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Voices of Wealth and Poverty: Barely Getting By
A waiter walks among tables in Santa Barbara, Calif. Daryl Snell, a server, and Angel Rogers, a pharmacy technician, live just above the poverty line.
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Daryl Snell of Nashville, Tennessee works as a server in a restaurant. "On paper," Daryl says, "I'm poor."
Angel Rogers of Birmingham, Alabama says she grew up working class. She's on her way, but hasn't reached the middle class yet.
Kai Ryssdal: We're launching a new project on the broadcast today. I say project because it's more than just a series, or a couple of stories. It's years worth of coverage of wealth and poverty in this country.
Our Wealth and Poverty desk is going to explore the growing economic disparity in the United States -- its causes and its consequences. Those are big ideas. Big concepts. And they sound a bit sweeping -- grand, even. So we thought a good place to start would be with... us. How we go about our economic lives depending on our place in that economy.
Today, two people from a group often classified as the "working poor" -- above the official poverty line, not far enough above, though, to be middle class.
Daryl Snell: My name is Daryl Snell. I live in Nashville, TN. I'm 43 years old.
Angel Rogers: My name is Angel Rogers. I'm currently living in Birmingham, AL. I'm at the age of 41 years.
Snell: I'm a server, and I make about $20,000 a year.
Rogers: My household income is $21,000 a year. And I work at Walgreen's Pharmacy -- I'm a pharmacy technician.
Snell: When I was growing up, I guess I was in with the poor kids. I mean, money was always an issue.
Rogers: I was working class. My mom had 11 kids, you know.
Snell: If I lost my job today, I think I could make it three months.
Rogers: Two months.
Snell: That would be the extent of it, though.
Rogers: Yeah. I have to work very hard for what I want -- and it's almost like teeth and nail.
Snell: My last impulse buy was a cast-iron Dutch oven --
Rogers: I just don't get it --
Snell: -- that was on sale over the Christmas holidays.
Rogers: -- I really don't.
Snell: And now I have two.
Rogers: I want to become a registered nurse, continue going to school to get my bachelor's -- maybe teach nursing school. I'm not where I want to be.
Snell: I have absolutely no savings. I think there might be 50 bucks in my savings account. I'm going to work until the day I die.
Rogers: I have, whatever I have leftover, penny-pinching and whatever -- not much, but I have a couple pennies. Not much.
Snell: I clip coupons. I buy in bulk and freeze things. I have a huge pantry. That's how you make it.
Rogers: Trust me, I do believe that money is a part of happiness. Because if you don't have it, you can't do the things that you need to do. My biggest worry about money is not having enough --
Snell: My biggest worry about money is not having enough.
Rogers: -- especially to save on a rainy day.
Snell: I'm terrified of losing my home.
Rogers: I have a 23-month-old son, and he's totally dependent on me.
Snell: I want to be able to stand on my own two feet. I think the income gap is ridiculously growing. I don't understand what makes a CEO think that his job is worth 700 times more than the person working on the factory floor. What is it that you do that gives you 700 times more wages?
Rogers: The rich guy, he did what it took to get there. Either he worked hard as a child, or maybe he inherited from family that worked hard. America, this is a land of opportunities for anybody; there's no excuse for nobody -- you just have to get up and work hard at it. I believe that I will be very successful, no matter what detour I have. I just get back on the right track and I go for that.
Ryssdal: Coming up tomorrow: Voices from the Middle -- what it's like to live on the median income for American households.
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Mr. Snell is alot like every one else in the world, in that he feels ritch compaired to some but poor when comaired to others. Everyone is worried about money, becasue with out it we could not survive. I feel that there is always going to be someone more wealthy than you and another person who is less wealthy than you. The fact that 50 % of the world population lives on less than 2 US$/day is just astonishing.
Today I joined the ranks of those without health insurance. I let my plan with Anthem lapse because I simply can't afford the extra $200 per month any more and make ends meet.
