Misinformation... Or the "Wage" War...

I finally found something worth blogging about...

According to the Department of Labor website (FLSA Act), minimum wage went up 10% last July, putting it at a whopping $6.55 p/h. And it is going up another 10% on July 24 to make it $7.25 p/h. (This is sometimes higher in certain states or metropolitan areas.) About half of the workers earning these wages are under 25, most have never been married, and most work in service industries (food prep, hospitality, leisure, retail, etc.) Many of these are students, or individuals who have not had a chance to finish their education. There is an almost even percentage of these workers across ethnic lines. Those are the statistics.

There are many who believe that the economy will suffer if minimum wage goes up. The arguments for this are varied. One is that, as minimum wage goes up, businesses will increase their prices to cover what they are giving out in increased wages. This, unfortunately, is probably true. So, the argument continues, you aren't helping the workers because they will still be paying more for products.

But most minimum wage workers aren't buying all the extras that they Average Middle-income American family buys. They don't (usually) want a wage increase so they can get plasma TVs and $200 jeans. They want a wage increase so they can stop eating Ramen for every other meal, so they can give their kids lunch money, so they can pay for the gas they need to get to their job and so they can have a little heat in the winter. As prices for food and electricity go up, an increase in wages has to happen so that people can meet their basic needs. If this means that the wall street exec pays a little more for his morning latte, then so be it.

Others would say that a minimum wage job is only meant to be a "spring-board" or starting place, and that you should "better yourself" and seek a higher paying job. Basically, that if you stay, you are a loser, who deserves less money. This sounds logical, but life is so much more complicated than that. Many minimum wage workers haven't finished school, usually because of a lack of finances, and so there isn't much opportunity to "move up." Many are single parents, who don't have time between working full time and parenting full time to get more education or training. And many have finished college, but often with degrees that won't get them higher paying jobs unless they complete graduate studies as well. And usually these grads are so steeped in debt by the time they leave college, that they can't begin to comprehend getting MORE loans that they will have to pay off. And one by one, in very little time at all, these people fall into poverty.

Poverty is a nasty little trap. And minimum wage is the chain that very often holds you there. I think the best way for me to describe all this is just to tell you my experience...

I went to college. I studied theatre, because no one told me that that was a surefire way to NOT get a job after school. There was nothing else I wanted to do, and, I assumed, I would just teach theatre if nothing else worked out. I wracked up thousands and thousands in loans, which feels like free money when you are 19 and not thinking farther into the future than whether that cute guy in English Lit noticed your new dress. I also wracked up the credit card bills, because everyone told me that I'd just pay them all off with the amazing well paying job my degree would get me... After all, "If you have letters by your name, you can get better jobs, even if they aren't in your field." (Too bad the letters I acquired were a Bachelor of Behavioral Science... or a BBS... emphasis on the BS.)

So I left college with a piece of paper and a lot of debt... and I found a job...at Mr. Gatti's. This was followed by a paper route, a nanny job, a long-term substitute teacher position, and more babysitting. Then I got accepted to another school... A prestigious (I thought) theatre arts school in NYC. Needless to say, more debt... but no "great job." Since then I've worked for an off Broadway show, at Starbucks, and in many, many nanny/housekeeping jobs... most minimum wage or minimum hours. And many nanny jobs will start out great, but your income depends on their income, so you usually end up screwed.

I am always looking for a better job... ALWAYS. Most jobs that are not minimum wage require money for specialized training... money that I don't have. Or, in this city, require previous experience that I, once again, don't have. And there have been times when I have had to go without in ways that most people don't understand... without food, without heat, walking around in shoes with holes, wearing the same two outfits because I can't get new clothes. It's hard to go to job interviews when you don't have clothes that will get you the job. And sometimes... you can't even think about looking for something new because you are working so hard just to SURVIVE that you have no energy left for anything else. Right now I'm not getting much nanny work, so I spend most of my days looking for ANYTHING that will pay the bills. But I have to be picky, because I actually can't live on a minimum wage job in this city... I have to find something that pays more... and those jobs are scarce right now.

I'm not actually complaining here, just stating the facts. My story is no different from countless other people, and many of us form lasting friendships, dig in, and give what we do have to each other. I have learned empathy for others in similar situations, and to actually care and understand those who have far less than me. I have so many people who love me... my roommate of the last four years and I have each had better money than the other at different times, so we take care of things like food and bills when the other one can't. And most of my clothes were given to me by others... still, I wash those clothes in my bathtub because I can't afford to do laundry and bathe with cheap shampoo, cause it's less money than soap. We get our channels on an antenna and watch them on a 13 inch screen that's eight years old. We do without... and we get by... and we still eat... and when the electricity gets turned off, it only takes about a day to scrape money together and get it back on... But still, it IS getting turned off.

So, now I want to give you a minimum wage money break down for one month in Brooklyn. (And I mean almost-in-the-ghetto Brooklyn.) Avg. rent is $500, bills (phone/gas/electric) $115, metro-card (our equivalent to gas money) $81, food $300 (and that's bargain shopping), groceries (toilet paper, soap, cleaning supplies) $100 (at least), laundry $50 (if you do it once a week), extras $100 (that would be: 1 movie, one restaurant meal, one item of clothing, and maybe a book or DVD.) This is a reasonable assessment of just survving with one or two comforts a month, and it comes to $1246 per month... that's not including medical expenses or emergencies, any sort of travel, home repairs, cable television, Internet (a necessity if you want to find a new job), pet care, etc.

