Cindi - HappyMamatoThree wrote:
>
> "PeterLucas" > wrote in message
> 0.25...
> > "Cindi - HappyMamatoThree" > wrote in
> > et:
> >
> >
> >> judgement on a single person's experience. Though I have to agree,
> >> there is a huge gap in pay from job to job here in the U.S.
> >
> >
> > With people relying on tips to live. That sucks.
>
> Amen. Servers here (waiters/waitresses) can be paid the pitiful amount of
> $2.13 an hour. Their tips must at least equal out to minimum wage or the
> employer has to make up the difference. This is, of course, the minimum and
> there are restaurants that pay better as with any job. That rate still sucks
> and I don't know how people in that position can survive on their wages.
> Though some people like the fact that they can rely on their performance to
> earn more in tips. To each his own.

A good waiter / waitress and a good restaurant can make a good deal.

>
> >
> >
> >> Some
> >> fields pay an exorbitant amount for the job done, while those who are
> >> toiling every day in physical jobs make pennies.
> >
> >
> > Which is why we have a very good wage system over here. If someone tries
> > to diddle the workers, they're up the creek.
>
> The U.S. does have a minimum wage law. However that minimum wage law does
> not guarantee a "living wage." At minimum wage of $5.85 an hour is only
> $234.00 a week for only a bit more than $12,000 a year. I realize there are
> people who can make it on that, but it isn't easy and you have to live in
> the right place and not in an area of extremely high cost of living.

And to make it more complicated, there is a base federal minimum wage,
but many if not most states have their own higher minimum wage. Of
course minimum wage is also meaningless in many states as the defacto
wage is a good deal higher since there simply isn't anyone there willing
to work for the minimum. I know in CT where I used to be, $8-$9/hr for a
McDonalds job was not at all unusual and they often had to go higher to
get any applicants. In other states they would be flooded with
applicants for those wages.

>
> >
> >
> >>
> >> We learn to live with what we have though. Even if we do need a little
> >> help from outside sometimes.
> >
> >
> > The poor old age pensioners over here are the worst off. They have to
> > try and survive on about $300pw.
>
> Even that is more than what minimum wage would pull in for a 40 hour work
> week.

But few people in the US actually work for the minimum wage. The minimum
wage is nothing more than a politician's vote buying scam since few
people actually work for the minimum, and when it is raised it just
triggers inflation that quickly rebalances the economy and the true wage
right back to where it was, albeit with higher numbers all around.

>
> >
> >
> >> Being a single mom with a deadbeat ex was
> >> vary hard because I had to either work a job that my schedule met that
> >> of my children, or pay for childcare which saps a paycheck.
> >
> >
> > I was a single dad with a deadbeat ex :-)
> >
> > But I was fortunate enough to have been retired at age 33, so I could
> > look after the kids myself.
> >
> > Childcare is a *huge* issue over here, it costs a bloody fortune!!
>
> Childcare seems to be the sore spot no matter where the conversation is.
> It's expensive. It isn't that we as parents don't think those taking of our
> children aren't worth every penny, we just can't afford to give every penny
> to them.

That is a problem that grew out of the increase in single parents (of
both genders), and dual income families. The bottom line is that you
need to think about that before you have children, anything else is
simple irresponsibility, and that includes not having good life
insurance on the single income earner of a family.

>
> >
> >
> >>Just
> >> saying, every situation is so different, it's like comparing apples
> >> and turnips.
> >>
> >
> >
> > No matter what situation you have over there, we have the same or
> > similar over here....... except for the wage issue.
>
> Australia has the benefit of some understanding how big our country is and
> how diverse the areas can be in themselves. I guess that's to say that every
> country has people living on each rung of the financial ladder.

Yes, Ausies should have a bit better perspective on it than Europeans.
Heck they even have their own previously oppressed minority.