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‘I’m selling my blood’: millions in US can’t make ends meet with two jobs
- superchroma 4y agoI remember reading about people crossing the border to sell plasma for money over a decade ago. This isn't anything new. America is a meat grinder, and, increasingly, I'm glad I don't live there.
- throwaway5959 4y agoWhere do you live then?
- superchroma 4y agoAustralia
- l3uwin 4y agoI remember selling plasma before school for lunch money back in highschool - the saline made you so cold in the worst way. Also glad I no longer live there.
- mbrodersen 4y agoAgree. I was offered a green card and a 6 digit salary to move to the US. I declined and instead moved to Australia. One of my best decisions ever.
- Proven 4y ago
- justinator 4y agoHow would one go about selling their blood?
- Avshalom 4y agoplasma more likely, but lots of places like https://www.cslplasma.com/ https://www.cslplasma.com/
- themadturk 4y agoAnd yet some can't sell plasma, like my son who's on anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication. They won't take his blood.
- xkcd-sucks 4y agoIn the form of value-added culinary products :) https://web.archive.org/web/20080927205444/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-532168/German-sergeants-facing-cannibalism-charges-using-blood-make-black-puddings.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080927205444/https://www.daily...
- metadat 4y agoWhoa, this is a crazy story. Submitted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33647767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33647767
- Ancalagon 4y agoIsnt the UK struggling with poverty as well? Which first-world nations provide good QOL's without taking on multiple jobs while working for near-minimum wage? I understand a lot of the problem is companies not paying their fair share. Its an honest question though because I've thought about moving to more socialized country in the past but wouldn't know where best to go. And tbh it's not in the north american continent.
- yrgulation 4y agoThe UK is likely to hit a depression soon.
- TheLoafOfBread 4y agoBut that's because they don't have enough cheap workers, which they were used to source from EU. Now they need to hire British ones (and they don't have enough of them), who want higher wages than EU ones, which drives inflation up.
- yrgulation 4y agoThis has nothing to do with cost of labor but rather poor management, particularly from Sunak's time as chancellor.
- sgu999 4y agoAlmost all EU countries have a good social system with a universal medical coverage, some unemployment benefits, a minimum wage, and retirement. But it seems that even Canada is far from being as bad as the US.
- blacksmith_tb 4y agoObviously grim, but even on the high end of the statistic in the article, ~7M people working themselves to death at the bottom of the economy, out of 164M people working... is terrible, but not exactly true for everyone?
- remram 4y agoWho says "everyone"? The headline is "millions"
- blacksmith_tb 4y agoThat's fair, just that it implies a kind of overall meltdown that saying "1 in 20 working people can't make enough to live" doesn't. Not to downplay how crappy it is for people in that situation.
- remram 4y agoI don't think I agree to be honest. If you know more than 20 people, that still sounds bad. Might make a difference if you have no idea how many people live in the USA I suppose.
- yakak 4y agoThis one is really an example of the US having a 3rd world safety net. No matter how much that worker makes, her partner can have more uncovered medical costs.
- wobbly_bush 4y ago> This one is really an example of the US having a 3rd world safety net You are grossly under-estimating the safety net in 3rd world countries. While overall everyone might be poor in terms of $-terms, but there is a strong culture of helping each other out. That doesn't exist to the same extent in US.
- washadjeffmad 4y agoIn a former role, leadership and HR shut down a division meeting after anonymous polls were presented showing how many full time employees were selling plasma, had one or more additional jobs working at least 20 hours a week, were unable meet their retirement targets, and showed real incomes after inflation based on hire year. Almost every employee hired after a certain date lost money while in their role, inversely correlated to profits and expansion of executive roles and compensation.
- IdPreferNotTo 4y ago
- TheLoafOfBread 4y agoLast time I checked, USA have predominantly privately owned companies. So if people are not earning enough then it is kind of a problem between employee and employer.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- IdPreferNotTo 4y agoYeah, let them eat cake i guess?
- themadturk 4y agoIsn't it always a problem between employee and employer? Yet employers continue to refuse to pay a living wage. The employee can't always just up and leave for a better job.
- ashwagary 4y agoUS politicians were elected by the masses to protect labor rights and stop worker exploitation by raising the min. wage, etc...they choose not to for decades.
- mijkal 4y agoIt's especially bad when put into context that America is the richest country by far on the planet, yet wealth distribution is extremely out of whack and we allow such conditions to even exist in this country. People struggle and many don't know it needn't be so difficult, even at the 'bottom'. Sadly, most Americans have no idea just how far off things are, as indicated in this 2011 study: https://jeremiahstanghini.com/2013/03/06/perception-vs-reality-revisiting-wealth-inequality-in-america/ https://jeremiahstanghini.com/2013/03/06/perception-vs-reali... I worry about the instability this causes, both economically and politically, as extreme wealth (and power) continues to concentrate in few hands while so many fall down the class ladder.
- wellthatsawrap1 4y ago
- mbrodersen 4y ago“was previously fired from her job for sleeping in her car behind her place of employment.” The cruelty of managers never stops surprising me. As long as she is doing her job and is presentable etc. what’s the problem? Worst case just ask her to park her car somewhere else?