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The wage is 6.50 in the state of maine. Maines taxes suck. THey take 5bucks out of 5 hours. i get paid 9 bucks . Maine is one of the most taxed state in the United States. There was talk about rasieing it to 7.00 but they proble will add more taxes to our pay checks. I dont care if they increase the wage as long as it does take money from me.

Well these people may have it one of the hardest out of all of us though. It is possible though but they have to work extra hard. There are a couple of movies based on these. About defying all odds and such. About the poeple that barely pass in school, their dad dies and they have to take care of their mom or grandparents as they work a night job and save up for a college tution and amke enough money to keep the family running as they get no sleep. Lots of movies about this because this is a problem. With our government and our market system it is just gonna stay the way it is. If there are no major changes I think that the rich will stay rich and the poor will stay poor. It is just too hard for the poor to get out of poverty. Though some do. And when you are born into money it is nearly impossible to become out of it unless you are bad at business management or you get fined more money than you have. But I believe that this is a pretty solid saying. Rich stay rich and the Poor stay poor.

The poor of america are not that poor. The poor here can still eat, and can still afford a place to rent. The gap between lower and middle class is almost non existent. It's so easy to get a good lower class job. I'm just a 19 year old with lil job experiance, and I can get a 9$ an hour job right down the street. That's almost 50% more than what the minimum wage is.

Don't think of the poor of america as people in rags, think of them more as kenny's family on south park.

Do adults actually work at minimum wage anyway? Usually, kids might get minimum wage or something, but it's not like they need to support a family(with maybe a few exceptions.)

My dad is a painter (of houses and such) and when he works he makes more than enough to support his family, but not enough to get a real nice place or a home. Our labor industry pays pretty well though much of it is racially one sided my dads the only white guy at that paint shop.

Community college mind you. And yes, america's poor are not THAT poor.

So you're saying that poor people aren't smart? The whole idea of a scholarship is to help those who couldn't otherwise afford college. I have a friend who emigrated from Russia 4 years ago and was living basically in poverty with her mother and brother. She now goes to Harvard with a full scholarship. She was what you may consider "poor," yet she is still very bright.

And all they gotta do is work 2 fulltime jobs and live with the fact that they'll always be in debt. Truly the American Dream is being realised.



Wow, now try living off of that. It costs more to live than many people who havn't moved out yet think.

TWO full time jobs? Unless they're a single parent raising 4 kids, like my mother was, they don't need 2 full time jobs. Thanks to her and food stamps, I had the ability to eat and sleep with a roof over my head.

My co workers were making the same money as me, and they were living on their own. 9$ is enough money to live off of in most of the country. You just have to limit your material needs and work full time.

No sales tax implies higher income taxes. I just thought I'd point that out, because I think you had your logic backwards



Still, a high school diploma is worth a lot, intellectually. And it's free!

Also, I agree, somewhat, with Princess (wasn't it PsychoTemplar before?). Having a concrete minimum wage means the companies will pay no more than that unless they want to, such as for keeping a good employee.

LOL Mcdonalds minimum wage is like 6 bucks and in return you get a free happy meal.

That is why, working at McDonalds suck. Applebee accounter, or tress rocks.

Yes, but it is all at the same time ion New Hampshire, It doesnt make a whole lot of sence but Maine citizens pay a lot more to live then people in New Hampshire.

I saw a documentary (30 days with Morgan Spurlock) where a couple worked minimum wage for 30 days. The rented a little **** hole that used to had a hobo living in it the other day, and a meth lab that had been busted a week ago below it. The man worked 2 manual labour intensive jobs (so he would get extra money) and the girl worked a job at the coffee shop. They ate barely anything, and took advantage of places that give away furniture and the like to people in their kind of financial situation. At the end of the month, they were still deep in debt, and the guy wasn't able to do the manual labour for much longer because of an injured wrist. Not to mention the couple being at eachother's throats by the end, because of their frustrations.


I have no fricken clue how she did it. I would make a suggestion, but you would probably find it offensive. Your situation must have also gotten a tonne better, if you're able to use the internet.

Don't all fast food places suck? They pay minimum wage and gives you pimples. Actually, all jobs that doesnt require a high school diploma sucks because they pay close to minimum wage or less.

yep... so i dont get jipped.
and i need it to pay my lunch and dinner

I have not seen this documentary yet, but I can tell you right now that it's either biased and/or just plain old inaccurate. Because 2 people working full time while raising zero kids can not go into debt by living a lower class life style. If that's true, then 20% of the country would be houseless and starving.

Post a link so I can watch this documentary. I want to see if they considered the fact that when you first move into a place, you have to pay 1st months rent. So that's another 500-800$ on the first month. And that when you start electric or water, you have to pay a down payment. So that's ANOTHER 100-150$ on the first month. As well as some other things they may not have mentioned.

Unfortunatly, it's fairly new, so it hasn't been posted on youtube or anything. It's not even airing in Canada yet, my teacher had to buy the DVD. But you should be able to catch it once it starts airing. And have you never heard of Morgan Spurlock?


How could they not... It was an experiement and they actually did it. And what you're saying goes toward the fact that it's really hard to get out of debt.


Or living in debt.

Then if they would've made the show 90 days instead of 30, they would not have been in debt. Because on the first month, the only month they documented, they paid 2 months rent, as well as down payments on the electric and water bills. Maybe even down payments on the car as well, assuming they leased one.

It's really hard to get out of debt though my mom has worked full time since 18 and she had a bunch of credit cards at 18 and maxed them all out now she just payed them of a few years ago at 30.

That's a good point. Many of the people who are in debt today, made stupid choices with credit cards when they were our age. My father still hasn't paid off his credit cards.

Having no place to sleep and no food to eat is much worse and much easier to get out of then just being in debt. My father has been in debt his entire life, yet he still has a place to sleep and food to eat. And he lives on his own.

It's miserable to live in debt. There's no way you'd pay it off in just 2 months. Not from the stats I saw.

I think unless you have a very good reason like medical, physical, or mental problems no one should be in debt, because everyone is given the schooling that creates the oppurtunity to do anything. Everyone that wants to do good should. If you make bad decisions or the wrong ones you lose. This is why the four years your in high school are the most important years of your life. They decide your future, its just too bad that they are your dumbest years too.

Little off topic, but highschool is not the 4 most important years of your life. There are places called community colleges that offer a lot of the same associate degrees as universities and at half the cost. And all that's really required to get into one, is a GED. Which can easily be obtained even if you drop out of highschool.

When I was a senior in hs last year, I was shocked to see that very few people listened to our teacher when he pointed that out to us. A teacher that used to be a principle at another school.

The upside to highschool would be social reasons, as well scholarship reasons. Some advanced classes may help with college credits. And great grades are also important if you want to get into fancy colleges to get major connections. But don't devote too much of your life to highschool. Keep it in moderation.

But you do make a valid point. Even though our education system sucks, it still is one of the easiest ones to pass. You can fail all your classes in highschool, and still get a PHD in college.

It is impossible for everyone to be free of debt, there needs to be a balance in the economy.

Banks for instance, are one of such industries that work out of people's debts. The bank gives you interests if you place your money there, but then they control your money, they expect you to use their services to yield more benefits. These benefits are used with interest which you pay to the bank, thus eventually taking a lot of people into debt. This is how banks earn their money. If banks had no existed, then all payments would have to be in cash and in person. Banks are a necessity to today's economy and debts are a necessity to banks.