WP: Why They Stayed: Living Paycheck to Paycheck Made Leaving Impossible

[kskiska]

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 -- To those who wonder why so many stayed behind when push came to water's mighty shove here, those who were trapped have a simple explanation: Their nickels and dimes and dollar bills simply didn't add up to stage a quick evacuation mission.

"Me and my wife, we were living paycheck to paycheck, like most everybody else in New Orleans," Eric Dunbar, 54, said Saturday.

(snip)

He offered a mini-tutorial in the economic reality of his life.

"I don't own a car. Me and my wife, we travel by bus, public transportation. The most money I ever have on me is $400. And that goes to pay the rent. And that $400 is between me and my wife." Her name is Dorth Dunbar; she was trying to get some rest after days of peril.

Dunbar estimated his annual income to be about $20,000, which comes from doing graphic design work when he can get it. Before the storm, when he and his wife estimated how much money they needed to flee the city, he was saddened by the reality that he could not come up with anywhere near the several thousand dollars he might need for a rental car and airfare.

(snip)

"I got $3.00 on me now," said John West, 39, formerly a resident of the Sixth Ward here. "I'm serious."

He said he has never had a savings account in his life. "I make $340 a month," he said. "I stay with my mother. I give her about $150 of that. His income is from a disability check. His hands got badly burned in a 1993 fire. "I lost a little nephew, but I saved two kids," he said.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301508.html

[alarimer]

1. It is very important to point this out.

It was the end of the month too. Not much left by then if you live paycheck to paycheck.

[Straight Shooter]

2. A shame that a newspaper article is necessary to educate people about this

It isn't that easy to just up and leave. How are you going to get a room? By trading on your good looks? I don't think so.

These people were caught between a jagged rock and a very hard place.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. Too bad the people who need to be educated about it

will probably ignore it. "Well why didn't they get real jobs then?"

[alarcojon]

3. Yes, this is a very important framing issue

These poor, largely black people are being demonized by the usual assortment of right wing asswipes. Connecting this disaster to economic issues will hit home with many lower-income Repugs - those people who somehow manage to vote against their own economic interest because of the fears, divisions, and distractions served up by this administration.

[UpInArms]

4. the top 1%ers will never understand what living really

constitutes for the other 99%.

:cry:

[NashVegas]

8. I Don't Think That's Entirely True

The top 1% know very well how fortunate they are, a lot of them, and have more compassion than you might think, for those less fortunate. Especially old money that gives millions to charities.

[gmoney]

10. Old money giving millions to charities will soon end...

The elimination of the estate tax will kill a lot of these foundations and contributions.

One thing I've recently learned about these matters is that the rich people want to control where their money goes, which they can't do when they pay tax dollars, but they CAN do with a foundation. Tax dollars will go to things they despise, like welfare and public health, etc.

So, they set up foundations or make contributions in very specific ways that will benefit the people THEY deem worthy. LIke certain religious organizations, or fighting abortion, or promoting small business, or giving scholarships to golf caddies. (That IS real, not just in Caddyshack.) Or the recent Kroc donation to NPR, which came with LOTS of strings attached -- not to mention that the publicity from that donation actually HURT NPR stations, because people had heard that NPR was swimming in money, which meant individuals felt less need to support their local NPR station. But I digress...

By eliminating the estate tax, the US has essentially removed the impetus for these rich, rich fuckers to donate a thin DIME to charity as a way of avoiding taxes. Now Bob Gotrocks Sr. can be sure Bob Gotrocks Jr. will get it all, and since there's no need to spite the government, why should they support charities?

Obviously, there will be some exceptions, such as those who do it for ego, and the handful who might actually be altruistic. But elimination of the estate tax is going to hurt the poor by lowering the tax base by a $100 billion dollars or so a year, prompting further cuts in welfare, public health, mass transit, etc. PLUS it's going to remove a lot of money from the charity economy, which will ultimately mean less funding for charities that help the poor.

It's a bad, bad thing.

[mitchum]

13. One of the best posts I have ever read on DU

and I wish everyone would read it

[gmoney]

15. Thanks...

I've done a little web work for a small local community foundation, plus I accidentally ended up at one of their annual meetings, and learning what really is the impetus for these rich people, even at this level, really opened my eyes.

