Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The effects of today's economy
22-year-old single mom working toward upward mobility
22-year-old single mom working toward upward mobility
In this podcast, Shelby interviews a single mom juggling school and raising her 2-year-old son.
In this podcast, Shelby interviews a single mom juggling school and raising her 2-year-old son.
Upper class versus working class
Upper class versus working class
Jonathan and Libia discuss the upper class and working class in this podcast.
Jonathan and Libia discuss the upper class and working class in this podcast.
Struggles of immigrants in America
Struggles of immigrants in America
Jordan gives details about the struggles of immigrants. This podcast was done after reading "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario.
Jordan gives details about the struggles of immigrants. This podcast was done after reading "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario.
Single mom works hard to 'make it happen'
Monday, June 4, 2012
One man's comparison of The Great Depression and today
Immigrants have a hard time getting jobs, too
Immigrants have a hard time getting jobs, too
In this podcast, Julio and Danny discuss their relatives' difficulty in getting jobs in the United States because they are immigrants.
In this podcast, Julio and Danny discuss their relatives' difficulty in getting jobs in the United States because they are immigrants.
Hellen's future
Hellen's future
In this podcast, Hellen discusses her hypothetical financial future after she graduates from college.
In this podcast, Hellen discusses her hypothetical financial future after she graduates from college.
Two teens give first-hand accounts of working
Two teens give first-hand accounts of working
Eric and Jeffrey discuss their part-time jobs in this podcast.
Eric and Jeffrey discuss their part-time jobs in this podcast.
Hard times with only a high school diploma
Hard times with only a high school diploma
In this podcast, Henry F. and Robert C. interview Christopher, who has a high school diploma and is struggling to find a better-paying job.
In this podcast, Henry F. and Robert C. interview Christopher, who has a high school diploma and is struggling to find a better-paying job.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Eye Opening "Read Me"
By: Cindy Orellana
People
have a biased belief that immigrants come to the US and rob Americans of their
opportunities for jobs. But are those really the only reasons?
The
top reasons why people immigrate are they believe coming to America secures
them financially in the future, high standard of living, education, political
reasons, needs of being in a different environment, and in search of their
family members.
Although
most people think it is a better life in America it is a huge challenge to get
here. The majority of the people coming to the United States are from Mexico
but there is a small percent of people who come from central and South America.
The people who come from Central America have the hardest journey to endure. A
popular way of heading to the U.S. is by train jumping. There are horrible
stories of train jumping to America, bodies being disemboweled and ripped to
pieces.
In Enrique’s journey he talks about how he witnessed people
falling off the trains and having body parts cut off.
Enrique’s reason for his journey to
America was to find his mother who left him at a very young age. Just like
Enrique, many children are leaving their homes at a young age and risking so
much to find a family member. If you put yourself in his shoes you would start
to question yourself if it is even worth it to go through all those things just
for a family member, for most people it is worth it.
Another problem these immigrants
from Central America are the cartels that kidnap and abuse incoming immigrants.
Enrique was violently hit and left with out a cent to his name on his way. In
one occasion his clothes were ripped off and was left bare.
People who believe that immigrating
is simple and it comes with no dangers. In reality most people if they really
knew what they had to go through they wouldn’t take this journey, it is
possibly one of the hardest experiences to go through. But it also comes with
the greatest reward. When you finally reach the finish line and you find what
you are looking for it is like completing your life.
If your parents left you for many
years and you are missing the feeling of love or just your parents
companionship, what would you do?
I know personally if my mother left
me for years once I would go to extremes to find her. I don’t think I would be
able to survive without her at any moment. It understandable to leave your
parents at a certain point but when you’re young you need your family at all
times. Grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles are dear to us but none like our
parents. There is a special connection between mother and child, father and
child. The love felt is different.
This goes out to serve as an eye
opening “read me”. People aren’t only here to work but to find their missing
half, their missing mom, missing dad.
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
That will forever remain as wise words.
