[floridarunner01]

So a FedEx warehouse worker makes enough money to live on their own?

This is part of the problem with many people here. You seem to think $10 an hour is enough to live on.
Maybe in 1980 it was. Not today...not without government assistance unless that’s what you are advocating. Would you rather these kids live on welfare?

[listenhillary]

1981 my pay (and my future wife’s pay) was $3.35 an hour = 8.25 in 2011 dollars.

Take home pay for my wife and I was about $850.00 per month. We didn’t have internet, cell phones, car payments. Rent was $300 a month at the time. Long distance phone calls were a luxury, eating out was a luxury.

We didn’t mooch off of our parents. We didn’t have much spare money, but we weren’t dumpster diving either.

If one person can’t live on $10 an hour today, surely two people could. Find a room mate.

[conservaterian]

So a FedEx warehouse worker makes enough money to live on their own? This is part of the problem with many people here. You seem to think $10 an hour is enough to live on. Maybe in 1980 it was. Not today...not without government assistance unless that’s what you are advocating. Would you rather these kids live on welfare?

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You sound like one of those "compassionate conservatives". I am far from advocatingfor welfare - advocating abolishing it, yes. $10/hour is PLENTY for someone just out of school to live on, unless they went to college to get one of those "liberal" arts degrees. 20k per year is plenty - maybe they will have to have roomates, not spend $200 month on a phone, don't need a big screen TV, HBO, etc. etc. Let them find out what it really means to earn a living, not get their automatic, government sponsored "living wage" that you seem to be advocating.

[A_perfect_lady]

You seem to think $10 an hour is enough to live on. Maybe in 1980 it was. Not today...not without government assistance--

It kind of depends. If one doesn't have a student loan and is in a medium-sized city where the standard of living is not astronomical... let's see. If it's 40 hours a week, that's about $1,600 before taxes. Maybe $1,300 after. A person alone could conceivably find a one-bedroom apartment for $600 (I just did a craigslist search for Milwaukee -- random choice -- and there are plenty.) Set aside $200 for utilities and phone and that leaves $500 to live on. Yeah, that's tight, but I've done it. It helps to be within walking distance of work. My definition of "walking distance" is 2 miles, but I'm pretty able-bodied. And before you say that's impossible, I lived in Michigan and had a night job two miles from my apartment, and I walked it even in the dead of winter. So... it can be done. It's just hard.