Kinja reply list

Read More
HexiSkeliHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 5:46pm
$23,000 for a family of 4 is a lie. That is not the poverty threshold in reality for a major city. It's more like $48,000. Just look at the price for rental properties in San Francisco for a 3 bedroom. Now look at the cost of food, health insurance, schooling, clothing etc...

That's $1,916/month gross. Rent for a 2+ Bedroom in San Francisco? First one I pulled up on Zillow is $3,650. If you are willing to live in a high crime area in a crap apartment, with the worst schools in the area - $1,600

I made $23,000 fresh out of college a million years ago and I could barely make rent, with zero student loans, no car payment, no child support. Rent and commuting were my only bills.
Reply
- Read More
  ltjHexiSkeli
  6/28/13 6:41pm
  If someone is only capable of making $23,000 they shouldn't get married, have two kids, and stay in/move to an expensive city.
  
  When I looked into buying a dog, I calculated all the costs and realized that it simply isn't affordable right now. People should do the same thing with children, but sadly most don't.
  Reply
- Read More
  HexiSkeliltj
  6/28/13 6:45pm
  Great point! Maybe we should create a law limiting who can have children based on income.
  
  This would be even more interesting if we used this law to police families on an ongoing basis. Lets say someone makes $70k per year, they can have 2.3 kids. Then if they get laid off, we can take the children and use them as McDonalds labor.
  
  Win-Win
  Reply
Read More
F.Yoo LeeHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:40pm
Hamilton, let us just run away together and leave behind this godforsaken dump called the USA! Let's go to an uninhabited place and just live life in all its glory, instead of its injustice and inequality. We can bring along some Gawker commentators to help us populate the new colony. I have a list-in-progress of who's cool and who's not that I can share with you.
Reply
- Read More
  Mercury: The Sweetest Of The Transition MetalsF.Yoo Lee
  6/28/13 4:45pm
  Ooo can I be in charge of chips and dip?!?!
  Reply
- Read More
  F.Yoo LeeMercury: The Sweetest Of The Transition Metals
  6/28/13 4:47pm
  No.
  
  You take care of the alcohol.
  
  I got someone else in mind for the chips and dip.
  Reply
Read More
raincoasterHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 5:39pm
The joke is that thanks to the ways the laws and corporations work, ain't nobody GETTING full time hours except management. People work long hours, but they work at multiple jobs precisely because companies don't want to pay for benefits; they save 30% or so right off the top by not having to pay benefits. So they don't. Everybody gets like 25 hours a week at two or three jobs if they're lucky and they never get a pension or healthcare.
Reply
- Read More
  CK25raincoaster
  6/28/13 6:15pm
  Definitely. I hate to equate this with my experience, since the situation is more dire in certain work sectors than others, but I've noticed this (along with many others) in the publishing industry. The few companies that I've worked seem to have it set up so that there are more part-time than full-time employees (at least as it goes for Editorial services), stiffing them on benefits, with maybe an annual quarter raise (as in 25 cents). The kicker at my last job was that I couldn't work more than 30 hours per week and while I was at $16/hour I constantly found myself relying on the two other part time jobs I was working just to balance it out each month because my hours were flexible and solely based on how much work was available to go around (not how much I could apply myself to the company, which I definitely tried). Then my work load was reduced until I was spending more time working at a coffeeshop than at the publishing gig and was actually reprimanded for 'defrauding' the company by working hours I shouldn't have had to put in (so they say).
  
  It's a major problem and so very frustrating when those whom lack job security are constantly living in fear because they feel too vulnerable to those who seem to give less of a shit about their living situation. A little empathy can say a lot...
  
  I think the other thing (and I'm sure someone's pointed it out already) is that no one really thinks of these positions as permanent solutions. At least as it pertains to publishing, many people are out after a year or two so maybe they think a high turn over rate somehow indemnifies them from caring too much by giving benefits or sick days.
  Reply
- Read More
  raincoasterCK25
  6/28/13 6:19pm
  Food service is infinitely worse. There are literally no full-time baristas at Starbucks. Every single one of them is technically part-time. McDonalds I think is the same.
  Reply
Read More
APersonaHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:43pm
~$7.25 is better than nothing.

That being said, wages need to improve... big time.
Reply
- Read More
  bren0977APersona
  6/28/13 4:50pm
  Yes $7.25 is better than nothing. We also have a 13th Amendment, which makes your comment a non-sequitur.
  Reply
- Read More
  EatTheCheeseNicholsonAPersona
  6/28/13 4:52pm
  A half eaten bag of Skittles you found on the sidewalk is better than nothing. Doesn't mean it's worthwhile.
  Reply
Read More
UncleCCClaudiusHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:47pm
To give you an idea of how little $7.25 is consider this: When I was 17 I biked three miles to McDonald's at 5:00AM to open/work breakfast and then left to make it to second period at 9:00. I made $7.25 an hour. In 1980.
Reply
- Read More
  OMGtotes!UncleCCClaudius
  6/28/13 4:55pm
  How did you make that much?
  
  I worked at Kmart in high school in the '90s for minimum wage and I think I was making about $4.35/hr at the time.
  
  http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/ch…
  Reply
- Read More
  UncleCCClaudiusOMGtotes!
  6/28/13 5:02pm
  Base was something like $5 and if you worked opening or closing you got a bump.
  
  Believe it or not, people used to view minimum wage as the lowest you could pay, not should.
  
