A minimum wage worker would have to work 119 hours a week to afford the apartment or the equivalent of 3 full-time jobs.
Yeah, but I wonder how many grown adults are working minimum wage jobs? I always looked at a minimum wage job as something that high school or maybe college kids would work until they graduated, or something that a full-time worker would pull part-time, in the evenings. Or, at worst, something you take as a stepping stone until something better comes along.
So I'm not expecting a minimum wage worker to be able to afford a decent 2-bedroom apartment. I'm expecting them to live at home with parents or other relatives, or have roommates, or some other situation like that. However, I do believe that minimum wage should be indexed to inflation, instead of being adjusted once in a blue moon. It's $5.15 per hour right now, where it's stood since September, 1997. If it were adjusted for inflation, it would be about $6.25 per hour today.
Heck, when I was 13 years old, I worked on Saturdays doing yard work and house work for a lady that worked with my Grandma, and was also president of the local SPCA. So needless to say, she had wall-to-wall dogs and cats in her house! She paid me $3.50 per hour back then, which would come out to around $6.90-7.00 today!
However, I do believe that minimum wage should be indexed to inflation, instead of being adjusted once in a blue moon. It's $5.15 per hour right now, where it's stood since September, 1997. If it were adjusted for inflation, it would be about $6.25 per hour today.
I agree that a minimum wage worker isn't likely going to be able to afford a 2 bedroom apartment. Minimum wage was $2.50/hr in 1975. I was a high school kid making this amount in So. California and I guarantee I couldn't have afforded any apartment of my own. While I think that minimum wage should be raised I also think that it should be done at the state level. There's no way it costs as much to live in Mississippi as it does in California or New York and this wage should reflect this.
I suggest that people opposed to significant gas tax hikes do a websearch on "true cost of oil". You'll get plenty of hits saying mostly the same thing. There is a hidden cost of anywhere from $3 to $7 per gallon that we don't see at the pump but eventually we do pay in some form. This hidden cost disproportionately effects the middle class so becoming energy self sufficient would disproportionately benefit them. If there's a more effective way than a gas tax to expedite this process then I'm all for it.
Ok, this morning I went by the local Mobil station and the gas prices are up again. Premium went up about 10 cents again in the last days or so. Regular:$2.27/gallon, midgrade: $2.47/gallon, and premium $ 2.67/gallon. Just four days ago the premium at the same place was going for $ 2.45 /gallon. 20 cent/gallon hike in gas prices per week does not jive with the "very mild gas price jump" BS they tell us on the news.
It does not take a genius to see what they are doing. Traditionally there has been a 10 cent spread between the grades. Now it is 20 cents! These oil companies must employ entire armies of people who have nothing to do but to come up with new schemes to raise the gasoline prices and justify it as normal market adjustment.
>Now it is 20 cents! These oil companies must employ entire armies of
But haven't you heard there are supposed to be lots of hurricanes next summer; we'll get all of those we didn't get last summer left over from the scare-mongering of this spring and summer.
DAyton dropped below $2.00 with many stations between 2 and 2.05. But Speedway and others starte raising to $2.299 for the weekly restoration of profits.
I filled my truck up at the local Citgo. 89 octane is holding at $2.399 per gallon. Took something like $30.25 to fill it up. I figure mileage was down to about 11 mpg, but then the mornings have been pretty chilly here, and with my short commute, there's often still frost on the truck when I get to work.
I know that fuel economy sounds like it would kill me financially, but on the flip side, it took me 8 days to burn those ~12.6 gallons!
I saw the same yesterday. All the stations remained the same except Speedway, they jumped a dime from $2.29 to $2.39 for regular. And this was over the course of 12 hours.
well the prices near me are staying strong at $2.29 - $2.39 for 87 grade (depending on where you buy). I got to have fun a blow a full tank of gas making my Pilot video, but it was worth it with all the fun I had.
I just wish I could have added all the shots I took with the camera on the tripod inside the vehicle while driving. Oh well, maybe after the contest is over I will edit the movie and add some of it in.
I dropped $20 into the rental (Jeep Laredo) @ $2.29 for 86 slop in Amarillo at the Shell station I usually shop at. I feel cheated since Dumas, gas prices were a dime cheaper. :mad:
looks like the local Citgo is still holding, at $2.299/2.399/2.459 per gallon, but the Shell up the street is up to $2.389/$2.489/$2.589.
I have almost a full tank in the truck though, and don't anticipate driving it too much in the next couple of weeks, so it should last me a while. And fortunately, the weather's staying fairly warm, so the ~$488 I just spent on heating oil might last me for a bit. :sick:
A long-time bus company on Long Island went under this past week... after trying to cut costs and staff for 2 months, they cited fuel prices among the main reasons for giving up.
...last night regular gasoline jumped up two cents to $2.31 at the Sunoco on Rhawn and Verree but fell back to $2.29 this morning. Why don't they just have a streamer on the fuel price sign as they do for stock prices. Maybe if you're quick, you can fill-up when the price is at a momentarily low point?
