Federal minimum wage is $7.25. If you work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks your annual gross income is $15,080. Your net pay (take home) would be approximately $12,060.
Here are some average expenses that most people are faced with to live:
Rent: $1356 per year for 2010. This equates to $16,252 per year. (http://www.rentjungle.com/)
Cost of Owning and Operating an Automobile per 15,000 miles (2008): $8487 (www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_03_14.html)
Food: For a family of four the annual average cost is between $11,752 and $13,988.
For a single female between the ages of 19 and 50 the average annual cost is $3432.
For a single male between the ages of 19 and 50 the average annual cost is $4004. (www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0716.pdf)
Utilities: The average annual cost of utilities is $3168. (http://www.whitefenceindex.com/)
Medical: $8160 per person per year. (www.cbsnews/stories/2009/02/24/health/main4824163.shtml)
Total expenses for a year is approximately $40,000. That is about $770 per week or $19.25 per hour. Minimum wage is just 37.7% of the national average to live in America today.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
United States of China
If we are not careful China will own us. Oh, my mistake. They are in the process of doing that. Oops. My bad. They are not taking over the United States, we are handing it to them on a silver platter.
Every time we outsource work to China we are handing them a little more control of the country. What happens when they decide to withhold products from being shipped to the U.S.? We manufacture so few items in the U. S. that it is becoming more and more difficult to see a "Made in America" tag.
Go into any retailer and look at where the products are made. You will find that most are made out of country. They are made in China, Indonsia, Pakistan, India or some other foriegn country. I went to buy some CFLs the other day and found that every one of them was made in China. That included Westinghouse and General Electric.
We created our own problems. We wanted inexpensive products and what we are getting is cheap products. The quality of the products that we have purchased have decreased more and more. We may now get our less expensive products, but now we have to replace them on a more frequent basis.
Remember that in the1950's that "Made in Japan" meant cheap and poor quality. In the 2000's it has become "Made in China". When do we make it stop?
Every time we outsource work to China we are handing them a little more control of the country. What happens when they decide to withhold products from being shipped to the U.S.? We manufacture so few items in the U. S. that it is becoming more and more difficult to see a "Made in America" tag.
Go into any retailer and look at where the products are made. You will find that most are made out of country. They are made in China, Indonsia, Pakistan, India or some other foriegn country. I went to buy some CFLs the other day and found that every one of them was made in China. That included Westinghouse and General Electric.
We created our own problems. We wanted inexpensive products and what we are getting is cheap products. The quality of the products that we have purchased have decreased more and more. We may now get our less expensive products, but now we have to replace them on a more frequent basis.
Remember that in the1950's that "Made in Japan" meant cheap and poor quality. In the 2000's it has become "Made in China". When do we make it stop?
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Wage Slave
I have been a wage slave for several years now for a company who is taking advantage of the economy to take advantage of their employees. They very rarely hire or promote workers to full time positions because they do not want to pay benefits. They are cutting costs by not replacing very many of the employees who are terminated or quit. Therefore, the employees that stay have to pick up the extra work load of those employees that no longer work there. The management gives lip service to how they appreciate what we do, but they are just words. They talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. I know I am tired of being a wage slave, but because of the economy any job is better than no job. Right now I am not sure. How many of us put up with the employer who tells you that you should be thankful you have a job? Talk about cohersive.
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