America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 6 Credit System

Zhang Ailun also roughly understood the two types of homeless people: one is the unregistered residents who just want to live off others and the drug addicts and mental patients who have given up on themselves.

One type is homeless people who have gone bankrupt or are homeless due to various family factors.

It includes many highly educated and qualified individuals.

There are senior programmers who have gone out of business and can no longer find work, and homeless people; there are PhDs in science who have worked for companies such as Microsoft and Compaq but have run out of money for medical treatment and are now homeless.

There are veterans with registered death certificates, millionaires whose companies have gone bankrupt, celebrities who have become deadbeats due to huge debts, and elderly redneck couples who collect bottles to supplement their income after the harvest season.

There have even been cases of glamorous city councilors being fired after being attacked online by rivals for making inappropriate remarks, or being evicted and left homeless because they couldn't afford the high rent.

They're all incredibly talented!

But most of them are just marginalized individuals who have been eliminated by society and cannot find work, leaving them helplessly homeless.

In America, without a house you can't work, and without a job you can't earn money.

You need to own a house before you can find a job.

But if you don't have money to rent a place, you can only earn money by working first.

Once credit is lost, it's like breaking the ecological cycle, being eliminated, and never being able to squeeze back in.

From one extreme to another, from law-abiding citizens to those who engage in vandalism, looting, and arson, from heaven to hell—this is the underlying logic of the credit system.

If you have no credit, you can't rent a house, you can't find a job, and you'll starve to death. What else can you do besides begging, buying things for free, picking up trash, or selling your body?

Those who are better off can live in their cars, have stable campsites and teams, and make many friends. Those who are worse off can only live in tents or even sleep on the streets.

Even if you don't own a house but have a car, it's still considered a credit asset and you can find low-paying jobs, but you'll only earn a maximum of $2000 a month.

This is in California, which has one of the highest minimum hourly wages. The minimum hourly wage in many other states is $7.25, and in a few states it is only $5.15.

After paying federal taxes, state taxes, personal income taxes, and daily sales taxes, there's simply no money left to save. It's barely enough to make ends meet, and it's not even as carefree as when you were homeless on the streets.

Even if you're unemployed and homeless, you might receive several hundred dollars in subsidies each month, Snap shopping vouchers, social welfare, free food, and free medical checkups. This is because you belong to a vulnerable group.

Having a low-paying job means paying taxes, rent, utilities, food, shelter, and doing menial work. If you have debts, you have to pay them off first. Not only will you lose your monthly allowance and food vouchers, but the shelter will also stop providing any assistance.

Because you are no longer a vulnerable group.

The homeless need social attention and it's easy to create topics of discussion, even if it's just to maintain the image of the left.

The same news story will not attract attention to how an ordinary poor person lives. Instead, people will focus on why the homeless man is homeless and what stories he has. Just make up a couple of stories and people will have a surge of sympathy for him. It is a natural source of traffic.

Back then, a homeless man used the last $20 he had to buy gasoline for a female driver, doing a good deed anonymously. The female driver and her boyfriend found him and interviewed him, and the story was posted online, sparking heated discussions. Soon, more than $40 was raised on the GoFundMe website.

It was later discovered that it was all a publicity stunt; the couple absconded with the money, and due to a dispute over the division of the spoils, the homeless man sued them in court. All three were eventually imprisoned for fraud.

After this incident, it has become difficult for homeless people to appeal for sympathy online or to beg on the streets.

Having a job and a house certainly prevents you from being discriminated against or viewed through prejudiced lenses. Even if you suffer and work like a slave, you gain dignity.

But dignity can't put food on the table.

It would take forever to earn enough money and credit score to afford a proper apartment and stop staying in motels, and get my life back on track by doing low-paying jobs.

Just because they took a low-paying job and earned an extra thousand dollars a month through hard labor, it's like they've broken a cardinal rule and are suddenly going to lose so many social welfare benefits! Who can stand that?

If homeless people can survive without working, why should they work themselves to death?

Of course, this may be the sentiment of many homeless people who are just waiting to die, but it doesn't represent everyone.

Not all homeless people are content with their current situation, especially the ambitious upper-class elites who have experienced the good life and paradise, who are constantly and frantically trying to climb back.

