For the first time in my adult life, I didn't worry about money every day.
I'd be happy to go back to work. I have often been stir-crazy over the past several months. However, the place where I work hasn't reopened yet.
I'll be all right either way. I guess I don't know why the government is fighting so much about a few hundred dollars per person. The $600/week was kind, and I wish I could say that it didn't surprise me, but it really did.
Also for the first time in my life, I was able to plan past a week and save money.
Maybe a universal income is the right thing to do. I don't think that people will sit around; it's boring and lonely. People who have universal income and who work will have more money than people who have universal income and who don't work; nobody likes to be left out. I think people will want to work; they just won't be so stressed.
If there are people who haven't wanted to go back to work, it could be because they're tired of spending the majority of their mortal lives working hard for pay that makes them feel helpless. It's also better for employers if employees want to be there rather than if they're there because they'd be homeless without employment.
If people felt burned out or fed up, they could take time off. When they were ready to start making more money again, they'd go back to work. There's so much turnover in low-paying jobs anyway; there always has been, and there might be less if weren't so stressful to work so hard and never be able to do anything from it other than not to starve.
It has never occurred to me to complain vociferously about minimum wage, although I understand that it's set much lower than it could be, and that a few people make a lot of money from the marginally paid labor of thousands of people. Maybe it would have occurred to me sooner if I didn't know that I have ability that I could turn toward many other professions that would make me at least upper middle class, eventually. As my life is now, at 46, I can't say that I never feel trapped by poverty or that I never feel depressed about the prospect of having to start a real career from the beginning. I'd like to have fewer burdens than I have.
A lot of people also stay in abusive situations because they don't have the money to leave. If nobody had to be afraid, maybe there'd be less abuse. It's harder to work effectively when home is painful. You never rest.