The 99%
Jairo Zarate
There
has always been three demographics from which people in the United States are
placed upon. The rich, poor, and middle class. Many people come to the United
States to follow their dreams, and for a better tomorrow. But as time has past
the American Dream has slowly been diminished and seems as though it is
unreachable. The middle class is slowly being diminished from existence. The
rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate.
Many
people risk their lives to come to the United States, only to find that in the
United States you must work twice as harder. Sure there is liberty and free of
chaos, but when one comes to the United States, its nearly impossible to find a
stable job. Especially now since corporations have been hiring people from third
world countries that work just for a few dollars all day. The big global
corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor workers
over the last several decades, and the middle class Americans have greatly
been impacted.
Today
99% of all people in the United States, are either poor or in the middle class.
And the rest, the 1% of the United States are rich and manage more money
that the 99% of people that work so hard to achieve the American Dream. Working
class Americans hardly ever reach the 1%, all we can do is see them bathe in
the riches that the working class worked so hard for them to acquire.
As
the middle class once was a stepping stone to get to the riches, now seems
impossible to just walk across. One must now work extremely hard to even earn a
quarter of what the 1% do. Everyday that passes by the rich get richer and the
poor get poorer; eventually the middle class will merely be a memory of what
once people thought was a fair living.
Surviving in the Low Wage World
By Ana Hernandez
We live in a society that we need money to have the basic necessities of life:
We live in a society that we need money to have the basic necessities of life:
food, water, medicine, and shelter. The United States has been in a depression
before in the 1930s. and it took a long recovery. Revenue from businesses,
banks, etc. have disappeared or a loss in value. The nation has been recovering
from a “long-term” recession. In reality, we’ve been in a depression; however,
we don’t like saying the word “depression” because it reminds of the economic
suffering of the 1930s.
Society
consists of a social pyramid that is divided into three classes. The top of the
pyramid is the rich and the famous. There are the ones who pay little taxes in
the nation, have a prestige education (i.e. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.) .
The middle class are people who do have a decent education and jobs. They are
responsible for paying taxes and voting on upcoming elections. Last but not
least, the working poor. It consists of people who are living in poverty,
barely making ends meet, and living in minimum wage. The majority of the work
requires being strong and work long-hour shifts for low pay.
The
working poor are people who live in poor neighborhoods who have little or no
government help. In the state of the California, the minimum wage is $8.00;
however, when you work for long-shifts, money is deducted away from your pay
due to taxes. The total earned for an individual person who is working
full-time for minimum wage is $320.00 a week. Less than $20,000 is earned per
year. That’s barely enough money to cover for all the expenses for a college
student attending a CSU per year. Depending on the person, some could qualify
for welfare opportunities.
An
average person has to work hard everyday to meet ends meet and have the basic
necessities of surviving in American society. High school students work
part-time at local restaurants, stores, etc. in order to save money for
tuition. Students have to maintain more than two jobs because a family member
might be sick or have a work-related injury. From a different perspective, you
can see how hard and painful it is to work on minimum wage.
Nowadays,
the economy is making housing more difficult to afford. If you live in
California, it now depends on the city or neighborhood where you live in. The
cheapest apartment to find are not furnished or it’s not required to pay for
gas and water. Apartments in the San Fernando Valley are expensive and very
small. For a one-bedroom apartment, it can range from $675 and up. If you're
lucky, a roommate can share an apartment and split the rent 50/50.
Food has
a factor to surviving the real world of minimum-wage person. A family of four
spends approximately $100 on groceries that will last about a week, two weeks
maximum. Food stamps is a government program that provides a certain amount of
money into a card every month that will allow to buy food. (i.e. produce,
dairy, meat) The price of food is on the rise, making everything difficult more
than it is.
This is
the harsh and cruel reality of poverty. There are opportunities out there that
will guide you to a better success. Having a higher education will take you
far. You just have to find the right doors and open it.
