Living Wage OK'd in Chicago Options

[Hartmann]

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2006/07/26/3...oks-living-wage

Will be a good case study on whether or not the minimum wage should be raised.

[Mommy]

Poverty for an individual is defined as $9,800/yr. Yeah, that sucks, but it's still possible to live on those wages. You wouldn't be able to afford a car unless you were just doing liability insurance on it, but it's not impossible. You get an efficiency apartment, buy cheap groceries, don't go out to eat, and watch your utility usage.

let me lay out some math here that i think is reasonable.

minimum wage equals out to $10,712 a year without any deductings or ss being taken out

lets say rent is $250/mo for an efficiency....thats $3k/yr

water is $20/mo so $240/yr

electricity at $80/mo is $960 which is a light estimate because i hardly ever use AC and mine is $106/mo

to eat healthy, my estimate is $30/wk for food so thats $1440/yr

laundry for 2 loads a week would be $192/yr

clothes we will say $60 every 2 months... $360/yr

transportation... i dont know what a bus pass costs these days, but we will just say $200/yr

extra odds and ends like cleaning supplies and shampoo etc we will alot $200/yr for

total so far $6592

now, my guess the actual take home on minimum wage is closer to about $9,00.

So here is what we have left over $2408.

Health insurance is a must these days. Most minimum wage jobs offer more expensive health care so they are looking at about $60/2 wks of deductions. Thats $1440/yr. What about co-payments and prescriptions. If they go to the doctors 4/yr and the co-pay is $25 and they need a $20 prescription each time thats an additional $180/yr.

Now, we have $788 left over which seems like a lot, but is not for an entire year of work. If a person were to get cable, almost half of that would be gone.


in other words, yeah, its livable but only for the absolute bare minimum...they wont be able to buy birthday or christmas gifts, get internet, have a car, pay tithe if they go to church, give to charities, or buy something like a vacuum cleaner, much less have a savings because lets face it, that $788 will go to some type of necessity whether it be stamps, a cell phone bill, or something else. Ummm what kind of life is that? Has anyone here ever worked at a fast food restaraunt? it fucking sucks. Its pretty hard work, like always moving and always hustling. I dont know many of people like you and me that could do it because its frustrating work. You smell all the time and get sweaty. So are we saying that just because you dont have to have any prior skills it shouldnt pay much. I can think of several jobs that any joe could do that pay a lot better. But no, people like impala say that only potheads and junkies work those places. No, people who desperately need a job work there too.