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I disagree with most of the above. I barely graduated high school because we moved at least once a year and curriculum was rarely the same. No college education here. I started off working minimum wage, worked two to three jobs to make ends meet. That sucked and I quickly learned that most people are lazy and complacent, so all I had to do was make sure I worked harder than any of my peers, which was pretty easy. New opportunities presented themselves and I made sure to take advantage of them. I'm now a manager at a fortune 500 company and the same opportunities exist for those starting out at our company if you just bust your ass. It's even easier to sit back and blame greedy CEOs, the government, your lack of education, your past, or whatever excuse you can conjure up in order to justify not succeeding.
I understand what you're saying to some extent. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Not many people get opportunities like that regardless if they work hard or not. The issue is that more people are living in poverty than ever before and the fact that many corporations are giving less to workers than they deserve. I believe if someone works 40 hours a week regardless of where it is then they should earn enough to get by. Not enough money where you can easily buy luxury items but enough money to put food on the table. Not everyone who works those kind of jobs aren't necessarily lazy. If they were lazy they wouldn't be working in the first place.
The outskirts of Spokane, Washington?
$9.47 an hour with no state income tax.
You don't even have to live outside of Spokane. There were $400/mo places there as recently as 2009, back when I lived there. Spokane's craigslist even has plenty of sub $500 places right now.
Back in 2004, I worked at a grocery store in Ridgecrest, CA. I worked 40 hours/wk for $6.75/hr. I got bumped up to $6.90/hr after 4 months. My take home was about $250/wk, that is if union dues weren't due, and if they were, I'd take home about $150/wk. I shared an apartment with a friend and his very mean girlfriend for $200/mo. It sucked, although I expected that the rest of my life would include a lifestyle of a similar fashion.
I hated that grocery job, so I looked for something to replace it, so I found a job delivering pizza. Between the two jobs I was working 80/hr+ a week, and was socking away some serious cash. I found that the grocery job wasn't worth it anymore, so I quit on Christmas Eve. The pizza job brought in about $2600/mo (net).
I met my wife at that pizza place. We make six figs now. No college degree between us.
I disagree with most of the above. I barely graduated high school because we moved at least once a year and curriculum was rarely the same. No college education here. I started off working minimum wage, worked two to three jobs to make ends meet. That sucked and I quickly learned that most people are lazy and complacent, so all I had to do was make sure I worked harder than any of my peers, which was pretty easy. New opportunities presented themselves and I made sure to take advantage of them. I'm now a manager at a fortune 500 company and the same opportunities exist for those starting out at our company if you just bust your ass. It's even easier to sit back and blame greedy CEOs, the government, your lack of education, your past, or whatever excuse you can conjure up in order to justify not succeeding.
You got lucky and this country provided you an opportunity that not everyone gets. Unless of course you think everyone can be a "manager at a fortune 500 company." That's just not a realistic scenario.
However, it's really not asking much to get companies to pay their employees enough to live. Right now these companies that won't pay an appropriate wage know their employees must rely on government assistance, so while they look down their nose at welfare recipients, they're creating the system that requires it. It's really easy to look at the world through your own lens; it's harder to not only see through someone else's, but accept and understand their circumstances.
You got lucky and this country provided you an opportunity that not everyone gets. Unless of course you think everyone can be a "manager at a fortune 500 company." That's just not a realistic scenario.
However, it's really not asking much to get companies to pay their employees enough to live. Right now these companies that won't pay an appropriate wage know their employees must rely on government assistance, so while they look down their nose at welfare recipients, they're creating the system that requires it. It's really easy to look at the world through your own lens; it's harder to not only see through someone else's, but accept and understand their circumstances.
Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. Hard work. Sacrifice. Dedication. I'm probably in the lower 40th percentile of intelligence, but in the upper 10th percentile of tenacity.
Advantages are taken, not handed out. I'm so tired of the "woe is me" mentality that our country has embraced. Everyone looking for a handout and sympathy. Keep blaming The Man for keeping you down. Sure, there are those who are faced with overwhelming circumstance that keeps them from keeping their head above water, and I've been there myself. That's not the case for the majority of people who stay in minimum wage jobs as adults. Government assistance was supposed to be a safety net, but now it's a way of life for many who are otherwise capable. These are the same folks who complain about "illegals" stealing their jobs. To paraphrase a comedian, if your job is being taken by someone who swam across a river, someone who has no education and no shoes, perhaps you made some ill advised choices in life.
I understand what you're saying to some extent. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Not many people get opportunities like that regardless if they work hard or not. The issue is that more people are living in poverty than ever before and the fact that many corporations are giving less to workers than they deserve. I believe if someone works 40 hours a week regardless of where it is then they should earn enough to get by. Not enough money where you can easily buy luxury items but enough money to put food on the table. Not everyone who works those kind of jobs aren't necessarily lazy. If they were lazy they wouldn't be working in the first place.
I understand the sentiment, but that's not what the OP was asking. He's asking if a minimum wage job should allow someone to have their own place and be able to save money on top of that. I think that's an unreasonable expectation. If you want to have your own place without roommates and save for the future, rise above, no matter what it takes.
You don't even have to live outside of Spokane. There were $400/mo places there as recently as 2009, back when I lived there. Spokane's craigslist even has plenty of sub $500 places right now.
Back in 2004, I worked at a grocery store in Ridgecrest, CA. I worked 40 hours/wk for $6.75/hr. I got bumped up to $6.90/hr after 4 months. My take home was about $250/wk, that is if union dues weren't due, and if they were, I'd take home about $150/wk. I shared an apartment with a friend and his very mean girlfriend for $200/mo. It sucked, although I expected that the rest of my life would include a lifestyle of a similar fashion.
I hated that grocery job, so I looked for something to replace it, so I found a job delivering pizza. Between the two jobs I was working 80/hr+ a week, and was socking away some serious cash. I found that the grocery job wasn't worth it anymore, so I quit on Christmas Eve. The pizza job brought in about $2600/mo (net).
I met my wife at that pizza place. We make six figs now. No college degree between us.
Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. Hard work. Sacrifice. Dedication. I'm probably in the lower 40th percentile of intelligence, but in the upper 10th percentile of tenacity.
Advantages are taken, not handed out. I'm so tired of the "woe is me" mentality that our country has embraced. Everyone looking for a handout and sympathy. Keep blaming The Man for keeping you down. Sure, there are those who are faced with overwhelming circumstance that keeps them from keeping their head above water, and I've been there myself. That's not the case for the majority of people who stay in minimum wage jobs as adults. Government assistance was supposed to be a safety net, but now it's a way of life for many who are otherwise capable. These are the same folks who complain about "illegals" stealing their jobs. To paraphrase a comedian, if your job is being taken by someone who swam across a river, someone who has no education and no shoes, perhaps you made some ill advised choices in life.
This post indicates intelligence far above the 40th percentile.
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