Relating to Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America"
By Hassan Muhammad
Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in
America was a very good way to portray the living conditions of the working
poor. She gave up her good and prosperous lifestyle, although not entirely,
just to experience what it would feel like to be a low-wage worker. She was
awestruck by how her co-workers cope with such struggle. Many people, such as
my friend Mark Burton, can relate to the lifestyle that the book portrayed. The
book opened the ears of the people for the unheard voices of the poor and
“middle-class.”
Ehrenreich, a journalist and an
author, gave up her good and satisfactory lifestyle to feel and experience what
it is like to be poor, working at a low-wage job, living in a really small and
tight place, and spending money like how a poor person would when trying to
save money. I personally know friends and relatives that are struggling in the
same situation. My friend’s, Mark Burton, health is at risk because he lives in
a small and unsanitary apartment that he pays $300 every month for. He barely
has enough money for food and he doesn’t have a car. Ehrenreich did not suffer,
however, for her job was simply to write about the life of the low-wage workers
and, if needed, she would have used her own money just to keep her good health.
Many of her poor co-workers
struggled with low-wage life. They did everything they could just to make ends
meet. Many of them worked the living life out of themselves just for very
little money, similar to my friend Mark. Despite of all the hardships most of
them share a good laugh from time to time and when they do, it does not come
unnoticed by Ehrenreich. Mark finds a way to enjoy time with his friends even
if it’s just playing basketball or walking at the park. He’s making the best of
what he’s got.
My
friend Mark Burton actually read the book before. He really enjoyed and agreed
about every single thing that the author talked about. He cried while talking
to me and relating to the story, “It’s just sad to get out of the little bubble
that you enclosed yourself in to forget about your struggle and realize that
the next day you have to chip a nail, get a bruise, get a wound and hurt your
back to earn enough money for a single piece of bread.” He felt, oddly enough,
happier. Happier because he’s not the only one struggling and that there are a
lot of people like him.
The
book opened the ears of the people for the unheard voices of the poor and
“middle-class”. She portrayed the low-wage life very well. Her story related to
many people that I know. She saw that you could still have a laugh or two while
struggling in life. Mark agrees and became really emotional when he tried
relating. If it wasn’t for Ehrenreich’s book, we wouldn’t be as informed as we are
now and the problem of the working poor would be unheard.
Life after high school the reality of low wage workers
by Brenda Garcia
Andrea Garcia, 21, High school graduate working a full time
job to help support her family, while saving enough money to go back to
college.
“I didn’t plan for this to be my life after high school…,”
Andrea says sadly. She remembers the days in high school when she would look
forward to the college years and how she would change the world.
Now a days it is beginning to be more common to see college
students drop out and get full jobs to pay for living expenses. Living expenses
may include phone bills, rent, cable bill, gas, clothes and food. For this
reason, many don’t move out of home until there long past 30. If we look at how
much we have gotten out of the recession we can easily see that not a cent has
changed on the minimum wage. The possibility of getting ahead while earning
minimum wage has gotten dimmer. If you would calculate how much it cost to pay
rent and living expenses at a cheap apartment you could still come out short
over 100. For a single person the opportunity to find the money to afford a
higher education comes down to not affording to lose a job to take courses.
“I plan to save enough money to go back to school and get an
associate’s degree in finance, I know how ironic,” Andrea says with an
optimistic perspective on the future.
She believes that if she sets some goals and with the help of her family
she will achieve her dream to become an accountant.
She is working currently at burger king and Cinnabon. She
works as a cashier and works 40 hours a week at minimum wage. Her hours vary as
do most of the fast food restaurants jobs, which can make one paycheck’s pay
good and the next not so great. She attended college at mission community
college for a semester then was forced to drop out due to financial problems in
her family. Her dad lost his job in jan 2010 just in enough time to let her
finish her semester and have her drop out without missing deadlines. Her mom
also working at burger king challenged herself by taking three jobs to support
her family but with minimum wage jobs she had to ask Andrea to help out with
the rent and other stuff around the house. Having two little sisters Andrea
refused to just stand aside while her mother killed herself with so much work
and have her continue to pay tuition.
