We're Screwed

: Ted Rall on Jul 31, 2026

I'm screwed.

You've had that thought. You've had that feeling: short breaths, panic, hollow chest. This is big. I may not ever be able to get out of this. No one can or will help me.

The doctor closes the door and says, "I don't like what I see in these lab results."

Firetrucks blocking my street. What's going on? Ohhhh.

Many events that leave you with that "I'm screwed" feeling are nobody's fault. Diseases happen. Many can't be helped. Some diseases are incurable.

There are, however, crises that society can come together either to avoid, mitigate or even solve. In a high-functioning society with responsive politics, humans marshal their collective resources in order to help individuals who suffer misfortune. Some cultures respond to those among them who are in trouble out of ethical or legal duty. There but for the grace of God go I. If I ignore her cries, I might be arrested for negligence. Others come together as a form of insurance motivated by self-interest: Our nation is a hot desert full of dangerous reptiles. If my car breaks down in a sandstorm, I will need someone to offer me shelter; in order to maintain this useful social compact, I will open my door to someone who knocks during a sandstorm.

For myriad reasons, we Americans increasingly live in a country that gives more people an increasing number of reasons to conclude that they're screwed, and that there's nothing anyone can or will do to help them.

Let's say that, through no fault of your own, you lose your job. "Not for cause" is, by the way, the main reason most Americans who get fired wind up with no income. Long-term tenured workers lose their livelihoods to "restructuring" and "reorganization" because their employer moves far away, or there is an economic slowdown. Only a few people get canned for incompetence or misconduct.

Consequences of job loss range from substantial -- stress and lost income while job searching -- to fatal. Being out of work increases your odds of committing suicide by 60% to 100%. Job loss is also tied to higher rates of death from cardiovascular disease, alcohol-related liver disease and "deaths of despair" like drug overdoses.

The United States doesn't offer much help to people who might die because they can no longer afford food or shelter for themselves or their families. An American worker who loses their job through no fault of their own can expect to collect a national average of $532 per week in unemployment insurance benefits. In most states, these benefits expire after a maximum of 26 weeks.

That's $18,800 total. And, thanks to Ronald Reagan, you pay taxes on that.

And if you can't find a job? You're screwed.

Let's say you get sick. Really, really sick. As in, hospitalization and operations.

Again, the consequences of a severe medical crisis range from bad -- weakened health, lost income, etc. -- to fatal.

Again, the U.S. doesn't have much to offer those who don't happen to have the average $30,000 "chargemaster" rate that the uninsured -- that's about one out of 10 Americans -- are expected to shell out for a three-day hospital stay. Both misfortunes -- your health setback and the ginormous bill -- are your burdens to bear alone.

The U.S. is the only high-income industrialized country without universal health care. The U.S. is alone among OECD countries in lacking paid leave for parents. The U.S. does not, unlike most advanced countries, offer free or low-cost college. As discussed, unemployment benefits exist here, but they're much lower and shorter than in European systems.

America's penurious social policies would be easier to accept were it not for the Brobdingnagian chasm between what we pay in taxes and what we collect as benefits if -- as we often do -- we get in trouble. We shell out roughly 12% to 15% less of our income in taxes than Western Europeans, while receiving very few direct payouts from social programs.

We're politically polarized. Right-wingers want smaller government, lower taxes and fewer services. Lefties want bigger government, higher taxes and more services. What we have instead makes no one happy, and everyone angry.

As a leftist, I would like to live in a country whose citizens were often mistaken when they believed and said that they were screwed, because they had a system that cared about them enough to want to help.

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Ted Rall, the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, is the author of the brand-new "What's Left: Radical Solutions for Radical Problems." He co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis and The TMI Show with political analyst Manila Chan. Subscribe: tedrall.Substack.com.

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