Posted on 10/27/2015 4:38:54 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Fifty-one percent of working Americans make less than $30,000 a year, new data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) shows.
That’s $2,500 a month before taxes and just over the federal poverty level for a family of five. The new numbers come from the National Wage Index, which SSA updates each year based on the National Wage Index, which SSA updates each year based on reported wages subject to the federal income tax.
In 2014, half of working Americans reported an income at or below $28,851 (the median wage), and 51 percent reported an income of less than $30,000. Forty percent are making less than $20,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
My gosh, I’m SINGLE and I couldn’t live on that, and I just have a little house. But when you consider mortgage, utilities, home repairs, car payment, car insurance, groceries, etc...I don’t see how even a single person could live on that!!!
I’ve lived on that (or thereabouts). Quite doable.
First problem is that mortgages are the biggest combination scam & unreasonable societal compulsion. It’s not in banks’ & real estate agents’ interest to tell you that entirely comfortable & sensible housing is available in the low 5 digits (less even!); they want to persuade you to buy as much as you can shoulder (or more), and society has accepted this as the norm.
Likewise car payments: buy what you can, private-sale used, for cash and work up from there - don’t get suckered into payments for something new or otherwise from a dealer’s lot.
Next: home repairs aren’t that expensive IF you do most of them yourself, which you single young’un can.
Car insurance is compulsory, yes, but can be minimized by driving a minimal-cost vehicle you’re willing to eat the cost of if totaled.
Groceries are cheap if you THINK. I’ll feed you healthy on $1/meal.
Indeed, the core problem is young single people are no longer taught how to “live on that”. We used to (yes, inflation accounted for), but advertising has persuaded everyone they can’t live on less than the world 80th percentile income (meaning 80% of everyone on the planet lives on less than that, most quite contentedly).
And yes, you can do it with spouse & children. They don’t necessarily cost that much more, once those basics are in place and you decide to not spend profusely like everyone tells you to.
My daughter has a BS degree but not in a truly hard science. She tends bar at a national chain restaurant and makes decent money (still part time) and had good benefits. When Obama Care started all of her benefits were cancelled. She now has no medical or dental. We let her move back in for awhile so she could save to have some dental work done.
The Federal Reserve, Big Government, and Big Business have been partnering for decades to keep wages suppressed. They’ve succeeded, and most people are none the wiser.
I don’t know anyone making less than $55k and those are 1st year college grads with IT bachelor degrees. They’re out there, but at least in STEM, there is far greater demand for jobs than there is supply of candidates.
This is a little misleading since secondary earners in a couple will be part-time or generally earning less.
-— How many “poverty level” families are actually doing quite well by not reporting income? -—
A lot. My wife works at a supermarket and estimates the fraud rate at 30%, I.e., working under the table.
They come in to shop with iPhones and walk out to $30k cars.
B.S. They are including illegal aliens who are NOT Americans.
“In 2014, half of working Americans reported an income at or below $28,851 (the median wage)”
Imagine that, fifty percent are at or below the median.
...
The problem is the median is too low.
A couple of years ago I had a nice full time job teaching at a university that paid well. Then, after Obamacare set in, I was placed on part time. I only get paid when I teach. The number of classes I’ve had has dwindled down to almost nothing. I could have gone independent, but I’m not far from retirement so I stayed full time to keep the pension.
I became self employed in the meantime. Teaching different places, writing course books, exams, training guides. It is not bad money as long as I can keep the contracts. coming. sometimes I have gaps of no work/no contracts that hurt. Other times I make a bundle all at once.
But I’m really, really screwed by the government.
They make me pay not only taxes, but both sides of my FICA (social security tax). This means when I work at the university, half of my FICA is paid by the university, but any other work I do contract wise I have to pay both employer and employee FICA.
So when I get a $10,000 contract, $5500 or so belongs to the federal government.
That sucks.
Heh - I agree with everything but the home repair part. I have zero, zilch ability (was an interior design student who couldn’t hang a picture straight to save me), and although I’m strong, I’m not young. So the home repairs part is a problem for me. Also, I recently had major electrical problems. In the past, I’ve had a big crawl space problem, have huge trees that need to come down, 20 foot bushes that need to be cut back...stuff like that. The unexpected always crops up.
It's the people earning nothing who are popping them out one after the next. Working people can't afford to have children. They have to pay for the children of those who sit home and collect checks.
This is ALL Obama’s fault. When will the GOP lay the blame on who has wrecked the economy for almost 8 years?
We need kids to continue our culture.
“The problem is the median is too low.” Certainly true. But, there is also an issue with journalists that have no clue as to why half of all Americans make less than the median.
Supposedly, Eisenhower didn’t know that half of all Americans have below average intelligence.
Actually a lot of them probably work for the government. The rule of thumb on government jobs is they pay less than the private sector version but it takes an Act of God (tm) to fire you, and you get to retire in your 40s. That’s the trade off.
Dude, you’re about 20-30 years behind the times in the “trade off” - you would have been right at times, but not not not not right at all now.
Nope. I know people working for the government now. The math remains the same in most posts... especially the retiring in their 40s part.
In other shocking news, it was revealed that half the country has below-average IQ (mainly Democrats of course).
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