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Comment by betwixthewires | Hacker News Reader

I don't know where you live, but you're the one that is out of touch. 2 tanks a week? 200 bucks a month for shit tier food? Ever heard of cooking? 1400 a month rent?

I've spent time in Houston, on minimum wage, and in the past decade. It was alright. I even had the money to go out drinking every weekend, by Rice university at that. Usually when you hear arguments like this and you get down to brass tacks, you start to hear the arguments that allude to the real culprit, things like "I should be able to have extra money for fun" which usually translates to "I blow my money on things I can't afford and then blame the world for being broke."

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> arguments that allude to the real culprit, things like "I should be able to have extra money for fun" which usually translates to "I blow my money on things I can't afford and then blame the world for being broke."

Should we live in a world where we are wage slaves where 100% of our earnings are spent on the bare necessities such as food and shelter?

One of my friends has $20 to spend on herself after her frugal bills and doing a body crushing job (no "fat" like retirement savings, or medical insurance). I look at it like she earns 50 cents an hour.

Surely we work to be able to spend some money on the pleasures of life? Or is that a dream only for the middle class? Work usually costs us immense amounts of time, let alone the other personal costs of work for many.

> Should we live in a world where we are wage slaves where 100% of our earnings are spent on the bare necessities such as food and shelter?

No.

> Surely we work to be able to spend some money on the pleasures of life?

Money doesn't buy happiness. The best things in life are free. And sure, if you have money to spend on fun things, have at it. If you don't and you want to, try finding a way to do it. It really is up to you. But the idea that if you do not have disposable income to engage in consumerism you're going to be unhappy, well I'll just say that's a terrible starting point for your argument, and a mindset that breeds unhappiness quicker than tight finances.

> Money doesn't buy happiness. The best things in life are free.

No. No. Happiness is extremely difficult to find if you are financially insecure.

Money has a marginal effect on happiness after a certain limit. But to say money doesn't buy happiness is an utterly stupid lie repeated for ages by those that have more than enough money.

> 2 tanks a week?

When I lived in Spring and commuted to the office at 610 North and I-45, it was 2 tanks a week for the 35 minute drive. That was 7 years ago.

> 200 bucks a month for shit tier food? Ever heard of cooking?

One week of food for one person:

2lb white rice, $1.5 1lb beans, $1.25 2lb ground meat, $10

1gal milk, $4 1lb sharp cheddar, $5 1 loaf bread, $3.5

total... $25. Times four weeks, you get $100. I never claimed to be good at cooking.

> 1400 a month rent?

Due on the 1st, late on the 3rd.

> "I should be able to have extra money for fun"

There's nothing wrong with wanting extra money for fun.

> "I blow my money on things I can't afford and then blame the world for being broke."

Minimum wage doesn't have money to blow things on things they can't afford though.

$1400/mo for rent seems exorbitant, especially if you're working a minimum wage job.

The Rent Is Too Damn High

Our rents that were $1400 last year are over $2000 for the same properties.

Exorbitant rent is a fact of life in major cities

Ive lived in 2 of the largest metropolitan areas in the US for 2 decades, and my rent has never been over 800 dollars. That's exorbitant to me, but that's still a far cry away from 2 grand a month. I know there are a few extremely overpriced cities in the US, but in the rest of the cities, if you're paying above 1k a month for a one bedroom you're trying to live somewhere that you chose to live precisely because it was more exclusive and you can't blame the world for making that decision.

> you're trying to live somewhere that you chose to live precisely because it was more exclusive

*didn't get lucky when searching for a unit

source: got lucky so I don't pay $1400/month, still live 1hr away from work.

You know something ive noticed? I've never actually heard a minimum wage worker talk about 1400 a month rent. Ive heard them say rent is too high, but I have never heard them say that rent is 1400 dollars. It always seems to be the people who "don't have to live on minimum wage, thank god."

I think what is happening is young professionals who make decent money and come from middle class backgrounds and have never lived outside of the uptown exclusive areas see their rent and say "I can't imagine how hard it would be for minimum wage workers" thinking they live with the same expenses.

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