Posted on 11/10/2017 7:15:03 AM PST by huldah1776
In her powerful new book, “Nomadland,” award-winning journalist Jessica Bruder reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are — as the subtitle says — “surviving America in the twenty-first century.” Not quite homeless, they are “houseless,” living in secondhand RVs, trailers and vans and driving from one location to another to pick up seasonal low-wage jobs, if they can get them, with little or no benefits.
The “workamper” jobs range from helping harvest sugar beets to flipping burgers at baseball spring training games to Amazon’s AMZN, -0.24% “CamperForce,” seasonal employees who can walk the equivalent of 15 miles a day during Christmas season pulling items off warehouse shelves and then returning to frigid campgrounds at night. Living on less than $1,000 a month, in certain cases, some have no hot showers. As Bruder writes, these are “people who never imagined being nomads.” Many saw their savings wiped out during the Great Recession or were foreclosure victims and, writes Bruder, “felt they’d spent too long losing a rigged game.” Some were laid off from high-paying professional jobs. Few have chosen this life. Few think they can find a way out of it. They’re downwardly mobile older Americans in mobile homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Sounds like a lot of poor life choices.
In her powerful new book, “Nomadland,” award-winning journalist Jessica Bruder reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are — as the subtitle says — “surviving America in the twenty-first century.” Not quite homeless, they are “houseless,” living in secondhand RVs, trailers and vans and driving from one location to another to pick up seasonal low-wage jobs, if they can get them, with little or no benefits.
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Bull Cheese.
I know plenty of successful people who actively planned for such a life.
Retirement life could be a lot worse than this.
“Sounds like a lot of poor life choices”
Use a broad brush a lot ?
Maybe. I can still have sympathy for them.
Inflation is so high that many more will be in this situation in the future. And their kids are too strapped to help.
Wife and I were seeing this lifestyle in our future a few years ago. We were considering moving to Mexico. Thank God we found a way to avoid it.
“Living in a van, down by the river…”
Looking at the economics of this it is tough to understand why this would be preferable to taking a low wage but consistent job or jobs combining Walmart, 7/11, McDonalds, etc. The McDonalds near me where I buy coffee (and very rarely anything else) seems to prefer these older, reliable workers who can communicate in the native language.
I would guess that some in that age group grew up expecting secure lifetime employment at a single company and did not realize until too late that times had changed.
Homeless? Maybe, sort of. But they're far from living under a bridge. Heck, their RV is way nicer than the house I grew up in, and almost as big.
I’ll bet most voted for Obama, and they embraced the
Global society. They got what they wanted.
That is the bottom line. Thanks to my wife, we own or home, have no debt, with a modest nest egg in the bank. She made prudent life choices which kept me out of the gutters. Still, the wanderlust of youth still tempts me into doing something stupid and winding up like the folks in the article.
Yes
I can imagine a 50 year old white man, getting laid off from his professional job. He can only find work as a clerk or something at near minimum wage. Maybe he gets a divorce or suffers health problems over the pressure, and there goes his life’s savings. Maybe his biggest hope now is when he can collect Social Security and work only part-time. And maybe move into a bigger trailer - this time, one that has hot water in the shower. It does happen sometimes where someone leads a responsible life but bad things happen and it has a cascading effect.
I work part time at an auto auction that sells hundreds of cars a week. A number of these cars come in as repoes and it is obvious by what is found inside that someone has been LIVING in the vehicle. In most cases these are four door sedans, most are not living in large vans or RVs. Sometimes there are blankets, clothing, empty food containers etc so there is no doubt that it has been home for someone for a while. There are many millions in this country who have no possibility of making a living without government assistance. Take away all the “food stamps” and other programs and the situation would be worse than the thirties.
“I used to joke that I would be a bag lady someday. Still possible but I can see this having happened to many. They should say they are illegal immigrants. “
We certainly don’t have any problem taking care of millions of third world parasites crowding into our country.
Looks like a lot of poor life choices?
Good Lord. Where have you been?
I know of people like those described.
The poor choices were not theirs. They were those of the elite who bailed out the banks, etc. Remember???
I’m 49 and have a law degree, so re-entering the workforce for me took a little time but I have a well-paying job and I always make myself reliable and useful. I could retire before 60 if I wanted to but plan on working until 75, or unless I can’t anymore.
It helps a lot to have a genuine skill and credential. It gives you options
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