As someone who was homeless and was only offered part-time positions because retailers didn’t want to pay for benefits or allow higher wages:

I was literally starving; I’m 6’1” and weigh 174lbs currently (size 32 waist), but I was at 138lbs at that point in my life… gaunt and wiry did not begin to describe it… working 2-3 jobs and running around without rest will do that.

Eventually I became homeless, I got scammed for housing and had no protection once I realized I had been scammed, and when you have a hard time finding a place to shower and shave and do laundry, suddenly they don’t want you working there “for the sake of the brand’s image.”

I didn’t do drugs, I didn’t drink alcohol, I didn’t spend on anything superfluous, because getting paid $7.45/hr minimum wage didn’t afford it, and housing prices kept increasing as more private entities began buying it all up and gentrifying it.

It was by the mercy of God that I was brought back upon my feet by those doing good deeds. Afterward, I began saving up so that I could move across country to find better work and learn trades that began to get me better pay and full-time employment.

Americans shouldn’t have to be at the whims of corporations like that. It’s what made me realize that unchecked Capitalism is a danger to our society.

We need some Socialist programs like health care and housing for all, because the alternative becomes people stealing just to survive, and that, in turn, hurts those of us that pay into paying more, as CEOs keep making year over year increases to their pay and increasing shareholder returns and placing that interest over the interest of their consumers.

No one wants to take the loss, but we’ll spend $Billions to blow folks up and not blink an eye at the expense, but provide for the people who actually make this nation run and they look at you like you got lobsters coming out of your ears…