Hope makes $9.50 per hour and works 40 hours per week. Her gross income is $1,520 per month. Hope has two children, one in school and one who needs daycare. These are her expenses: $540 rent/house payment; $100 weekly daycare; $65 mandatory car insurance; $100 weekly budget food and luxuries like Tampax, toilet paper; drives 15 miles to work each way. Gas close to $4 per gallon.
The total now is over the $1,520 monthly income. Hope receives WIC and state funded health care for herself and her children at minimal cost. The GOP would like to cut programs such as health care, raise co-pays and cut monies to programs like WIC and government funded health care. At one time Hope made $13 per hour, however now she has no hope of increasing her hourly wage because the GOP and others plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights.
The GOP has appointed themselves the gods of balancing the budget, and since they have had such great success with this over the last 12 years perhaps they will address this family’s budget problems in a response in writing to the Dispatch. Several years ago I wrote a similar letter requesting Gazelka, Pawlenty and others to do this, to my shock no one responded. Why is that?
Now is your chance to help Hope budget, while you raise her co-pays, cut her insurance and gas is rising. Also set up a plan for her children to go to school.
Deb Halsted
Brainerd
Comments (51)
Add commentChoices have to be made. We
Choices have to be made. We either tax Hope or we tax the wealthy. The GOP has said it will fight to the death to protect the wealthy from paying one more penny of taxes based on the myth that by lowering taxes on the "Creators" jobs will magically appear. Never mind that when people like Hope have no disposable money they buy only the basics.
heck
I am still waiting more than a month for Gazelka to reply to an email that he promised to respond to on an issue of utmost importance to him even. The "Hopes" of Minnesota are in need and time is running out.
read other opinion - Winona Daily News -
OTHER OPINION: GOP solution is worthless
you can find it on the toolbar, it was in Monday's paper.
They nailed it.
news flash the good ol USA is
news flash the good ol USA is 14 trillion dollars in debt, budget cuts are gonna hurt a lot of people, and the story didnt mention anything about the father maybe he should take care of his children not their uncle (sam).
News Flash for the good old USA
The top 400 Americans now own $1,300,000,000 and the GOP has promised to deliver even more of the nations wealth to them.
The "trickle down theory" has been proven wrong 3 times in a row but is still be given as the reason for this massive "redistribution" of wealth to the wealthy.
You can only take so much money out of the pockets of working class Americans before the economy grinds to a halt as it's done now. Thank you Party of Life.
What's next? Lowering the minimum wage? Getting rid of the 40 hr week?
Everyday the same thing with
Everyday the same thing with Fish. Redistribution...blah, blah, blah...
Southnet, I agree.
Hope - Get another part-time job to make ends meet.
"Everyday the same thing with Fish. Redistribution"
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
-- Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945
fish
who's fault is it in democratic run states that are broke? Is that somehow the republicans fault? in your eyes I'm sure but in my eyes both parties have been screwing us, they both need to start doing what is right for the country not the party. I find them equally guilty. I'm sure some of the top 400 people are democrats I would guess about half.
Agree
Wolf - I agree. Another job, a total of three if required.
Hope - Do you have cable television? Cell phone? Can you ridshare to work? Do you have family (other than the Government to help you out)? Do you cut coupons? Pay for internet service? I'm thinking we don't have the complete expense report for Hope. I could be wrong. But, what happened to us as a nation? Our first resort is to look at the Government to fix our problems? I wonder if they can fix Fish?
Where is Dad?
Did I miss something. There should be a father or two (one for each child). Parents need to be responsible for their children. Hope's parents need to help and also the father(s) and his/their parents. Just because a child is over 18 does this mean they are no longer have a "Mom & Dad".
What happened to the $13 an
What happened to the $13 an hour job?
Can she change her work schedule? Does she work 10 4s, 5 8s, 3 12s plus? A change may help with daycare as she might be able to trade daycare with a friend.
Has she looked at changing car insurance company to lower her premium?
Has she asked her church to help?
Is there a different property with a lower rent/house payment?
Is there a property closer to work to cut down on the vehicle usage?
Has she gone to counseling to understand how to live within a budget? There is free counseling available.
Can she pickup a little extra money by watching her friends child(ren) on her non work hours?
Someone asked about the Dad.
Someone asked about the Dad.
Society has made it ok to be a dead beat parent. Society has not held the 2 responsible for the caring and raising of their child(ren).
A dead beat parent is not just a Dad who does not pay support, it is a Mom who does not do the right thing with the support money. It is not just a Dad that does not show up to take the child it is also a Mom who uses the child as a pawn in her game with the child’s Dad. It is not just a Mom who can not play sports with the child it is also the Dad who can not cut out paper dolls. It is the parent that would rather smoke away some of the family money rather than give that money to the child’s care. The list goes on and on about the selfishness choices that make up dead beat parents.
I am not accusing Hope of anything. I pray that she can make it and that someday she can use this lesson in life as a focal point of where not to go and to bring her children up so that they understand where they have come from. Help comes in many different forms and there are people here trying to help with suggestions.
conservative principles?
what happened to the world where one family member worked and could support a family of 4?
Reality check = this rarely exists any more because jobs pay so poorly - we have to compete with China and child/slave labor. Part time jobs, few benefits, rising health care costs.
A sad state of the nation when someone willing to work hard for 40 hours a week can't make it a go on one check.
minnesnowda
That is not necessarily true. One can work and support a family of 4. It depends on what that family of 4 decides they want for a life style and if you are making minimum wage you may not want to have a child or children as you might not be able to afford the expenses that go with raising children.
