First you start off in a city that was ranked "the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau" and named "the third wealthiest city in terms of earnings in the United States by NerdWallet in 2013" Something tells me that if you were making $9 per hour this probably wouldn't be the ideal city to live in. How out of touch with the poor are you?
I'm only using what I know. I've never been able to live outside of Pleasanton until recently. And based on what I've seen, other places aren't that much better, either. But probably, yeah.
Besides, don't poor people live in NY and SF, all places with similar indices? It's not like "just because you're poor, live out in the farms." Sometimes you're also tied down somewhere because of family obligations.
I guess that answers that. You're very out of touch. If someone made $9 an hour you think spending $1000 per month on rent is a good idea?
Yes, when the alternative is $1800 for a decent single-person apartment.
If you really think there is no available housing in the area and surrounding areas for less than $1000 you are delusional. How do you think those people are currently living? Its called roomates and splitting larger units or even living in a cheaper area that isn't the wealthiest midsize city. $10 per day isn't that bad for food at all. Don't go out every meal and that buys you plenty.
I never said it was impossible, I said only that it was not good for one's health.
No I didn't say that. The person you are describing seems incompetent. College would probably be a waste of money for them especially if high school was a "rough time". Again you show how out of touch you are with the poor. Applications and SATs have fee waivers.
I added that part because that was me. I had a very rough time in High school myself — I dealt with tons of issues, personal and physical. My gpa was around 3.2 and that was lucky, I was more like 2.6 rest of the year (everyone else at my school got 3.8s or higher), not nearly good enough to get into a good school.
And sure, I didn't need to sign up for waivers, because my parents could afford it. But I didn't have the time nor energy to sign up for them, either, because of my problems. I was only lucky because my parents had the money. What if they didn't? I feel very blessed, and want to make sure that I don't get into my head that I did it all on my own (which is much worse than the alternative).
Someone must be hugely unqualified if after 100 applications that is the best offer that person can get. I can't imagine a worker that bad. That person needs to learn how to do something. I'm not saying college, but some basic skill.
It's been my experience that what I described is exactly the case. If you don't have any connections, then the only jobs you can find are minimum wage jobs. Believe me — I've tried. I'm a good worker — aside from being slightly late every so often, I can do any job that I want, well.
I may be inaccurate because of whatever reason, but isn't America supposed to be the land of the Dream? Any man, fresh it of High School, can just get a job and live comfortably, as long as they live within their means? I literally never spent any money other than what I needed, and if I counted rent, food, and other stuff I would still have ended up even every month (Netflix and everything like that came out of some misc. money I came upon, so I don't even count that).
Wait in your example the person is only working 40 hrs a week and now they don't even have time to contact people? This is a joke right? You've shown how out of touch you are with the poor in this country yet you try to go even further and talk about the jobless in developing countries. Even on minimum wage the quality of life is much higher here. Fast food of your choice is not close to the "bare-minimum food". Do you know any actual poor people or are they not allowed in your city? And yes I'm sure these people have basic electronics that are used just for reporting to work.
Try living 30 minutes away from work (as I did). Then also, imagine working a very physical job. Standing in front of a stove all day, cooking and moving boxes around (even small boxes can catch up to you eventually). By the end of all that, your feet will hurt, your body aching, and your soul crushed. Once you get home, all you do is sleep. Luckily I worked a little less than full time, so I still could do things. But only barely.
As I said, I live a fairly decent life. But extrapolating from my experience, take away the luxuries having somewhat rich parents provides, and that's what I came up with. It's very presumptuous of me to say I know what they feel like, but that was my experience.
Thankfully people are more capable and resourceful than you are. Yes you are going to have to have roommates and not eat out every meal but that isn't seen as crazy to most people, especially when they know money is tight.
Not everyone can cook, nor have the time to cook. If I cook, then I'm going to either have to subsist on shitty TV dinners, or spend a lot of money on pots and pans, that I don't have the money to spare.
As I said, working all day is horrible. All you want to do is sleep.
and yes, eating Chinese takeout all the time because it's free at work will destroy your health eventually.
You seem to be under the impression that I said minimum wage is impossible to live under. I did not say that. I said that it is possible, but in a way that is unacceptable to my standards of human living. Not for me — I can accept those standards of living, because I am my own self — I can wish pain for myself. But I can't accept that that's what other people have to go through, and in my experience, that is what happens. I may be wrong.
Again, I'm going through my experience. Other people may have the skills, and good wishes upon them, but I can speak for a lot of people when I say that sometimes cooking every meal just isn't realistic.
And sure, roommates are an option, but that still leaves me at $800 a month. I won't comment further on that because I clearly know nothing about rent.
Your problem with minimum wage is that you don't understand it. You seem so distant from the reality of people truly living on it that you've made up a ridiculous scenario in your head. Quality of life has absolutely kept up, even for minimum wage earners.
This account may be off, but is extrapolated from what I've experienced in the past year. I don't like my family very much, so I wanted to get away from them somewhat. Instead of "rebelling," I signed up for my own credit card (I literally started out from scratch — no parents help, no authorized user, no money assurances, literally from 0), looked for my own job, managed my own bank account and debit sheet (yes, I had my own separate bank account). That was how I "rebelled." Now admittedly I sucked at it quite hard, as I had my essentials covered, so I extrapolated from there. It may be off a little, but nothing too drastic, I feel. Maybe I'm wrong.