Allen Zhang had also come to understand the two types of homeless people: one type is those blacklisted individuals living aimlessly and addicts who indulged in their own downfall, including the mentally ill.
The other type is those bankrupt or homeless due to various family factors.
Among them, there are highly educated and highly qualified individuals.
There are senior programmers who roam the streets after their companies shut down and they struggle to find work again, and PhDs employed by companies like Microsoft and Compaq who became homeless after spending all their money on medical bills.
There are veterans who have been declared dead, millionaires who went bankrupt after their companies failed, celebrities turned defaulters owing astronomical debts, and elderly Redneck couples who pick bottles after the harvest season to supplement their family income.
Even a City Council member who fell from grace due to inappropriate remarks exploited by competitors, subjected to cyberbullying and fired, unable to pay high rent and pushed out onto the streets.
All talents!
But more often they are the dregs of society, discarded and unable to find work, the poor who are helplessly wandering.
In the United States, having no home means no job, and no job means no earnings.
You need to have a home first to secure a job.
But if you don't have money for rent, you must rely on earning from a job first.
Once credit is broken, it's like breaking the ecological cycle, eliminated from the game, never able to get back in.
From one extreme to another, from a law-abiding citizen to one involved in vandalism and arson, from heaven to hell, that's the underlying logic of the credit system.
Without credit, you can't rent a home or find a job, and you might starve to death, what else can you do if you don't beg, participate in Zero-Dollar Purchase, pick trash, or sell your body?
Better off ones may live in their cars with a stable camp and team, making many friends, while the less fortunate dwell in tents or even sleep on the street.
Having a vehicle, which counts as a credit asset, allows someone to find low-level jobs, but even then, one can earn at most 2000 US dollars a month.
This is the case even in California, where the minimum wage is among the highest. In many other states, the minimum hourly wage is 7.25 US dollars, with a few states as low as 5.15 US dollars.
After paying federal tax, state tax, personal income tax, and daily consumption tax, it's impossible to save money, barely scraping by, sometimes even less liberating than being homeless.
Without a job and homeless, you might receive hundreds of dollars in welfare each month, SNAP shopping vouchers, social welfare, and free food and health check-ups, because you are part of the vulnerable population.
Having a low-level job means paying taxes and rent, utilities, taking care of eating and other needs, and if you have debts, paying them off first. You lose the monthly welfare, food vouchers, and shelters no longer offer any help.
Because you are no longer considered a vulnerable group.
Homeless people need social attention and can easily become topics of conversation, even if it's just to save face for progressives.
For the same story, no one cares how an ordinary poor person lives; more are interested why a homeless person is on the streets, his stories, and even a couple of fabricated tales can provoke overwhelming sympathy, naturally attracting attention.
There was a homeless man who spent his last 20 US dollars to buy gasoline for a female driver, an anonymous good deed, later found by the driver and her boyfriend who interviewed him and posted it online, sparking heated discussions, and soon raising over 400,000 US dollars on GoFundme.
It turned out to be a staged act, the couple absconded with the money, and the uneven sharing led to the homeless man suing them; eventually, all three were imprisoned for fraud.
After that incident, it became harder for homeless people to gain sympathy online or beg on the streets.
Having a job and a house certainly avoids discrimination and being looked down upon through tinted glasses, and although hard and exhausting, you regain some dignity.
But dignity doesn't fill your stomach.
Having a low-level job, it takes ages to save enough money and earn enough credit points to afford a proper house and not live in a motel, to get life back on track.
Just for getting a low-level job, through hard labor earning an extra thousand dollars a month, it's like violating a sacred law, suddenly losing so much social welfare! Who can stand this?
Since homeless people can survive without working, why exhaust themselves working?
Of course, this might be the inner voice of many aimless homeless people, but it doesn't represent everyone.
Not all homeless people are content with their lot; particularly not those with great ambitions, those who once experienced a superior life and the elite of higher society, who are incessantly desperate to climb back up.
