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The Boot on Your Neck
(And Why We Will Never Call It Anything Else Again)
By Vincent Cordova · 3/5/2026
Let's name it.
Any unnatural pressure—the kind that squeezes until you break, the kind that watches you struggle and does nothing, the kind that profits from your fall—
That is the "boot" on your neck. The pressure, you feel it. I know you do.
Not bad luck.
Not personal failure.
Not "how things are."
The boot on your neck. That pressure applied as a warning.
Applied deliberately. Held steadily. Waiting.
And from now on, that's what we call it.
What the Boot Feels Like
The boot is the pressure of knowing exactly how close you are to the edge.
One missed rent.
One medical bill.
One broken car.
One sick child.
One day too many off work.
One landlord who decides to sell.
One system glitch that cuts your benefits.
One wrong move.
The boot is the voice that whispers:
"I'm right here.
Make the wrong move.
Miss that rent.
Miss those days at work.
See what happens.
I'll be waiting."
The Boot by the Numbers
Let's put weight to the pressure. Let's show the boot.
The Housing Boot
One missed rent can trigger eviction proceedings in as little as 5 days in some states. Once an eviction is on your record, it follows you forever. Private landlords reject you. Public housing waitlists stretch years. Shelters fill up nightly.
The boot says: Pay or disappear.
The Medical Boot
66.5% of all bankruptcies are tied to medical issues—either from direct medical bills or income loss due to illness. Most of these people had insurance.
The boot says: Get sick. Go broke. We'll count you later.
The Wage Boot
Minimum wage has lost 30% of its purchasing power since 1968. Meanwhile, CEO pay has grown 1,460%. A full-time minimum wage worker cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.
The boot says: Work harder. Fall anyway. We need the fuel.
The Debt Boot
$1.77 trillion in student debt.
$1.2 trillion in credit card debt.
$12.58 trillion in mortgage debt.
Interest rates that ensure you'll be paying forever.
The boot says: Borrow to survive. Pay forever. We'll be collecting.
The Criminal Justice Boot
70 million Americans—roughly 1 in 3 adults—have a criminal record that shows up on background checks. A record can reduce annual earnings by 40% and effectively ban you from housing, employment, and licenses.
The boot says: Make one mistake. We'll own the rest of your life.
The Eviction Boot
3.6 million eviction cases are filed in the U.S. each year. That's 1 every 9 seconds. In some counties, 1 in 4 renters face eviction annually.
The boot says: Fall behind. Get removed. Become data.
The Homelessness Boot
On any given night, over 770,000 people experience homelessness in America. That's the official count—the one done one night a year with flashlights and clipboards. The reality is exponentially worse.
The boot says: Fall all the way down. We'll count you forever.
The Profit Boot
Private prisons generate $445 billion annually. Families of incarcerated people spend $27.7 billion on commissary, phone calls, and visitation—while incarcerated workers are paid as little as $1.16 per day and generate $50 million in revenue.
Courts extract $15 billion annually in fines and fees from the poor. Landlords profit from evictions. Hotels profit from homelessness. Rehabs profit from relapse. Nonprofits profit from suffering.
The boot says: Your pain pays our salaries. Keep hurting.
The Boot Is Everywhere
Look around. Feel the pressure.
Housing: One missed rent and you're evicted, marked, and locked out forever.
Medical: One illness and you're bankrupt, even with insurance.
Wages: Work full-time and still can't afford rent anywhere.
Debt: Borrow to survive and pay forever.
Criminal Justice: One mistake and they own the rest of your life.
Eviction: 1 every 9 seconds. 3.6 million families processed annually.
Homelessness: 770,000 counted. Reality worse. All observed. All documented. All fuel.
Profit: Your pain pays someone's salary. Always.
What the Boot Wants
The boot doesn't want to crush you.
Not all at once.
That would be mercy.
The boot wants you almost broken.
Just afraid enough to comply.
Just desperate enough to accept anything.
Just exhausted enough to stop fighting.
Just intact enough to keep producing.
Just broken enough to stay useful.
