I lived in the US for thirty years, and let me assure you that the Federal government doesn’t “struggle” to help such people, certainly not compared to any other first world country.

It’s not just that the budget isn’t there — though it isn’t. It’s also a hostile attitude towards the entire idea of government and governance which has been fostered by the psychopathic Republican party.

Here’s a typical example. I now live in the Netherlands. If you walk into any government office which individuals do business with, there’s a clever automatic drink machine that will serve you tea, coffee, hot chocolate… for free. That’s the tip of the iceberg, however — the government workers will actually try to help you out and suggest what your best course of action is.

When my wife went in to get her residence permit, I came along, and the woman working told me, “You’re an EU citizen now [I have UK citizenship], but I can also give you a residence permit really easy. It’s just one form, it’s short, it costs nothing, you can fill it out right here. Who knows what will happen in the future?” (i.e. the Brexit)

I fill it out and she looks it over and says, “Oh, you checked this box, but that will force you to file quarterly taxes. You probably don’t want to do that until you have some money coming in, and you can always change it later…?” When I indicated that was a good idea, she whited out the wrong box for me and filled in the correct one.

I felt like I was on a foreign planet.

I have never put out a penny for any medical procedure or prescription. Indeed, I just pick up my prescription from a machine that knows me — I can do it 24/7.

The crazy part — doing it right is cheaper than doing it wrong. I get premium healthcare here, but the cost per person per year is $5,386 as of 2017. The US spends $10,224 — almost twice as much — and get much worse results out of it.

Making the poor suffer is more or less policy in the United States — which ensures that they stay poor. It seems irrational to people in the Netherlands and social democracies in general — their idea is to retrain and place people whose jobs have become obsolete, and then efficiently support the remaining people who are sufficiently disabled so they can’t work.

I might add also that the results of a really high minimum wage combined with worker protections are really obvious. Workers, even people in fast food restaurants, work with cheerful and efficient competence. They are paid enough money to live on and a little more, they are expected to be independent adults and competent, and surprise! they usually are. I might add also that they are treated like independent adults by customers, too…

Being checked out at a supermarket in the Netherlands (or Germany or many other places in Europe) is a humbling experience, as they do it at a breakneck speed, faster than you can pack (no packers here!), and then politely wait for you to finish packing.

(And it isn’t perfect, and we’ve had issues here too with “austerity”, but it’s so much better than in the United States.)

The US federal government struggles, all right — but to debase and crush their citizens who are having troubles. There is really no evidence of any benevolence towards its citizens who are in difficulty.