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I could survive just fine off a full-time minimum wage job in my state of Michigan. That's 9.45/hour or about $1500/month. I rent a pretty nice place in a colle

I could survive just fine off a full-time minimum wage job in my state of Michigan. That's 9.45/hour or about $1500/month. I rent a pretty nice place in a college town for $550/month (across the street from campus, middle of downtown, utilities included). I eat mostly pasta and canned soup, but that's just because it's easy and cheap, and I do go out to eat with my girlfriend once or twice a week. let's say another $700/month for money, phone bill, gas, and walking-around money. Just to round it out let's add $200/month to put into saving for unexpected expenses and $100/month for car insurance or anything else I forgot. I'm on my parent's health insurance, I think if that were not an option it would really complicate things. Google says the average annual health insurance premium is $15,500, which would basically be my entire yearly pay. I think when you work more than 30 hours your employer is supposed to pay some of that, and maybe there's subsidies too for people on low income, I'm not really sure how it works. So basically, the current minimum wage is fine for me. For a single parent with 3 kids, it would obviously not be nearly enough. But also, I'm not sure I'm capable of doing any work that's worth a living wage for a single parent with 3 kids, so raising the minimum wage that high would probably put me out of a job. Maybe the minimum wage should be set as high as it can be without costing too many jobs, then the government should give everyone the support they need to feed their families and not be homeless.

tjr225 6y ago
Dude, I’m from Michigan. It’s getting expensive there fast. If you think you’re immune to what is happening everywhere else you are in for a rude awakening. Before my wife and I left in 2014 or so we looked at a decent bungalow in Kalamazoo for roughly 40,000. Now you can’t find a house in that neighborhood for under 150k- and it will be a dump. I bought a house there around a year ago before deciding it wasn’t a good fit and I still made like 15k after 10 months. It’s insane. Mind you a good job in Kalamazoo pays 60-80k tops? Sure remote work is a thing but it’s a leash. Traverse City or Ann Arbor are bordering on Portland prices and there are limited job prospects in either place relative to Portland. This would’ve been unacceptable to our parents but they’re making a killing off of their investments so they don’t give a shit. I don’t know what is happening but housing is getting expensive everywhere and fast.
- anchpop 6y ago
  I expect that the solution to that problem is to directly address it via zoning or price controls, not indirectly by raising the minimum wage
  - tjr225 6y ago
    They tried that in San Francisco and it only got worse.
sandydan 6y ago
Even on your parents insurance if you only had yourself it will eventually get very complicated. co-pays, out of network doctors taking care of you while you are under after a bout of appendicitis goes wrong, cars breaking down, parents randomly needing help to make ends meet because of all of the same. Speaking from 20+ years of adulthood nearly half of which was below the poverty line there are more poverty traps than you can possibly imagine that minimum wage or even much more doesn’t even come close to avoiding. The available recourses to you when those events occur are grim. Calculate the interest on payday loans, if you happen to need one it is exceedingly hard to stop needing them as they drive you down further and further. Life got considerably more stable after making programmer salaries. Minimum wage in the US is just waiting for the next big thing to push you further and further down. I was super lucky to find out I was good at this computer thing in my 20s (and that I had family to lend me 500 bucks for my very first and very bargain basement computer in that era). It felt close to indentured servitude other than I could change jobs, but I didn’t get ahead or even tread water. No vacations, no time off when sick, and 60-100 hours of work a week for years. I definitely would have preferred just getting a check from the government and going back to school while I got some real skills, or even that same minimum wage with a good transit network and medical care that didn’t find ways to take all my very limited savings. In the end, unless people have gone through the sort of nightmares life can throw you it is hard to see how much money you need in the states to be stable and it takes a lot of education and knowledge to navigate all of it, which if you are on minimum wage you probably don’t have. Something has gotta give the situation is not viable.

tjr225 6y ago

Dude, I’m from Michigan. It’s getting expensive there fast. If you think you’re immune to what is happening everywhere else you are in for a rude awakening. Before my wife and I left in 2014 or so we looked at a decent bungalow in Kalamazoo for roughly 40,000. Now you can’t find a house in that neighborhood for under 150k- and it will be a dump. I bought a house there around a year ago before deciding it wasn’t a good fit and I still made like 15k after 10 months. It’s insane. Mind you a good job in Kalamazoo pays 60-80k tops? Sure remote work is a thing but it’s a leash. Traverse City or Ann Arbor are bordering on Portland prices and there are limited job prospects in either place relative to Portland. This would’ve been unacceptable to our parents but they’re making a killing off of their investments so they don’t give a shit. I don’t know what is happening but housing is getting expensive everywhere and fast.

anchpop 6y ago
I expect that the solution to that problem is to directly address it via zoning or price controls, not indirectly by raising the minimum wage
- tjr225 6y ago
  They tried that in San Francisco and it only got worse.

sandydan 6y ago

Even on your parents insurance if you only had yourself it will eventually get very complicated. co-pays, out of network doctors taking care of you while you are under after a bout of appendicitis goes wrong, cars breaking down, parents randomly needing help to make ends meet because of all of the same. Speaking from 20+ years of adulthood nearly half of which was below the poverty line there are more poverty traps than you can possibly imagine that minimum wage or even much more doesn’t even come close to avoiding. The available recourses to you when those events occur are grim. Calculate the interest on payday loans, if you happen to need one it is exceedingly hard to stop needing them as they drive you down further and further. Life got considerably more stable after making programmer salaries. Minimum wage in the US is just waiting for the next big thing to push you further and further down. I was super lucky to find out I was good at this computer thing in my 20s (and that I had family to lend me 500 bucks for my very first and very bargain basement computer in that era). It felt close to indentured servitude other than I could change jobs, but I didn’t get ahead or even tread water. No vacations, no time off when sick, and 60-100 hours of work a week for years. I definitely would have preferred just getting a check from the government and going back to school while I got some real skills, or even that same minimum wage with a good transit network and medical care that didn’t find ways to take all my very limited savings. In the end, unless people have gone through the sort of nightmares life can throw you it is hard to see how much money you need in the states to be stable and it takes a lot of education and knowledge to navigate all of it, which if you are on minimum wage you probably don’t have. Something has gotta give the situation is not viable.