The new Wawa in the next county over has the gas prices listed on a big digital sign, presumably so they don't have to send anyone out to flip the numbers over.
I put gas in at the shell station in Amarillo again and took the dime hit because I wanted something to drink as I white knuckled it on some of the worst weather I've seen in the Tx Panhandle in my 5 years. It's lighting out while its raining ice/sleet/snow and the roads are so slippery with ice one could skate on them like Jermey Roenick :surprise:
I passed by the local Citgo on the way home after dark and noticed that the sign was turned off, although the place was still open. This morning, I think I figured out why. They were raising their prices. Up 5-6 cents per gallon across the board, to $2.359/$2.459/$2.499. It's only been fairly recently that they've been pricing the 89 so close to 93. Normally the gaps are even.
Hess is still $2.13 for 87, with 10-cent gaps for the higher grades. Liberty near my home is $2.12 and Exxon is $2.13.
But farther north, away from town, the going price is now $2.19 for 87, with Valero continuing to be one cent less. Diesel at Sheetz hasn't changed in a while, so at $2.49 it's only 10 cents more than 93.
Do you think prices are going to start climbing back torwards $3 bucks a gallon again ? I personally think we both will see $2.50 again by spring time. I know Fintail, is already getting hosed again :sick:
I personally think we both will see $2.50 again by spring time.
Barring any major, negative developments in Iran I believe gas prices are as high as they are going to get for awhile. In fact, if I was to place a bet I'd go with prices dropping 10-20 cents in the next few months before starting to head back up in the spring.
Seeing how I done went got me a Mercury Mariner Hybrid this week, and knowing my luck with buying and selling stock, you can expect fuel prices to drop at the pumps in the near future .
A co-worker of mine believe the increase in gasoline prices is affected by holiday travel and an opportunity for oil companies to take advantage of the situation. He thinks prices will fall after January 2nd.
After the holidays there'll be the threat of cold weather requiring most fuel oil for heating in the northeast which would seem to only have oil furnaces for heating and creates huge demand for gasoline stocks to diminish, raising the price.
Then there will be announcement of the upcoming huge threat of hurricanes which will threated even Toledo, Ohio, with destruction from the 50 level 5 hurricanes we probably will have.
Then will come the high travel season demanding gasoline usage by those drivers starting with spring break time throughout Halloween causing prices to rise also.
IOW, the media serving as a propoganda machine easily manipulated by the latest fax from the oil company media reps' fax machines will have us on pins and needles all the time.
Local prices had a couple of restorations to $2.29 and then jumped to $2.39 for Wednesday when lots of people seem to have started travel (our local construction project had traffic to one lane on I70 eastbound that same day (Tuesday or Wednesday)!!!
Price dropped back to $2.25 at many stations slowly. But jumped again for Friday at some stations to $2.39 which others dropped slowly to $2.19.
Now we're seeing $2.159 easily available to any who are willing to his the usual hot spots.
Happy Holidays, Everyone! :shades: (We need a Holiday Automoticon at the bottom. What's wrong with Edmund's programmers?)
Hey, I gotta play with my new toys. And the car was stopped when I took the pic, so it's cool.
Fintail, don't lie to me I know you hit one of those buttons in that gadget filled car and you were on auto-pilot allowing you to take the pic while cruising.
Well here we go again. Shell will be closing down their refinery for 2 months in Bencia, CA to do routine maintenance. If you think that this won't affect the price of fuel, guess again. I have some family members that work there at the refinery. They will be working double shifts and making very good money, plus the benefits. All of the employees make excellent pay and have better benefits than government workers do. This is because we continue to pay these outrageous prices for fuel. I don't know what the actual cost will be to us when Shell shuts down to clean house, but I imagine we will be paying over $3.00 a gallon again here shortly. We are already paying $2.65 a gallon for regular 87 Octane fuel in Southern California. And that is at Arco. The other name brand service stations are $.10 to $.30 more per gallon. I don't like posting this message one bit and wish that it were saying just the opposite. Maybe some day it might, but I don't see it in the near future. HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? BILLIONS - TRILLIONS - ?.
Comments
Yeah, but I wonder how many grown adults are working minimum wage jobs? I always looked at a minimum wage job as something that high school or maybe college kids would work until they graduated, or something that a full-time worker would pull part-time, in the evenings. Or, at worst, something you take as a stepping stone until something better comes along.
So I'm not expecting a minimum wage worker to be able to afford a decent 2-bedroom apartment. I'm expecting them to live at home with parents or other relatives, or have roommates, or some other situation like that. However, I do believe that minimum wage should be indexed to inflation, instead of being adjusted once in a blue moon. It's $5.15 per hour right now, where it's stood since September, 1997. If it were adjusted for inflation, it would be about $6.25 per hour today.
Heck, when I was 13 years old, I worked on Saturdays doing yard work and house work for a lady that worked with my Grandma, and was also president of the local SPCA. So needless to say, she had wall-to-wall dogs and cats in her house! She paid me $3.50 per hour back then, which would come out to around $6.90-7.00 today!
Phoenix is still $2.21 for the lowest, which is up about 14 cents from a month ago.
