Crumb the 1st indicates lack of concern about

the average American citizen's financial situation. That has been clear for decades but he finally said it out loud and doubled down on it. But the fascist GQP cannot erase reality and people telling their stories.

I've mentioned before that I have a subscription to the "Marion County Record" newspaper that is the small town paper from Kansas that came under attack from the local law enforcement and has been the subject of a major documentary that premiered at the Sundance Festival this year. The writing and coverage by this paper is excellent and a recent story reveals much about the financial struggles many average Americans are facing.

The article is from the April 8th, 2026 edition. It is titled "Rolling with the economy" and is subtitled "Moving from house to recreational vehicle brings financial relief". It tells the story of a family that, despite the husband having a steady income as a truck driver, was unable to cope with a basic rent of $600 once screaming high utility bills added to the total to push costs well beyond $1000 per month. So they bought a 5th wheel camper and luckily the local VFW has a lot where they can pay a flat $550 per month that includes utilities. The RV payment and insurance on it comes to about $350 per month and so they have trimmed their monthly cost to about $900 which is a considerable change from monthly bills sometimes totaling $1300 and more.

That transition has other costs that at first may not be obvious to some. In order to put a husband, wife, a teenager and pets into a 44 foot RV instead of a 2 bedroom house most of their belongings and possessions had to be substantially reduced. So favorite furniture, appliances, mementos etc. may simply not have room available and so they have to go. The wife is a cancer survivor as well.

In that same issue of the paper is another story of a family of 5 struggling to get by with both the husband and wife working multiple jobs. What little is left over after penny pinching and long hours allows them to put $15 per month into savings. They had dreamed of buying a place for a house of their own but that dream is now more or less in the past.

A third story about local average American's is about a 52 year old working multiple jobs and putting in over 60 hours a week. Still there are more bills than money especially with health problems and rising insurance costs. The article tells of a recent period that is all too familiar to many here on DU. The washer and dryer failed within days of each other and the vehicle needed new tires and the ripple effect of these things can cascade. The resident notes that saving etc. is not a possibility and the story quotes "I'll never retire" the resident said. "I'll die."

So thanks to the great writing from Staff Writer Judd Weil for these stories and it goes to show what I have always known. A small town paper can tell the stories of average Americans and what is happening in a way that big media doesn't. The people that the fascists in the GQP and Crumb the 1st don't want to talk about and don't really care about.

But a small town paper in Kansas with a great staff writer and supported by a great publisher know these stories need to be done. People like me who started life in small town America know it too. Here is the site for this fine publication with the current issue.

https://marionrecord.com/