The boot needs you exactly where you are.
Not saved.
Not free.
Not whole.
Just one missed payment away from falling.
Because when you fall?
You become fuel.
The Capture
Watch how it happens.
Miss rent. Get evicted. Can't find a new place. Stay with a friend. Friend's couch runs out. Car becomes home. Car gets towed. Now you're on the street.
Now you're counted.
770,000 and climbing.
Now you're observed.
The shelter intake worker types your story into a computer. The outreach team adds you to their list. The researcher includes you in their study. The grant writer mentions you in their proposal. The nonprofit counts you as "served." The city uses you to justify more funding.
You are no longer a person.
You are data.
And data is profitable.
The Enslavement
Once you're in the system, you don't leave.
Not really.
Even if you get housing. Even if you find work. Even if you "succeed."
You're still in their files. Their studies. Their statistics. Their grant applications. Their success stories. Their cautionary tales.
They will use you forever.
Your suffering funded someone's career.
Your pain paid someone's salary.
Your story filled someone's grant proposal.
Your face appeared in someone's fundraising letter.
You became fuel.
And you never even knew it was happening.
For Someone Else's Benefit
Here's the part that should make you angry.
All of this—the fear, the scrambling, the falling, the counting, the observing, the studying, the documenting—
It's for someone else.
Not you.
The shelters aren't for you—they're for the people who get paid to run them.
The studies aren't for you—they're for the researchers who need to publish.
The grants aren't for you—they're for the organizations that need funding.
The programs aren't for you—they're for the administrators who need jobs.
The data isn't for you—it's for the machine that needs fuel.
You are not the customer.
You are the product.
The Boot Speaks
Listen. Can you feel it?
The weight on your chest.
The pressure on your neck.
The voice that whispers:
"I'm right here.
Make the wrong move.
Miss that rent.
Miss those days at work.
See what happens.
I'll be waiting.
I'm always waiting.
And when you fall—
I'll catch you.
Not to save you.
To count you.
To study you.
To use you.
To profit from you.
Forever."
The Question for the Boot-Wearers
And now I'll ask you—the institutions, the organizations, the researchers, the administrators, the grant-writers, the policy-makers, the ones who benefit from the pressure:
Do you feel it?
The boot on their neck?
Do you feel the weight of what you're doing?
Do you understand that every study, every grant, every program, every job you have depends on people staying just afraid enough to fall—and broken enough to stay down?
Do you know that you're not helping?
You're feeding.
And the machine you've built?
It will put the boot on you too.
Eventually.
Because the unnatural order doesn't have favorites.
It will turn on you the moment you're useful as fuel.
And when it does?
Who will lift it off you?
The Truth
Here's the truth the boot-wearers will never tell you:
They don't want to lift it.
They want to manage it.
To study it.
To profit from it.
To need it.
Because lifting it would mean they're no longer needed.
And they would rather watch you drown forever than become irrelevant for a day.
The Demon Speaks Again
"Keep struggling.
Keep scrambling.
Keep being afraid.
I need you exactly where you are.
Not saved.
Not free.
Not whole.
Just afraid enough to fall.
Just broken enough to stay.
Just desperate enough to be useful.
You are mine.
And I am hungry."
The Question for You
So now I ask you—the one reading this:
Do you feel the boot?
Do you feel the pressure of a system that needs you to stay afraid?
Do you feel the weight of institutions that profit from your precarity?
Do you feel the gaze of observers who document your suffering and call it scholarship?
Do you feel the hunger of a machine that needs you broken to stay fed?
Good.
Because feeling it is the first step to fighting it.
The second step?
Refusing to be fuel.
Refusing to believe their studies will save you.
Refusing to accept that their programs are for you.
Refusing to let your fear make you compliant.
Refusing to become data for someone else's profit.
The third step?
Lifting the boot off each other.
Not waiting for the system to save you.
Not hoping the observers will act.
Not trusting the profiteers to care.
Just hands.
Reaching for other hands.
Lifting together.
Before the machine eats anyone else.