Minimum wage in NYC is $7.15 p/h. If you worked a 40 hour week that would come to $1144 before taxes... So lets take out $200 ($50 a week toward taxes) and that leaves$944. Wait! That's not nearly enough to pay the $1246 we motioned above. Lets take out the extras and the laundry. That will leave us with $1096. Okay, lets not eat three meals a day and take $100 off, and then, I can clean less and shower less and take another $50 off groceries... so that leaves $946... so now we forgo one more meal... and we can just get by with a roof over our heads and the basic bills paid. That's what living on minimum wage is... it's pouring over every penny to be sure you can almost get by, it's showering less, and laundry in the tub, and skipping meals. I don't think minimum wage should allow people to buy flat screens and iPhones, I just think it should be enough to pay the bills and keep food on the table with one or two comforts a month. That's what every human deserves, even inmates on death row are afforded that much.

(Let me add, cause I know it might come up... I, and many like me, don't use welfare, or medicare, or food stamps... we survive on our own, without living on tax-payers money... even though we COULD. That should tell you something. We are not looking for handouts. What we are looking for is for million/billions dollar companies like Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Starbucks and so many more to have to pay us a LIVABLE wage. We keep this country going, we deserve to be treated humanely.)

((Yes, I have a better "paying" job right now, but I get only about 16 hours a week avg... so it still evens out... If minimum wage jobs were $10 an hour, I'd get one of those if meant full-time work.)) Sorry, sidebar...

What irks me the most, is that the people who are against minimum wage increases, are people who truly don't understand what it's like to be forced to work in minimum wage jobs. They may have had one in college, but they were lucky enough to get something better right after. These are people who think its a normal part of life to have a television in every room of the house and to have real furniture (not a futon for a couch and a mattress on the floor.) If you have never truly had to struggle, if you have never had the electricity turned off, and gone without meals, and not gotten necessary medical care... if you can afford new clothes every month, and to do your laundry weekly, and to eat out three times a week... YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE JUDGMENTS ON THIS. Because you just don't know... Just as I am not allowed to complain, because at least I have had a roof over my head and some sort of food in the pantry through every season of my life.

The reality is, if we do not allow for wage increase, and if we do not create new jobs in the country, the poverty line will continue to rise. Camelot we may have been, but even in Camelot there were hungry children and sick and dying people everywhere... So, if we tighten our belts, all of us, as a society, we can make a change... Remember, someone has to make that vanilla latte you get on your way to work, someone has to fill your gas pump and bag your groceries... don't they deserve to have the same things you do.

Which is better... a new flat-screen plasma TV... or feeding a family of four for a month?

Be a Change,
K

There's So Much More To Loving You...

This will be a short one... I just wanted to answer a "universal question."

Where is God?

He's there. And here. In my cats face. In the screetch of Subway on tracks. In sunsets and thunderclouds. Within the abysmal fear of being murdered. And the joy of a first kiss. In the black places in the heart that we try to hide. Everything good and painful and in between. In the abscence of evil. In the healing of wounds. He resides in confusion and strives to clarify. He is in the places we would least expect to find Him. He is in the obvious. As Creator, He is within His creation. Always.

We often hear, "God doesn't go to that church." or "A great evil occured there, so God can't be there." or even "That place belongs to the devil." Many who truly love God believe this, but it is contradictary to the nature of God. If we truly believe He is Omnipresent, then He must be, as the word implies, present EVERYWHERE at the same time. (If we think about it, He could even be in Hell... but that needs more research before I put my name to it...) But definitly, on Earth, He is everywhere. It is our AWARENESS of His pressence that is often lacking.

You may ask, what about the distinct feeling I get that I shouldn't be in certain places. You know, the nervous feeling that starts in your center and spreads outward, telling you to get out of a place, or not go there anyway. Well, my friends, that is God... or, the Holy Spirit, for those of you who know. The sense of needing to stay away is not because God isn't there, but rather, because He is there and knows it would be better for you if you weren't there. Amazing. There are places that have been given over to evil. Places that are not good for the soul and spirit. But God is still there, able to warn us away. Really, really Amazing. (Remember... He's God... so even places of evil cannot phase Him.)

As far as churches go, I don't believe God ever leaves a place where people are seeking truth. Because even in a church where a lie is being taught He is still wooing all there to draw closer to truth. Sometimes we need to see a lie exposed to grasp a truth revealed. Anyway, I think it may be dangerous to say things like, "God isn't in that church." Often, when we feel a 'deadness' in a church it is simply fear on the part of the people to allow God to get too close. I cannot condemn another for fear when I have lived there so long. And God's great love encompasses their fear. He knows where they are better than we do. We must be careful about how we use our words, especially when declaring the motives of the Almighty. "The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof." (Ps 24:1) (Side note: if you are not comfortable in a church, it may just mean you aren't called or created to worship there.)

He is everywhere, why fear anyplace. If we listen to His voice whispering to our spirit then there isn't a need. So I implore you to do 3 things: 1) Beware of generalizations on the nature of God... He is bigger than your box. 2) Continue to listen to Him and grow in your understanding of His nature and TRUE truth. 3) Approach the world, all of it, with unconditional love. Reside in a place of relationship. And then you will be closer to the heart of God.

Your slightly inspired, adoring, sis,
K