Lives Of Quiet Desperation

The 'working poor' and their lives of quiet desperation

LAST week, the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) announced the results of the second 2011 What's Left? disposable income tracker index.

And -- as many families who watch helplessly while their monthly income disappears into a black hole of bills and debt know -- it is the stuff of financial nightmares.

Unfortunately, it has gone relatively unnoticed by the general media. What with the lies of the Vatican, the onslaught on the Murdoch empire and the euro seemingly heading for destruction, a report from a league of credit unions was going to find it difficult to compete for newspaper headlines.

Which is a pity. Because here, in unflinching detail, we find the damning, destructive, unjust results of recent political and economic failures.

While others argue over "lifestyle choices" and "cultures of entitlement", hundreds of thousands of working Irish families are -- quite literally -- living far, far below the poverty line.

To set the stage: according to 2006-2008 CSO figures, the minimum weekly disposable income -- after taxes and including all benefits -- that one adult needs to receive to be outside poverty is €218.59. For a family of two adults and two kids it is €507.13.

Anecdotally, I know of very few working families who are currently left with that much disposable income each week -- even before they hit the supermarket for necessary groceries. Mine certainly isn't, nor are many of my friends. Perhaps I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd.

But we're certainly not alone, because the ILCU figures show that 805,000 people have less than €20 left each week after paying their bills. Just think about that for a minute. Twenty euro.

Half of all adults claim that they are unable to meet all their bills each month and many believe that any further economic changes will mean they will not be able to cope or will no longer will have a future in Ireland.

Now, these are the people I know. They're not the unemployed -- at least not yet, although their working hours and wages have been drastically cut. No, these are the people who thank God every day that they still have some sort of job -- even though they are now described as "the working poor".

Dilemmas commonly faced by the working poor include the following:

Do you really need to get the car repaired for its NCT or would it be cheaper to ditch it and use public transport?

Can you afford a week or two of summer camp for your holidaying children who are driving you demented -- or would you be better putting that money toward getting your broken washing machine fixed?

Analog Dilemma: They lead lives of quiet desperation

Among my traveling companions I have noticed a tendency on their part to view their lives and the world they inhabit on only one time scale, using themselves or those they know personally has their direct frames of reference. And as far as I can tell, they remain fantastically oblivious to this fact.

This serves the dual role of allowing them to live (truly live) in the moment, all sources of joy and anger stemming from their direct surroundings, and forever binding them to this way of life. It is both the walls and the windows of the rooms in which they act out their lives.

It also accounts for much of the continuous rat race they find themselves unable to escape. The daily grind never seems to dull the lode stone, unaware that it spins in circles.

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