A Mother's Struggle
By Mario Vega
When I was about 3 years old I remember my mom fighting with my
dad about financial problems, I witnessed that till I was about 14 and when I
was in 5th grade I promised myself to become so rich that my mom
would never have to work or lift a finger the rest of her life. I wanted to
know more about how hard she has worked and what she has done so I interviewed
her… After interviewing my mom I found out some very interesting things about
my mom, me and my family, things I didn’t know before like how my mom worked 2
jobs until 1 week before I was born. I thought interviewing my mom would be the
pest example of the working poor; I’ve seen my mom bust her but for her family
all my life and sustaining a family of migrant and low wage jobs. My mom came
to the United States 3 years before I was born and her first jobs were working
at a burger king where my uncle got her a job and sewing with the people she
met on the way to the United States.
I started off with a few simple question to get the flow of the
interview started, when I asked her what jobs she had when she just got here
she told me “it was very hard to get a job at first, your uncle got me the job
at the burger king and I had to tell people to reference me as a nanny or a
masseuse, all for $4 or $5 an hour”.
Coming from Mexico studying as a nurse my mom had to leave to
escape an abusive husband and find more money for her 2 children. After awhile
in the U.S my mom found it tough trying to get by on the jobs she had and
feeding and clothing my brother and sister as my mom quoted “you guys never
asked for anything cheap, it always had to be the highest quality stuff but I
did it and I was proud to do it”. But she could continue the light prosperity
of living in America, her husband followed her into the U.S and when he
confronted her he accepted him into our home because he had no where to go and
he helped with the kids for awhile.
After asking her about her jobs I asked her how they were and if
they were tough, she didn’t hesitate to tell me how tough they were. She took a
huge breath and lightly massaged her fingers as she told me, “the thing that
was the toughest was communicating with others, they would get so mad at me
when I couldn’t understand something or do something right, it was a scary
feeling cause I was certain I would get fired”. She did get fired from the
burger king but kept her jobs as a masseuse and a nanny; my mother took with
her, her studies of becoming a nurse in Mexico.
The part of her describing her jobs for me took the longest she
told me how her jobs have worn her out. She told how picky and needy the people
she went to massage were and how they asked her to do extra thing like putting more
pressure in certain spot that were naturally tough for her. She told me how
sewing for 14 hours a day would work her hands to the finger nails then coming
home and cooking for 4 people.
Eventually the last things I asked her were about how life was when
I was born and I was surprised at what I learned. When my mom was pregnant with
me she was ecstatic it’s like she got a huge boost of energy, she got another
job and a better one too. She started working in a factory were she got some
benefits through connections and got paid a higher salary, also my abusive
father quit drinking and he actually supported my mom for awhile, everything
was good until I was born. After I was born my father stopped supporting my mom
and started drinking again, so my mom basically had to support a new born, a 12
year old, a teenager and a grown man. She sacrificed so much of her own life;
she never bought her self any new clothes or went out to go eat all her money
went to us.
My mom eventually told me it was really hard and that’s how life
is, she told me that that’s why she gets so mad at me when I get really lazy
sometimes, that she hates knowing that she sacrificed for me the most because I
was the only one born in the U.S and she pushed me hard and worked hard herself
so I can have a way better life then her.
Life of a low wage worker
By Jerry Reyes
Lately it’s been hard to find work in
California. It’s even harder for immigrants to find work. Their lack of
knowledge of this country and inexperience of many businesses forces them to
look for low-wage work. Unfortunately a young man named Tomas Reyes, had to
learn to live with these conditions.
Tomas
came here from a small town in Mexico with his brother Erasto. Their first few
days didn’t go so well because they were lost for many hours with no food or
rest. When they finally found their way to their friend’s apartment they found
out that his apartment was more crowded than they thought. The small, two
bedroom apartment housed an old lady named Dona Amelia, three of her sons (all
over 30), and two of Tomas’s sisters. It was really crowded and many of the
people had to sleep in the living room.