[0007]

37. I agree. And I will Nominate it!

[0007]

38. Accordingly, this post is over 24 hours old and can't be voted

on to be nominated.

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Thanks. I needed the laugh.

[bread_and_roses]

36. SCREW their charity, let's have some economic Justice in this Country

How about living wages.
How about fair share taxes for Corporations and the Rich
How about decent Public Transportation
How about Universal Health Care
How about Public Works instead of letting our inner cities turn into third world
How about doing something real about Racism

F*** their charity, that they get to write off on their paltry taxes.

[stickdog]

9. The people who idolize the top 1% and fool themselves into

thinking that they will be up there soon enough are just as big of a political problem.

[nookiemonster]

23. Yep. Horatio Alger be damned.

n/t

[progressivebydesign]

5. My hope is that this disaster will make America SEE our poverty!!

People are so insulated from real poverty. They do not see it on tv, they do not read about it unless it is a cold statistic. Everyone on tv is perfect and affluent, so where would anyone learn about the inexcusable poverty in this nation? If it opens some eyes that we are sinking further and further, than maybe something less than horrific might come from all of this. Perhaps it will reawaken the journalists in this country who are so isolated from the real world in their Manhattan apartments and their Hamptons summer homes. Maybe they'll all wake up. The poverty in the area made this tragedy much, much, worse. How could they leave? There should have been government resources to get them out.. but there was not.

[alarcojon]

6. Absolutely

There should definitely have been some sort of plan to evacuate people who did not have the economic means. Instead, they send in the National Guard after all these unfortunate people are left behind.

[NorthernSpy]

16. how nice of you to say so

.

[Erika]

7. I saw the lines of the wheel chair evacuees waiting for evac

It was heartbreaking.

[NVMojo]

11. I can't believe that all Freepers are rich and don't get this situation or

have never lived paycheck to paycheck. No f-ing way do I believe that.

[pursuivant]

31. Some aren't

It's just that the poor conservatives believe that aid should come from extended family, church, or some other tightly-knit community, not the "gummint."

They can be just as nice, or just as nasty, as anyone else, but they just don't grok the concept that not everyone has family or church to fall back on - or that there are problems that are too big for such groups to handle. They also fail to understand that "gummint" should be community - at least in a real democracy.

For that matter, based on my experiences, conservatives in general are no more "evil" than anyone else. The big differences between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives place very different values on property vs. people, they have much narrower definitions of "us" vs. "them" than liberals, they generally have lower levels of trust and empathy - especially towards those they regard as outsiders, and they have trouble coping with nuances or seeing how events in the larger world directly affect their lives.

I think that John Stuart Mill quote about "Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." is hokum. The main conservative failings are lack of empathy and lack of creativity, not lack of intelligence.

[area51]

32. What republinazis fail to understand...

... is that people being evacuated are getting their govt. tax dollars back. Nazis keep trying to paint it as "people demanding 'something for nothing'."

[pursuivant]

35. Yep. Not only that, but it's saving them money too

That old adage about "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

I'd be a "conservative" if that term really meant conserving things - like public money, human life, natural resources, etc.

[WCGreen]

12. Why don't they just go to college.....

I pulled MYSELF up by my bootstraps...

Disability... Huh, Mu hard earned tax dollars are going to pay that guy $340.00 each and every month....

I tell you. You take that money out over a lifetime and you are talking big dollars, my friend, big dolars....

Well, If I can make it, why can't these fellows....


:sarcasm:

Just in case you couldn't figure it out.....

[Robert Oak]

18. images on TV

the invisible people. You see people with disabled children, elderly
to take care of, little babies to take care of...

maybe American will get it on this BS and realize that is what a society is all about...no one and I mean pretty much no one can be on it, all of the time, their entire lives...
yet this entire society is designed as if if misfortune happens to you, somehow you are to blame and a jerk.

Maybe they will get it through their heads that life happens and there will always been a certain amount of people who need help period.

Those people can get on their feet if they are given help and support..
but without any, they never will.

[1932]

19. It is so sad to see, when cameras pan victims in N.O., some hide their

faces. They're ashamed to be seen in such awful circumstances, like it's their fault they're victims.

I'm ashamed to live in a country that does this to human beings.

[WCGreen]

25. I'm glad I never had kids....

Cause it's just gonna get worse....

