The NY Times ran a story about how not being able to pay a $10 car registration, sent a woman with a life off a cliff to homeless shelters with harsh realities.  America has failed for millions of people already.  There is no safety net.  There is no help to keep a job with an emergency loan.  There is only the harsh reality that without money — money when you need it — millions and millions of people are at risk of losing everything.

As Jobs Are Lost in Recession, So Is the Middle Class – NYTimes.com.

In rich neighborhoods, people drive horribly.  There are many reasons for this.  First, rich people feel entitled to act like asses and believe their money will buy them out of everything.  But also, fines are not punitive for rich people.  Run a red light in a rich neighborhood, and it will cost $400 — nothing to a rich person.   To a poor person, it can destroy his life.  All fines need to be calibrated based on ability to pay.  To a poor person, a fine of $10 may be a monumental task.  For a rich person, the fine may need to be $100,000 or more to get their attention.

In fact, if everybody paid fines appropriate for their ability to pay, there would be much more justice — and isn’t it justice that we are seeking?

When I read stories about how a $10 fee turns into a $1600 fee and causes a person to lose their job, home, and everything they have worked for, I realize that America is headed for a crash landing soon.  How angry could a person be to lose everything over a $10 fee?   What might this person do?  Take it out on the people who caused it?  Take it out on a system that would let a $10 fee translate into a destroyed life?

Well, multiply this by millions, because everyday more and more people are falling between the cracks of America society.  A society that makes it clear at every turn, that without plenty of money, you are nobody.  You don’t count.  Nobody cares about you.  There is no safety net.  You are on your own and if you don’t play by each and every rule — even the $10 rules — you are risking everything.

This is one reason health care reform is so important.  If you get sick enough, you will likely be wiped out.  The vast majority of personal bankruptcies are because people got sick and couldn’t pay medical bills.  And yes, people are going to get sick but the for profit health insurance companies, love to insure young, health people who don’t make claims.  Once you are on the path of serious disease, these same companies will figure out a way to dump you.  They are very good at dumping sick people — they excel at that.

I can hear it now from Limbaugh, Palin, Hannity, and a long list of asshole Republicans — well, the woman should have paid the $10 fee — $10 is nothing.  Well, it is nothing for people who make millions spreading hate.  It is nothing for many people in society, but for some people it is everything as they struggle surviving in a society where it is easy to drop through the cracks and to end up in such an abyss there is no getting out of it.

America is doomed.