So what?

Found on Woodsterman:

No shit. It never has. Minimum wage was never meant for the breadwinners in a family. Those are mostly miserable jobs that are a powerful incentive to better yourself. For me, back in the day, it was to pay for books, gas, fast food, and beer money.

And who are we talking about here? Mostly those just starting out, ill educated or mis-educated. The others are those that have no other alternatives. They’re immigrants and others that have no salable work skills and have to start low on the food chain.

That second group gets subsidies, I’m betting.

It’s the first group that are the malcontents stirring this shitpot. The ones that aren’t are like some I’ve seen. They’ve grown up in a nice house, in a really nice neighborhood and want to move into a nice apartment like they are building all around here. Up to date, modern, with pools and workout rooms. A one bedroom place there is nearly $1500/mo. They’re just starting out, in school, or out with no skills and don’t want to do a job where they’ll have to work their ass off to make bank. Those jobs exist, and always have.

Here’s the time honored solution none talk about; get a roommate.

When I moved out, I was making like $7/hr. Minimum wage at that time was around $3.50/hr. I moved in with two of my friends into a three bedroom place that cost a little over $700/mo. My share was peanuts. But if I were on minimum wage, I could’ve made it work. Later, one roommate left, and me and my other friend found a 2 bedroom place for $685/mo (i think). Didn’t matter. We both were making a bit more money at that point.

Was it a luxury space? no. It was an ordinary, somewhat on the lower end, garden apartment. It had a lot of folks like us just starting out, and a fair amount where that was the best they could do; upper-lower working class. I’ve heard of no one – Millennial or GenZ, that ever brought up the concept of a roommate. Of the Millennials I’ve seen, still living at home, they do so because it’s a better deal to live with Mom and Dad than to move into a neighborhood they can afford. But I know a millennial dude that went in with four friends and rented a house not unlike mine. My house in Plano rented for $2k. Each dude there, that’s a $500 share. See? Tough, but doable on minimum wage.

You know who’s also figured it out? Immigrants. That’s who. There’s at least four Somalis in the rental house next to me. They appear to work at Walmart and the Amazon distribution center near here, so they are doing OK. They live together, each one has a decent car, mostly 15-20 year old Camrys.

So the two groups. The second one can get subsidies, and really if they are working for minimum wage, they have a long road ahead, since I can’t think of any place around here that pays less than $10/hr.

The first group? Suck it up. You’re going to have to get a place in a not-the-greatest garden apartment complex and deal with brokies. The more modest (cough cough) ones near me start at like $800/month, and they aren’t horrible.

This rent vs. minimum wage is nonsense, and always has been.