For many years in the United States, a lot of Americans have depended on charitable grant programs to help them accord their bills, food and even gifts during the holiday season.

Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or any other winter holiday, there used to always be some sort of program around to help you make those ends meet. From churches, large organizations, NGOs, etc; these programs offering grants used to be very plentiful.

This year, however, there is a glaring lack of holiday grants available to everyday Americans, and people are definitely starting to notice that there isn't as much help for poor people as in years past.

A big part of this is that charities are just stretched very thin.

It's one thing to have politicians stand up in front of a camera to tell you that America's economy is strong, plenty of people are working, and inflation is receding. It's another thing entirely to exist in reality, where none of this actually seems to be true.

At least not insofar is it is experienced by individuals struggling. For these people, fuel and food costs are higher than they have ever been before. That's also including rent increases, insurance increases, and so much more.

This reality is something people are living through around the calendar year, not just for the holiday season. In other words, charities and grant programs are pretty much tapped out from helping people for two previous years.

So when it comes time to load up the holiday grants, the coffers are simply empty.

The federal government also used to help individual states with funding, and those states would fund quite a few different holiday programs.

These grant programs were aimed specifically at helping families to afford things like holiday dinners and gifts for their children.

This money is all gone now, and states have to beg the federal government to do more, and the federal government ignores them.

The issue here is that money that would be available on the budget to roll over into holiday grants has all been used in order to help people pay their energy bills, and to afford rent.

The SNAP program is likely to provide people with some food relief, but that's separate from a grant. The grant money simply isn't there on a government level.

There used to be an extra $300 billion in America to spend. That's $6 billion per state that could have offered timely relief to people this holiday season.

Where did this money go? It ended up wired over to Ukraine, and after that, no one really knows.

Even if you support the financial aid sent to Ukraine and feel it's America's duty to help, it can still be said that America's government should be lending aid to its citizens as well. That is not the case, however, and Americans are left to fend for themselves.

The few grants that are available for the holiday season are very selective grants that are based on categories like race and gender. That's great news if you happen to qualify. If your race meets the criteria, or if your gender identity aligns with the organization handing out grants, you might find some help. For everyone else, however, they do not seem to count.
 

The New Adjusted Economy

The sad fact about America that people are realizing now is that this is the adjusted American economy.

As a citizen, you have to do a lot more for your government. You have to deal with extra tax regulations, and file reports on deposits of over $600 into your accounts. You're being asked to pay more for fuel, food, rent, insurance, education, etc. You're being asked to make sacrifices this holiday season.

Meanwhile, the actual government is spending more money than ever before, and it's not on you. It's not even for Americans.

This is a new reality that the collective government demands you get used to. There is no speaking against it, or else you will be labeled as some sort of terrorist and might even suffer the wrath of some federal agency paying you a visit.

This is not a joke; this is not hyperbole. America's federal government has more power and control than it ever has.

If you are in desperate need this holiday season, try to contact a church or a charity directly for help. If you've been relying on grants to pull you through, the sad news is simply that there aren't many to be found this year.