He sounds like my daughter. And I have to say that when people express such
values, it does affect how I feel about them. I won't stop loving my daughter,
but when she expresses sentiments like that, I like her less because the lack
of concern for the welfare of others says something about her values and who
she is. It's a view of life that infects one's actions, how one treats other
people, and whether or not one would object if government policy hurts
categories of people who aren't one's relatives or close friends. If you don't
care about the working poor, you don't believe that our society should ensure
that everyone's basic needs are met. All sorts of things follow from that.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2017 12:45 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: housing in New York City
If you work for $10 per hour, and you manage to get in 10 hours a day, and a
full 5 days per week for 52 weeks, you will earn a whopping $26,000.
Working a 40 hour week at $15 per hour for a full 52 weeks will bring
you about $31,200. To make over $40,000 per year you will need to
get 52 weeks of 40 hours each, with an hourly wage of $20. This brings in
$41,600 And that is before any taxes or medical or FICA. You can count on at
least $10,000 coming off the top for taxes, Medical, and other fees.
Now you have close to $31,000 to cover house or apartment, utilities, food and
incidental expenses,transportation expenses, clothing, and on and on. You can
plug in the numbers for you and your family, but
$41,600 a year is not going to enable you to save enough to pull your family
out of danger of the poverty line.
This afternoon my wife's family gathered at our house to celebrate her mother's
91st birthday. My brother-in-law, a 67 year old Vite Nam Marine veteran, said
to me, "These people wanting $15 per hour for entry level jobs are not doing
work that is worth that much".
I said, "Look at it from the other side. The level of income in order to live
at or just above the poverty line is actually closer to $20 per hour. You were
not responsible for a rising cost of living that requires $20 per hour to
survive. Your employer is not satisfied in running a business that allows him
to live at the poverty line, so why should he expect you to be satisfied with
it?"
Sure, the boss will need to adjust his prices a few pennies on the dollar, but
so will all the other businesses in town. Why should we expect that you should
sacrifice any bit of this bare bones living in order to assist your boss in
living a life style you will never attain?" My brother-in-law made one more
try at convincing me that some jobs are just not worth such an amount of money.
"Flipping a hamburger doesn't take any real skill", he argued.
"But flipping hundreds of hamburgers each day, day after day, as well as
keeping current on sanitation regulations, and all of the other foods you must
prepare and serve is worth a decent living, if it is important enough for the
business to provide a service to the community".
We left it at that and went on to other topics. I doubt I convinced him, and
for certain he didn't sway my belief. But we like each other and we both
understand that our fighting over the minimum wage will not change anything,
but it could prove harmful to our family relations.
Besides, I know that I'm right!!!
Carl Jarvis
On 7/17/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I just heard an item on the WBAI Pacifica news. The Homeless have been
demonstrating because new low cost housing is being made available to
the poor. The housing is for families with incomes as low as $40,000
or $45,000.
The problem is that many working people in the city don't make $40,000.
Their incomes are $30,000. There is no affordable housing for them.
Shelters
exist and a great deal of money is spent for them. But there's no
permanent housing The demonstrators were marching in front of an empty
lot, owned by the city, that had been just sitting there for 47 years.
They would like the city to build housing on this property in which
they could afford to live.
Miriam