There are also those like Dominic, who chose to live homeless on the streets due to family issues.
He didn't carry any debts, had no credit issues, and didn't fall into vices. Each month, even without getting up early and trying hard to collect cans, he could still swap his blue passport for a few hundred dollars in support, living fairly well and hopeful for a future that returns to normalcy.
But he had grown accustomed to being homeless, mainly in contact with other homeless people, and found it hard to reintegrate into normal society, lacking any specialized skills.
Ask him how many cans are needed to buy a building, and he might answer in less than a second, his mind filled with units measured in cans.
A cup of coffee how many cans, a sandwich how many cans, a car how many cans.
You let him sit in the office, clicking on the keyboard, studying the stock market, selling advertisements, can he do it?
He can't!!
Dominic can't leave the cans, just like Blackie can't leave Zero-Dollar Purchase, like a homeless person can't leave relief meals.
You are actually ruining him by making him abandon his skills as the Cans Emperor of the new generation.
No wonder some people categorize the homeless together, and some reluctantly take to the streets to protest, indeed there's a reason for these actions.
Many were once highly educated, enjoying fine wine and champagne, commuting in luxury cars, possessing hands and legs, dignity, ideals, and a heart to strive, only to be knocked down by the harsh reality.
But as long as one avoids drugs, gambling, and vice, keeps striving, saving money, building credit, renting homes, and finding jobs, one can eventually make it back on shore.
Even if it means standing by the road wiping car windows, asking for a dollar each time, recycling cans, selling at Zero-Dollar Purchase street stalls, accumulatively it will eventually lead to a comeback.
But the fear is not being able to endure. It requires a strong heart and persistent perseverance.
Opiates and legally available leaves are obstacles that old Qi People also struggle to bypass.
Even if you truly make it ashore, you'll find various taxes and advertising traps awaiting, along with a nine-to-five filled with deception and troubles, which could easily lead to credit crises or even bankruptcy!
Looking back, it might seem better to have just deteriorated in place.
That saying still holds, once homeless, always homeless.
Being a street wanderer is an attitude, buying cars and renting houses are just processes, returning to zero is the ultimate goal.
Hearing about Dominic's experiences as described, Allen Zhang also felt that living in the United States is really damn tiring.
A paradise for the rich, a hell for the poor.
He just wants to make his own life less exhausting.
...
The two sat on an old sofa, talking deeply; after shifting the topic, it became much more relaxed.
Their new topic was nothing but men's favorite games, gourmet foods, firearms, combat, 3D area bosses, and female gurus on adult websites.
Seeing that it was getting late, Dominic stood up, returned to his tent, tidied up the stuff inside, and came out carrying a bunch of personal belongings.
"Allen, you sleep in my tent tonight, I'll stay in my friend's tent."
"A very good arrangement." Allen Zhang nodded. He was hesitant about sleeping in a strange girl's tent, but the other party had already considered that for him.
"Good night, Allen."
"Good night, Dominic."
Allen Zhang entered the blue tent, experiencing outdoor survival for the first time, feeling somewhat novel. But soon sleepiness overtook him, and he quickly fell asleep.
The next day.
Allen Zhang was awakened by the Daily Info alert sound.
[Daily Info: The Baali Relief Meal Van will offer double cheese beef burgers, 330ml Pepsi, and cream ice cream cake at Double Alley Street at 9:30 am.]
[Daily Info: At 134 Hopson Street, inside the green dumpster in the alley of Carnation Club, there are large amounts of recyclable cans and clear beverage bottles.]
[Daily Info: In a back alley on 27 Fifth Street, a homeless man has died, and in his back pocket is $3.80.]
Another homeless person died?
This death rate is somewhat high, isn't it?
Truly worthy of the free West Coast.
Glancing at the time, it was already 8:45.
Without hesitation, Allen Zhang decisively chose to wake up Dominic, his still-sleeping good neighbor.
If they were any later, they might miss the big meal.