Oh, someone wants to talk about the real world. Neat.
When's the last time you had to go homeless to save up the down payment for a new apartment? For me it was 2012, for about three months. It was super fun. Sorry about your squeezed pennies, I sure tried real hard not to be too much of a burden.
I've lived on the $8 wage. I've worked the 15 hours a week because there weren't more hours to be had, and because of a chronic illness. I needed every bit of help I could get, and I was fucking worth it. Everyone who is getting this help to put a roof over their goddamn head is an intrinsically valuable human being and they are ALL worth it.
You're lamenting that you can't afford health insurance and college at 40-hr/wk job? Be glad you get 40 hours. Be glad it's predictable, reliable, be fucking grateful that you CAN work 40 hours a week. Mitigate your expectations to be more realistic about the dire circumstances of inequality that characterize our nation, and the fact that it's only getting worse. Turn off the TV for a while because its depictions of affluence are toxic and unrealistic AF -- most people in the US aren't actually affording health insurance and college, it's not special to your income bracket.
Above all else, please reconsider pointing the finger at the most vulnerable echelons of society, and start directing your criticisms at the rich assholes in the 1% who believe they're entitled to hoard all the wealth even (especially?) if it means great swaths of humanity suffer for it. They profit from this dog-eat-dog nonsense when really, there's more than enough to go around.
Also check this out, I think it's pretty helpful for establishing perspective. I'm in the 48th percentile of income for my demographic. I am not exactly an anomaly in today's America. You're probably doing better than you think.
http://graphics.wsj.com/what-percent/