The reality of living paycheck to paycheck

Image Source: HBO.com

HBO and The Shriver Report's documentary Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert gives us a glimpse of what it’s like being a struggling, single mother of three in America.  Ms. Gilbert is just barely getting by making $9.49 an hour as a full-time certified nursing assistant.  Her financial problems seem never-ending - she receives zero child support, she can’t afford health insurance, she isn’t eligible for financial aid for school, and so on and so forth.  Despite working long hours and doing her best, she essentially gets nowhere.  Without any safety nets, the routine of her day to day existence hangs by a thread...one small act of Murphy's Law could spell disaster for her and her children.  

As a nation, we must do more to support those who are honestly striving to get out of poverty.  Low-income households headed by single mothers who typically lack skills and resources are unable to withstand financial setbacks.  Subsequently, the people who’ve already been struggling to stay afloat are often the hardest hit by economic downturns and policy changes.  It’s obvious how people living paycheck to paycheck remain stuck in their situations.

The systems in place now are insufficient, but what can we do?  Providing paid sick leave and expanding family tax credits are possible policy alternatives.  Greater efforts from lawmakers and administrators to keep policy requirements consistent would help avoid the loss of benefits.  Most importantly, we should promote and invest in programs that take a comprehensive approach (a combination of childcare, education, guidance, etc.) in dealing with the problem.  

During the filming of Paycheck to Paycheck, Ms. Gilbert loses her food stamp benefits and I was curious as to why (the film provided no explanation).  After doing some online research, I still don’t have the facts of what happened with her eligibility status exactly, but I learned some interesting information about the recent cuts to the SNAP (food stamps) program.  

In 2009, as a response to the economic decline, Congress passed a stimulus bill called the Recovery Act which raised SNAP benefits, providing recipients a temporary boost.  It was great for the time being, but unfortunately, it ended in November 2013.  Ripping off this band-aid was painful for many individuals: an estimated 47 million low-income households were affected.  According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, this meant about a $10 reduction per person per month.  Without the added Recovery Act money, SNAP benefits are expected to average below $1.40 per person, per meal this year.  That’s a measly $126 bucks allotted per person each month.  Is Congress planning on passing legislation that will address this problem any time soon?  The CBPP thinks it’s unlikely.  

Additionally, the new farm bill that passed in February 2014 will cut roughly $8 million dollars from food-stamp financing over the next ten years.  For some 850,000 households, that means an average reduction of approximately $90 per month.  Furthermore, certain people are blocked from receiving benefits: college students are lumped together with illegal immigrants, lottery winners, and the deceased.  The bill limits the type of qualifying classes to “career and technical education, remedial courses, basic adult education, literacy, or English as a second language.”  Consequently, should Ms. Gilbert manage to attend college and pursue a degree, certain courses would likely disqualify her from the SNAP program.  I wonder if anyone would bother to point this out to her.  

It's important to understand that regardless of who we are, it takes an enormous amount of determination to overcome the hurdles that life throws at us.  Moreover, we cannot accomplish everything alone; we must ask for help when we need it.  But what if we've tried our best?  What if we've done all we can do, year after year, and still can’t climb out out of the depths of our struggles?  42 million women in America are living in or near poverty and of that, more than 13 million are mothers of young children.  When this problem is so prevalent, so widespread - then there is something inherently wrong with the system that’s supposed to work with us, not against us.