But I could go get a job at Lowes and live in a cheap area and at least have a way to cook food and a bathroom. You say your 20s, why not have roommates? It's not adding up to me at all. You don't have to be middle class to get a normal shitty job.
You don't live on the coastal states, do you? It takes two full time minimum wage jobs to afford just an apartment.
Anyway, I'm talking 25 years ago, back in the late 90s. I was making less than minimum wage, which I believe was $6.50 at the time, as a laborer. People have it worse now. The price of housing and medicine is way up, and the feds have not raised minimum wage in 11 years, which is the longest time ever since its inception.
If you think it's easy to work your way out of poverty, I invite you to try living in a car on food stamps for a month, and see where you are able to get from there. I have a disabled relative who can't work. I did his taxes. He made $4000 last year on SSI.
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