After
a couple days of rest, Tomas set out to find work. Unfortunately he didn’t find
any work for two months. He did not have any papers so he couldn’t ask for work
in places that required them. He was forced to wait in street corners with his
brother and wait for work to come to him. Eventually an old white man came
asking for help on finishing tiling his roof. Many of the people there ran at
the opportunity for work. To Tomas’s surprise his brother and he were chosen to
work. The man brought them to his house and explained what they needed to do.
They worked for three days for five hours each day. The man fed them and gave
them drinks each day that they worked for him. He paid Tomas and his brother
$175 each. This was his first pay
in the United States.
After
a while he got tired of waiting for work to come to him, so he started looking
for work somewhere else. He found a small laundry mat owned by an Asian lady.
He was hired almost immediately. The work was simple and straightforward. All
he had to do is iron suits but he to iron 25 of them every hour. He soon
learned to hate the job, especially because the owner exploited him because he
didn’t have any papers. He was only paid $3 an hour and was forced to do extra
work for no pay. He decided to quit and look for another job with his brother.
Fortunately his brother
had already made friends with a man who owned an auto shop and he convinced the
owner to hire Tomas. Tomas was the new car painter’s assistant, but Tomas
didn’t know the first thing about painting cars. This soon got on the others’
nerves and they began to dislike Tomas. Tomas did eventually learn the basics
of car painting but that didn’t change the fact that his co-workers disliked
him. Tomas was soon fired after his brother went back to Mexico.
Tomas didn’t find what he
wanted in the United States so he returned to Mexico. He wasn’t ready to quit
though. He vowed to himself that he would return soon.
Stealing From the Poor
By Ivan Guerrero
Being poor is difficult. Having to live life from paycheck to paycheck with an unsteady job. especially in today’s economy where the unemployment rate is in an obscenely high state. The working poor have been targeted as a business by people whose intent is to become wealthy at the expense of those less fortunate. With the invention of the payday loan, rent to own and other clever hidden taxes. It has become very expensive to stay broke.
Corporations created poverty taxes in which thousands of dollars can be made in extra fees. There are about twenty million Americans without bank accounts today, to cash their checks, they are force to attend small businesses and pay eight to three percent of their paycheck in the exchange. These people have ruined their credit by writing checks without funds. As a result, banks denied them checking accounts or loans. This created an opportunity for small businesses to increase their revenue by taking advantage of the lower class. It is like stealing from the poor.
Another way corporations steal from the poor is rent to own. Rent to own is an advertise scam that claims to be a great opportunity to buy commodities above your social status. It works by allowing people to take home big flat screen TV’s or Lazy Boy furniture as you pay it in small amounts over a few months. However, you end up paying $1,800 in weekly installments for the same television you could have bought for $900 if only you had a credit card. Cant afforded a TV? No problem, the rent to own store has many types from wide to flat screen, but you will end up paying an extra $900 for it.
A small solution is to persuading people to save a small amount of money every week and wait until they saved enough to pay for the item they want in full. In this manner, they would save hundreds of dollars from interest. But ours is a fast-paced society that wants everything in a hurry and is unwilling to weight for it. That is great news for the rent to own businesses and for the payday lenders.
The payday lenders is a large business that is into making large and expensive loans against a person’s next social security check, unemployment check, and if employed paycheck. According to the LA Times people in Tennessee and Kentucky are charge “400 percent interest, but lenders in Missouri are allowed to charge a rate of 652 percent interest on the money they loan out. “ Currently there are not laws setting limits to the amount of interest they are allowed to charge. If a single mother of two kids takes out a loan of $1,000 she will be required to pay $5,000 back, four times more amount she borrowed.
When our founding fathers imagined this country, they did not imagine big corporations designing scams to rob money from the less fortunately. They imagined fairness and equality for all Americans. Payday loan, rent to own, and hidden taxes, are tools corporation used to rob money from poor people, who are not fully awarded they are being robed. On the other hand, they believed these options are convenient and helpful.
