Nomads from Cyberpunk 2020/2077 were not on my bingo card for this year.
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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The sad thing is that a Cyberpunk dystopia is nominally interesting. Violent, terrible, and impoverished, yes, but also fastpaced and exciting. Our world is dull, programmatic, largely predictable, and extremely boring unless you have disposable income. We all have cellphones, yes, but that doesn't make it cyberpunk.
That's because people in cyberpunk settings actually have the volition and guts to make change happen, and to put themselves through adversity against all the odds. People in the real world probably won't attend a peaceful protest in their area for something they support if they aren't in the mood.
The characters the story is written about do. The people living in it that the main character doesn't even interact with don't. Nobody cares about salaryman #97543784 who, at the beginning and end of the story is still pushing pencils but maybe reads about an office explosion in the news.
This is true of any work of fiction. People in works of fiction - at least works of sci-fi or fantasy adventure - are typically more risk taking because that's interesting to a reader/audience and the author knows this.
I appreciate the text file in the image
This isn't even new, just getting worse faster than it used to.
But think of the profits from squeezing finite resources trying to achieve infinite growth.
Think of the prevalence of van lifers
It's been gaining popularity as it gets harder and harder to own anything
You know it's getting bad when this news isn't shocking to you anymore...
You better start believing in cyberpunk dystopia. You're in one!
I was homeless for 8 years and a good portion of that I lived in my car
What I wouldn't have given to have a safe place to park each night during that time
It's better than a tent, but not by much
Any pro tips on that? Shit feels like I can share this fate anytime soon.
Having financial plans in place is very important, I know it's hard but making a savings account will help a lot. Even if you just set it up so that $20 a week goes to it it will help.
Most Americans can't afford a $500 emergency so your first goal will be getting to that point in a savings account. Your second goal will be getting to that point plus having funds in your account for you deductibles for your insurances (car, health, renters, etc). Then your out of pocket max for health.
It's a slow roll building a savings account and it's hard to leave it alone but it will help a lot.
Of course even then it's still pretty nerve wracking so one thing that I've done is get a line of credit with my credit union and some credit cards with really high limits that I pay off every month and only use for like gas or groceries. That way they stay open and in the event of a financial emergency that surpasses my savings I'm not completely fucked. Which saved my ass 2 years ago when I had to have emergency dental surgery 3 times in one year. ($10k that I'm still paying off)
Basically trying not to over extend yourself financially will help immensely.
But a massive help is having a healthy social safety net.
Thank you for writing that. I felt like credit card taught me to be a little irresponsible with cash (even though I payed for everything from debit straight away - I thought this two-step payment would better my score and limit for the future, lol), so I blocked it, but from that angle it really makes sense to have one in case of emergencies.
Paying for three dentals in a row can be only topped by the constant dental pain itself. If you budget didn't crumble under that weight, with your situation, you are a tugboat called Unsinkable (or even Unthinkable?). I'm not joking, I can't imagine it now, even though I'm housed and have some people I can loan from. It's just too much.
Why's that much discipline and intellect is needed to stay alive while poor? Stereotypes paints poor people as lazy and stupid. Is there a special program I can apply to and stop caring at all? Doubt so ):
My finances took a huge hit due to that and basically had me plate spinning for awhile.
Now that I've only got a few thousand left to pay it's a lot easier.
The fun thing about stereotypes is that they are just blanket statements that apply to basically none of them.
Are there some lazy and stupid poor people? Yes, but they exist all along the financial spectrum.
The discipline necessary for having credit cards with high limits makes things really tough (trust me I know)
Honestly, this is a lot better / more hopeful than other stories. These people are doing far better than the homeless in tents. In winter.
Like these poor people: https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-nenookaasi-homeless-encampment-packs-up-and-moves-three-blocks-south/600332431/
Is jesus f***ing christ incest?
Jesus and Christ are the same person so it would be more like masturbation
Stigmatasturbastion.
A hole is a hole.
so selfcest
I think step one is universal healthcare. For many reasons that we all are familiar with by now. (being tied to a job that has income limitations because you need the healthcare(ish) it provides, becoming bankrupted by healthcare costs, getting kicked out of your housing due to medical costs)
The revolutionary silver bullet to begin increasing housing availability is to eliminate the ability to depreciate assets via the tax code if they are single family detached homes. Many of these rentals are already fully depreciated and will remain rentals. But recently purchased (within 10 yrs.) rentals will likely be sold and importantly they will not be purchased by 'investors'. That shift will provide a flood of homes into the market which will apply downward pressure on prices. More people being able to afford to purchase those homes will free up rental availability, thus applying downward pressure on rental affordability.
Now that only addresses single family homes; there remains multifamily housing to be addressed which will be more complex. A robust government regulatory agency for housing is not something we currently have in the usa, obviously. (see picture) Reforms of those regulatory bodies are needed whereby penalties they assess would have actual teeth. I imagine penalties that remove ownership. I also imagine the countless tax incentives used in constructing and rehabilitating these structures being negotiated quite differently, to include public ownership.
Just a few thoughts here; I haven't all the answers. I'm curious when the last housing project was built in the usa.
This isn't cringe. This is wince.
The US homeless population is way higher than reported.
We don't report when we're homeless because it's illegal.
They have cars? Must be fucking nice! /s
We call them outdoor people.
"NuMbEr OnE cOuNtRy On EaRtH!"
-Americans
"Ohio iS RicHer THan SWitzeRLanD!"
We didn't make big cars because we wanted to drive big cars. We knew we'd need them as small homes.