“Celia Ray Hayhoe, Ph.D., CFP®, Family Resource Management Specialist, Virginia Tech; and Chungwen Hsu, graduate student, Dept. AHRM, Virginia Tech - The average cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 increased from $170,460 in 2001 to $204,060 in 2007”
If you are living within your budget and decide to raise a family you need to account for how the additional expenses are going to be covered, before you start the family! There are Planned Parenthood clinics that offer free birth control, so staying protected is not an issue.
Society must make it clear that it is costly to raise a child, so before you put yourself in a situation where you may become pregnant or get someone pregnant you must know that you are going to be held accountable.
half-truths
As a single mom with 2 kids making $9.50 an hour she is receiving more than WIC and health insurance. She is also getting foodstamps, daycare assistance (typically between 80 and 90% of the cost), home energy assistance, possibly rent subsidies and most likely some kind of child support (child support is not counted as income).
As far as coupons go, why would she need them for potatoes, rice and beans when statistically speaking, she probably wouldn't know how to cook them!
Next ime, use all the facts Deb!
The gross income in the story
is incorrect.
Based on a 40 hour work week at $9.50 an hour the gross montly income is $1,646.67
Really Eyolf
3 jobs? What's wrong with three jobs. I have three jobs, raise a family, pay bills, cut corners, and still find time to pay taxes. Why? because my family and I have made a personal choice. Not a collective choice, but a personal choice. We each make personal choices and have to live with the result. Do tell me that bad personal choices are grounds for the State to take care of you. Hand up? yes. Continued hand out? No. Give me a break. Ya....the book is called "It Takes a Village." It's not called "It takes a state" or "It takes a country".
As a society, we have a responsibility to help the helpless. We have no responsibility to help the clueless!
First of all, tell Hope to
First of all, tell Hope to make sure she doesn't "accidentally" have any more children until SHE can afford them.
Secondly, Hope is responsible for her own situation, not me, not my neighbor, not society. She created her own situation, its up to her to live in tents and grow gardens if necessary to get by. Everyone else has to get by on their own, there is no reason there should be Govn. funds available to anyone to pay their way in life.
Life is about learning how to get by with what you have, not to get by with what OTHERS have and you expect to get from them.
Deb, have her call
Lutheran Social Services in Brainerd.
I tried putting the phone number here but it got blocked. I understand the issue with phone numbers and that is why this is not the place (BDD Forum) to get real help, limitations as to what people can really do for each other.
The phone call is free and so is the counseling.
Also get her involved in a church, so she may receive the power of prayer! (this will get some of the posters spouting off).
Really?
45vs9mm,
"That is not necessarily true. One (worker) can work and support a family of 4. "
Really? Do you honestly a single wage earner can put a roof over their head, support a family of four on $9.50/hr and probably no health care? Really?
It used to be true that a single wage earner could support a family of four if they worked hard. That was before the wealth of this nation got "redistributed" upward to the wealthy.
In case you were immune the buying power of the working American's paycheck has been steadily dropping as the wealth gets shoveled upward just like it was before the Great Depression. It started with the Republican God Reagan and since then has gone from 9% to almost 24% of the nations wealth.
It's only going to get worse now that the fascists turned control of our elections over to the deep pockets of corporate America and foreign corporations.
Fish
I have a hard time saying this, but you are wrong. I know a couple that has a home (they are buying the home) and 2 children and the Dad/Husband is the only wage earner. He makes 9.50 and hour and works 40 hours a week. They have 1 car, no cell phone, they are not on county or state assistance. For some it works, others it does not. The car they have is not pretty, but he takes care of the maintenance. They are a very happy family!
now thats a story 45vsmm
I am sorry, but its impossible. $380 a week without taxes taken out. Averages out to around $1650 a month without taxes out. Take those out and you have about what $1300.
Bills: house payment, heat, electric, water, garbage, food, land line phone, car, gasoline, medical bills, dental bills, maybe diapers, food at school for the kids, gas for the lawn mower, oil for the car, and the list goes on.
I am sorry, but I am going to say your nose is growing Pinnochio.
What about health care? Two
What about health care? Two kids and two adults must add a hefty price tag to health care insurance.
Eyolf
Well Eyolf, Like your typical MO you're making things up to try to strengthn your point.
Where did I say I worked 120 hours a week? I did not. The fact is, is that I work hard everyday. And, I still find time to volunteer.
neat
2080 hours @ 9.5 is $19,760 a year. 19,760 less mandatory taxes of 2,000 put the family income at 17,760. So Hope only has about 1,480 a month to spend.
Luckily, the father(s) of Hope's children are obligated to pay for the children's insurance and $200/month a head in child support. So eliminate the health insurance expense and add $400 per month. She's now at 1,880 a month in revenue.
Let's annualize her tax refunds, too. She got about $7,700 through various refundable credits. Add $642/month she is now at 2,522 a month in expendable cash.
In reality, Hope has the expendable cash of someone who makes about $35,000 but she is technically near the poverty level so she qualifies for a plethora of assistance from local state and national governments.
Hope's situation doesn't look so hopeless anymore.
John, You forgot to add in
John,
You forgot to add in WIC.
Exactly wolf
I didn't add in WIC, daycare assistance, food stamps or any other gubmint program out there. Being at the 'poverty threshold' Hope certainly qualifies for many programs.
It's really up to her to decide how much more she really needs.
Plus, I significantly underestimated her child support take. The average Child Support check per child in Minnesota is $493 per month.
guys
Setting a budget for a woman with three kids is so easy for men to do, isn't it? They have all the answers.
Evergreen, Yes.
Evergreen,
Yes.
@evergreen
What difference does gender make when setting up a budget?