Living in California with low paying jobs
By:Jonathan Valdivia
Aremy Magana a college student, worker, and takes care of her baby
she struggles to find a low rent apartment and time to take care of the baby.
Her job is working at Melody’s. I asked her if her job was
stressful at times. At times the job here can get stressful because of the
customers complaining about their order but it can teach you how to deal with
people in any other job.
How do you have time for college? While she goes to college she leaves
the baby with her mom until she returns. Her mom is a big help when it comes
down to the baby and to her daughter Aremy’s success in going to college and
becoming a nurse.
When do things get difficult for you? Things only get difficult
when she has homework and the baby. But luckily she has her mom to take the
baby while she finishes off her homework. She gets complete concentrated in her
work and when she is done she plays with her baby and takes care of it.
If the baby is sick what do you do? She puts all her attention to
him and comforts him till he is better. She doesn’t leave his side till she
sees him feeling better. With all the time she spends with him she got used to
being patient even during the most difficult times.
How
did the baby change your life? The baby changed her life because it brought
more responsibilities and she stopped going out with her friends. She still
spends time with her friend but not like before, now she takes care of a baby
while being with her friends. Although it doesn’t feel the same her friends
enjoy him, and sometimes even come over when it’s been a long day just to take
care of him so she could get some rest.
While
Aremy works and goes to college she has a baby she loves coming to every day
and spending time him. She goes to college and her family supports her and
can’t wait till she graduates and finds a better job that will pay her good
amount of money to keep surviving. Even though she has school, a baby, and
works there are many obstacles in life and some you can’t avoid but just keep
going forward and see were life takes you.
Making It By
By; Kevin Pichinte
Working a job as a high school student is fun but challenging
sometimes. Keeping balance of the both things takes some responsibility because
you have to manage to be at work at the time you have to be there and still
have the energy to go to school and manage getting good grades. But sometimes I
struggle with both things because it’s pretty hard to maintain good grades and
getting to work and getting out late and being tired the next day. But the pay
is pretty good for a high school student making fourteen dollars an hour four
times a week for five hours a day is pretty awesome. But what about for the
people who have to pay monthly bills and have a family to maintain and make
days end meet. Doing the math this really isn’t anything a month. The typical
person would have to have more than one job.
The reason why I work is to help out and just to have some spare money in my
pocket. But for me being a youngster this is plenty of money. But after reading
“nickel and dime” my opinion really changed on how these really isn’t anything.
Over the summer working just four days a week for four weeks a month I make
enough to supply all my needs. But seeing all the expenses that my family has
and what we have to pay monthly really is garbage. Just with paying monthly
rent I would practically be left with nothing. I see why people really struggle
when they make minimum wage because in reality they have so many expenses and
sometimes the amount of money they make just isn’t enough even though they are
working two to three jobs.
And going to the laundry
at least once a week and spending thirty dollars every time means you’re
spending at least one hundred and twenty dollars a month in pure laundry. Then
comes all of your personal needs like cell phones, gel, shampoo, clothes etc.
With this you really end up with nothing a month. For a cell phone these days
the minimum that you’re at least paying is around fifty dollars. Then in
clothes you spend at least one hundred dollars and that’s if you don’t have a
family to supply.
And
what about with groceries. The minimum the typical person would pay a month
would be around one hundred twenty dollars just for food. And if you get sick
how expensive is it to go see the doctor every time or just to go to the pharmacy
and buy some medicine. Just to get over the counter medicine can range from two
dollars to twenty dollars and that’s not even talking about your prescribed
medicine and having to make co payments every time. In reality with all of
these expenses id rather stay in school because I would have too many expenses
and not be able to support myself. I would be spending more money than what I
would be making.
My point is that I would not be able to pay my monthly bills. I would
spend all my money and still need to pay more bills and not have enough to pay
them. Which in the long run this would lead to being poor and on the streets.
