Poverty Facts: Almost 4 in 10 Guyanese Cannot Afford Basic Costs of Living
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So much for sharing the wealth.
but even the poorest got a cell phone though
I am sure they don't even pay half of what we pay for phone and service. We are being fleeced.
Former Member
Study: 40 Percent of Americans Struggle to Afford Basic Needs
A new study found that people struggle to afford health care and housing utilities.
By Alexa Lardieri | Aug. 28, 2018, at 11:44 a.m.-- Source -- US News -- https://www.usnews.com/news/po...o-afford-basic-needs
Almost 40 percent of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities like housing and food.
According to a new study from the Urban Institute, 39.4 percent of adults reported that they struggled to afford at least one basic need for health care, housing, utilities or food in 2017. These struggles did not just affect adults with lower incomes, they extended to higher-income families and to families with and without employed members.
Michael Karpman, a research associate at the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center and a co-author of the study, told CBS News. that this illustrates that there "is no guarantee" that a middle-class income protects people from financial struggle.
"A lot of people are looking at the fact that wages aren't keeping up with household costs as one reason families are having difficulty making ends meet," Karpman told CBS.
Researchers found that adults were more likely to report they struggled if they were in fair or poor health or if they had multiple chronic health conditions. Financial hardships were more prevalent for adults who are younger â 18 to 34 years old â female, black, Hispanic, less educated and living with children.
Additionally, if someone reported they struggled with one financial hardship, they were more likely to struggle with another. Among adults struggling to afford one basic need, 60.2 percent reported that they struggled affording two or more, and 34.7 reported that they struggled with three or more, according to the study.
Adults struggled with affording food the most, with 23.3 percent reporting that their households had been food insecure within the past 12 months. Eighteen percent of adults said they had problems paying family medical bills, and 17.8 percent said they went without medical care because of the costs.
Karpman told CBS that, although families may have health insurance, high deductibles "leave them facing high costs."
When it comes to housing security, about 10 percent reported that they could not pay the full amount of rent or mortgage or their payment was late. Thirteen percent said they missed a utility bill and about 1 percent of adults were evicted or forced to move.
Although making ends meet was hardest in families without any working adults, at 55.7 percent, 35 percent of households with at least one working adult also reported difficulty meeting at least one basic necessity. At 20 percent, that basic need was most commonly food. Food insecurity jumped to 40 percent in households without any working adults.
Researchers state that, although economic growth and low unemployment are "critical to reducing material hardship," they "alone do not ensure everyone can meet their basic needs."
"I hope that people will see," Karpman told CBS, "that even though we're in a relatively healthy economy, a lot of families are still having difficulty meeting their basic needs for food, housing and health care."
The results are based on the institute's Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, which surveys approximately 55,000 adults 18 to 64 years old.
These Americans have a safety net. Guyanese do not.
Contrary to many news reports, research shows that on a consumption basis, the percentage of people in America living in poverty is extremely low, around 3%, and most are childless adults. The official poverty rate is higher, around 11%, but that measure does not consider all the government benefits people get, nor does it account for charitable assistance or cash and gifts from family and friends.
So, while the current social safety has nearly eliminated poverty from a consumption standpoint, a better social safety net would make poverty easier to escape. The goal of a safety net should be to reduce the number of people who need it at any given time, not out of callousness, but because a life spent receiving public assistance is not the life most people want. Whether as an employee or employer, a lifetime of creating value for others and participating in a society based on mutual benefit and voluntary exchange is more fulfilling than a lifetime spent getting by on public aid.
Former Member
Guyana plus other nations have Social Safety Net / Programs to assist those in need.
all of yall real stupidy, you really think people so hard up in Guyana. Yuh want to see real hardship look at the slums in other countries. People in Guyana are frigging happy and not starving. I never hear of a single person in Guyana die from starvation
Banna, I have participated in a Walk in from the cold program. A hugh portion of the food were donated to the church. It was sad listening to the various stories which really drove home how close we all are to being in that same position.
In a country rich as Canada no one should go hungry. A few days ago my sis in law spoke with a cashier in our only grocery store, about the mark up in prices, (we pay a dollar more on most items than we would in the closest town twenty mins away and now prices have shot up) she can't even afford buying there and she doesn't drive so uses the foodbank, I find that sad and because I am Da Cain, I will somehow step in, maybe send the owner a letter, maybe speak to him when next I see him. I won't say who the person is but bring it to his attention, food is tossed out daily, no need to have workers forced to use a foodbank, as long as the food is not rotten or past due date.
Unfortunately rules now seem get in the way, the food "could" make someone become violently ill, then come the lawsuits hence no food for poor people. Sheer shit I tell ya. I did this weekly, sometimes twice a week for four years and never saw anyone die nor gotten ill. I stopped taking part because I moved away.
Food banks are being overwhelmed and its been worse since 2020.
Also, according to a dentist on the news, in his twenty something years working in dentistry he has never seen the cases as now seen with cracked/broken teeth caused by grinding them during sleep. He thinks the cause of this grinding is due to stress from all the panic and negativity out there. In our circle we know of three cases who now wear the nylon teeth guards through the night because of teeth problems.
One positive set of news I heard was a client who has lime disease real bad, took the jab and now feels a lot better than usual, I hope for her sake it is not just a short blip as she had when they first changed her meds.
@Amral posted:all of yall real stupidy, you really think people so hard up in Guyana. Yuh want to see real hardship look at the slums in other countries. People in Guyana are frigging happy and not starving. I never hear of a single person in Guyana die from starvation
if that is the measure of a happy society (no one starved to death yet) why don't you come back to guyana and live happily, chief clown
Do you reside in Gy Spugum?
@Spugum posted:if that is the measure of a happy society (no one starved to death yet) why don't you come back to guyana and live happily, chief clown
I think having nuff to eat is happiness. and if yuh still nah happy, rob somebody.
If a person is smart then nuff nuff food is not contentment.
@seignet posted:I think having nuff to eat is happiness. and if yuh still nah happy, rob somebody.
If a person is smart then nuff nuff food is not contentment.
stewwwps
Folks, don't forget to send that barrel home to your poor relatives.
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