Saturday, April 15, 2006
30 days on minimum wage.....
Today on Oprah, the guy who did the "Super Size Me" movie talked about when he and his wife tried to live on minimum wage (which is $5.15, I believe) for a month. I missed the first ten minutes of the show, but I did catch the rest and found it extremely interesting. Not only did they prove how difficult it was to make ends meet on minimum wage, they also showed how easy it was for an unforseeable mishap to wipe them out financially.
I'm glad someone is taking this to the mainstream and giving it the exposure it deserves. I remember how difficult it was for me to get by on $5 an hour, and that was 12 years ago! My car was literally falling apart, and I could neither afford to get a new one or fix the one I had. I couldn't rely on public transportation because I worked overnights, and had I not been married to someone with insurance, I would have had no health care coverage whatsoever. As it was, I had no vacation, no holidays, no sick time. When I got bronchitis and lost my voice, causing me to miss three days of work, I was nearly fired. And I wasn't flipping burgers someplace....this was at the biggest talk radio station in the state, where some of the hosts were earning six figures a year!
The "Super Size" guy and his wife both worked for minimum wage for 30 days, and just to make it fair could not use credit cards or health insurance. They also at one point "borrowed" a niece and nephew for a weekend to see how much more difficult it was with kids in the house. I think the wife had to walk to work. Not suprisingly, one job apiece was not enough, so before long, the guy was working 16 hours a day. Both of them got cranky from lack of sleep and from disagreements over spending. It's sad watching a couple arguing over buying pop, candy and bread, but I imagine it happens all the time when you're worried about whether or not you'll be able to pay the rent. And then every low wage earner's nightmare happened....two trips to the ER. They couldn't get in at the free clinic, so they had to do what everyone else without insurance must do. I'm sorry it happened to them, but it did perfectly illustrate just how fine the line is between staying afloat and falling behind. And a serious illness could make a minimum wage earner homeless in no time.
Oprah also profiled several people around the country who lived on minimum wage all the time. Most had no insurance, sick time, child care or a home of their own. Many couldn't afford a vehicle and had to spend hours a day commuting by bus to get to and from their jobs. One woman lived in a homeless shelter because minimum wage was not enough to pay rent on a one-bedroom apartment. And these people weren't teens flipping burgers, either: they were teacher's aides, ambulance drivers, hospital workers, people with college degrees doing very important work. Believe it or not, 30 million people in the US work full time but are still below poverty level. That's just disgusting in one of the richest countries in the world.
Some states, like Hawaii, New York and California, have been forced to raise their minimum wage because the cost of living there is so high. I am shocked the my own state hasn't raised it because rent here costs twice what someone making $5.15 an hour can afford. The wage needs to be raised throughout the US, pronto. We need to contact our elected officials and make this a priority since they seem oblivious to it.
I will start posting about other topics when I get my computer fixed. Right now, I'm having to type every paragraph twice because the computer crashes so frequently. I hope we can schedule a repair sometime next week after Dan gets home.
At least I can afford a computer.....
I'm glad someone is taking this to the mainstream and giving it the exposure it deserves. I remember how difficult it was for me to get by on $5 an hour, and that was 12 years ago! My car was literally falling apart, and I could neither afford to get a new one or fix the one I had. I couldn't rely on public transportation because I worked overnights, and had I not been married to someone with insurance, I would have had no health care coverage whatsoever. As it was, I had no vacation, no holidays, no sick time. When I got bronchitis and lost my voice, causing me to miss three days of work, I was nearly fired. And I wasn't flipping burgers someplace....this was at the biggest talk radio station in the state, where some of the hosts were earning six figures a year!
The "Super Size" guy and his wife both worked for minimum wage for 30 days, and just to make it fair could not use credit cards or health insurance. They also at one point "borrowed" a niece and nephew for a weekend to see how much more difficult it was with kids in the house. I think the wife had to walk to work. Not suprisingly, one job apiece was not enough, so before long, the guy was working 16 hours a day. Both of them got cranky from lack of sleep and from disagreements over spending. It's sad watching a couple arguing over buying pop, candy and bread, but I imagine it happens all the time when you're worried about whether or not you'll be able to pay the rent. And then every low wage earner's nightmare happened....two trips to the ER. They couldn't get in at the free clinic, so they had to do what everyone else without insurance must do. I'm sorry it happened to them, but it did perfectly illustrate just how fine the line is between staying afloat and falling behind. And a serious illness could make a minimum wage earner homeless in no time.
Oprah also profiled several people around the country who lived on minimum wage all the time. Most had no insurance, sick time, child care or a home of their own. Many couldn't afford a vehicle and had to spend hours a day commuting by bus to get to and from their jobs. One woman lived in a homeless shelter because minimum wage was not enough to pay rent on a one-bedroom apartment. And these people weren't teens flipping burgers, either: they were teacher's aides, ambulance drivers, hospital workers, people with college degrees doing very important work. Believe it or not, 30 million people in the US work full time but are still below poverty level. That's just disgusting in one of the richest countries in the world.
Some states, like Hawaii, New York and California, have been forced to raise their minimum wage because the cost of living there is so high. I am shocked the my own state hasn't raised it because rent here costs twice what someone making $5.15 an hour can afford. The wage needs to be raised throughout the US, pronto. We need to contact our elected officials and make this a priority since they seem oblivious to it.
I will start posting about other topics when I get my computer fixed. Right now, I'm having to type every paragraph twice because the computer crashes so frequently. I hope we can schedule a repair sometime next week after Dan gets home.
At least I can afford a computer.....
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