[WCGreen]

24. Fucking Ronald Reagen and his band of elitists

did this ro our country...

Made it an amoral hell hole....

[area51]

33. "... this entire society is designed ...."

Robert Oak said:

"... this entire society is designed as if misfortune happens to you, somehow you are to blame and a jerk."

Yes, that's what's so fscking stupid; our society is completely social-Darwinist towards the poor. It's libertarianism for the poor, socialism for the corporations.

[Giant Robot]

14. That was one of those scary things for me

I thought about what would happen if my wife and I had to evacuate where we live. Obviously we live paycheck to paycheck. We have our cars, so we would have transportation, but I rarely have more than 1/4 of a tank of gas at any given time, and the average amount of money I have in my wallet is probably $3. We have no savings. That's a joke. We would have no money and no where to go if an order to evacuate came. And we would have gone to the Superdome. If that does not make this travesty real to everyone out there, I can't imagine what will.

[hippywife]

34. You are far from alone, Giant.

We're usually only doing just a little better than that but what you described comes really close to our situation, too. If we have a serious medical situation arise, it isn't going to be pretty at all. And nearly 1/3 of my monthly salary goes to pay for benefits like healthcare, dental, etc.

[Robert Oak]

17. bout time

This is the reality of the working poor, who's ranks are increasing daily and any sort of help whatsoever decreasing.

I'm glad these people spelled out the math. I've heard enough
of "market value" and the constant propaganda about how welfare
creates dependence and social programs do not work...
meanwhile we have an entire city unable to save themselves due to economics and 12.7M Americans below the poverty line.

Now check out the poverty line. They are saying that an individual who makes above $797.5 per month is above the poverty line.

Now who here knows that there is no way in hell one can live in the United States, anywhere on 800 bucks a month? That means with shelther food clothing on their own.

Persons in
Family Unit 48 Contiguous
States and D.C. Alaska Hawaii
1 $ 9,570 $11,950 $11,010
2 12,830 16,030 14,760
3 16,090 20,110 18,510
4 19,350 24,190 22,260
5 22,610 28,270 26,010
6 25,870 32,350 29,760
7 29,130 36,430 33,510
8 32,390 40,510 37,260

[Giant Robot]

27. The poverty line is almost my rent!! n/t

[kath]

20. In "the la-and of the fuh-reeeee and the hoooome of the brave"

Not.

[NYC]

21. Anne Rice re New Orleans.

...Thousands didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the vehicles. They didn't have any place to go. They are the poor, black and white, who dwell in any city in great numbers; and they did what they felt they could do - they huddled together in the strongest houses they could find. There was no way to up and leave and check into the nearest Ramada Inn.

...But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs. Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl090305annerice.21ad697f.html

[Mairead]

22. Note the -ism implicit in the reporting? (This is not a non-sequitur)

He doesn't own a car. His annual income is $20K, he couldn't come up with the price of a car rental. Yet from the comment about the rent money, it sounds as though he and his spouse both work for money, and share expenses.

This level of self-centeredness is significant for the overall problem we face, I think. Until we start thinking in terms of 'we', 'we' is screwed.

"It starts when you care enough to act, when you do it again after they say No, when you say "we" and know who you mean, and when each day you mean one more." (Marge Piercy)

[Giant Robot]

26. You have a valid point and may be right but I suspect

that it may be more of a reporter thing you are seeing in this piece. I am only talking about this piece so no flaming!! My guess would be that the reporter spoke to him, and phrased the writing as such, because if you'll notice the person being interviewed spoke more in a "we" manner. But this would beg the question why the reporter only interviewed him. But thats another matter.

[acmavm]

30. See, this is exactly what I meant when I wondered about all the empty

pickup trucks fleeing the city before the hurricane. EXACTLY.

One person here, an self appointed expert on the city and what was going on down there, talking about all the famous people she knew down there kept saying that 'everybody who wants to get out can/will get out', it's a family city, blah, blah, blah. And others here were blaming these people as well. Saying that they 'chose' to stay.

Well folks, how does it make you feel now? Are you so sure that everybody who stayed did so because they were 'afraid of looters' (the most common reason given)?

There are days when I seriously wonder about this place and some of the people who post here. This just makes me cry.

[demo dutch]

39. The majority of this country lives in LaLa land- They have NO IDEA!