I was making $64/hr with one dependent, 150k in student loans w/ wild interest rates, 1 bedroom 1 bath rent, car payment on a Honda, 1 pet. I wasn't being frugal, yes, but literally was only saving like $3000 a year.
This was at, what I felt, was a class traitor job, so I left. Still struggling to find a full time job in my field that does not turn me into a class traitor
Even if I were to have doubled my savings, that's still only $500 savings a month on a 125k salary. Shit is fucking wild out here.
The only time it felt like me and my partner was making enough to live comfortably and save, I was making over $30/hour and she was making around $20/hour. We have 2 kids.
$15 am hour as a living wage is a fucking joke and it has been since it was first suggested.
It should've been $20/hr when it was proposed and now it's yeah more like $30/hr before that creeping feeling of "my life is in a delicate balance" might slightly be lifted (only slightly)
I think it's been made fairly clear that both parties have, in effect, abolished the minimum wage. It's already so low that absolutely no employer can even hire people at the minimum wage so it's irrelevant already in that way. The entire "point" of it, to put an absolute bottom that employers can't go below, like a "you can be this much of an asshole" line, is already irrelevant. The min wage, in theory, should always be made a bit higher than whatever the actual theoretical "minimum wage... to survive" is. So if it's actually lower than that number then it's meaningless. It has some meaning I guess... but not very much.
Feel like I'm writing the same thing 100 times there, but maybe one lib will read it and connect a synapse... unlikely
The silver lining is that the de facto abolishment of the minimum wage makes union organising more pressing. When the state and the market is abandoning workers, workers have to do shit themselves.
There is an argument to be had that a minimum wage becomes a de facto maximum wage in many jobs and sucks the air out of collective bargaining efforts that would have turned better results for workers. I don't know if I agree a hundred percent with this but it is the reason why Nordic unions are very opposed to having a European minimum wage.
And these are not even the crumbs they will actually give you if you are lucky, these are the crumbs that are way too good and unrealistic for them to give you.
One person trying to live off of 15 an hour here? You cannot.
Two adults living together making a combined 30? Doable with no kids and no extra expenses (better not have health issues, or car problems, or any dreams or aspirations beyond living with bare minimums)
I'm also in Bumfuck, though a bit closer to civilization and even $30/hr isn't enough. Rent has gone up 200% in the past 6 years and food has gone up almost 300%
Of my $1000/wk 90% goes to just paying bills, food, and rent.
Tragic seeing where Bernie has gone since 2020. How's that compromising and working with the Dems coming along? Shit like free college and M4A aren't even talked about anymore.