Minimum wage earners are often just one step from homelessness. This recent news story in the Sacramento Bee explains why.
You can read this story in its entirety on the web at:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14269140p-15080280c.html
Monique Garcia earned minimum wage for most of a decade before
becoming homeless. She washed dishes, swept floors, collected
parking tickets, worked cash registers, staffed drive-through
windows and flipped burgers. Despite that, two months ago
the 26-year-old single mom found herself with too little
money for rent and no place to go.
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21 comments:
I am reading the book Nickel and Dimed;not getting by in America and this is the story of many of the people in the book. We need to move away from mimium wage and give people a living wage. In the book it says that 1/5 of the homeless people have a full time and to me that scarey.
That is scary. It is too bad that something cannot be done about those figures. I cannot even imagine working my butt off and not even having enough money to have a roof over my head. Even though it is bad now, I do not see things changing for the better...and that makes me sad.
I just took another look at the comments on the original story in the Sacramento Be. There are now 27. You'll find a much wider variety of opinion, plus some terrific insights.
I think there are more people then we realize on the streets or struggling. The system does not work, if you make too much then you do not qualify for the programs out there Too much being 700/mo for yourself and one child.
The system would rather have you not work or be productive, it is not for people that barely are getting by but that make too much to qualify. I am grateful I had someone to take me and my children in when we were struggling. Someday I hope to pay back the favor to someone else in need. Good but sad topic.
I would have to agree with Lisa, that there are probably more people struggling than we as a society realize. For example, my grandmother was on commodities through the tribe and because she got $7.00 more than the total allowance, they cut her off, then she went and got on foodstamps and then only received $40.00 a month. How does that help someone? The "SYSTEM" doesn't help people who really need the help.
It is very sad to think there are so many people living in poverty. The "system" has many flaws but has not failed completely. It is designed to be a safety net to help those who have or continue to sink into financial trouble. The real issue is political!! The minumin wage has been the same for many years, however inflation and cost of living continues to increase.
We as a society need to make big changes. We allow men to be paid millions for catching or throwing a ball. Yet there are people who save lives, who have jobs that some would consider to be a nightmare job. And these people are making nothing. I am none of these, but I am single and trying to do the right things and make ends meet. It's strange when you try to do the right thing, how expensive it can be.
This is a tough subject because it is happening all around us. It is sad the number of people that are living in poverty. Also how these programs are to help the people, but in a way they are not working because they make to much money. This is a never ending problem.
I find it appaling that peoiple can be making millions and millions of dollars and not be saving lives or anything like that but yet all they can find to do with their money is buy really big houses and really nice cars. I think that it is hard to even be considered middle class. Now a days people my age and a little older graduate college and are indebt before they even begin to start their lives because of school loans. Its a crazy web we weave!
Kristina Thu
I know how hard it is to live on minimum wage, especially if you have a family you are trying to support. When I was a child, my mother used to work for the Judicial system, this was way back in the early 80's, when employees were only paid $2 - $3 dollars an hour. It was hard for my mom. It showed in a lot of ways. My mother also told me of a time when the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal employees had no where to cash their checks because the tribe had gone broke, can you imagine how horrible that must of been? Even today, I see people struggling, I struggled myself for a few years on minimum wage, it's hard. Times like these your thankful for your family, because they're the only ones who can truly understand your hardships. Only if the government can open their eyes to the suffering people go through, barely scraping by, trying to make ends meet. We just gotta keep hoping for the better and that someday things will turn out for the best.
Cassandra LS
I think that minimum wage needs to increase and that the government needs to do more to help out people who are struggling to make ends meet. Things aren't going to get better unless the government, and everyone else, decides to do something about it.
Rachael Hayenga
People seem to forget that no matter how much education, money, material things or lack of these things, they can be taken away in a matter of seconds. What would you do then? Remember Hurricane Katrina, leaving people homeless and with the clothes on there backs, if that? Katrina did not discriminate on who was going to live or die based how much education a person had or what they had and so on and so forth... Seems as if people are forgetting to be thankful for the day they have made it through alive and able to go back out there and use the physical things given as a gift to them to make a living. Does it take a disaster to happen to make people realize who they are or stop to think who they have become?
