Here’s a comment I wrote the other day.
For the first time, ever, I’m renting out half my house. My housemate pays 50% of the cost of living in the house, so it’s a big efficiency. But I lost access to half my house! Plus I am assuming landlord duties & facing some risk of housemate drama.
My income will go up this year. Finally. But am I outrunning the system, or getting squeezed in its pincers, like everyone else?
I’m getting squeezed, like everyone else. 30% of my takehome pay goes to alimony. 20% to mortgage. That’s half of it, gone, on the first day of the month. I haven’t had a real raise, more than inflation, in 10 years.
And I’m still doing better than a lot of people. I’m doing better than that woman at the Sanders rally earlier this week. The lady who talked about living on less than $10,000 a year.
Here’s what Bernie’s email said tonight.
Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton left Iowa to attend a financial services fundraiser on the East Coast. We don’t know how much she raised, but it must have been many millions ...
But you know Bernie. He doesn’t go around asking millionaires and billionaires for money. There’s no super PAC waiting in the wings. Emails like this one fund our campaign.
You got me at millionaires & billionaires. Anyone who’s planning to buy a Tesla anytime between now & forever. (I’d love to buy a green, green, Tesla. It would so dominate my 12 year old, hail-damaged Hyundai.)
Fuck the millionaires & billionaires. Fuck ‘em all. I’m working harder, more efficiently, more productively, making fewer mistakes, and no more money. I lost access to half my house. The owner class is pocketing all the profits. 95% of all the new income in the last 10 years has gone to the top 1%. Something like that. You know the numbers.
I’d love to send $50 directly to the lady at the Sanders rally. She needs it more than me & more than Bernie. But it would be better still to change the rules, so the owner class doesn’t pocket all the money. Then she’d do better, and I would too.
If Hillary is the nominee, I’ll eagerly and enthusiastically vote for her. But I think Bernie stands for what we need. Changing the rules.