So the money I make is awesome for a teen but if I were an adult like Barbara Ehrenrich in
nickel and dime I would be in low poverty or even be poor. So no, what I make
would never be enough and I would be a bum on the street or I would have to work at least three jobs just to make end days meet.
The Working Poor
by Hunter Tymich
As of today, the
unemployment rate in California alone has reached a stunningly high rate of
10.9 percent.
In today’s economy, it is nearly
impossible for many people just to find a job in order to support themselves
and their family. This is
especially true with teenagers who are simply looking for a summer job just to
make some extra cash.
“I finally got a job after looking
and applying for 3 months”, says high school senior Ariana Rahman. “It’s very stressful to look for a job
while trying to keep up in school at the same time.”
However, there are many teenagers
all throughout the country who are forced to get jobs in order to help support
their family. In California, the
teenage unemployment rate currently stands at 34.4 percent for teens between
the ages of 6 and 19. Ethnicity
also plays a large role in getting jobs.
Approximately 40.7 percent of all African Americans teenagers are
currently unemployed as well.
Many people cannot find jobs at all
in today’s economy. In 2011, the
U.S. jobless rate was at 8.9 percent, while the national unemployment rate
reached 58.4 percent. Many of
these people have no way to support themselves, and often times turn to living
on the streets. However, many go
to live with a family member or friends while they look or a job. For example, in the book Nickel and
Dimed, author Barbara Ehrenreich stays at a friend’s house that was out of town
at the time.
Statistics from 2003 showed an
alarming amount of low-income households.
About 55 percent of all American households earned $50,000 or less each
year. Nearly 30 percent of them
earned less than $25,000 a year.
When trying to support a family, wages like this make it very difficult
to do. When combined with the low
unemployment rates, many people are currently suffering due to the economy.
As of today, the legal minimum wage
in the state of California is $8 an hour.
This means that if someone were to work a full time job, they would make
about $320 a week. In Los Angeles
(one of the most expensive cities to live in along with San Francisco and New
York), the average price for a single bedroom apartment is around $1,200 a
month. This means that a person
working full time would be able to afford an apartment in L.A. with only $80
left over each month. These $80
would have to go to things such as food, gas, and other things such
as prescriptions for illnesses one might suffer from. This would be an impossible task for most.
So many people are left homeless
and hopeless due to the poor economy while the government just sits around and
continues to collect money from the people who do not have it. Former president Ronald Regan best
describes the government’s plans: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
The Working Poor
Young Sun
The Working Poor
I used to think that
being poor was when my dad told me we couldn’t afford to spend more money on my
wardrobe. Now I see that that is not even remotely close to the definition of
being poor. That is considered lucky and those of us, who are lucky enough, to
afford what we think of as basic necessities, should be grateful for what we
have. There are families out there with kids that are the same age as us but
can’t afford ANY kinds of clothes or shoes or even school supplies (when we’re
busy being picky about which brand our clothes or even notebooks or binders are
from) because they have to save up for REAL basic necessities in life such as
food, shelter, etc.. Some of them have to start working hard at an early age so
that they can provide for their siblings or even their own parents on top of
going to school, like 21-year-old, Laura Hernandez, who has worked since she
was17 years old to help her mother provide for her and her little brother after
her father passed away.
Studies and reports in
2008 showed that families with children and families that were led by women
were more likely to live in poverty or would be considered as the working poor.
This has been true for Laura Hernandez whose mom had to start providing for her
and her little brother after her dad passed away in the year 2008 when she was
17 years old. Her little brother was only 9 years old. She was able to graduate
high school but couldn’t afford to go to college with the rest of her
graduating class because she knew she had to help her mom. Even when Laura’s
dad was alive, she wasn’t able to spend her teen years as any other normal
teenager because she always had to stay in and take care of her dad when she
wasn’t at school. She started working in any place that would hire her as soon
as her dad was gone, not even really having time to grieve over her loss. She
worked at places like Food4less and McDonald’s while her mom was a waitress in
a Korean restaurant.
