Learn from the mistakes of others

Julie Edwards, CEO of the Jesuit Social Services, recently commented on the inadequacy of economic indicators with regard to those on low income and benefits in Australia. In "The growing cost of living poorly" published on On Line Opinion, she discussed the recent findings by non-government social welfare agencies.

It comes as no surprise to those of us trying to 'live' on such incomes, that economic indicators such as the CPI, do not accurately describe the true cost of living - especially for those of us not in the upper income tax brackets. The very things that comprise the bulk of our actual cost of living - public transport, private rental, healthcare, and so on, have risen significantly proportional to our income.

The incapacity of the poor to participate in "user pays" economies cannot be a surprise to anyone. More than ten minutes in downtown LA or NY, the Western suburbs Sydney, or the Northern and mid-Southern suburbs of Adelaide would give you insights into the problem. Poor people have no capacity to pay because they are poor - they don't have anything to pay with.

Public Policy seems to be captured by agendas and ideologies that do not understand what it means to be trapped outside of Middle Class economics. Communism may have died and economic death, but the basic criticism is as apt as ever. Those who have are not prepared to share willingly. They cultivate the Myth of the Rewards of Hard Work® to justify to themselves why poor(er) people aren't Getting Ahead in Life™.

I come from a family that pulled itself up from Working Class to Middle Class. Only I find myself trapped in the economic Lower Class, with Middle Class education and aspirations. The past 15 years have been plenty to disabuse me of the notion that the Land of Milk and Honey® is open to all.

Who you know, or more correctly Who Knows You™, matters. Much more than you think.