Santa Fe Living Wage (low income, house, transfer)

[Muhnay]

Did you know the minimum wage in Santa Fe was 9.50 and hour, and going up to 10.50 an hour starting Jan 1 2008. I was shocked.. here is a PDF if you want to see for yourself.

http://santafenm.gov/cms/kunde/rts/s...6-15-32-24.pdf

I think I may move to Santa Fe NM.

[mortimer]

I had a group of four neighbors who went off to Portland because it
had a higher minimum wage than in New Mexico. The lot of them - two
young women and two young men loaded up two cars and headed off.

A number of weeks later, they all returned grumbling about the high cost
of everything there.

Some say it's the other way around, but my take on places with high
wages of any kind is that the high wages are a symptom of the high cost
in those areas and don't make up for what it costs to live there.

The San Francisco Bay area is a case in point where wages are generally
higher, but not the 250% higher (or so) that would be required to make
up for the cost of living.

If your goal is $10.50 an hour, you probably can't afford to live there.

[designer]

You are exactly right. There is a reason why the city fathers increased the
minimum wages in Santa Fe. It is a expensive place to live. $10.50 per hour
would be living in poverty in Santa Fe and even though it doesn't seem as
where I used to live in California, it is still not a good place for low wage people. Now if you owned a small house in Santa Fe you might be able to
squeeze by somehow. I know a lady that lives there and works in a professional job making slightly over $30 per hour and she keeps telling me
she needs to move to make ends meet. She is looking at Scottsdale, AZ
but I don't things will be much better as it is expensive as well. You should
really check it out before moving there. I see a lot of low income people move there and then have to leave. I also see a few people that are not
so low income move there and also leave because their financial resources
are not going as far as they hope for. Portland is a neat city and I was transferred there for one year to set up a complex computer system and
other than the rain I loved it. Yes the people are not all that friendly to
outsiders but they eventually warm up to you. They have a good transportation system as well.

[Muhnay]

I know I said I may move here, but honestly I wouldn't. I make more than $10.50 an hour now. In El Paso TX anything over 9 bucks and your doing alright.. cost of living here is pretty low.

I lived in Seattle WA sorta like Portland... and was able to make it just fine and thats with 3 kids.. don't know what your 4 friends did wrong. But yeah I agree higher wage normally means higher cost of living. I just moved back from Gulfport Mississippi, and I was making god money there too. but the cost of living was so high it felt like I was making nothing.

Good points, thanks for bringing them up.

[mortimer]

Muhnay followed up:

> .... don't know what your 4 friends did wrong.

Oh I do; dropped out of high school and didn't have a skill to fall back on .
This banished them to minimum wage jobs as far out in the future as could be seen.

They weren't stupid, just aimless. Point in their favor: No babies were created to add to their burden in life.

[Muhnay]

Ahh.. I dropped out in the 9th grade as did most millionaires. I joined the Army, got hurt while over in Kuwait, get a nice paycheck for the rest of my life, I have owned two business, sold both for a profit.. so not all Drop outs are failures.. some would rather cut their own path than be another social robot. I also have 3 kids my oldest 14 youngest 9 with a 12 year old in the middle.

Then Again I did goto college after dropping out and that may of helped me some. =)

Only problem I have now is that I grew up too fast.. lived on my own since I was 14.. mom would drop off food on weekends and I raised myself.. so maybe thats why I am a bit twisted heh heh. Enough about me.. Just thought you maybe knocking drop outs.. not all are failures... and I used myself as an example.

[mortimer]

Muhnay protested:

> Ahh.. I dropped out in the 9th grade ... so not all Drop outs are failures.

Of course, you realize(?) that I wasn't implying such a thing. <---don't you?

Note how I appended: " and didn't have a skill to fall back on "

I know a few people who dropped out of HS and never went back, (or
just finished HS), are smarter than me and have skills. I look up to them.

I had an epiphany whilst taking an automotive electricity course at the
former TVI. On a test, we had a question on if we had a 12V battery
driving a device with a 5 Ohm resistance, what is the current? (divide
12 by 5). Most of the class panicked since no calculators were allowed.

While I just did it in my head and wrote down the answer, all the people complaining
ran circles around me in the shop. Much smarter than me in many areas they were.

> ... I joined the Army ... I did goto college ...

So you aren't an unskilled HS dropout - only suited for minimum wage work?

> ... I am a bit twisted ...

You're not a member of an exclusive club there buddy. < insert sound of Beavis laughing here>
Many posters on this board are also. I can tell.

[GregW]

In 'Nam I fgound out I am really skilled in a trade with very little demand in a civilized society. However, I can also fix nearly any kind of machinery and know which end of a hammer to use to hit the nail.

When I retire I guess i'll just open a fix it service and fix stuff for people. Or whatever?

[BrianH]

Ive already stopped spending my $$$ in Santa Fe because of it. A cafe I used to frequent used to cost me $7.00 for breakfast, now costs $9.50 the last time I was there.