The Unnatural Order
This is the unnatural order:
The boot on your neck is the system telling you: I'm right here.
The pressure is the profit.
The fear is the fuel.
The fall is the capture.
The capture is the enslavement.
The enslavement is forever.
And the machine keeps running.
Observing.
Profiting.
Feeding.
Knowing everything.
Changing nothing.
From Now On
From now on, we call it what it is.
Not "economic pressure."
Not "systemic challenges."
Not "unfortunate circumstances."
The boot.
Any unnatural pressure designed to break you, observe you, profit from you—shall now be recognized as the boot on your neck.
And we will never stop naming it.
Never stop pointing at it.
Never stop lifting it off each other.
The Question
So here it is. One last time.
You feel the boot.
You know the truth.
The only question left is whether you'll help each other lift it—
Or keep pretending the boot-wearers will save you.
Because they won't.
They were never going to.
You were always just fuel.
The boot is on your neck.
The machine is hungry.
The ropes are in each other's hands.
Lift together.
Or fall alone.
Choose.
References
1. National Low Income Housing Coalition, "Eviction Record Impacts on Housing Access," 2024
2. American Journal of Public Health, "Medical Bankruptcy Rates in the United States," 2023
3. Economic Policy Institute, "Minimum Wage Purchasing Power Over Time," 2024
4. Economic Policy Institute, "CEO Pay Growth vs. Worker Pay Growth," 2024
5. National Low Income Housing Coalition, "Out of Reach 2024"
6. Federal Reserve, "Consumer Credit Report," Q4 2024
7. National Employment Law Project, "Criminal Records and Employment Barriers," 2023
8. Eviction Lab, "National Eviction Estimates," Princeton University, 2024
9. Ibid.
10. HUD Point-in-Time Count, 2024; National Alliance to End Homelessness
11. Prison Policy Initiative, "The Whole Pie 2024"
12. Prison Policy Initiative, "Banking on the Poor: State and Local Fines and Fees," 2023
13. Lachaud J, Nisenbaum R, Mejia-Lancheros C, et al. Housing and Support Intervention and Mortality Among Homeless Adults With Mental Illnesses: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(7):e2524302.
14. Alimohammadi H, Homayouni FS, Jafari A, et al. Cardiovascular disease burden in the homeless population. Open Heart. 2025;12(1):e003190.
15. American Heart Association. Housing is a health care issue. heart.org.
16. University of Georgia. Research: Homelessness leads to more drug, alcohol poisoning deaths. UGA SPIA Online Magazine. 2024.
17. Cassidy T, Reilly P. Homelessness and psychosocial resources: the role of stress and psychological capital. Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry. 2024;15(1):13-21.
18. King B, Swamy S, Khorsandi S. Early Mortality and Medical Complexity Among Medicolegal Cardiovascular Disease Deaths: Comparing housed and unhoused decedents. The Gerontologist. 2025.
19. UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, 2023
20. Education International, "The Global Learning Crisis: Why We Must Act Now," 2024
21. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, "Global Education Finance Report," 2023
22. UNICEF, "The State of Global Learning Poverty," 2022
23. M. Franciosi, "Learning in Crisis? A Critical Analysis of International Development Discourse," International Journal of Educational Development, 2021
24. Ibid.
25. K. Raza, "Research Capacity and Budget Allocation in Bangladeshi Public Universities," Journal of Higher Education Policy, 2023
26. American Association of University Professors, "Faculty Workload Survey," 2022
27. UNESCO, "Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education," 2021
28. Franciosi, 2021
29. J. Smith, How The New Education Establishment Betrayed The World's Poorest Children, 2023
30. BRICS Information Centre, "BRICS Network University Framework," 2023
31. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, "Education Cooperation Initiative," 2023
32. AAUP, 2022
33. Raza, 2023
34. Franciosi, 2021
35. German Federal Ministry of Education, "Private School Regulation Report," 2023
The sidelines are already full.
The answers are already known.
The boot is on your neck.
The question is whether you'll finally lift it for someone else.
Before it's too late.