Economic Indicators for Workers (#01)

Budget for Household of Two Adults and Two Children

 

Earnings required for this household:  $30 an hour for 52 weeks.

 

This estimated household budget shows that in order to be financially supported by one working adult working 40 hours a week, the rate of earning would need to be $30.00 per hour or more, taking into considerations tax and benefit deductions.  (Monthly)

 

A)  Housing:                                                   Homeowner:

Rent                            $1,200.00                    Mortgage                    $1,000

Renter's insurance             40.00                    HO insurance                   100

Minor maintenance           50.00                    Property Tax                    200

                                                                        Maintenance/repairs        200

 

            Housing:         $1,290.00  (renter)                  $1,500.00  (owner)

 

B)  Utilities:

Electric                       $60.00

Heating                       100.00

Communications         200.00  (phone, internet)

 

            Utilities:         $360.00

 

C)  Groceries and household care:

Food and household hygiene:            $500.00

Clothing:                                             $300.00

 

Household tools, small appliances:       50.00

 

Education and entertainment:                50.00                       C)        $900.00

                       

Totals:             $1,290.00                                            $1,500.00

                             360.00                                                 360.00                   

                        .     900.00                                                900.00        .

Monthly:         $2,550.00                                            $2,760.00

Yearly:            $30,600.00                                          $33,120.00

 

Add in a margin of 5% for savings, pets, fares, miscellaneous, unplanned expenses, medical expenses, outings by family or children, membership fees, etc:

Monthly:            $127.50                                               $138.00

Yearly:                        $1,530.00                                            $1,656.00

YEARLY TOTAL WITHOUT AUTO OWNERSHIP:

Monthly:           $2,677.50                                            $2,898.00

Yearly:                        $32,130.00                                          $34,776.00

 

Auto ownership:

Auto loan payment:                $300.00

Auto insurance:                        100.00

Gas, maintenance:                     150.00

            Monthly:                     $550.00

            Yearly:                                    $6,600.00

 

YEARLY WITH AUTO OWNERSHIP ADDED IN:

            Monthly:           $3,227.50                                $3,448.00

            Yearly:                        $38,730.00                              $41,376.00

 

Earnings required for this household:  $30 an hour for 52 weeks.

 

Taking into consideration deductions from your wages for health insurance and taxes and possibly other benefits, you need $44,500 spendable net per year to support the household.  For 2,080 hours worked in 52 weeks (x 40 hours), you need to be paid $30 an hour (2,080 X $30 = $62,400.00).  Your weekly gross earnings would be $1,200.00, with about $340.00 in deductions or about 28%.  You will find that this is an average deduction rate for taxes and benefits in 2018 (federal and state income tax, social security, health insurance, retirement account, etc.). 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  As many know, renting does sometimes cost much less than buying a home, but buying a home is traditionally expected to result in a significant equity value or financial asset (the real property) after the 15-to-30-year mortgage is paid off.  After 20 years of paying rent you own nothing.  A trend of adults moving to a city and marrying later, or not marrying, or marrying and not having children, is sometimes attributed to the high cost of owning a reliable automobile, and can also be attributed to the great disappointment working households have experienced with home ownership.  Banks and investors play with home mortgages and credit cards as the worst forms of get-rich-quick schemes, employing gambling games such as "derivatives" and "mortgage-backed securities," hedge funds (betting on losses), and predatory lending that includes criminal interest rates and "combination loans" that combine (on no sound financial or ethical principles) collateral-backed debt (real property and autos, computers, appliances) with unbacked debt (credit-card purchases of disposables such as food, toys, clothing, gadgets, entertainment).  The rise of our debt-driven society is often criticized by economists and historians.  The excessive use of credit cards and borrowing has brought us to a condition that resembles the medieval debtor's prison.  The "late payment fees" and advertisements for debt services to waive credit card debt or negotiate tax liabilities downward are both signs that Americans have been trained to accept the loss of economic independence in exchange for a smart phone, candied coffee and pizza.  Some citizens have lost their homes due to predatory lending and investment gambling games played on Wall Street, including the unethical credit card scam of charging late fees while keeping the account open at rising interest rates.  The American dream may be evolving from "to own a home" to "getting as far off-the-grid as possible."  Big corporations have invested their corruption-generated profits to discredit government and blame all economic discomforts on "regulations."  The citizen will wake up some day and realize that anything above 3% interest is a scam.  They will also learn history and come to be awed by the cash economy of the past, where the person who sold you something, anything, got just some money, but not your identity and your personal history.

 

Clearly, the most important part of the American Dream that is long gone is the part about one adult earning the money necessary to support the household, so that the other adult can be at home to take care of the household and the children.  In order to obtain the earnings needed, most working households require two jobs for two adults or more than two jobs for two adults.

 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN 2018:

      The party in power is working on an overdue "infrastructure" bill for 2018.  They will play a political game by talking about how their bill is going to create jobs and make America great again.  They will jump around false issues and political accusations and blaming, use false economic arguments to persuade the populace that the infrastructure bill is going to help the working people of America.  WATCH FOR THIS:  The infrastructure bill is a major expenditure of tax funds for direct benefits to everyone, such as roads and bridges, dams and probably utilities.  This kind of vast investment requires that state and federal government hire private contractors to perform the necessary labor of design, planning and construction.  Such elaborate contracts used to include important provisions about the rights of labor, payment rates, and the participation of labor unions, if any.  THIS IS WHAT TO WATCH FOR:  THIS INFRASTRUCTURE BILL will have, as hidden as they can possibly make it, the provision that private contractors may hire "guest workers" to perform the construction labor.  What is a "guest worker"?  A guest worker is an illegal alien made legal for the benefit of the employer, and to keep you unemployed.  The rich who control the government through the two-party system want you to be unemployed until you are willing to work for lower wages, less than you need to support your household, but then your cheap labor can be subsidized by the taxpayers through all the welfare programs that enable them to kick you in the face and call you "lazy" or "stupid."  Or, you can be self-employed dancing on a street corner for tips.  Shake your head and smile.  The two-party tyranny wants to rebuild America with imported labor, not your labor.  WATCH CLOSELY FOR THE HIJACKING OF AMERICA BY FOREIGN LABOR.  The corrupt rich are not against illegal aliens.  They love illegal aliens who work for less and have no citizen rights.  The corrupt people in power are not Christians; they are the two thieves on his left and his right.