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How much Americans make in wages

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Re: How much Americans make in wages

#61

Post by mc32 »

sascha_sl wrote: post #54
mc32 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t you think they migh become codependent? I’d lead them in the right direction, give them advice, etc., but not subsidize, unless they are truly out in the streets. I can see if it’s your little brother or little sister and helping out with some tuition though. Also hand-me-downs are okay.

Not everyone has the means or luck to "escape poverty". I really don't like your implication that it's just "their fault" if they're worse off than you. In a system that is designed to exploit "low skilled" labor. "Codependent" is a really weird choice of word too.

I have a member as described. Extra money and effort are wasted on them.

Some people do have a good head on their shoulders and just need _some_ help, but not a “subsidy”. Like I said, younger sibling needs some help? Sure. Need some money to tide over rent this one time, ok. No recurring stream though.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#62

Post by aaomidi »

atburrow wrote: post #50
anoncoward111 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, do you want a specific number? Because if you go to the Wikipedia page for "List of US Metropolitan Statistical Areas", you'll see the following Amarillo TX population: 265,000 NY, LA, CHI, DAL, HOU, DC, MIA: 70,000,000

21.5% is not what I would consider “most of the population”.

Well he's not considering in a lot of the other cities that have the same problem. Example: Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#63

Post by ethbro »

kough wrote: post #37
jurassic wrote: post #32

I feel this a lot in my own family. I’m in tech at a fairly privileged BigCo. Siblings work retail gigs for a small fraction of what I bring home. I’ve had raises and bonuses equal to what one of my siblings makes in a year.

Out of curiosity, do you subsidize your siblings? I'm going to be in the same situation and I'm not sure what I'm going to end up doing but I think I'm going to end up doing it.

$0.02. If you're going to subsidize, do it in a way that (1) isn't blatantly monetary, (2) is clearly time limited, (3) is private and the other party can be expected to keep reasonable confidence, and (4) carries with it no expectations (you're not righter because you're paying, pretend you're just burning the money).

E.g. discretely offer to pay X years of tuition, or for a trip, for a nice dinner for the family, or opening and funding an IRA for a year

Disagree with the 'never' remarks. Family is family. If they were there for you, it's laudable to be there for them. Just tread carefully and quietly.

PS: Just to point it out, if someone works hard and you give them more than they would normally make... don't trivialize it, because then you're trivializing what they do every day.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#64

Post by mirimir »

redbeard0x0a wrote: post #43
mirimir wrote: post #34

It is a sad situation. But the article doesn't support the title. Because I only see one time point. And "vanishing" requires comparison. A few decades ago, at what was arguably the peak of the US middle class, relatively few adult married women worked outside the home. But of course, they did work. It's just that they didn't get paid. Or rather, they got paid through sharing their husbands' income. What's happened s…

One problem with the aggregate household income being added up is there isn't an accounting for worked hours (basically doubling the hours by having 2 people working for a company). A different, but simple comparison would be to take minimum wage in 1968 ($1.60), adjust for inflation ($11.62 - 2017) and then compare to our current minimum wage ($7.25). So had minimum wage been tied to inflation, it would be right aro…

Arguably you're not doubling the hours. Because decades ago, women worked at home, but weren't paid.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#65

Post by skilled »

I honestly wonder are people that delusional that they overlook the ridiculous debt that the country is in? Don't get me wrong, I am not from America myself but I have a lot of friends from there, and I generally don't hear anything good about the 'American dream'.

If you take a hard step back, like way back. And take a moment to look at the "situation" with an outside perspective, don't you think it's a little ridiculous that the debt keeps growing, and somehow the numbers get adjusted, and more loans are given.

And it makes me wonder, if this is not being actively resolved now, then when? In a 1,000 years? I have a hard time believing that society is going to survive that long with all the idiocracy that's going on.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#66

Post by nemild »

jurassic wrote: post #52
kough wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, do you subsidize your siblings? I'm going to be in the same situation and I'm not sure what I'm going to end up doing but I think I'm going to end up doing it.

Yeah, moderately. This year I gave about $7k to each sibling which is life-changing for them and not really a hardship for me other than slightly delaying my home-ownership goal. For one sibling, I'm the safety net when crises happen that they can't afford. E.g. can't come up with their car insurance deductible, water heater broke, etc. They don't ask but I always offer when it's clear that a small outlay would spare…

Thank you for sharing all this!

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#68

Post by fernmyth »

bobthepanda wrote: post #3

Perhaps nitpicky, but it bothers me that their data representation is a psuedo-pie chart that isn’t even centered.

Not nitpicky at all. It's a pointless, obfuscating blob of unhelpful colors violating basic principles of data visualization:

- Sequential income brackets are not adjacent. The wage of each blob can only be understood by reading every number

- Irregular shapes make it impossible to gauge size by eye

- White text on green and pink backgrounds does not score well on WCAG. At least they had the decency to make the text bold.

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#69

Post by anoncoward111 »

aaomidi wrote: post #62
atburrow wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

21.5% is not what I would consider “most of the population”.

Well he's not considering in a lot of the other cities that have the same problem. Example: Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Additionally, there's only 144m people employed in the USA according to BLS, so 70 million is half the country :)

Re: How much Americans make in wages

#70

Post by hueving »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #40
mac01021 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most?

I mean, do you want a specific number? Because if you go to the Wikipedia page for "List of US Metropolitan Statistical Areas", you'll see the following Amarillo TX population: 265,000 NY, LA, CHI, DAL, HOU, DC, MIA: 70,000,000

It's easy to find decent living on $60k in DAL, HOU, CHI, and MIA if you're willing to go out to the suburbs where, guess what, tons of people live.
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