If your a doctor/lawyer/highly educated or a day laborer/no GED/GED/homeless and a disaster strikes and you loose everything at a moments notice, you loose all material things EXCEPT what you have learned or your homeless and didn't have the material things in the first place, then you have to start all over rebuilding, reestablishing, maybe relearning and you ended up next to the homeless person. That person has a heart and will help another person to learn to adapt with your surroundings. Why does it take these situations for people to understand? And if your fortunate and have not ever had to stop and realize then count your blessings…God Speed!
tlw
Its so sad to see people work so hard and come away with almost nothing. Its not just the money issue either, some of these single mothers working all the time have no time to spend with their kids. And that leads to other problems. There definetly needs to be more focus on helping those people out that are really in need.
Kayla Nelson
This article was written very well, and it is so hard to believe that there are people out there who work and work and make no money. In today's world, minimum wage salary does not make ends meet. There was a comment posted last year saying we need to give people a living wage, not a minimum wage, and i absolutely agree, because a living wage and minimum wage are 2 completely different wages.
Molly Lapp
i think that the goverment should see how its people live first hand and then should raise min. wage up as need to suit housing, food, and needs of children. i dout this will happen soo because the goverment dosent care who starves and dies thay just care that thay are getting enough monery to live in fancy houses, eathing steak and putting thier children through college well i have to do all thay by myself and thay should know thay most normal people dont have that much money and thay have to deal with thay some day!!!!
SaRa ReUrInK
i think that the goverment should see how its people live first hand and then should raise min. wage up as need to suit housing, food, and needs of children. i dout this will happen soo because the goverment dosent care who starves and dies thay just care that thay are getting enough monery to live in fancy houses, eathing steak and putting thier children through college well i have to do all thay by myself and thay should know thay most normal people dont have that much money and thay have to deal with thay some day!!!!
SaRa ReUrInK
It was a good article, I think its really sad to see people that cant make enough money to support themselves let alone a child. They should make minnimun wage higher.
I feel that 6.75 is appalling. It is very hard to get by on that amount. linsey
This article was good, i think it's sad when people who work hard still can't make a living. It's hard thou to support yourself on min. wage. 6.75 is a pretty high min wage thou.
I fill the article was well written and hits the points discussed in class as far as what we need to live comfortably to pay the bills. One suggestion is to make our Senators and Representatives live for a period of time in our shoes. I bet they would change their minds on the minimum wage, health care, and other facets of our life. It is hard to empathize if you have lived well off or had the money to avoid the suffering.
George
The article was very believable and pointed out some of the struggles that minimum wage earners face. I believe that each of us have to take a stand and get into politics and community service and pay attention to what is happening around the world and our community and even in our own back yard. Most of us do not realize that someone who is on minimum wage is also on other benefits paid by the State of Government to supplement enough funds to provide food, clothing and shelter. For instance, food stamps, housing, medicaid, shelter costs, medical assistance, and the earned income credit are other additives to most families who live on a minimum wage. By standing by and letting the minimum wage remain at a "pitiful" limit, we are fooling ourselves because it affects each and everyone of us not just the minimum wage earner or the employer. If we get off our chairs and go to local city, council, and State meetings, if we pay attention to who we vote for, if we campaign for issues of importance, if we each take a stand, changes can be made and policies can be changed. I believe that most of us do not realize that the next person living on minimum wage or less could be our daughter, our son, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. Even worse, living on the street. I like to believe that if I give a little more of myself and my time to polictical or community effort, and to our Lord, that maybe somewhere and at sometime when my loved ones are in need and I cannot be there that maybe somone else will be there to help them with food, shelter or clothing, or getting a better wage!
Tammy Ackerman
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