Ain't no justice. Somebody took my firewood.
Yesterday I went out in the morning and cut up a friend's oak tree and loaded as much as I could into the trunk of my Ford Escort. Then I left for a couple hours and came back to half my firewood snapped up. Taken. Gone.
Serves me right for leaving it behind and leaving it on the terrace. I can't complain too much because I always assume that wood left on the terrace (the space between the road and the sidewalk) is free to take and I've done the same before myself.
Competition for firewood is getting pretty fierce, lately, though. I've been scavenging trees for a few years now and every year it seems there's stiffer and stiffer competition for felled trees. Things are getting crazier by the year, I tell ya.
Here's a little conversation I overheard at the bank today.
"Yeah, I'm about done with McDonalds. I've been the manager there for over nine years now and I'm just making barely above $9 an hour."
"That's starting pay at some of the places in the mall if you can get it."
"If you can get it is right." With U-3 Unemployment still at 11.1% and unemployment in the double digits since December 2008, with U-6 unemployment
So...$9.25/hour...and of course she's a manger so that's salary.
Let's see here...9.25/hr x 40 x 50 = ~$18,500/yr.
I'd like to point out that several factories in town recently started hiring for $10/hr or $20,000/year. Jobs that were once solidly middle class well paying jobs.
For our $18,500/year earning manager, let's assume lower average driving of 10,000 miles per year going to work and the store and such: so about 193 miles per week and 20 MPG or so. So about a 10 gallon tank per week, which now costs $43.00 to fill compared to $28.00 to fill just a few months ago.
So a few months ago, she spent about 7% of her income on gas...now she spends about 11% of her income on gas, spending about $60 more for gas per month, or a sudden 4% decrease in income.
Before anything is taken out, she's making about $1541 per month.
After FICA taxes she's bringing home around 1440.
Six months ago, after gas expenses she was bringing home around $1328/month
Today, with current gas prices, she's bringing home around $1268/month --> This is a woman with a full time managerial position at a Fortune 100 company, I want to remind people.. She's working her ass off for about $317 per week...compared to the $332 per week she was making before the gas prices went through the roof.
And that's just after the increase in GAS. As we all know there's also an increase in food.
So $317 per week.
Supposedly the average household spends 13% of their income on food, so that would be a food allotment of $41 per week, leaving her with $276. And that's about in line with what the USDA suggests is the average expenditure of an adult female between 19 and 50, somewhere between the USDA's "Thrifty Plan" and their "Low-Cost Plan."
Ahh...but that all assumes she has no children...and I did notice a child seat in the back of the car she left in, so we can add another $20 to $30 again according to the USDA chart.
So that leaves her with $246 per week or $984 per month.
The poverty level for a family of two is $14,710. Were she a single mother, this person working full time in a managerial position for a fortune 100 corporation is just $3790 per year over the poverty level.
We can go back to her $18,500/year income to figure out a probable housing cost. 30% of 18,500 would be $5,500/year in housing costs or $463/month for rent or housing. Let's round that up to $500/month to be in the realm of realism...bring her down to $484/month.
- $30/month for electric
- $80/month for heating
- $30/month for auto insurance
- $50/month for some type of phone
- $20/month for water
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- $210
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$274/month or $98/week
She probably wears clothes: underwear, shirts, shoes.
And her kid probably wears diapers of some sort and wears clothes.
Let's her her at 1/3 the average household expenditure for clothes, just for kicks, so around $50/month for clothes.
$224/month
And diapers...we're looking down the barrel of another $50/month
$174/month.
Does she brush her teeth? Wash herself? Use the toilet? Probably. We'll put the toiletry budget at $20/month.
$154/month.
Oh crap. Her car is ancient. She's gotta put maintenance into that thing to keep it going. Got an oil leak. Maybe another $50/month over time.
$104/month or $26/week.
She's definitely going to fix broken things around her house/apartment from dishes to furniture to cribs...etc..maybe another $30/month over time...glue...tape...stamps to pay bills...garbage bags...towels...
$74/month or $19/week
In my imaginary world, she totally forgoes any type of entertainment. No television. No NetFlix. No Internet. No nights out with the girls. Never buys toys for her child for her birthday or Christmas. She has no pets.
I need to remind you this is a person who WORKS FULL TIME for a Fortune 100 company in a managerial position.
...but...hold up....what about health insurance premiums? Does she pay into anything in medical? Probably. Does she ever have to buy medicine?
Add that in and we're deeply into negative territory.
And hey...wait a minute. Who's watching her kid during the day? Definitely not a child care...about the cheapest you can get it $320/month, or closer to $600/month full time.
Fortunately, there are institutions to help with many of these questions...but it's never going to be a substitute for solving the core problems with lack of an industrial policy...lack of workers rights legislation...way too low minimum wages.
Food assistance helps alleviate the $244/month food costs.
Child care assistance helps make child care even remotely accessible for low income families so that they can afford to work at all...one of the issues people too often forget is that for people with multiple children is becomes at a point not worth it to take a job since child care costs are up to $600 per child. A person with two children working full time at minimum wage sees 82% of their income gobbled up with child care costs so that they can have time to work.
At minimum wage or near minimum wage there can be a NET LOSS in taking a job if an individual has children.
Anyway...there it is.