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Comment by tempsy | Hacker News Reader

making a living wage, and I would hardly call $1 above the current min wage a "living" wage, has nothing to do with having more money to buy things with and everything to do with feeling psychologically safe from spiraling into debt and possible homelessness.

the lack of a psychological safety net is one of the most anxiety inducing things about American capitalism. we underestimate as a society how damaging it is because it's so hard to measure.

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> we underestimate as a society how damaging it is because it's so hard to measure

I'm not sure I agree with that. It has been known within public health for decades that poverty is an important predictor of life expectancy and quality of life.

The real problem in the US appears to be a deep cultural belief in self-sufficiency, and an accompanying unwillingness to vote for politicians who support implementation of said safety nets.

Well this is actually one of the biggest issues in Eastern Europe. The belief the state should take care of its citizens ( the safety net you are talking about ). The truth is only populist crooks get elected and only come up with shortsighted inefficient solutions (and half of the budget gets stolen).

Mmm, seems like a stretch to blame problems in Eastern Europe on the belief in a safety net - Western Europe/Scandinavia also believes in a safety net but doesn't have the same problems.

What makes you think it does not ? It is just on a different scale.

Sure, in that case so is the US and everywhere else, which means the social safety net is completely irrelevant.

> It has been known within public health for decades

If public health officials were running the planet, we'd all be better off.

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