Good news from Arkansas! (Minimum wage increase)

[DanS]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

I would agree that the minimum wage isn't much if you are supporting a family

It's not even enough to support yourself in anything but the most abject poverty most places in the US.

895.07 - 6.2%FICA = 839.58

My rent is 400$ a month for a fairly crappy place with 3 other people. You might be able to get something for 350. Gas and electric = 50$ a month. Bus pass to get to work 70$ a month. 180$ a month for food. Phone line 50$ a month. 140$ left beyond what are considered basic necessities...

KH: I thought it was obvious, but just to be clear, most areas of the US are not like Baltimore, where you live. Baltimore is a high cost of living area. So is College Park, Maryland.

[Al B. Sure!]

180$ a month for food

for one person? I spend less than $50 a month on food.

you must be eating caviar, krazyhorse.

A can of tuna can be purchased for 50 cents. A loaf of white bread costs 79 cents. A gallon of milk costs $3.10.

how do you spend 180?!

[Gibsie]

Heh, this thread is great, everyone with different lifestyles but no-one understanding how anyone can live in a different manner. Though $180 a month on food IS a lot- that's more than I spend, and I live in London. Doesn't include eating out though, which I do far too much...

[Ramo]

I presume that the $180 figure includes eating out. Having a couple meals, cups of coffee, and pints of beer per week (not an unreasonable amount IMO) could easily break half of that budget.

I don't understand how anyone can spend only $50 a month. That's absolutely insane. Less than $12 a week. An average of 55 cents a meal. I guess you could do that, but your diet would be unhealthy and boring.

[Apocalypse]

Ramo doesn't know Austin very well if having a couple meals, coffee, and pints of beer per week will break half a 180 budget.

When I lived in an apartment for a month I spent about $75. I could have cut $25 of that if I needed to.

[Ramo]

Suppose that the meals are ~$8 (with tax and tip) each, and the pints/coffees are around ~$1 each. That's $85 a (30 day) month, just under half of that budget ($90).

[Dinner]

Eatting out is expensive. The one thing you always hear about the working poor is that they cook at home since it's way cheaper then eatting out.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Darius, I admire your stamina.

But let's be clear: the minimum wage assumes a 40-hour work week. It's assumed to be, and discussed as if it is, the wage for a single, full-time job.

Now, politicians could be honest and say that they expect people who actually want to live on the minimum wage to work 10 hours a day, seven days a week. At least then we'd have a frank national discussion. But they continue to discuss the wage as if its for a forty-hour week, and on those terms its not enough.

Personally I've always thought the arbitrary 40-hour benchmark is a joke: that means 2/3 of your time is wasted on completely nonproductive endeavors! It would drive me out of my mind.

At any rate, I agree that there should be an honest discussion about what's expected. I've never heard or read politicians directly tie the minimum wage to a 40-hour week, but if true that's utter bull****.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Albert Speer


for one person? I spend less than $50 a month on food

You're eating **** then.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by DanS


KH: I thought it was obvious, but just to be clear, most areas of the US are not like Baltimore, where you live. Baltimore is a high cost of living area

No, it isn't. It's basically the lowest of any major US city.

It isn't as cheap as butt****, missouri, but most people don't live there.

[DanS]

It's basically the lowest of any major US city.

Prove it.

[Ramo]

Personally I've always thought the arbitrary 40-hour benchmark is a complete joke: that means 65% of your time is wasted on completely nonproductive endeavors! It would drive me out of my mind.

At any rate, I agree that there should be an honest discussion about it. I've never heard or read politicians directly tie the minimum wage to a 40-hour week, but if true that's utter bull****.

Most people don't regard sleep as potentially productive time. If you count weekends, it's 58 2/3%.

And isn't said minimum wage employee supposed to have some time to take night classes at a community college?

[DanS]

FYI, from figures released Friday, Oregon has moved from the 7th worst unemployment rate to the 6th worst unemployment rate.

[Gibsie]

Originally posted by Darius871
Personally I've always thought the arbitrary 40-hour benchmark is a joke: that means 2/3 of your time is wasted on completely nonproductive endeavors! It would drive me out of my mind.

If that's how you see free time, when have you ever had the time to play Civ to such an extent you'd go online and look up websites about it? Just curious...

[Dinner]

Hmmm, average home price in Baltimore is $457,388. A place like Decatur, IL has an average home cost of $236,000, Houstin $204,000. San Diego $724,785. Seattle $410,540. Boston $495,000. NYC (Manhattan) $1.09 million. Atlanta $278k. San Francisco $870k. Chicago $360k. Oklamhoma City $220k, Fort Lauderdale $480k.

It looks like Baltimore is in the upper middle cost bracket for the coastal cities though I do know that Baltimore tends to have rich white suburbs with poor black inner city areas. I suspect that the actual city is cheap crap while the suburbs cost so much it is spiking the average. This is also just the cost of housing (and not even a very good version of that) and not a true cost of living.