People can't afford to live on minimum wage because of inflation - which in our case, several would argue is a direct result of government spending. Fix this problem first - then reform welfare. Also, I'd like to know how many people on minimum wage are actually just teen-aged kids with no bills. After taking out that # - how many people are actually trying to "live" on minimum wage? What I think this really comes down to; I could, if i needed to, survive on much less than I do now. We often get caught up in keeping up with the jones's & deciding that simple luxuries are necessities and hey... I'm guilty of it too.
A full time job of minimum wage is roughly 15,000 a year. Now I'm not saying I could live on that - but lets look at this a little closer. Lets presume if I'm on minimum wage, I didn't go to college, so I have no student loans. No student loans. Boom - already $250 a month back into slackers budget that I don't have. I could live in value place rental & get free cable / water / gym etc if I wanted to be extravagant, but I'm sure I could find a place for less than the $670 a month it would cost to live there. Lets be realistic and say I rent a place for ~500 a month - which there are places for 425 out there. utilities gas/water/electric - no cable - no internet & no phone for less than $150 a month... reasonable? So - we're at 625 a month and we still need to feed ourselves. Can I feed a family of four on $200 a month? Chicken & rice is pretty damn cheep. throw in some mac & cheese & pb&j sandwiches and hell yeah - $200 is more than enough. Walk to work because you can't afford a car. So there. It's possible. You want to get farther in life? Stay at your crappy minimum wage job and work your way up to manager. Opportunities will present themselves. But it's like this, I'm not going to feel sorry for the person working in a minimum wage job trying to feed their family because if I throw them a bone, I'll be walking all over their pride and likely inhibiting them from looking for their own bones. In Haiti after the hurricane, no one was thinking about how they were going to rebuild because they were too busy fighting over the scraps of food being tossed from red cross trucks.
They have a job. What is the government doing that makes them dependent? Without the food stamps, nobody could work those low paying jobs, business owners would have to reduce their total number of jobs and increase pay, and they would have a reduced profit margin. This also leads to reduced tax revenue. The idea that food stamps for the employed is a net loser for the government budget is not necessarily true.
What, kids don't need work?
Anyway, Are these people settling for low paying jobs because they know they can supplement their income with food stamps? I don't buy it. If they can get a higher paying job without food stamps, they would. If you're saying they won't take a low paying job because they can't afford to live, then they're left with two options. Starve or find some other way to feed yourself. Either of those options do not weigh on my conscious because I'm not forcing them to make those decisions and I'm not financially supporting their choice to die or do something else. If you HAD to, now that I think about it, you probably could live on minimum wage with a little swallowing of pride and a realistic view of $$ management.
