How are poor Americans surviving right now?

@TheHorse (227732)
Walnut Creek, California
April 29, 2025 9:02am CST
Since Donald Trump took office, the stock market has dropped about 10 per cent, grocery prices have skyrocketed, and increasing numbers of Americans are experiencing the depression and anxiety that come with helplessness. I will be OK. I am putting my extra cash into fixed income funds, and I will still occasionally buy bacon, even if it's something like $15 /pound right now. But what about the Americans who were Trump's largest voter block? Those who are scraping by, and cannot afford massive increases in grocery prices? Are they running up their credit card bills, and financing the rich bankers, who collect (I don't even know) 10 per cent in interest? If you know someone who is not "rich," who cannot pay off their credit card every month, and cannot smugly invest their income in conservative funds, how are they getting by?
10 people like this
7 responses
@Scarred4Lyfe (801)
•
29 Apr
My total monthly income is less than $1200 and things are very scary right now. To be blunt, if I didn't own my own house free and clear, I'd be f***ed, and it may wind up like that anyway if things don't change soon. Luckily this year my senior citizen property tax measure kicks in which reduced that by 75% or I would not be able to pay it and I'd lose everything inside 3 years when the property would get seized for back taxes. F**** Trump. Right in his f***hole.
6 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
What's odd is that some who "supported" him will probably claim "it's not his fault."
3 people like this
kay lar
@jaylar (1561)
• Kingston, Jamaica
30 Apr
@TheHorse exactly. The idiots who voted for him will suffer. Just like the Hispanics who are being deported or their families are being deported. Trump only sees white men as human and billionaires as his equal. all others are dirt.
3 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Apr
@jaylar Honestly, I think Trump knows at some level he is a failure. Let me see if I can find that Greg Brown song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4wb6NMPnJ0
afraig he's just a bum - Google Search
www.google.com
ALLIMAGESVIDEOSNEWS Showing results for afraid he's just a bum Search instead for afraig he's just a bum Greg Brown – Just a Bum Lyrics - Genius genius.com › Greg-brown-just-a-bum-lyrics He was afraid that he's just a bum. Someday when all his stuff is gon
Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (45069)
•
29 Apr
People are scared, truly. Pretty much everything I buy at the store goes up constantly, and I am a really frugal shopper. I do everything I can to try to save...I cook from scratch, I consolidate trips, we don't eat out with the exception of occasionally a family member will take us. I am trying to make my own income meant for one person, to cover another person's expenses, so every penny counts. Like our DE, my son is waiting on disability since he is too sick to work right now. I don't charge anything on credit cards. If I can't pay for it, I don't get it.
3 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
I pay my credit card off each month. But many poorer Americans do not have that luxury.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
@MarieCoyle How did they get into such a situation?
1 person likes this
Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (45069)
•
29 Apr
@TheHorse No, they don't. I know some are drowning in credit card debt.
1 person likes this
Amber
@AmbiePam (99363)
• United States
29 Apr
I know our church is helping a lot of people right now. I’m blessed to have a dad who would help me if I needed it, although we both prefer if I just find a way to manage (after all, he won’t be here forever as much I hate that). But oh my word! Grocery shopping last week put a sick feeling in my stomach.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
Interestingly, dairy products like milk and yogurt have NOT gone up that much here.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
@MarieCoyle I will absorb it.
2 people like this
Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (45069)
•
29 Apr
@TheHorse Yogurt and butter and cheese are way up here now...so yours may go up, too.
3 people like this
Eva James
@wolfgirl569 (117738)
• Marion, Ohio
29 Apr
We don't have a lot put back so are watching closely. Keep hoping congress will grow their balls back and take control before it's to late. The same with the supreme court.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Apr
It is so odd to me that this has happened. I have worked for decades with the poor and uneducated, Their hands keep falling out of reach (Sorry. I am quoting Gordon Lightfoot.)
2 people like this
kay lar
@jaylar (1561)
• Kingston, Jamaica
30 Apr
Congress is mainly a herd of sheep...
3 people like this
Eva James
@wolfgirl569 (117738)
• Marion, Ohio
30 Apr
@TheHorse And many want to improve their lives but things are against them.
2 people like this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (356254)
• Rockingham, Australia
30 Apr
Housing/rental prices here are crazy and our unemployed son is looking for new accommodation. He's been in the same place for 20 years and he is going to face a much higher rent when he moves. It's not helping his depression either.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Apr
Is that your bass player son?
1 person likes this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Apr
@JudyEv Ah, thanks for the clarification.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (356254)
• Rockingham, Australia
30 Apr
@TheHorse No, it's the one in Melbourne. We've been propping him up for a while now but it's hard to know what the end result will be. Thankfully the Irish son now owns his house although of course he has a mortgage.
2 people like this
Jim Bauer
@porwest (101233)
• United States
29 Apr
It never ceases to amaze me how short attention spans are. Inflation happened under Biden and you were silent. NOW it's a problem? I wonder why. Oh yeah, Trump. I get it. You are willing to forget about the inflation not seen in 40 years under Biden and somehow blame the cost of living on something Trump is now having to fix.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
I do not know exactly how Biden kept inflation here under the levels experienced by most first-world countries. But I admired him for it.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
29 Apr
@porwest We've had some degree of inflation most years since WWII. But you probably knew that.
1 person likes this
Jim Bauer
@porwest (101233)
• United States
29 Apr
@TheHorse We never should have had inflation in the first place. His policies created it. We're supposed to thank him for what is essentially setting your house on fire and then bringing water buckets? Give me a break, man.
1 person likes this
LindaOH
@LindaOHio (191505)
• United States
30 Apr
I don't know. I am fortunate to be financially comfortable.
2 people like this
The Horse
@TheHorse (227732)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 Apr
I feel the same way.
1 person likes this