  When I left McD's it was for a job as a non-union carpenter at a firm that did decks and hot-tubs. My starting pay (I had some decent skills already) was $15 an hour and one of the guys would pick me up and drop me back at home. Guess how much a newbie, non-union carpenter makes these days? Anywhere from $8 to $10.
  Reply
Read More
BlueDottyHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 5:25pm
I get the "conservatives' eye view" on issues every Christmas, thanks to throwback family members. I swear, they really believe that 90% of the people making minimum wage are high school kids. And not just any high school students, either, but ones where "mommy and daddy pay for everything" (not just room & board, but fancy car, insurance, expensive clothes, etc.). Yes, you heard it here first: in this version of reality, the PEOPLE MAKING MINIMUM WAGE ARE THE 1%.

Because of course Paris Hilton worked at McDonald's.

I should have asked what percentage of workers-supporting-families it would have to be for him to advocate an increase in minimum wage, but I just get that whole rage-fog thing when he talks, and it's easier to just go home and drink.
Reply
- Read More
  ltjBlueDotty
  6/28/13 6:51pm
  I took out a lot in educational loans, went to grad school, and now I make a decent wage living in NYC. Still, I prioritize and cut unnecessary expenses. No TV, no car, no eating out, split an apartment with roommates, etc. When I go down to visit my dirt-poor relatives in South Carolina this is what I see:
  
  People without jobs or with minimum wage jobs who somehow manage to have multiple cars (beat up as they are), large houses, cable TV, stacks of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, an Xbox 360, and smartphones. I don't know how they do it, but it makes me think the problem isn't as dire as people like to make it out to be.
  Reply
- Read More
  Aquasolltj
  6/28/13 7:07pm
  You do know being poor is a bit of a vicious cycle, right? When you've been poor long enough, it becomes harder and harder to actually keep money, because you're so used to not having it that you don't know what to do with it and so you spend it.
  
  There are also other things to factor in, like medical costs, living area, cost of living, and sudden cuts at work("Corporate says no one can work more than 30 hours a week for the next 10 months, but profits are up! Half of you are fired, the rest will do twice as much but still adhere to the 30-hour rule.").
  Reply
Read More
maxgorkyHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:59pm
Nearly 30 years ago now, I worked fast food. 'Twas a Carls Jr. in Buena Park, Ca.

As a 16 year old, I made minimum wage in those halcyon years: $3.35. It's inconceivable to me that after 30 years, the minimum wage has only risen $3.90.
Reply
- Read More
  Skipping along to our shared destructionmaxgorky
  6/28/13 5:45pm
  And yet, there it is!
  
  That's right. For the bottom, the wages have doubled in about 30 years, while the costs have grown much faster.
  
  Imagine, there was a time in this country where a manager at a McDonald's Hamburger Restaurant franchise could save enough to afford to send their child to college and give them an opportunity at a better life. It was about time someone did something about that because those poor minority kids were taking all the spots at colleges from entitled white kids. Now they aren't able to afford to displace the rightful heir to that slot! Progress!
  Reply
- Read More
  LostFateSkipping along to our shared destruction
  7/29/13 9:45pm
  That isn't entirely fair... Us poor white people can't get a leg up either.
  Reply
Read More
Go HawkeyesHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:49pm
Can't survive on $7.25? Well neither can I. That is why I got an education and a higher paying job. Sure, I have a large amount of student loan debt because of it. But I earn a hell of a lot more than $7.25 and can afford to pay the loans and survive comfortably.
Reply
- Read More
  Patcher PupGo Hawkeyes
  6/28/13 4:59pm
  Not everyone is suited for college. Not everyone can get loans for college. Just because you did it doesn't mean everyone else can.
  Reply
- Read More
  hurryupGo Hawkeyes
  6/28/13 5:39pm
  Oh good lord. I am telling F.Yoo to not invite you to paradise, with that attitude. I was talking to the tech repair guy at my office. He's 26 and has been working full time since HS while taking classes at the community college as he can afford them, 1-2 per semester while working. He is almost done with his B.S. He is took out loans for his first semester and is paying back that loan while making $9.00/hour. He got an offer for a job an hour and a half away that pays $24,000 a year when he graduates, but he can't afford to move because he doesn't have first and last month's rent and he said, "my parents don't have that kind of money." His car is 20 years old and can't make the commute.
  
  But I'm so glad that it worked out for you, thanks to all your hard work.
  Reply
Read More
sucr0sisHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 7:11pm
I think people fail to realize that if you continue to raise the minimum wage, you're only going to end up raising the cost of living.

Workers at fast food restaurants shouldn't make a cent over minimum wage unless they're in a managerial position. It's an entry level job that requires absolutely no competence whatsoever.

You're heating up pre-made food and placing it in a bag.

If someone is trying to feed a family of four while working a part-time shift at a McDonalds, then they've made a whole helluva lot of other piss-poor decisions in their life.
Reply
- Read More
  Hello_Madam_Presidentsucr0sis
  6/29/13 1:38am
  You're right. As long as wages remain stagnant, the cost of living will stay the same.
  Reply
- Read More
  Aquasolsucr0sis
  6/29/13 3:53pm
  You've clearly never worked an entry-level job before.
  
  Or worked hard, if you're exactly that stupid enough to believe such a job is really so easy.
  Reply
Read More
AngryAngryHippoHamilton Nolan
6/28/13 4:48pm
As a society we've decided that corporate returns (the income of the 1% in the form of dividends) are more important than income for workers. McDonald's can afford to pay its workers more and still make a healthy profit. Of course, shareholders will be very upset to learn that their dividend is .50 instead of .75 so that some workers can live with dignity.
Reply
- Read More
  icantthinkofsomethingcleverAngryAngryHippo
  6/28/13 4:55pm
  Yes, my parents' 401k might drop and they won't be able to afford their medication.
  Reply
- Read More
  AngryAngryHippoicantthinkofsomethingclever
  6/28/13 4:58pm
  
  GIF
  
  Reply