And if you want good versions of these things, you're more likely to find them in coastal urban cities, where basic cost of living (food and housing) is extremely high.
Remarking that "oh they'll be fine over there" when people are fleeing there for better resources is consigning a segment of our population to a permanent underclass status.
1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/17/the-s...
Show me one person in this country with two kids who makes $14/hr and doesn't feel like they're struggling. College is easy, I survived on <$9/hr in college but you don't see me pretending that what is supportive of a college lifestyle and what is supportive of normal people with normal lives are the same thing.
>Had I lived more rural in an area where entry level homes are <200k and not 600k+, that would of gone much farther.
It would've gone a bit further but certainly not 'much.'
>That being said, as an avid hiker, I spend a significant chunk of my time in places best labeled as "Nowhere, really".
Somehow I think even you realize that using 'I hike' as a proxy for 'I have familiarity with rural areas' is pretty lame.
Of course, a decent house in that area runs $80-100k, whereas the same house in the area I live outside of Boston would cost $400k, and you couldn't buy a property with an equivalent amount of land attached at any price in the Bay area.
My son is making about $30K a year ($2000 a month) and I helped him do his budget so I know what his expenses are:
Rent - $600
Car note - $300
Car Insurance - $250
Utilities - $350
That leaves him about $500 a month for "everything else".
Yes that puts him on the edge and thanks to the ACA he's still covered under our insurance until he turns 26 and if he needs a car repair we help him.
Two conclusions:
I think we should have universal health care as a nation.
If we had better mass transit, people wouldn't need cars and it would make finding a job easier.
According to the gross up calculator at psycheckcity.com he would need to make around $16.50/hour or $34000 a year to have enough cushion for things that happen. Strangely enough, that was also the salary I needed 20 years ago before I could make it on my own without asking my parents for help. I made that my first year out of college as a computer operator.
This is in metro Atlanta not podunk nowhere USA.
I made that amount when I was in college, in the DC area, and most certainly survived just fine. Had I lived more rural in an area where entry level homes are <200k and not 600k+, that would of gone much farther.
And the banjo-playing is mostly a joke, especially in Texas. That being said, as an avid hiker, I spend a significant chunk of my time in places best labeled as "Nowhere, really".