Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Is it sad that $1,500 a month for a 1br apartment seems relatively cheap to me by comparison?


This is a very valid and important observation.

When I was in my mid 20s, I found that I was often envious of the fact that many of the folks who I knew from back in High School, even the ones who hadn't gone to college, were buying houses, driving new cars, owning all the cool gadgets and so on, while I was living in an apartment, driving an old Celica, and so on. It took me quite a long time to really absorb the fact that they were simply in debt up to their ********, had no savings, etc. And even knowing that, it still didn't completely erase a sort of low-level but constant envy.

It's tough making the right choices and then living with them sometimes. Seems like you've got your head on right.

Daddy's boy.

Faeflora

iTrader: (2)

Do you pay rent and utilities? Buy your own food?

I know quite a few people over the age of THIRTY who still live at home, mooching off their parents.

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

It's on mostly straight, most of the time.

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

I cut my dad an even amount every month for "rent", which to help with the bills. The house is and has been paid off, so only have a few utilities to pay. And yes, I buy my own food and drinks. So while I live at home, I'm currently not mooching. I was for about 9 months while I was going to school full time. At least I'm trying to make good use of it.

I hope I am out of here by thirty. If not, I may just have to hang myself.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

You're which, colored or above the poverty line or did you mean both? I found that a bit ambiguous, so it was difficult to address properly. If you are both then you might be under the misconception, as many urban blacks in the north are, that white people in the south keep our negroes barefoot and make them fill burlap sacks with cotton by hand to this day. This is not true. There are machines that do that now. We pay them to stand guard outside the liquor store and holla at shawty about creating more social service dependents. I think there will be a serious backlash when machines are developed to do that, too. But seriously, there exist as many black executives and business owners as their drive and ambition leads there to be. Minority owned businesses are still granted priority status with all local and state government contracts including IT, security, telecommunications, roadbuilding, underground utilities, HVAC, office supplies, structural steel, concrete foundations, blocklaying, roofing, etc. Not to mention all of the same opportunities that exist in the private sector to compete for every type of business. Do you think that the guys building rockets care if the engineer is from Illinois or India as long as he knows his field? As long as he has a security clearance, nope.

Looking at a few stats just now, the median income for Birmingham vs. Baltimore is a couple grand a year difference, but the median dwelling costs $40K less, is 13 years newer, and is at over five times less population density which means larger properties and lower percentage are apartments for that money. They have the same number of precipitation days per year, but Baltimore averages 21 inches of snow annually and Birmingham averages zero inches.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

MD also taxed it's wealthy a few years ago and, in direct effect, the number of millionaires residing in the state dropped substantially and MD started taking in less revenue each year than before the tax increase.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Envy is a sin.

Pitlab77

iTrader: (3)

I'm not even on that chart. Its sad how much I work as a teacher and how little I get paid.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

now, we should compare the amount of employees/business owned under each tier break.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

And how much in taxes paid.

Sparetire

How much do you work and how much do you get paid?

neogenesis2004

iTrader: (12)

He's a teacher so he probably works 80hrs a week and gets paid like 40kish. So he makes like $10/hr. My mom was a teacher for 8 years before they let her go in the recession, most k-12 teachers are like this. Although the k-2 grades are much more cake. I mean, you grade like coloring and addition and subtraction. That would be money. Teaching high school is probably the worst job you could have. I'd have a better time collecting trash.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Then don't be a teacher. Don't choose a low paying career path and then complain about the pay. That's just silly.
If high pay is important to you you should quit your job, risk everything you own, and take on lots of debt as an entrepreneur. Then have your business fail around five times over the course of 8 to 10 years. When/if you figure out what to do to keep from failing and how to choose the right type of business and product/service niche you can grow it over the course of 20 more years. If you are very good at managing your business and have chosen your type of business properly and put all of your time and effort into it, you have the chance (but just a chance) of making that kind of money. Many try but most don't quite make it.

Additionally, most of those listed as making a million a year are not typically going to be individuals, but sole proprietorships that report as individuals on their taxes. Our tax system creates the problem of reporting this incorrectly and it feeds into the "wealth envy" baiting crowd's agenda.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I do like the idea of a 3 month vacation.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

I see wat u did thur. +1 for accurately scaled graph.

Faeflora

iTrader: (2)

wtf your new signature pic

Sparetire

This.

I mean no disrespect to any teachers. But 80 hours a week? I know what that is, the vast majority of people think they do and simply dont. I was a door to door salesman one summer to pay the tuition. I knocked on my first door by 7:59, and finished no earlier than 9:30. No joke. 6 days a week. Lunch eaten between doors. At the end of this wonderful 11 week odessey I was deliveing orders. I was driving from Utica NY to Watertown with a bunch of orders and fell asleep at the wheel at around 2:00AM (stupid 21 year old at the time, I should have taken a ******* rest and started the next day a little later. Fool.) somewhere between 50 and 60 MPH into a field. Only my dumbassed Forest Gump levels of luck saved me. I just got stuck in some mud in a level field with a really small drainage next to the road, no damage beyond cosmetic. Thank god I did not head-on someone and kill them.

For a teacher to work 80 hours a week, they would have to go home after school, grade papers for at least 5 or 6 hours, then work all day Sat. Minimum. And that's not counting Summer, 1-3 weeks of Christmas, and some others. Its also not counting the benefits that are by and large better than the private sector. All of which are pretty ******* huge perks.

Being a teacher is tough. No doubt. But frankly 40K (starting, with bennies) for about 9 months of work is pretty ******* sweet. Your ceiling is 60-70 thou with your masters. Boo Hoo.

neogenesis2004

iTrader: (12)

Go teach middle or high school math, then come back and repeat that entire ignorant post back to me again. I watched my mom do it for 7 years. At least 2x a week she LITERALLY did not go to sleep overnight at all because she was grading papers through the night.

And benefits better than the private sector? No...