Some, like Dominic, chose to become homeless due to family problems.

He has no debts, no credit problems, and no bad habits. Even if he doesn't work hard from dawn till dusk to collect cans, he can still get a few hundred dollars in subsidies every month with his blue passport. He lives a fairly comfortable life and has the hope of going abroad and getting back on track in the future.

But he had long been used to being a homeless person, and he was in contact with homeless people most of the time. It was difficult for him to reintegrate into normal society, and he had not mastered any skills.

If you ask him to calculate how many cans it would take to buy a building, he could probably answer you in less than a second, his mind filled with cans as a unit of measurement.

A cup of coffee has several cans, a sandwich has several cans, a car has several cans.

Can you really get him to sit in an office typing on a keyboard, studying stock market trends, and doing sales pitches?

He can't do it!

Dominic can't live without the jar, just like Blackie can't live without free shopping, and homeless people can't live without relief meals.

You forced the new generation's Emperor of the Jar to cripple himself; you've harmed him.

No wonder some people have categorized the homeless into different groups, and others have protested in the streets. There are indeed reasons for this.

Many people were once highly educated, enjoying fine wine and champagne, being chauffeured around in luxury cars, with hands and feet, dignity, ideals, and a fighting spirit, but were defeated by cruel reality.

But as long as you don't get involved in gambling, prostitution, or drugs, and work hard, save money, build credit, rent a place, and find a job, you can eventually get out of poverty.

Even if you stand on the roadside wiping car windows for a dollar each time, work as a can recycler, or sell things for free at a street stall, little by little, you will eventually make a comeback.

But the fear is that you might not be able to overcome it. It requires a strong mind and unwavering perseverance.

Opioids and the legalization of leaves are also hurdles that the old Manchu people find difficult to overcome.

Even if you do manage to get ashore, you'll find all sorts of tax regulations, various sales pitches and traps, a 9-to-5 job full of deceit and treachery, and a whole host of other troubles waiting for you. You'll be prone to credit crises and even bankruptcy!

Looking back, it would have been better to just stay put and do nothing.

As the saying goes, you may be homeless for a time, but you'll always be homeless.

Being homeless is an attitude; buying a car and renting a house are just processes; starting from scratch is the final destination.

After hearing Dominic's account of his experiences, Zhang Ailun also felt that living in America was truly exhausting.

A paradise for the rich, a hell for the poor.

He just wanted to avoid living such a tiring life.

……

The two sat on the old sofa and had a long talk. After changing the subject, they became much more relaxed.

The new topics are nothing more than games that men like, food, guns, fighting, the top figures in the 3D section, and female users on Pornhub.

Seeing that it was getting late, Dominic got up and went back to his tent, packed his things inside, and came out carrying a bunch of personal belongings.

"Allen, you'll sleep in my tent tonight. I'll stay in my friend's tent."

"That's a great arrangement." Zhang Ailun nodded. He had been hesitant about whether it would be appropriate for him to sleep in a strange girl's tent, but he hadn't expected that she had already thought of everything for him.

Goodnight, Allen.

Goodnight, Dominic.

Zhang Ailun stepped into the blue tent, experiencing wilderness survival for the first time, which felt quite novel. But drowsiness overcame him, and he quickly fell asleep.

The next day.

Zhang Ailun was woken up by the notification sound of the "Daily Intelligence" report.

[Daily News: The Bali relief food truck will be serving double cheeseburgers, 330ml Pepsi, and cream ice cream cakes at 9:30 AM on Shuangxiang Street.]

[Daily News: At 134 Wapson Street, near the Carnation Club, there are numerous recyclable cans and clear beverage bottles in the green trash cans in the alleyway.]

[Daily News: A homeless man died in Fairway Alley, 27th Street, Fifth Street. $3.80 was found in his back pocket.]

Another homeless person has died?

Isn't that mortality rate a bit too high?

It truly lives up to its reputation as the free West Coast.

I glanced at the time; it was already 8:45.

Without hesitation, Zhang Ailun decisively chose to wake up his good neighbor Dominic, who was still sleeping.

If we had been any later, we would have missed the big meal.

(End of this chapter)