My ass!
I was just reading how the minimum wage in the U.S. is going up to a whopping $6.55 (2.81€) an hour and ultimately in 2009 (yes 2009) it will be an astounding $7.25 (3.11€) an hour. The idea that this amount of money will even support 1 person let alone a family is beyond me!
For example:
In 2006, the median monthly rent in Massachusetts was $933 per month. Now, MA is 5th on the list of rents (Hawaii, California, New Jersey, and Maryland are higher). However:
6.55 X 40 hours of work = $1034.90 BEFORE TAXES
Factor in State and Federal Taxes, FICA and let's just chop about 30% off that which leaves you a total of: $724.43
Of which you need to:
Pay rent
Buy Food
Utility Bills (electric, gas, etc)
Transportation (T pass - metro card for you Finns) - don't even THINK about a car
Health insurance - yeah like you can afford THAT..
Now..if the AVERAGE rent is $933 a month in the great state of MA, how can one even remotely expect to live on that minimum wage?Let alone feed themselves, clothe themselves, transport themselves to that job which doesn't even allow them enough to pay their rent?
Oh and then the the economists and small business state: "But if we raise the minimum wage, we will be forced to pass on the added expense to the consumers.."
BITE ME!
The 2007-2008 poverty threshold was measured according to the HHS Poverty Guidelines:
Persons (in the family unit) Annual Income threshold
1 $10,400
2 $14,000
3 $17,600
4 $21,200
so for each additional person add $3600.
The richest country in the world and they are saying that 1 person is in poverty if they make less than 10,400 bucks a year...well with the minimum wage hike, that lovely 1 person is now not in poverty!
WHAT A JOKE!
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2 comments:
From what I gather, there is no lower wage limit at all in Finland, and in any case people - that is, teenagers or immigrants more often than not - who work menial jobs don't know their rights well enough to assert them.
A friend of mine works in a well-known Finnish DVD-rental chain out-let, where the employees are regularly not paid at all 15 minutes after closing-time, because according to the employer 15 minutes is enough to clean-up the place after the day's work - whether that's the case or not. And the staff, not surprisingly, condone it knowing that they get fired if they blow the whistle.
Devil's Advocate Time:
As a consumer, why should I pay more so that someone on minimum wage can live in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country?
Minimum Wage is supposed to protect people from predatory wage practices. It's not a substitute for getting an education, working towards a better future and living in an area you can afford. There are many places in the US where rents are a third of those in MA and the cost of living is much less.
Not everyone can afford to live in Boston. I'm not willing to pay so they can. No one is going to pay me more so I can live in Miami Beach just because I want to when I can afford to live in a cheaper market.
Also, people who make that little can apply for and get Free Care at hospitals. They can apply for food stamps, help with heating oil and utilities and reduced rate transport card - they can also get free job training - which I can't because I make too much.
It's OK to have a strong opinion but what's the solution? Make the middle class pay out more? Higher taxes? All these things will end up on the overstressed middle class.
Poverty sucks, Having a minimum wage job sucks, but the US is a Capitalist society and a Republic at that which will lend itself to a class system. In class systems, there are poor people.
There are so many problems economically right now in the US that it would be insane to ramp up everyone's bills with more fees and taxes.
I doubt that the US will become Socialist or Communist which, on the surface, is better at helping the lower class but as you know, they have their own problems.
Ask my dead English relatives about health care. they're the ones who had socialized medicine and yet died because of misdiagnosis or waited years for simple care or better, paid more because they went private. So much for state run medicine.
The US is trying - bust on Russia for a while or throw a dart at a map of Sub-Saharan Africa and pick a country there - talk about a humanitarian crisis for poor people - there you go.
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