Minimum wage: $7.25
$7.25 x 40 hour full time work week: $290
$290 x 4 weeks per month: $1,160
In every Southern state (didn’t have time to look at the rest of the country) you can find some sort of studio apartment for around $500 per month, sometimes less than that. Why bother lying about something so easily disproven?
Because Bernie Sanders supporters aren’t going to fact check him, and they’ll ignore any contrary evidence that’s presented to them anyways.
Things like this really tick me off and It’s not political or anything but it’s the fact that you think all that money is there. Here’s what I mean;
That weekly check comes to, according to you, 290. Most places DO NOT pay for your half hour lunch that is required by law. So your beginning number was wrong. $7.25 x 7.5 hours a day x 5 days a week only gets you $271.88.
Most people in America get paid bi-weekly, so let’s double it to get the budget. $543.75. That’s GROSS, not NET. Out of that comes anywhere between 10% and 15% taxes depending on state so we’ll low ball it at 10%. Automatically down to $489.38 a pay check. Now health insurance. Usually anywhere from 70-100 a pay check for the cheapest plans. Again, we’ll low ball and go $70. So now we have $419.39 a paycheck. x 2 = $839.
Eight hundred thirty nine dollars. A MONTH.
But again, you seem to think that’s fair. So let’s proceed. You say rent is $500? Okay. This person now has $339 left to buy groceries for the whole month, pay utilities, car payment, car insurance, and gas money to get to work.
Those are the bare needs. You have to eat. You have to pay for heat, water, garbage removal, gas and or electricity because apartments do not always include things and rarely all of the above. Most cities in America do not have public transportation. Mine doesn’t despite the fact that our population is over 15,000 people, not counting a taxi. If you have a car, you have to pay that. If you have a car, legally you have to have car insurance. You have to pay that. You have to have gas in that car to get to work to make that money.
Now if you can tell me you can get all of that out of $339 you’re lying.
You are so focused on rent that you aren’t thinking about everything else people have to pay for. Rent was an example. This is a breakdown of the budget you gave me and it’s not possible to live off that in 2017 America.
And BECAUSE this person makes over $800 a month, they probably won’t qualify for financial aid or food stamps. $800 is the line in my state where they won’t help you. No food stamps, financial aid, or government housing if you make more than $800 a month.
Why does it bother you that people deserve to live above the poverty line?
^^
Also can I just add something here? Most minimum wage jobs around here are retail jobs. And companies have realized that if they don’t keep their employees on as full time workers, they don’t have to give them health insurance. So most retail employees are working part time. So that 40 hours a week bit? That’s a lie.
That also means that they have to pay extra for health insurance. Because in this country, you can get fined for not having it if you make over a certain amount. (The one part of the ACA that the Fuhrer and his cronies are more than happy to keep around while they drive a harpoon through my healthcare, because it lets them gouge the poor some more.) So add that to the cost of living.
But okay, you’re thinking, just get a second job. Well, yes, many people do that. Except here’s the problem. When I worked retail, I had to agree to have my schedule as open as possible. Meaning, I couldn’t just say “I’ll work mornings here and afternoons at my other job.” No. I had to be officially available for open to close every single day. The only time I was allowed to block out was for school. BUT I was still only being scheduled 10-20 hours a week. 30 if I was lucky.
So basically, it was damn near impossible for me to even have a second job, because I had to keep my availability open while the corporation I worked refused to give me enough hours to live on or qualify for health insurance.
And THAT, my friends, is why I lost 30 pounds in about 2 months time. I was on my feet constantly at work (because retail workers in the US are NOT ALLOWED to sit down. EVER. Only on your 15 minute break. Which is why my feet are permanently fucked.) My car broke down, and I couldn’t afford to fix it, so I was also walking to school. And my budget for food per month was literally about 10 bucks. I was living off of peanut butter and ramen. The only thing healthy I was eating regularly were bananas, because they’re so damn cheap. And I ate so many for so long, I can barely stand them anymore. Occasionally I’d be able to get a carton of eggs and some frozen vegetables.
No wonder I was constantly exhausted.
And I want to emphasize, I was NOT making enough money to live. If it hadn’t been for my mom, I would have been homeless and possibly dead.
People need shelter, we need to be able to socialize and relax, we need sleep. We need decent food. And you CANNOT have that the way the minimum wage system is set up now.
The Paradox Machine 