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my sister said that she is having trouble paying the bills and she makes 60,000 a year so shes middle class i was wondering about the lower class of like 20 or 30,000 a year how can they afford everything?(mortgage,tv,phone, internet,car bill,gas,insurance,clothes,food,electirc or gas heating air condtion,dental bills, etc.)?
Depends on where you live and how many people that 20k or 30k is supporting. One single person making 30k can probably do okay, even in expensive areas, although it will not be a life of luxury. Just how comfortable would vary by location. If frugal, you could live a fairly middle-class life on that here in Minneapolis (if okay with a modest 1-BR apartment). Add in kids and it would get tougher.
Does your sister have other debt she's paying off in addition to her regular bills? That can make a big difference. Someone else on here already mentioned Elizabeth Warren's work on struggling middle-class families, which could apply here. If you spend too much on housing it doesn't leave enough for everything else that needs to be paid.
It's also human nature to expand your list of "needs" depending on income and peers. That's why you hear families making 500k in NYC complaining when their kids don't get financial aid for their fancy prep schools. Your sister probably has expenses that she considers necessities that her neighbors making half as much would consider luxuries.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trackwatch
Where I have a problem is the people that pop out a bunch of children and it puts them below the poverty line, these people get food stamps, medicaid for their children, pay no federal tax, get EIC, etc., if they had stopped at two or three children they would do pretty good and not live off us tax-payers.
I believe for tax deductions and poverty calculation the MAX number of dependent children should be three, after that you get no more deductions, it is NOT like catching a cold or getting cancer.
20 states (more or less) have Family Cap laws. Depending on which FC state the welfare recipient lives in .. instead of receiving extra benefits for every child they have the welfare recipient that has too many children may have their benefits reduced, or, they may have to live on the amount they had been receiving before the additional child/children were born.
There is a lot of controversy over the FC laws .. the rights of women to have as many children as they want and abortion issues.
Welfare was designed basically as an emergency fund to help people get past the rocky ground in their lives and not as a way of life and especially not as a generational way of life.
Much of what is the American life style is NOT required to live a simple life.
There is no such thing as poor in America. Those who are called "poor" still eat- have a roof over their head...hot and cold running water...a comfortable bed- a big screen hi def TV....If you are poor..in reality you might have a piece of tin for a roof..a blanket and you swat and crap in a ditch in the street...My mother used to say "He who has no arms or legs is poor- YOU are not poor".....
Have not had a car in four years...Have not had a property with a bit of land for a while...I have two pair of pants - a couple of coats...six pair of socks...four pair of under ware. I eat one decent meal a day- I smoke...I have a drink of gin on occasion. In the morning I have coffee...and I have this beat up old lap top.....I am a poor.....when I was working I had an overtime rate of 65 dollars an hour...right now if I have a twenty dollar bill in my jeans..I feel like I am rocking..............oh- *I own a grave....I guess I will have to save up for the casket....
Point I am making...is that in my time I have dealt with the lowest of the low...and with the highest of the high-in the end it is not going to matter much ENJOY YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU CAN...we are not here forever.
The poor on AID may get the cellphone for free, but THEY have to pay for the cards to CONTINUE service. If they don't use the phone at least once a month, then it will get cut off. If they do not have the money to continue purchasing cards to use it, the government (or whomever is giving it to them) will cut them off.
NOTHING IS FREE FROM THE GOVERNMENT. NOTHING.
lololol tons of people pay no taxes and get tons of freebies from the govt
about the worst situation you could be in tax wise is middle class single with no kids
you pay a lot in taxes and get nothing in return
Clothes are not that expensive. A pair of nike shoes maybe $200 but that is a "one time" event...i.e. You buy the shoes they last for months.
Rent on the other hand is reoccurring(try coming up with $200 extra a month).
Saving money would be a great idea but there are laws that control how much savings a poor person can have and still recieve assistance and never judge a person by clothes. You can get good clothes 2nd hand, the clothes could have been a gift from other family member(esp. a kid).
Don't get me wrong the poor can waste money just the same as everyone else but they have less breathing room about it. I mean 250 mins worth of phone time comes out to 8 mins a day. How many people can live with just 8 mins worth of phone time. They usually buy phone cards(and thoose are a rip off compared to renting).
most people who pay 200 dollars for sneakers don't just wear the same pair of sneakers for months
and even for those who do- you're dirt poor and can barely afford food if you can afford it all all so you spend 200 dollars on sneakers wtf!
i doubt it's an isolated terrible decision
I was talking with my mom and sister about politics.
In any event,I mentioned that I made 93,000.
My brother chipped in and said"I wish I was in y'all shoes".
My mom said "me too".
But what they DON'T see is that I worked for it.
I got up at 5am to travel 2.5 hours on the train to the college.
I also work 70 to 80 hours week. How many people are willing to do that?
Very few,they would rather complain" Night shift makes you age faster" or
"That's too much work". Yet they complain about not having enough money.
My brother actually had 2 jobs but quit both.
thats the problem
they wish and do nothing about it
people like this are great at spending other people's money- be it directly or thinking that other people who make more than them should pay more in taxes while they pay nothing
not to mention most people on this planet wish they were in there shoes as lots of people don't have food or shelter, live in places with high infant mortality rates and die from diseases that were curable 100 years ago
The middle class pays for the important things like rent, food, health insurance and child care. This enables them to spend their money on things they enjoy while the middle class has to work two jobs to make ends meet. We also support the rich too by paying most of the taxes. Work hard middle-class folks; the poor and rich are depending on us.
you started off right but the rich people pay most of the taxes in this country and it's not particularly close
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