A couple of observations from someone who lives here: A clerk job in San Jose probably pays more like $60k (with crazy union benefits.) There's a reason 2000 people applied for 4 jobs - it's a essentially a x10 unemployment check with equivalent responsibilities. The locals are very entitled (more so if they were born here.) That plus the crazy money Silicon Valley used to generate put a bunch of these people in bad situations. They got used to big salaries earned mostly through dumb luck and when the gravy train dried up they basically had no chance of adjusting so it's hardly a surprise where they've ended up. Worse, the skilled people in Silicon Valley are still making good money so it's not like anything got cheaper. Essentially, the Valley identified the least productive 5-7% of workers, kicked them to the curb and kept functioning at almost the same level. If they'd played it right, they would have saved and moved some place cheaper as soon as 3-6 months went by and it was clear the game was up. It's hard to judge them after the fact though. (The $200k personnel guy was "saving for retirement/college" but is out of cash in 2.25 years? I guess he wasn't saving much.) As for working in the fast food industry, it's a possibility but they've got to convince the hiring guy they aren't like the thousand other 50 year old, college educated people who've come through looking for a job all while making it abundantly clear the job is WAY beneath them. It's not surprising they prefer to hire younger people. I've got no idea how you fix this - these people needed to be retrained for lower paying jobs 10 years ago.
A capitalist economy with basic (I mean really basic, not the nice Section 8 housing vouchers that an unwed parent with 2 kids is entitled to a home with 3 bedroom nonsense) safety is good. Some basic safety is humane and also prevent unrest that is out of desperation.
In order to work in the fast food industry at or near minimum wage, u need an almost free place to live! If you are not in that fortunate situation (living with parents or other family, have a home fully paid off or have a providing partner), you will end up homeless or living in your vehicle.
In California, unless u have an under-18 kid in your household, you can't even get food stamps until u run your IRA or any "liquid funds" down to $2000 or less. It doesn't matter if u have no income at all.
Can you get food stamps if you have less than $2,000 in liquid funds, but own a home and a car? What if you have $100k in the bank, withdraw $98k of it or more and then put it in a safe; can you then get food stamps?
You can own a home or car legally, but if u have undeclared cash in a safe, it is fraud. This stupid limitation targets renters and those have no real property! Also 401k are exempt form the $2000 limitation, but IRA is counted. When a person lose his/her job and is forced to convert the 401k into an IRA, then it becomes counted. All the senseless regulations California has! Law makers w/o common sense!
True thanks. Food as we know it in present times is a rare and expensive commodity. Most of the world's population survives on processed rations produced by the massive Soylent Corporation, including Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow, which are advertised as "high-energy vegetable concentrates." The newest product is Soylent Green â a small green wafer which is advertised as being produced from "high-energy plankton." It is much more nutritious and palatable than the red and yellow varieties, but it is--like most other food--in short supply, which often leads to food riots... ...The "books" and Roth finally realize that the reports indicate a "horrible" truth which, despite reading it for themselves, they find nearly impossible to believe; soylent green isn't made from plankton, it's made from humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
Doesn't that make sense? Why should someone be sucking money from others when they still have funds of their own?