It’s a weird time. The United States may be the most powerful country ever but here we a story about how Americans are worried about how to stay warm this winter.
After she spent the end of last winter shivering in her Belle Vernon, Pa., mobile home, Cindy Cross sought help this summer at a county assistance office. But the 47-year-old nurses’ assistant was told that her $617 take-home pay every two weeks is above the state’s threshold, which is about $15,600 a year before taxes for a single adult.
The approach of winter brings more anxiety. A minimum kerosene shipment of 75 gallons would cost more than half of her paycheck, most of which is already burned by the gas, insurance and monthly payment for the car she needs for the 20-mile trip to work.
By March, she could no longer afford a fill-up, so she bought an electric space heater and spent some nights at a 24-hour McDonald’s.
"I’m basically just asking, asking around, seeing what are my options for this winter," Cross said. "It might come down to the fact that I might leave this mobile home."
I am a little more sensitive to this but when was the last time that North American’s on mass had a hard time keeping warm and seating? The 30s? How many people will have to freeze to death before it becomes a priority.
There are these buildings in every neighborhood…used one or two nights a week and one morning a week usually. Always heated, lights, some with full kitchens and they usually have a fellowship room or a gym that is empty…get a lot of tax breaks too those buildings. Seems like the folks who own them could help if they were the compassionate sort…
Again it comes to my question, how many people have to freeze to death until we wake up.
that being said, a friend of mine was laid off last winter because of the church heating bills were more important then the youth pastor’s salary.
I’d be interested to see what your suggestions are: Better public transport? Affordable housing near her job? Rehabilitation for her trailer? I’m not sure that subsidized heating fuel, which appears to be the first option in the article, is really the best idea.
The solution is to look at what is wrong with heating costs and provide viable and affordable alternatives to our dependence in the US on fossil fuel technology.
Dont try to put a bandaid on issue try to solve the issue in a way that will fix it for years to come. Invest in solar power as a government, and other alternative energy resources. Instead we shove gazillions of dollars into capturing fossil fuels in Iraq that we burn through in a matter of months. When we should have taken that money and invested it in http://www.nrel.gov
I think a comprehensive plan for a changing world of energy prices for much of the United States. Nuclear power, wind power, solar energy, conversion to natural gas (which for the time being is cheaper). Tearing down old cold mobile homes… This isn’t a problem that is going away.
Again I’m blown away…wtf, what a country of contradictions.
Nope, I’ve got the solution, maybe the republican party can give some kind of rebate to drill an oil well in her mobile home.