I'm the owner/manufacterer and designer of a small brand of jewelry and accessories for Ocean Lovers. I'm a surfer and my connection to the ocean drives my passion and creativity in my business. When I started my company nine years ago (March 15th), it grew rapidly and I felt like I was building something big. I was "building my empire"! Then the recession hit. Many of my retailers closed their doors, I lost a huge amount of income and receivables. Today, even though my business has growing again at about 20% annually, the expenses have gotten so high, everything has gotten so expensive, that no matter how fast I spin my little hamster wheel, it seems like I am never able to catch up and my income has hovered at about 18K for the past four years. I'm grateful for every single customer who walks in the door of my retail store or shops my website. I hope my business will grow enough to have a stab at some kind of secure retirement, but I'm ever more doubtful that is an option.
It's like this for much of the creative class. I can't even tell you how many brilliant and extremely talented creatives (photographers, film makers, designers and more) are struggling just like this. Sometimes it feels like we are sinking back into the impoverished artist class of times past. The economy and shrinking budgets combined with the race-to-the-bottom tactics like crowdsourcing have taken away from the value and dignity of these artists. I'm actually one of the lucky ones...
I work hard. I contribute. I give back. I'm passionate about what I do. I am "living the dream". But the dream's foundation is crumbling. I won't stop spinning that hamster wheel, even if I never get anywhere than where I am today. But gosh, it's so frustrating to see the creative class sink into poverty.
Okay, rant over. Peace. Out.
I think this illustrates well that one's economic outcome is very much contingent on making the right decisions. Some people let life make the decisions for them (having children they cannot afford). Mommas don't let your kids grow up to be theater majors.
1. I find it quite odd that Mr. Snell is concerned that some Americans earn more than him, but not concerned that 50 % of the world population lives on less than 2 US$/day - much less than him.
2. Most people on earth would be confused if you called someone making $20,000/year poor. Most people would consider this level of income very rich.
3. Someone earning $20,000 today is better off, from a material standpoint, than the richest person in the world 100 years ago.
As an ex Tennessean, how would you know how well off anyone is in Nashville? I lived in Memphis, TN for 13 years on about $8000 a year. I rode a bike to work year round. Taking the bus was a luxury if it ever showed up. Nashville is a more expensive Memphis. It has poor housing infrastructure, public transportation, and it is quite expensive especially with 9.25 percent sales tax on everything. The sales tax does in a $20,000 a year income quickly because it is regressive.
Mr. Snell probably busts his butt for $2.15 an hour which is what most wait staff make in Nashville. A little more consideration for him and others instead of lecturing him about 100 years ago might be wise. There are parts of that city that still have living conditions that are substandard. Unless you have been subjected to being poor you may want to stay out of lecturing him on his life. Frankly, I find it highly offensive and truly inconsiderate.
It's a great point you make about world poverty. I do think it's fair to add that only about five percent of what a person says in an interview like this makes it into the final story. And Mr. Snell did talk about feeling that he was fortunate compared to many others who are poorer than he. Those comments simply weren't part of the story that aired.
Interesting idea for a show. Of course, it doesn't even brush the surface. One big question stands out: Why pass over the true working poor for those you describe as above the poverty line? There are many people living below the poverty line who work hard or did work hard only to finish on a below-the-poverty-line fixed income in old age. Why not get their voices on the air?
I am 56 years old. I graduated from college magna cum laude. I worked at white-collar jobs, paid my bills, raised my children, paid cash for my house.
I lost my job.
Yesterday I had to ask my sons to pay my light bill.
I went bankrupt, but I couldn't make the payments. Next June I will probably lose my home for back taxes.
I never expected to be poor.
Hearing Mr. Snell saying "I'm going to work until the day I die" broke my heart. It also filled me with anguish, because we all know that his is not an uncommon sinking feeling among the working poor -- *the* demographic most urgently in need now of political representation, and whose struggles are most powerfully symptomatic of all that is wrong in America today. Why don't more Americans care about these hard-working yet precarious, striving yet stuck lives? I respect Ms. Rogers' respect for the rich, but it is simply untrue that all those who "get up and work hard" will attain what they work for and deserve. Truer is Mr. Snell's question to the CEO: "What is it that you do that gives you 700 times more wages?"
Thank you, Marketplace, for this segment featuring two such voices. I only wish we could hear even more from them and others struggling like them in good faith -- and that your focus here were closer to the heart of the national agenda.
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