I hear this load of shit every election so here is my question. What is a living wage? How much a month? What should it buy? What is the minimum a person needs to considered living (number and age of TVs, cars, microwaves, cable package,etc.)
The living wage level is usually the wage a full-time worker would need to earn to support a family above federal poverty line, ranging from 100% to 130% of the poverty measurement. The wage rates specified by living wage ordinances range from a low of $6.25 in Milwaukee to a high of $12 in Santa Cruz.
This isn’t my own, I got it from the Economic Policy Institute (no idea of whether or not it’s reputable). Here’s the url:
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_livingwage_livingwagefacts
What goes into the making of the poverty line?
I think that’s a more complicated question. Apparently there’s two poverty measurements at the federal level. The first comes from the Census Bureau measuring how many people are in poverty, and the second comes from the Dept. of Health and Human Services. The Census Bureau takes their threshold and applies it to each family to fin out if they’re under or over their magic poverty number. I don’t know the formula, but it includes cost of housing, food, medical care, etc. It doesn’t count stuff like cable TV, Internet access, litespeed bicycles, etc. For a 4 person family (2 parents, 2 children under 18), the poverty threshold is $18,660, for instance.
H&HS apparently uses a simplified version of the Census Bureaus thresholds for administrative purposes only. The H&HS numbers will just go by # of people in the family, not by number of adults, number of kids, etc. They have a sinple chart that says if you live in California, and have a 4 person family, you are in poverty if your income is 18,400 per year. The number you usually here as the poverty line is the Census Bureau number. Here’s a link to the current thresholds to find out if you’re in poverty or not.
In some cities and municipalities, it’s mandated that a business located in the city or municipality has to pay its workers a predetermined “survival wage”. 10 or 11 dollars per hour is the norm, I think.
Tony
what’s the average family income in the US?
(out of curiosity).
"what’s the average family income in the US? "
According to the Census Bureau, the median household income is about $43,000.
That’s not bad not great but not bad. So how is the US falling apart if the standard of living in the US is so high? (Not asking you personally. More of a general question.)
I think that if you judge just on this number, people could argue that median income is not increasing as it should. There was no change between 2002 and 2003, and before that it had decreased for a couple years. That’s why people are saying this is the first generation that could be worse off than their parents. Obviously there are a lot more factors, but if you limit the discussion to median income, that’s the argument, I think.
just a wild guess: the level of debt for each family…
according to what I have seen, most families have debts much higher than should be permitted with these types of salaries.
so $43,000 is for the whole family. it’s not $86,000 for the couple…that’s for both??
heck, no wonder why people are happy in El Paso. the avg is about $22,000 per person (so equal to median income), but cost of living much lower than many areas in the US and the sun shines year round.
How well we are living compared to previous generations is impossible to determine. Remember, Americans wanted much less in the 1940s and 50s than people desire today. There are many books written about it: One is “The Overspent American” written 7 years ago. There is so much more crap to want these days.
In some respects, inflation is practically nonexistent: Clothes, food, TVs, computers, crappy bicycles and many goods and services are cheaper than ever, when average wages are factored in. Even gas prices are not out of line at all, compared to historic trends.
HOWEVER, it’s obvious to point out that housing, college tuition and, of course, the cost of medicine is OFF THE HOOK and has been rising at 10 to 20 percent per year for a decade or so (that’s a guess) … The debt question is huge, too: Americans are many times more in debt than they were years ago and save practically nothing. I’m afraid this will come back to bite us all in the ass. -TB
More income and poverty info here: http://www.census.gov/
How well we are living compared to previous generations is impossible to determine. Remember, Americans wanted much less in the 1940s and 50s than people desire today. There are many books written about it: One is “The Overspent American” written 7 years ago. There is so much more crap to want these days.
In some respects, inflation is practically nonexistent: Clothes, food, TVs, computers, crappy bicycles and many goods and services are cheaper than ever, when average wages are factored in. Even gas prices are not out of line at all, compared to historic trends.
HOWEVER, it’s obvious to point out that housing, college tuition and, of course, the cost of medicine is OFF THE HOOK and has been rising at 10 to 20 percent per year for a decade or so (that’s a guess) … The debt question is huge, too: Americans are many times more in debt than they were years ago and save practically nothing. I’m afraid this will come back to bite us all in the ass. -TB
More income and poverty info here: http://www.census.gov/
So how is the US falling apart if the standard of living in the US is so high?<><More of a general question.)
Here’s a general answer: The “standard of living” is a purely materialistic measure that is very little related to quality of life.
Let me know if you want a more detailed answer.
Exactly. I keep hearing all the Dems and their zombie army tak about the pure economic terror we are going through. When I drive down the street I see tons of fat pople, lots of cars, store after store after selling everything on Earth, the streets a packed with cars and this is in the “hood”,“the ghetto”, “the wrong side of town.”
Isn’t the whole stupid idea of a ton of people left out of the American Dream really just the fact that a ton of Americans can’t balance their check book or can’t upgrade their toys as fast as the rich.
I’ve been to many poor countries and being fat with a car and cable TV where not sign of poverty.
This is actually a big issue in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They passed an ordinance two years ago (I think) most of the law suits worked through the court system this year. 1/1/04 the living wage was supposed to be 8.50/hr going up 1/hr every two years. Santa Fe is a shitty place to live since they are below the national income average and above the national cost of living average so the numbers may be skewed a bit.
but Santa Fe (I was told) has a ‘Creperie Bretonne’ ran by two people from Brittany (west of France)…not sure if you ever went there, but brittany crepes are awesome…highly recommended!
my wife and I are planning to visit Santa Fe just to try them!
Just make sure you pronounce creperie “correctly”, the “English” way. On my first day ever in Oz, we went to a creperie in Ackland Street. We were just on our way from the airport driving home to Mornington, stopping there for soemthing to eat and I was still quite tired…didn’t think as far as that and sure ordered some seafood-“crap”. The waitress wasn’t too impressed, nor was my future mother-in-law!
…but I was still glad I didn’t get what I had ordered!
Great now I have to go back to New Mexico. I thought I was done with that state forever.
I had them at the international folk art museum they are pretty good. Santa Fe has great museums and art galleries, the burning of zobzobra is pretty cool (they already did it this year though) imagine a 60’ puppet on fire. Very cool.
If you roll through Albuquerque onboard the USS Slowtwitch. Let me know and I’ll take you out for dinner or something.