Experiencing American Poverty While on Vacation - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: ***Trigger Warning-Suicide and death are briefly mentioned in the show*** Denver has changed a lot due to COVID. Businesses have closed, new businesses have opened and poverty has deepened. The occasionally seen incampments are being seen with increasing frequency in unexpected spaces. With that in mind, I knew that when I began traveling again it […]
Date: 2022-04-04T09:00:00+00:00

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# Experiencing American Poverty While on Vacation

posted on 4 April, 2022

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***Trigger Warning-Suicide and death are briefly mentioned in the show***

Denver has changed a lot due to COVID. Businesses have closed, new businesses have opened and poverty has deepened. The occasionally seen incampments are being seen with increasing frequency in unexpected spaces. With that in mind, I knew that when I began traveling again it was very likely that the impact of COVID would be noticeable in the places that I went to. It was a good thing that I was preparing for these changes before I arrived. In the past 8 months at the time of this recording I’ve visited several states.

I made my way to Nashville, San Diego, L.A., Austin, and San Francisco. I’d visited all of the Californian cities but Austin and Nashville were new to me. Nashville had plowed ahead and it seemed like COVID hadn’t happened there even though a massive bomb went off in the downtown district and destroyed a block of the city. Austin, with all its money, was going through some things. Having visited around 45 states pre-COVID I knew that as the world opened up that the impact of policy/poverty and changes in the world as we know it would make experiencing other places challenging. In this episode, I would like to talk about the impact of American Poverty on the places we visit during our vacations.

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

## Listen to the Show

## Poverty is Everywhere (Even if You Don’t See It)

A US city’s poverty doesn’t stop because it inconveniently impacts your vacation. Los Angeles, in particular, really shocked me. I’ve visited numerous times and had noticed other folks commenting on their recent experiences visiting the city as we’ve opened up post COVID. It has spiraled into a dystopian hellscape. Does this mean you don’t visit? No, not at. But, it does mean that you have to understand that what you’re used to in your hometown…might not be the experience that you will have in a place that you’re visiting. I include Denver in this comment.

American cities are really wrestling with the following policy issue: Should we invest in our citizens or should we increase our spending on security personnel that will help with the crime that people are complaining about? And in the case of Los Angeles, it’s very clear that weakening social investment is a significant part of the deepening poverty crisis in that town. Denver is currently making the same mistake. We’re increasing our police budget, but crime keeps growing. But, our investment in people is clearly not enough. That said, tourists and even folks who live out of downtown Denver have some thoughts on the experience that they’re having when downtown.

I have a lot of thoughts about my experience in L.A. and I now why so many disaster and zombie movies have Los Angeles as the starting point. When you visit a number of American cities it’s likely that you will:

- See unhoused Americans and notice that Americans “just don’t see them”

- Closed retail spaces and blight

- Be surprised by how Americans will frame this problem from a individual’s failure vs. the failure of policy and societal expectations around the basic care we want citizens to have access to

In fact, I saw someone sleeping on the concrete median on the left side of the highway in L.A. Yes, I was shocked and I commented on Twitter that we as a society shouldn’t let people live this way. Then, I was asked if there were jobs near where that person was sleeping. I’m pretty sure that I person on the concrete median of one of the busiest highways in America is not emotionally well enough to go to work for awhile.

### What We Shouldn’t Do

One of the reasons why I decided to record this episode is because I started noticing a lot of poverty porn and people shaming online. It’s not ok to film encampments with cute titles such as “What Denver/Los Angeles/Houston” is really like and post onto TikTok.

Gross.

Why is shaming people online becoming a thing that content creators/travelers and more are doing? But, I hate to say it, when people go on vacation they don’t expect the real world to intrude.

We shouldn’t pretend like COVID didn’t affect cities. People died, are traumatized and many are experiencing long-term effects mentally, physically and financially.

## What We Can Do

There’s a lot about this situation that just out of our control. And here are a few things that travelers can do before going on their next trip:

- Do some basic research. Find out what’s open and what isn’t before arriving.

- Practice big city safety protocols. There are things that I would do in Denver that I would NEVER do in New York City, Dallas, Orlando or San Francisco. Move around the city as if you live there. Because I’ve visited California so many times I’m pretty familiar with the transit systems, the city grids and what to anticipate. In fact, I even had people asking me for directions. Big city safety protocols include:
  - Holding your purse a certain way to avoid getting pick-pocketted (I almost got robbed)
  - Being aware of different areas of town that may be tricky to move around at different moments of the day
  - Avoid engaging with folks who might not be well
  - Trusting your gut-if something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t.

- Support local business and find social impact enterprises. I went to LaLa Land Kind Cafe which uses its profits and coffee shop business to help foster youth gain work and life related skills as they age out of the system. Denver has a similar business (not as bougie) called Prodigy Coffeehouse

- Be kind

- Ask questions without judgement. I found out that there is very similar program in L.A. to Denver’s STARs program that tries to deescalate non-violent interactions with a team that tries to connect folks with services.

- Don’t take videos or photos of people who are in crisis

In looking at the data on spending it’s very clear that when cities begin to spend more on policing at the expense of spending on community programs crime goes up. It’s just so obvious now. And this issue isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue. This is an American issue. I’ve visited over 40 states and traveled and lived abroad. I have a lot of context for what I’m seeing and what I’m saying. If your city is increasing its policing budget but not services for the people-you can’t judge L.A. because it’s likely you’ll be dealing with the problems that they are sometime soon.

What are your thoughts about experiencing American poverty during your travels?

## Michelle is Money Hungry is Changing

I wanted to let you know that I’m changing the format of my show. I love it so much but for about the past year I’ve felt like I wanted to have deeper conversations about specific topics. With that in mind I will be releasing 5 week mini -seasons beginning mid-June. These mini-seasons will allow me to do a few things different with the show.

- Have more nuanced conversations about a financial topic. These topics could range from the emerging crypto space, inflation, the cost of global warming and Black generational wealth to name a few.

- I will be able to spend time finding good partners to sponsor this content. It is very time consuming to run a podcast and I love having partners to help pay for this content and my time.

- Having mini-seasons will allow me to better market the show and build in breaks throughout the year.

I know that this will different from having a weekly show, but I think ultimately Michelle is Money Hungry will be so much better because of these changes. I appreciate your support. Don’t forget to pick up your copy of my upcoming book “Not A Financial Unicorn” I look forward to hearing your feedback.

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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