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If you want to see another take on the whole problem, go to Netflix and watch the 30 Days episode called Minimum Wage. It's the same guy who did Supersize Me.

If you want to see another take on the whole problem, go to Netflix and watch the 30 Days episode called Minimum Wage. It's the same guy who did Supersize Me. He and his girlfriend try to work and live on minimum wage for a month. Doesn't go much better for them than it does for players of this game.

hugh3 15y ago
An experiment like that proves nothing if it's being undertaken by somebody who starts out with the agenda of proving how damn hard it is to survive on minimum wage. It's far too easy to make deliberately stupid decisions, like the $40 belt mentioned elsewhere as a feature of Nickel and Dimed. What I want to see is the opposite -- someone who goes to live on minimum wage for a month in order to prove it's not all that bad, and we can see what happens to them. They have the incentive to try hard to make it all work. I know this has been done at least once. I could do this experiment... if I thought it was likely to sell me some books. First thing I'd do, though, would be to move the hell away from the San Francisco Bay Area. I don't know where exactly, but aiming for a combination of low unemployment and low housing costs I think I'll choose Iowa. Cedar Rapids sounds nice (never been there, it just has a good name). Now, minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and let's assume I only work 40 hours a week -- that's $1284 a month. I assume I'm not paying significant taxes. Looks like I can rent a decent place for $500 a month. Fifty bucks a week for groceries. Yeah, I can do this.
- deleted 15y ago
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- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  >Fifty bucks a week for groceries. Yeah, I can do this. // It's actually not hard, IMO, to live on a low income for a short period. It's when your living accommodation starts to fall apart, the clothes you've been wearing for 10 years are all holed and worn out, you're missing meals, you always have to say no to your kids, you never get a trip out, you never get a change from cheap food, poorly made clothing, a cold house, etc., it's knowing you have to work if you're sick, have no pension, no savings. It's the dull drudgery of it that wears one down, erodes ones hope.
- dbingham 15y ago
  I don't think they went into it with an agenda of proving how hard it is. Morgan's got an agenda for sure, but he's generally pretty good about putting it aside it seems to me. In any case, what got them was the health costs. Which is partly bad luck. But I mean, you go long enough you're going to eventually have to go to the doctor. And with out insurance that costs you an ARM and a LEG.

hugh3 15y ago

An experiment like that proves nothing if it's being undertaken by somebody who starts out with the agenda of proving how damn hard it is to survive on minimum wage. It's far too easy to make deliberately stupid decisions, like the $40 belt mentioned elsewhere as a feature of Nickel and Dimed. What I want to see is the opposite -- someone who goes to live on minimum wage for a month in order to prove it's not all that bad, and we can see what happens to them. They have the incentive to try hard to make it all work. I know this has been done at least once. I could do this experiment... if I thought it was likely to sell me some books. First thing I'd do, though, would be to move the hell away from the San Francisco Bay Area. I don't know where exactly, but aiming for a combination of low unemployment and low housing costs I think I'll choose Iowa. Cedar Rapids sounds nice (never been there, it just has a good name). Now, minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and let's assume I only work 40 hours a week -- that's $1284 a month. I assume I'm not paying significant taxes. Looks like I can rent a decent place for $500 a month. Fifty bucks a week for groceries. Yeah, I can do this.

deleted 15y ago
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pbhjpbhj 15y ago
>Fifty bucks a week for groceries. Yeah, I can do this. // It's actually not hard, IMO, to live on a low income for a short period. It's when your living accommodation starts to fall apart, the clothes you've been wearing for 10 years are all holed and worn out, you're missing meals, you always have to say no to your kids, you never get a trip out, you never get a change from cheap food, poorly made clothing, a cold house, etc., it's knowing you have to work if you're sick, have no pension, no savings. It's the dull drudgery of it that wears one down, erodes ones hope.
dbingham 15y ago
I don't think they went into it with an agenda of proving how hard it is. Morgan's got an agenda for sure, but he's generally pretty good about putting it aside it seems to me. In any case, what got them was the health costs. Which is partly bad luck. But I mean, you go long enough you're going to eventually have to go to the doctor. And with out insurance that costs you an ARM and a LEG.