Originally Posted by spunkmaster (Post 16008857)

I know someone who makes about $300 per week before taxes and gets
$1100 from the state for child care, $350 for WIC (diapers and shit), $450 for food and I think about $600 - $800 for her housing allowance. She has two kids so she also gets a state
paid insurance card for her and the kids which covers their health care.

Originally Posted by seeandsee (Post 16009240)

working two jobs?

Originally Posted by kane (Post 16009501)

Many will argue that minimum wage jobs are meant for kids in school and older people looking for a part time job, but with the current economy I bet there are a lot of people out there who would jump at a minimum wage job.

Originally Posted by $5 submissions (Post 16008858)

Recent immigrants do it all the time. Worked 100 years ago, worked during my parents' time, and I'm sure it works now. Here's how my own parents were able to do it when they started out:

1) Live together with other relatives.
2) Share all costs
3) Save 25% to 40% of all income
4) Share transportation/plan out routes
5) Buy food collectively and spread out costs
6) Cook food collectively and pack meals for work
7) Participate in "paluwagan" systems (other cultures use differing terms for this) that involve revolving credit
8) buy assets slowly with savings, reinvest asset income

Originally Posted by GatorB (Post 16008507)

It goes up to $7.25 on July 24th.



bullshit. Even where I live where you can get a 1 bedroom apartment for $328 a month and no state income tax it's hard to live on $7.25 an hour.

Let's do math

$7.25 X 40 = $290 per week

$290 X 52 weeks = $15,080 a year

Now no matter what you are geting FICA taxes taken out and you don't get those back. FICA taxes are 7.65%

$15,080 X.9235 = $13,926 after FICA atxes are taken out.

Being single gets you a standard deduction of $5450 and $3500 for your personal exemption.

So $5450 + $3500 = $8950.

$8950 is what you'd get to deduct off your income of $15,080. So $15,080 - $8950 = $6130

$6130 is what you'd have to pay taxes on. Since that would be in the 10% backet that would be $613.

So $13,926( amount left after FICA ) -$613 for income tax = $13,313. I'm not even counting state income taxes.

$13,313/52 weeks = $256 a week to live off of.

Good luck living off of $256 a week. Of course you could a get a 2nd job( inthis economy yeah right ) but remember the first $2000 off that extra income is taxed at a total of 17.65%( FICA and income tax ) everything after that is taxed at 22.65% since you'd be in the 15% tax bracket. So even a 2nd 40 hour job at $7.25 an hour would end up bringing in $11,766 after taxes.

So one could bust their ass working 80 hours a week and only bring home $25k a year after taxes. Which is about $6 an hour after taxes.

Originally Posted by IllTestYourGirls (Post 16007864)

Min wage has kept them poor. Get rid of min wage and companies would start to compete for low waged workers. But as of right now its price fixed so no need to compete for workers so no need to pay them anything.

Originally Posted by SilentKnight (Post 16008332)

Wait...isn't a percentage of earnings deducted from welfare payouts?

Originally Posted by Justin (Post 16007816)

how the hell does someone even live on $7/hr?

Originally Posted by Justin (Post 16007835)

7*40*4 = 1120

It's more like $900 a month if that after taxes.

Originally Posted by BigRod (Post 16009668)

Yeah that is the problem right now, for a kid in school or a retiree with a pension minimum wage isn't that bad. The kids are getting help from mom & dad and the retiree is just there for the health insurance.

I spent the first couple working years of my life on minimum wage, lived with a bunch of people and ate KD daily. It certainly makes the spoils of business more enjoyable when you start at minimum wage!

Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo (Post 16009687)

There are parts of the country where you can live dirt cheap. Apartments for a couple hundred bucks and so on. Maybe cheaper if you get a few roommates and split the bills. If you know how to budget money right, you can eat for fairly cheap. I was dirt poor going through college and could find ways to eat well on $10/week. I also believe the person would qualify for Earned Income Credit. It's kind of like welfare for people who work.

I was able to get by making $13,000 a year my last two years of college (mind you that probably went a little bit farther 7 years ago). I had to take out loans for tuition but was able to pay my bills and eat for the most part. Shit would get real tight sometimes if my car broke down or something, but it's do-able. The problem is that people who make minimum wage want to live like they make much more. They want the nice cell phone, nice clothes, and cable TV. Cut out all the luxuries you have and it can be done.