Joe legal works in construction, has a Social Security number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose illegal also works in construction has no Social Security number and makes $15.00 per hour cash, under the table.
Ready?... now pay attention....
Joe legal: $25.00 per hour × 40 hours = $1,000.00 per week or $52,000.00 per year. Now, take 31% away for State and Federal taxes. Joe legal now has $31,231.00.
Jose illegal: $15.00 an hour × 40 hours = $600.00 per week or $31,200.00 per year. Jose illegal pays no taxes. Jose illegal now has $31,200.00.
Joe legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe legal now has $24,031.00.
Jose illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the State and local clinics and emergency hospitals at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe legal spends $500.00 per month for food or $6,000.00 per year. Joe legal now has $18,031.00.
Jose illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps, WIC and welfare. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe legal pays rent of 1,200.00 per month or $14,400.00 per year. Joe legal now has $9,631.00.
Jose illegal receives $500.00 per month Federal rent subsidy. Jose illegal pays out that $500.00 per month or $6,000.00 per year. Jose illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe legal pays $200.00 per month or $2,400.00 per year for car insurance. Some of that is uninsured motorist insurance. Joe legal now has $7,231.00.
Jose illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance."... and still has $31,000.00.
Joe legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline.. etc.
Jose illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline and what he sends out of the country every month....
Joe legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.
Jose illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe legal's and Jose illegal's children both attend the same elementary school.
Joe legal pays for his children's lunches while...
Jose illegal's children get a government-sponsored lunch.
Jose illegal's children have an after school ESL program.
Joe legal's children go home.
Now, when they reach college age...
Joe legal's kids may not get into a State school and may not qualify for scholarships, grants or other tuition help, even though Joe has been paying for State schools through his taxes, while...
Jose illegal's kids go to the, 'head of the class' because they are a minority.
Joe legal and Jose illegal both benefit from the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not.
Do you get it, now?
If we vote for or support any politician that supports illegal aliens,... we are part of the problem.
Its way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!
- Ron Keen
And this is why it is almost impossible to home school on one income. By design.
It's only impossible if you confuse wants with needs. You don't need a new car, new cloths, or Starbucks coffee. Housing is cheap if you don't mind living in a trailer. Food is cheap, too. You can buy sacks of rice and beans that will last weeks, supplement a little with foraging and hunting. That's Something the kids love to do anyway, make it part of the home school curriculum. Stop going to the doctor for every little scratch. If you live simply and only get what you need, you can afford to home school. That's how many of us here were raised. It is only impossible on one income when you have car loans, student loans, credit cards, a tv, a washing machine and dryer, an automatic dishwasher. None of these things are necessities, plenty of generations before us lived without them and were perfectly fine.
"Housing is cheap if you don't mind living in a trailer."
While this is technically true I cannot make a reasonable income without access to a major city and it's high cost of living, even in exurbs, usually even with the sacrifice to quality of life and sanity that I would lose commuting to the place to make money.
General utilities, food and insurance have become so expensive that there is no quality of life even if I could afford them on a random job (usually we point at retail and service industry as the example of random job).
In much of the country, even fairly rural areas, a random employee starting at Walmart or McDonald's still doesn't earn enough to cover the essentials. Not everywhere, for example in Fargo, ND, wages even at service and retail are high enough to easily rent a reasonable place.
But this is just impractical for most people unless you already have no debt and some kind of assets. I totally understand why Gen Z is so hopeless even while thinking about it.
The problem is expectations. Have you noticed that immigrants don't complain about housing? They make it work. This might mean putting 14 people in a two-bedroom house, and driving everyone around in a van, but they seem to live in big cities just fine. Whenever I talk about this to Gen Z, they say I'm not being reasonable, and that they need their own privacy. No, you don't need that. I always had siblings as roommates growing up. I could only afford my first house because I had some friends living with me. Privacy is something you earn through hard work and dedication, and that is a hard lesson for young people.
There's a difference between "reasonable" and "necessary".