 11% of americans, 35.9 million individuals, earning less than the federal poverty level ($15,960 for a single person), and the federal minimum wage being stuck at $7.25 hr ($15,080 per year) for over 17 years now, it is simply cruel and inhumane to add rules and regulations that do nothing but discriminate against those struggling the most to survive.
peacewillow's perspective 