Everyone is talking about it. The poverty rate in America has exploded. One in seven Americans are struggling with the fact they are poor. 2.5 million Americans are not working, and nearly 50 million do not own health insurance.
Wait a minute. Are we not a First World Country, one of the richest most powerful countries in the world? Seems like a paradox. You mean to tell me that of the seven houses on my middle-class street one of these families are poor?
What happened to the "American Dream"? The images of home ownership and a white picket fence protecting that precious American dirt that are fading faster than every time an unemployment report is announced in this country.
That American Dream has morphed from an image of a tree-lined three-bedroom tract home tucked away in suburbia into a two-bedroom apartment containing three families.
So how do those who teeter on the verge of poverty prepare for a personal economic disaster that plunges a family into an impoverished state?
As a homeless services and housing executive, I have spent a decade and a half helping Americans lift themselves from poverty to middle-class. I've seen how people turn on their survival mode button, sort of like the fighter pilot pushing the ejection button when the flaming plane is spiraling to earth.
Based on this experience, I give to you my quick tips to surviving poverty in America.
Start with housing. Don't even think the norm is one family, one house. When you are fending off the scourge of poverty, you will have to resort to one house and three families. We already see such tactics with new American immigrants who stuff a few families, and a few generations into one stucco-clad house until they have all saved enough money to afford their own homes.
Food is no longer a stroll through an Albertson's grocery store produce aisles. Instead, prepare for a long line outside of the local Food Bank, that food depot of discarded groceries given away to those living just above or below the poverty level. Think blocks of cheddar cheese, dented tins of canned meat and vegetables, and expired loaves of grocery store bread.
Purchasing clothes is no longer at that large air-conditioned mall on the other side of town. To resist poverty, you will have to shop at the Goodwill thrift shop, filled with donated used clothes. Forget the tears and holes in the clothes, at least it is affordable.
Do you want to have a Friday date night at the local Applebee's restaurant? In survival mode, you will have to consider a more humble meal. Try a soup kitchen at your neighborhood faith group. It is still a hot meal, cooked with loving hands. Fresh turkey, mash potatoes, and string beans will still warm your belly, and keep within your monthly budget.
Sell your car as soon as possible. Poverty survivalists can not afford the gas, insurance, and maintenance for a car. That public bus is just so much more affordable. It is roomy, the bus driver is your chauffeur, and you can even sleep while the vehicle is moving.
I know everyone thinks the internet is a must-have tool in today's society. But you can get it free at the community library.
And if you want to have fun? Forget those $75 dollar tickets to an amusement park. Instead, consider strolling the mall, laying out on the beach, or tossing a Frisbee at the park. They are all free.
Forget the keeping up with the Jones mentality that this country has instilled into our psyche for decades. With rampant unemployment and plunging real estate values, the Jones are running out of money. They are broke.
Today's mantra is all about survival. Otherwise, you better prepare for homelessness.