After about a year of
working to support her family without going to school, she decided that she
wanted to be something more in the future, even if she wasn’t going to be a
millionaire living in Beverly Hills she wanted to do more for her brother and
her mother who have both done as much as they could without any complaints. So
she enrolled into a community college and is now juggling both school and work.
She is now a retail sales associate at a shoe store and is now getting paid
$9.30 an hour.
Laura Hernandez is
much like Colleen, a single mother of two children, who is mentioned in “Nickel
and Dimed”(p.118-119), in that they are both grateful in what they have now and
although they would want a better life for their family, they’re not greedy
about it. For example, when asked about how they felt about barely getting by
while others had so much, Colleen’s response was, “’ I don’t mind really,
because I guess I’m a simple person, and I don’t want what they have. I mean,,
it’s nothing to me. But what I would like is to be able to take a day off now
and then… if I had to... and still be able to buy groceries the next day.” In
my personal opinion, I feel as though most of those who are considered to be the
working poor have stronger moral values and are more thankful for whatever they
are given and make the most out of what they have.
One family's struggle to survive
By Nick Heredia
Throughout
the nation, one term is becoming more and more used everyday, the, “working
poor.” The reason why this is happening is because the economy had a meltdown
and continued to keep melting until there is barely anything left. The term
means; person(s) is working hard but just for minimum wage and is barely
getting through in the world. This can happen to people of all ages and can
also affect families. These are the times when families should come closer
together and support one another.
One
family that I know that is going through a rough times like this; are the
Bishays. Due to financial problems, the oldest son of three, Michael, 18, has
to help his parents pay the bills. Michael has two jobs just to help his family
and has to give up on buying some things such as clothing. The times has gotten
so bad that Michael and his brothers had to sell some things to stay in the
clear of bankruptcy. Michael is now a senior and is planning to go to college
and become a lawyer, meaning he needs to make up the money for the college he
plans to go to.
Mr.
and Mrs. Bishay are two loving parents who support their kids and will do their
best to give them what they want. When the economy entered a downward spiral,
the Bishays weren’t affected at first, as time went to course, it got worse.
Mr. Bishay owns a business in Downtown Los Angeles selling bag for women. Since
the crash of the economy, his business and profit have been decreasing more and
more. His wife went to college to get a degree in the pharmacy business and
found a job behind the counter to help pay the bills. Michael also had a job at
the time of this situation but didn’t have to worry about the struggle of his
parents.
In
2010, Michael formed a band with his friends and bought equipment that cost
$1,800. (This was a time before they had to worry, financially.) Two years
later, while Michael was in his room watching television, his dad walked in and
told him he needs to sell some stuff because they are entering some problems.
Michael first thought of the most expensive thing he has, the equipment he
bought back in 2010. He then told his fellow band mates of the situation he was
in and they wished him the best of luck. He then got another job because he
knew it would help his family out even more than just selling his equipment.
Michael
is a senior this year and is taking two A.P. classes, which means he gets more
homework then usual. I asked him, when it comes to stress and anxiety, “Have
you ever broken down emotionally or mentally?” His response was a simple, “No
because although it’s a lot of work I stay strong and keep my composure.” I
then asked him about his plans for college and how’s he going to pay for it. He
answered, “ I know the kind of colleges I need to go to, to be a lawyer are
very expensive, I plan to look for scholarships and get as much financial aid
as I can.”
As
the economy came to a low, that one we will soon hope to get back up from,
families struggled to survive and keep the things they need to live. Many
people found jobs that paid low but still took it because they need the money,
they then start struggling, this term is known as “working poor.” When families
become of this situation, this is the time they should all come together and
help each other. When it comes to Michael and the band he was in, he talked to
them and they all decided that when Michael gets back on his feet, they would
continue the band then.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The Working Class of America
One student interviews her sister, who goes to school and work to get by, in this audioslide. By Diana Ramirez and Kajika Soyoltulga
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