"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message hlink.net...
"Dee D. Flint" wrote:

(snip) The minimum wage is just high enough to keep a
single person with no dependents from starving and
freezing if they are willing to settle for bare bones survival.
It's never been higher than that.


Well, it's hardly even that today. While going to college in the early
70's, my near minimum wage paycheck was enough to rent a one bedroom duplex
w/garage ($100 per month) just outside LA (Ontario), furnish that duplex,
finance a car, feed the two of us, and pay for some school books ($320 per
month from the VA paid the tuition and other school costs). Today, my wife
pays almost as much for books and lab fees each semester as I paid for
tuition.

Let's do the math, shall we?

Say you were making $4000/yr (about $2/hr, ) back then. That's
$334/month. Out of that came rent ($100), furnishing ($20/mo?) food
($100?) car ($100 including gas and insurance?). Leaves $13.

That $320 from the VA was almost equal to your salary.

At $2/hr, the rent cost 50 hours' work. I presume utilities were
included.
Today 50 hrs work at minimum wage is what - $300?

And then there's taxes....

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote:

Let's do the math, shall we?

Say you were making $4000/yr (about $2/hr, ) back then.


I don't remember what I was paid back then (that was a long time, and a
lot of jobs, ago). All I do remember is that it was just barely above
minimum wage. But, for the purposes of your example, that salary figure is
probably good enough.


That's $334/month. Out of that came rent ($100), furnishing
($20/mo?) food ($100?) car ($100 including gas and insurance?).
Leaves $13.


Hey, we were hippies back then - we didn't pay that much for furniture and
much of what we had was homemade. ;-)

The car payments were also less than that. No insurance and about a tank
of gas a week (we rode bicycles almost as much as we drove the car - another
hippy thing).


That $320 from the VA was almost equal to your salary.


Yes, it was. And it was a real disaster when that check didn't arrive on
time for whatever reason (it didn't twice).


At $2/hr, the rent cost 50 hours' work. I presume utilities
were included.


I think everything except gas was included. We paid the gas bill
separately. But that was about it (we couldn't afford a phone).


Today 50 hrs work at minimum wage is what - $300?


Can you imagine even trying to rent an apartment in Southern California
for $300 today (just that - forget the other stuff)? I guess one could be
found but I probably wouldn't want to live in it. It would probably take
about a hundred hours of work at minimum wage today to find a decent
apartment in that area.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/