Precarious Living Quotes

We're all born into whatever citizenship, circumstances, or class we happen to be born into. Immigrants and so many people in the working class work so hard every day for nickels and pennies and scraps to just barely get by and then realize that this precious life has been completely drained out of us.

So you are lean and mean and resourceful and you continue to walk on the edge of the precipice because over the years you have become fascinated by how close you can walk without losing your balance.

Unfortunately - as I have experienced first-hand, as many artists have - there's a gaping hole between platinum and non-existent. There's no in-between.

Life is now a war zone, and as such, the number of people considered disposable has grown exponentially, and this includes low income whites, poor minorities, immigrants, the unemployed, the homeless, and a range of people who are viewed as a liability to capital and its endless predatory quest for power and profits.

Living by proxy is always a precarious expedient.

These people living on the streets could have been friends you once knew. They are people who have somehow fallen through the gaps and found themselves, often through unimaginable circumstances, on the cusp of existence. In another reality, this could easily be me or you.

Our economy is failing far too many - forcing parents to use foodbanks to feed their children, demonising migrants and condemning all of us to climate breakdown.

Eviction is fundamentally changing the face of poverty.

Any one of us could fall on hard times. Work and housing have the potential to be unstable, especially for those earning low wages or relying on family and friends. It should not be a criminal offence to sleep on the street.

People in the precariat rely very heavily on money wages.

There are huge misconceptions about people on benefits. They are labelled scroungers or cheats. The reality is that many who need that level of support are working, but their income is not enough to get out of debt or pay for basics like food and household bills. It's so close to the way I grew up.

If I had to depend on what I actually get from sales, I'd be tending bar between sets.

There are a lot of people who can't find housing, who worry about the future, and that insecurity and precarity in their own lives is being exploited by some politicians who are using it to divide us by saying, 'hey it's the fault of new Canadians, it's the fault of refugees, it's the fault of Muslims.'

Sometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won't help you.

If you're one car accident away from poverty, you're on a high wire without a safety net. And that's a challenging proposition.