This opinion piece comes from Moriah Chace, the managing editor for our own Making Do project.

The average American cannot afford a $400 emergency. And I’m angry about that. But more so, I’m angry that as a community, personal finance people brag to one another about how they can.

I’ll be honest. I’d have to borrow from my taxes account in order to cover an emergency like that. I’m not in a financial position where I can shame those who can’t. Because I am one of those people.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. My morality, and America’s morality, shouldn’t be defined by their bank account.

Moreover, this isn’t an individual shortcoming. Instead, it’s a national endemic due to a variety of practices designed to widen the gap between the working and the middle class.

Instead of blaming the individual, blame:

1. Stagnated wages

According to the Economic Policy Institute, America has had issues with wage stagnation for the last 40 years. While high-wage earners consistently increase their wages, those in the middle and working class are unable to do so because of employers’ lack of drive to keep up with inflation.

In fact, American wages have stagnated for so long that the minimum wage didn’t increase for 20 years in America.

States that increased their minimum wage saw increased standards of living over those who didn’t, but the playing field is still incredibly uneven since the federal minimum wage is $7.25.

It’s hard to save money when you’re being paid the same year after year, and you’re not consistently earning more money. In an ideal society, wages would rise with inflation and people would be able to keep up with their bills. But unfortunately, wage stagnation makes that difficult.

2. The increased cost of living

Just this year alone, inflation has increased the cost of living by 7 percent. And let me tell you, even those in the middle class feel the pain. Lower-class individuals have to turn to unsavory means for their basic needs to be met.

These include working 60-80 hours a week at two minimum wage jobs, choosing which bills to pay and which to send to collections, living on credit cards to make ends meet, cramming intergenerational households into small apartments to share the cost of living.

None of these allow them to save money. Why? Because they’re too busy trying to afford life.

One argument that I see brought up about poor people is that they should spend less – but many lower-income people are already deciding between which bills to pay – the $20 or so they have to spare might go to something fun like a treat, but that’s not a moral failing. A few lattes isn’t going to break the cycle of poverty.

And people need to be able to enjoy themselves, even if they live below the poverty line.

A better argument would be to address the biggest costs, like housing. And help bring those costs down to reasonable levels so that lower-income people can afford their basic essentials – instead of shaming them for buying a few frivolous items.

3. Unsustainable healthcare costs

I almost don’t want to get started about the inflated healthcare costs in America, because they’re a lot.

As a freelancer with the crappiest healthcare possible – I pay $250. That’s because I’m young, with few pre-existing conditions. It would be even more if I weren’t one of those two things. And it doesn’t cover therapy, which is $175 a session, or my psychiatrist, which is $150 a session. Plus, my meds are another $75 a month. My healthcare is the largest expense I pay a month, including rent.

A friend of mine is on her wife’s insurance, and to get the meds they need, it’s $1000 a month with healthcare.

Another friend of mine doesn’t have health insurance because they cannot afford it. They pay for all ER visits out of pocket, and they have an autoimmune disease they cannot treat. It’s not a pretty situation.

These are just anecdotes I have of the countless bad scenarios made in America’s healthcare. Plenty of people can’t afford healthcare, or it’s a large expense, or it doesn’t provide what they need.

Regardless, healthcare isn’t sustainable. As an industry, healthcare accounted for almost 20 percent of the GDP spending in 2020. With such a huge percentage of the GDP spending going to healthcare, low-income residents are the most affected. Unlike toilet paper, you cannot choose between the cheaper of two healthcare brands to meet your needs. And the industry is hard to navigate.

Low-income workers forgo healthcare instead of getting the care that they need because healthcare costs are astronomical. And those that can finally afford healthcare spend a large portion of their budget catching up on things like dental work.

4. Predatory lending practices

Predatory lending practices often help keep people in cycles of poverty. Michelle Cagan, CPA, talks about the different predatory lending strategies shady companies use to take advantage of desperate people who might not be informed in her book, Debt 101.

She emphasizes that these companies play the part of the savior, but they’re actually setting up a vicious loan cycle that will put unsuspecting people in mountains of debt.

Many low-income individuals use these practices when they have nowhere else to turn. Once they turn to a payday loan though, the costs of getting out of the debt cycle are enormous.

If they borrow $100 to pay their bills from a payday lender, but there’s a $25 transaction fee, they now owe $125. And since they’re working paycheck to paycheck, they won’t have that money available for the next payment cycle. So now they borrow $125 to cover the payday loan, and $100 more to cover whatever payment they need. And now they’re $250 in the hole. And the cycle only gets worse and worse.

Here’s What We Really Need to Do

Instead of faulting the individual, we should be pushing for policies that increase the minimum wage, help stabilize housing prices, encourage fair healthcare costs, and corral predatory lending practices.

These are the stories we should be telling, instead of laughing at Americans who are on the brink of poverty. It’s not life-affirming for individuals who are just learning how to do their finances or for those who have been hit by financial turmoil, or who literally don’t make enough money to save anything.