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Sick & Destitute in Hard Times

January 13, 2011

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"It's such a laugh to hear people complain about the "welfare state" in the USA. There is no welfare in my state."



"Mary Smith" has been sending me feedback for many years. When recently she mentioned her financial distress, I commissioned her story.


 

by "Mary Smith"

(for henrymakow.com)


Like many in the USA, I am searching for employment. And like many people over 50, I've found it difficult. Having a chronic illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has made it even harder.

 

It's difficult to tell this story in a short, succinct manner without sounding like a whiner or a malingerer. For much of my life, I have struggled with chronic fatigue and illness. Since doctors couldn't figure it out, my family decided I was a whiner and hypochondriac.
 
Then I met a European-trained doctor who said I had a major lymphatic disorder. He said they have specialists for this in Europe but not here.
 
The illness makes it hard to focus and earn a livelihood. Since I have no money, I have had to address my health problems as best I can without medical help. A chronic illness is like being stuck on an airplane that is circling an airport because it can't land.

Used to be that ladies or gentlemen like me either lived with their families or in a convent or monastery. St. Alphonsus di Liguori, who founded several religious orders, observed that there were plenty of ladies who would never have entered the convent unless illness had driven them there.
 
He wrote that 200 years ago. That was then, this is now. Like much of the present Church, the convents are in decline and reject people with any hint of infirmity. That's what happened to me as well as others of my acquaintance.  As for my family, my mother helped me and the rest of my family won't talk to me.
 
For most of my career, I have worked as a housekeeper. In addition, I've done telemarketing, office administration, pizza delivery, restaurant work, radio talk show host, and freelance writing.

With the present collapse of the Church, there are few if any truly Catholic publishing houses, parishes, universities, etc. left. That makes it pretty tough to try and accomplish anything if that is your inclination.
 
My job history has been severely impacted by my illness and eyesight. Now that I am in my 50s, I am having to make serious efforts to avoid going blind like my mother and grandmother before me.
 
Also like my mother, I am unable to work under fluorescent light. It has long been known in the alternative health community that working under fluorescent light will make you sick. When I have tried, I found that it just made me even more tired; and over time, I couldn't function.

For a long time, I couldn't understand what was wrong with me until I read a letter to Dr. Andrew Weil from a lady who struggled with the same problem.

When I wrote to a locally renowned optometrist to ask for his suggestions on what to do about it, my letter was met with silence. Since I don't have the money for an ophthalmologist, I haven't been to one.

Obamacare, you ask? It doesn't cover preexisting conditions. 
 
An older friend told me he went through a similar trial when he was in his 50s. He bounced from job to job, too. He ended up telemarketing even though he has a Masters Degree. Luckily for him, his wife was working. Eventually, he turned 65 and got Social Security. Wish I had the energy to find a mate.

 
 Sometimes I feel like I am on my own private Gilligan's Island with no way to get off.

It wasn't always this way in my country. Years ago, I read the famous transcript of the lecture by Richard Day, one of the insiders who foresaw the changes many Americans like myself are now living.

 

See: http://www.sweetliberty.org/nobarbarians1.htm


In 1969, Dr. Day gave a lecture to medical doctors. He said there had been a silent coup of the US government, by what he called the Shadow Government. He said that he was one of them, and gave a lengthy list of outrageous predictions based on his inside knowledge.

For example, he said the new government planned to lower the population by increasing the death rate. One of their methods would be to make health care expensive causing more people to die.

 

You can't get disability without medical care, and you need medical records to prove that you need disability.

 

Another bombshell: Dr. Day admitted that cures for most diseases were in existence but were suppressed to lower the population.
 
Dr. Day said that the Shadow Government would create diseases that were difficult to detect and difficult to treat. Sounds like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and AIDS, doesn't it?

 

Indeed, former Ontario Teachers' Union head Donald Scott described such a program in his book The Brucellosis Triangle. Using declassified US Department of Defense documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Scott demonstrated that CFS and AIDS were created by a joint project of the English speaking nations.

 

Fellow CFS sufferers, take note! See: http://www.whale.to/v/scott.html


In addition, Dr. Day predicted widespread joblessness as our jobs were sent overseas. Sixty Minutes had a TV program about unemployment and the "Recession" in Silicon Valley. They interviewed a former executive who used to make $100,000 a year. After several months of unemployment, he finally accepted a position as a bagger at Target for $8 an hour. He said he was grateful to get it.

That seems to be the prevailing wage where I live in Virginia: $8 an hour. Of course, it's impossible to live on that sum unless you have a spouse who makes a lot more money.

And the attitude of employers when you ask them to give you a more realistic salary is: Be grateful for your job or get lost. There are hundreds of people who would be happy to have it.

 

Don't forget that when you earn $8 an hour, that's BEFORE taxes. In the USA, you are taxed federal and state income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicaid tax which makes your take home pay even lower.

If you try to survive on less than $8 an hour, as I have, you will default on your credit cards, or get evicted when your roommate moves out. You won't be able to afford to file for bankruptcy because it costs $300 just to file in court. Needless to say, you will soon work yourself into destitution.


