Government Housing and Food Stamps, for some its all they need or want as we saw with Katrina.
that's not what we are advocating. we are advocating that a job which a person has to work at gives people enough to be able to survive. if you sit back and relax you will lose your job pretty much anywhere.
Typical Frozen Meals cost $2.50 at Wal Mart, even a week of them is less than 20 bucks, for a single person groceries are more around 50 bucks a week, for some one with a child I would say around 75.
how does that math work? assuming 2 meals a day at $2.50 each which is generously low, that's $35. and that leaves zero other food as well. and frozen foods don't cost $2.50 most of the time. i buy them some of the time because i can be lazy with cooking and i can afford to shop sales, and $3-4 is more normal for something that doesnt taste like complete garbage and gives you enough food. as i have said before, poor people also often don't have the option to wait for good sales, drive further to the better grocery stores, etc. i don't remember if i linked this article or not but
this does a good job explaining some of it.
There are ways to get second hand cell phones with free service, or if need be spend a couple bucks a month and get a land line, paying 50 bucks a month for a cell phone when there are better alternatives is a waste.
free service? no cell phone gives you free service unless the only number you want to call is 911. you have to pay for some of it. unless you are talking about prepaid phones which 1. you still have to pay for minutes 2. are less reliable as bkb said. landlines also cost more than "a couple bucks a month" and are not as good to employers because then they can only reach you when you are at home. again, if the employer is picking between two roughly equal people for one job and one has a good cell phone that allows them to be reached at any time while another has either a cell phone with terrible coverage or a landline, who are they going to pick?
Clothes also are not a monthly expense, shoes/pants/shirts do not wear out by the time a month ends requiring new sets.
maybe not exactly monthly, but you do have to buy them somewhat often if you want ones that don't look horrible. and when your clothes start wearing out most workplaces will make you replace it because it looks unprofessional.
also, i am not trying to be rude but i am curious, have you ever lived on your own and had to pay for all of your own things? because before i moved out i didnt really have a concept of exactly how much things cost, i mean i knew they cost money but i didnt really see the breakdown of just how much things like food and bills cost.
You have one party that wants to cut taxes, you have another party that wants to help the poor to keep voters, it seems a match made in heaven.
they want to cut taxes for rich people though. not the lowly minimum wage slaves.
No where close to 100 dollars, again unless you are getting steak.
again, have you actually had to make a food budget? in some areas $100 a week for decent balanced food when you dont have the time/knowledge to shop sales isnt THAT high.
Then the smart thing to do is taking the money you would use for recreation and putting some if not all of it aside for a rainy day fund?
so if you are on minimum wage you should never be allowed to do anything fun ever? that sounds like a miserable way to live life.
I see this argument "well if you aren't X you can't understand X" a lot in this section of the forum, and honestly it's quite preposterous if you ask me.
no, it's really not preposterous. that's the whole idea behind privilege. there are a lot of things that a lot of us take for granted because we were not born into a position where we had to think about these things. i never thought about these issues when i still lived with my parents and didnt have to see how people who only get minimum wage or slightly higher live.
Anyone with any sort of financial responsibility knows to have emergency money saved up somewhere. Again, it boils down to financial responsibility.
the whole point is that on minimum wage you CAN'T save up. if your entire paycheck every month goes to your current expenses, there is nothing left to put away. it's really easy to say just save up when you have enough money to save up.
Well firstly, I fail to see how hard it would be to find another minimum wage job. It's just a matter of packing everything up in your vehicle and driving to wherever.
this article does a really good job of explaining why it's not as easy to just pick up and go wherever, especially if you are already poor.
Might I add the types of jobs we are talking about (fast food, retail, you get the point, I hope) are not considered careers. Do they really deserve career level pay? There's a reason why these sorts of jobs have such a low level of pay; nearly anyone with a brain can perform the tasks in these jobs, and they aren't meant to be permanent positions.
career level pay is a relative term. i don't think they deserve enough pay to live in fancy mansions but they deserve enough pay and benefits to be able to survive. they may not have started off meaning to be permanent positions, but our society has changed to the point that they often are for someone who was born into that cycle of poverty. if you are stuck there it's nearly impossible to get out, as we have covered extensively in this topic. more school? yeah that's a great idea when i dont have time with my two part time jobs and can't afford classes anyway. promotion? those are few and far between and often require a college degree anyway. internet/networking? good one when i barely have enough hours in the day as it is and probably can't afford internet. plus our society depends on people being in these positions, if everyone who was permanently in this field quit there would be a lot of problems.
Didn't say they weren't "working hard enough". That's not my argument.
Poor money management is the reason why many are in the red financially. When you can find an example of someone that has cut all luxury costs (brand new car, eating out every other night, brand new smart phone the minute it comes out, cheaper clothing, etc etc) and is still financially in the red, please do show it.
the sample budget bkb showed is a pretty good example. it's not uncommon. several of my coworkers are very financially responsible and are still in debt from the time their car broke down or their daughter had to go to the ER or they had to replace the refrigerator.
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/excerpts/wilcox_thrift.pdf
Americans also spend more of their pay checks than any other country. And put less away.
maybe because we are forced to spend our money on healthcare and other things other developed countries get for free, and they pay their workers closer to a fair wage so they can actually afford to put some away. if your entire paycheck just barely covers your budget you HAVE to spend it every month
^If you are living within your means it should be fairly easy to spend a little bit of money on entertainment here and there. Case by case basis really.
The whole point of being financially responsible is to save up money for those emergencies.
And there's a big difference between getting government assistance for a month or two while looking for a job and leeching off welfare for a year.
and once again, what do you do if you literally do not have any money leftover to save? you are completely screwed if an emergency happens.