I agree that a minimum wage worker isn't likely going to be able to afford a 2 bedroom apartment. Minimum wage was $2.50/hr in 1975. I was a high school kid making this amount in So. California and I guarantee I couldn't have afforded any apartment of my own. While I think that minimum wage should be raised I also think that it should be done at the state level. There's no way it costs as much to live in Mississippi as it does in California or New York and this wage should reflect this.
I suggest that people opposed to significant gas tax hikes do a websearch on "true cost of oil". You'll get plenty of hits saying mostly the same thing. There is a hidden cost of anywhere from $3 to $7 per gallon that we don't see at the pump but eventually we do pay in some form. This hidden cost disproportionately effects the middle class so becoming energy self sufficient would disproportionately benefit them. If there's a more effective way than a gas tax to expedite this process then I'm all for it.
It does not take a genius to see what they are doing. Traditionally there has been a 10 cent spread between the grades. Now it is 20 cents! These oil companies must employ entire armies of people who have nothing to do but to come up with new schemes to raise the gasoline prices and justify it as normal market adjustment.
But haven't you heard there are supposed to be lots of hurricanes next summer; we'll get all of those we didn't get last summer left over from the scare-mongering of this spring and summer.
DAyton dropped below $2.00 with many stations between 2 and 2.05. But Speedway and others starte raising to $2.299 for the weekly restoration of profits.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I know that fuel economy sounds like it would kill me financially, but on the flip side, it took me 8 days to burn those ~12.6 gallons!
http://www.carspace.com/videos/play!id=.59cc5481
I just wish I could have added all the shots I took with the camera on the tripod inside the vehicle while driving. Oh well, maybe after the contest is over I will edit the movie and add some of it in.
Odie
Odie's Carspace
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16264525
Rocky
I have almost a full tank in the truck though, and don't anticipate driving it too much in the next couple of weeks, so it should last me a while. And fortunately, the weather's staying fairly warm, so the ~$488 I just spent on heating oil might last me for a bit. :sick:
Up two cents to $2.39 here in Happy Valley!
87 - $2.199
89 - $2.299
91 - $2.359
93 - $2.399
diesel - $2.499
A long-time bus company on Long Island went under this past week... after trying to cut costs and staff for 2 months, they cited fuel prices among the main reasons for giving up.
kcram - Pickups Host
I paid $2.08 on October 13th and the prices here have not dropped much lower than that.
So up 16 cents in two months.
Rocky
2.75/2.85/2.95 here
Rocky
P.S. fintail you are getting hosed with those high prices.... :sick:
Yep we're being ripped a new one. Darn those legitimate market forces.
But farther north, away from town, the going price is now $2.19 for 87, with Valero continuing to be one cent less. Diesel at Sheetz hasn't changed in a while, so at $2.49 it's only 10 cents more than 93.
Do you think prices are going to start climbing back torwards $3 bucks a gallon again ? I personally think we both will see $2.50 again by spring time. I know Fintail, is already getting hosed again :sick:
Rocky
Barring any major, negative developments in Iran I believe gas prices are as high as they are going to get for awhile. In fact, if I was to place a bet I'd go with prices dropping 10-20 cents in the next few months before starting to head back up in the spring.
I hope you are right.
Rocky
$2.39
$2.45
The lowest in town is $2.25-$2.27 and we have gone up about 4 cents this week.
Watch for smaller cars and hybrids to take another upturn in sales if this keeps up....
Merry Xmas
All I know is that El Paso is $2.09 and that's where I'll be filling up next Thursday night on my trip to central Texas, so it's ALL GOOD !!
What do you think?
Rocky
Then there will be announcement of the upcoming huge threat of hurricanes which will threated even Toledo, Ohio, with destruction from the 50 level 5 hurricanes we probably will have.
Then will come the high travel season demanding gasoline usage by those drivers starting with spring break time throughout Halloween causing prices to rise also.
IOW, the media serving as a propoganda machine easily manipulated by the latest fax from the oil company media reps' fax machines will have us on pins and needles all the time.
Local prices had a couple of restorations to $2.29 and then jumped to $2.39 for Wednesday when lots of people seem to have started travel (our local construction project had traffic to one lane on I70 eastbound that same day (Tuesday or Wednesday)!!!
Price dropped back to $2.25 at many stations slowly. But jumped again for Friday at some stations to $2.39 which others dropped slowly to $2.19.
Now we're seeing $2.159 easily available to any who are willing to his the usual hot spots.
Happy Holidays, Everyone! :shades: (We need a Holiday Automoticon at the bottom. What's wrong with Edmund's programmers?)
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Rocky
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Rocky
Rocky
Cheaper gas can be had, but not by much. I'll pay a few cents more for Chevron.
Fintail, don't lie to me I know you hit one of those buttons in that gadget filled car and you were on auto-pilot allowing you to take the pic while cruising.
Rocky
But I wasn't talking on the phone, so it's cool.
Rocky
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Canada is even more still.
Was home in Happy Valley on Christmas day and it was still sitting at $2.39.
I'll be back in town tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see if the prices have dropped thre as well.