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A comment on 50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010. Parent comment

Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by tsotha on Thursday October 20, 2011 @04:34PM (#3136841)
Why do they seem low? $26k is $13/hr for someone working full time. There are a whole lot of people making less than $13/hr.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by geogra4 on Thursday October 20, 2011 @04:50PM (#3136913)
A lot of people live in a bubble where the only people they know where those who they went to (expensive private) college and (wealthy suburban) high school with. At that point you literally never get to come in contact with people not as fortunate as yourself. You get to believe that everyone had the same opportunities that you had, and that those who are earning less are just lazy or entitled. I'm not accusing the parent of that, just bringing some perspective to the debate.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by thret on Thursday October 20, 2011 @05:00PM (#3136972)
The legal minimum wage in Australia is $15.51, about $16 USD. I realise Americans are poor, but I had no idea it was so bad.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by yummyfajitas on Thursday October 20, 2011 @05:17PM (#3137068)
Don't feel bad for us, there are lots of places where things are worse. Australia, for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income

Adjusting for PPP, your $16 USD is only about $11.40. Australia is considerably more expensive than the US.

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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by thret on Friday October 21, 2011 @07:41PM (#3142220)
Actually Australia has the highest median wealth in the world.

http://au.ibtimes.com/news/234393/20111020/forex/australia-d...

Not sure why you think Australia is more expensive than the US. I visit the US every year and do not find this to be the case at all.

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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by getsat on Thursday October 20, 2011 @05:04PM (#3136986)
Minimum wages vary per state in the USA. States with higher cost of living (e.g., California) typically have higher minimum wages.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by tsotha on Friday October 21, 2011 @12:09AM (#3138368)
$16 USD in the US goes a lot further than $16 in Oz. From what I can tell Aussies pay anywhere from 20% to 100% more than Americans for the same products if you do the currency conversion.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by stonemetal on Thursday October 20, 2011 @05:35PM (#3137172)
Sorry for being off topic I always find it weird when people use $ for non US currency. After all $ is a U superimposed on an S. Is it a common thing to use that symbol for other currencies, or is it a just easier to type thing.
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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by jholman on Thursday October 20, 2011 @07:36PM (#3137639)
Ten seconds on wikipedia would have shown you that the use of this symbol to denote dollars and pesos predates (if just barely) the founding of the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_sign

So, barring time travel, I suggest that your theory about a U superimposed on an S must be wrong (at least as a causal story).

I've got to learn to stop caring about the rampant America-centrism on H.N.

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Re:50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010 by hugh3 on Thursday October 20, 2011 @04:48PM (#3136905)
There are a lot of 'em, but I doubt they account for 50% of the working population.
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