Eventually, you may try to ask charities for help. If so, good luck. Ditto for the churches.
 
Most charities will not help single women like myself. Unless, of course, you are a single mother with young children.


When I have asked Social Services for help, they have directed me to the Homeless Intervention Program, which consists of a list of shelters and no other help. As for rental assistance, they will not help you unless you are part of a family, working, have a good credit rating, and a history of paying bills on time. Obviously, such applicants have no need of financial aid.

 

It's such a laugh to hear people complain about the "welfare state" in the USA. There is no welfare in my state. In my area, if you apply for rental assistance, they make you jump through hoops until you either give up or they finally find a reason not to help. 

 

I keep hearing that I am the wrong color. I am white.
 
The fate of housing was another prediction of Dr. Day. He said that they would make it unaffordable. Thus people would be forced to live in shared housing. Even now, many people, not just 20 somethings, have roommates as I do.


Dr. Day said that the new society would be geared towards those under 30. Younger people are more malleable, while older ones set in their ways. The Shadow Government planned to make life increasingly difficult. Those who can't keep up are expendable, in their view. Such people are expected to "move on" by taking the demise pill.

 

Well I have news for you fellas - I'm not going! And I am putting my trust in God and casting all my cares on Him, because He cares for us.




Scruples - the game of moral dillemas

Comments for "Sick & Destitute in Hard Times "

Robert said (January 14, 2011):

The situation described by the first administrator of the first food stamp program, Milo Perkins, over 70 years ago is still true today: "We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm."

The chasm is a permanent feature of the economy, and with regard to everything, not just foodstuffs. This is how the Money Power dominates human initiative. What can't you buy if you have money? There are no more problems of production, yet people are subjected to cruel deprivation that simply wears them out. Our governmental and economic systems are run by sadists.

Rob said (January 14, 2011):

I have also suffered with “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” but not for as long or as bad as Mary, so i do know that it is real.

The illuminati are truly evil, the great news of the Gospel, is that their days are numbered.

B said (January 14, 2011):

I am glad you published this woman's story.

I am almost 36, and now on disability due to CFS/Fibromyalgia and psych problems. I wasn't a "well" child (I suspect due to childhood vaccines), and I had to have an MMR booster when I was 18 to enter college (nobody told of us about exemptions) and within 48 hours I came down with Mononucleosis. I haven't been the same since.

I truly believe that the vaccine compromised my immune system and led to its breakdown. I cannot even begin to tell you how many thousands of dollars me and my Mom have spent on traditional and alternative treatments in an attempt to get me well. Nothing has worked.

I live with my Mom again who works FT at age 66. I am mentally a very independent person so this is hard on me. I was actually a gifted student since 2nd grade, all my intelligence gone to waste. I've never been married or had children, one huge reason is that I have been ill most of my life.

I blame the government and big pharma for the state of my health. I hate to say I am hoping not to live past 50 because honestly I cannot stand being in a constant state of fatigue and pain, unable to accomplish the things that I want. It seems in my case, "they" will probably get their wish.

Side note, I have been trying to help a friend who is also ill and unable to work, navigate the system to get benefits. You would not believe the incompetence and runaround we get from these local government agencies and doctors. I keep thinking that if he were a color other than White, it wouldn't be a problem. All the workers are non-white and could care less. Both of us paid many years into the system and now that help is needed, this is what we get.

Mark Anderson said (January 14, 2011):

Mary's description of our cruel and unforgiving society prompts me to point out the sheer necessity of focusing on dethroning the chief cause of our ills -- the private banking system.

This system's merciless process of shorting society on purchasing power and burying us with more debt -- so there is always way more debt than there is money to pay it -- has made us all paupers dependent on the false choices of perpetual work or state assistance. The answer, instead, is a social credit system that would free both the government and the people from the financial powers in central banking, and thereby usher in debt-free money creation.

Social credit calls for a regular dividend paid to all which is not "welfare," is not a loan, and is interest-free, as each person is worthy in the sight of God. The dividend is each person's heritage in society based on all the God-given natural resources and inventions that belong to all and should benefit all.

At long last, a third way comes into play for money to come into existence, besides state assistance and demeaning jobs that we are forced to take--that third way being the dividend. With that in place, welfare as we know it can be phased out, with virtually all taxation phased out as well. Dramatic liberation is within our grasp.I urge Mary to check this out closely, and all others. Check out www.MichaelJournal.org

Dan said (January 14, 2011):

The worst blow to Western civilization was the disintegration of communities and families. We know the factors that caused that. Mom and pop groceries and all family owned businesses plowed under by Wal Mart and corporate chains.

When siblings and cousins remained in the same county and state, the aging or members down on their luck were taken in. They compensated for that with baby sitting and lots of other ways that can't be measured in dollars. Grandparents and older relatives used to be purveyors of life wisdom to a family's children.

People don't even know what's been taken away from us.

In the past this woman might have been taken in by relatives or given suitable work by friends of family. Actually, it sounds as though she would have been employed a century ago. What's happened is the culture has devalued her talents and qualities.

Henry Makow received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto in 1982. He welcomes your comments at

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