Hartz IV: A system of undercover and artificial poverty

For many of those affected, the Hartz IV system is a single chain of deficiency and systematic disadvantage. The shortfall is particularly noticeable when it comes to heating costs, rental costs and electricity costs. Social existence remains far below what would be necessary for a humane standard of living. The benchmarks and rigid administrative rules that have been calculated by realityensure that more and more citizens live on the edge of the subsistence level – and often over the years or decades.

Undercover for heating costs and rental costs: constant struggle with the administration

Social legislation provides that the job center will only cover the costs for accommodation and heating up to a certain limit. This limit is determined on the basis of a statistically determined “appropriate” value, which often has nothing in common with the actual prices on the housing market. If the rent or heating costs exceed this rate, Hartz IV recipients must pay the differencecover from other parts of your – anyway scarce – rule set. The result is renunciation, sacrifices and sometimes hard cuts in nutrition, health care or social participation. If you are unlucky, you will be forced to reduce your costs, maybe even have to move or change your living environment drastically. The heating cost regulations are particularly restrictive. already a slightly larger one orPoorly insulated apartment can mean that the job center does not want to fully pay the additional payment. People who heat with electricity are even worse off: electricity costs are generally not covered, but have to be paid for by the standard service. Especially in old apartments and with poor energy efficiency, the only thing that remains is often the grip on the ceiling if that’s what it’s in winterThere is no money for heat.

Electricity costs: permanent burden and waiver

The electricity costs for the household are paid from the standard service, although this item is hardly sufficient for the actual costs. In the course of energy inflation, prices are constantly increasing, while the standard service is hardly regularly adjusted. Especially Hartz IV top-ups, who also receive social benefits with low wages, get in a quandary. You can get out of thenot covering the electricity costs without sacrificing other basic needs. For many, at the end of the month, there is not even enough money for healthy food, clothing or the purchase of socially necessary goods such as the Internet or transport. Social policy closes its eyes to reality and forces people to live a lifestyle that is at bestenables bare survival.

Artificial small calculation of the subsistence level

The central problem of all Hartz IV benefits is the artificial small calculation of the social subsistence level. State calculations are based on a completely outdated shopping cart that does not reflect modern standards of living or the current price development. The adjustments to inflation are at best sluggish and incomplete. regular real price increases for food,Energy, mobility and participation are ignored or calculated. The subsistence level in the sense of the Hartz IV regulations is a mathematical construction that has nothing in common with a dignified life. If you want to get by to some extent, you have to look for support from friends, family or table offers – the state transfer payment has long since ceased to be enough toto cover basic needs. People who work as an increaser and have to give up most of their income for rent, electricity and heating are particularly affected. You will experience the gaps and the shortcoming in two respects: Your work is not adequately remunerated and the social safety net is like a patchwork quilt.

Scarce adjustment to inflation – structural deficiency as a permanent condition

Social legislation pretends to be prices evenly or in bearable spurts. The reality is different: rent, electricity, gas and life are getting more expensive, but social benefits remain at a low level. Pension increases and inflation compensation are sold as political success, while the real life of those affected is becoming more and moresocially acceptable level decreases. This strategic neglect ensures that poverty is not a temporary phenomenon, but has established a permanent status in millions of households.

Hartz IV as a symbol of state undersupply

The Hartz IV system, also under the new name, has become a symbol of state-organized smallholding and the chronic undercover of social vulnerabilities. The shortcomings in heating costs, rental costs and electricity are just as obvious as the systematic neglect of an appropriate inflation adjustment. Anyone who relies on this safety net lives in constantUncertainty, renunciation and lack – a state that contradicts every idea of welfare statehood and urgently needs a radical reform.### Hartz IV: A system of chronic undersupply is characterized by systematic underfunding and the artificial calculus of the subsistence level. Heating and rental costs as well as theYear after year, an insurmountable hurdle behind which is a politically deliberate system of deficiency and renunciation for millions of people.

Heating costs, rental costs and electricity: The constant gap in everyday life

Heating costs and rental costs are only covered up to fixed “reasonable” limits within the framework of Hartz IV. These limits are rarely based on real market prices, but rather outdated rent indexes and statistical mean values that have little to do with the actual housing market. If the actual costs exceed these guidelines, performance-related,Including many top-ups who dispute the difference from the already tight standard rate. The same logic applies to electricity costs: electricity is paid for by the control power, which is no longer sufficient in view of the constantly rising energy prices. Those who can no longer pay for electricity and heating often face dilemmatic decisions and have to compromise on health, nutrition andenter into social participation.

Artificial small calculation of the subsistence level: Structured poverty as a political strategy

The subsistence level defined in this way is based on calculations that are based on a unrealistic shopping cart and systematically hide the current standard of living and the price development. The actual cost of living, especially for living, energy and social participation, are downplayed and only sluggishly or not at all adapted to real inflation. straightTop-ups who remain entitled to social assistance despite work cannot reach the level of the subsistence level because a large part of their income is spent on rent and electricity.

Slack adaptation to inflation: The permanent crisis for performance recipients

The adjustments to the standard rate to inflation are at best delayed and piecemeal. Real price increases in energy, food and living are ignored or calculated, which is constantly increasing the gap between performance and real needs. The resulting permanent crisis forces those affected, on boards, support from friends and additional helpto rely on basic needs.

Hartz IV as a symbol of the state-organized deficiency

The Hartz IV system stands for chronic underfunding and systematic exclusion. Many people are hardly affordable for heating costs, rental costs and electricity, there is no need to adapt to reality, and the subsistence level is artificially small. The structure of social law produces poverty on a continuous basis, exacerbates social inequality and makes lifeFor millions of benefits to a permanent fight against the state-organized deficit.