Page 19 - ДЛЯ ФЛИПЕРА_Neat

In real life, workers know that these are expenses that will
come up eventually, so they have to set aside money for

them ahead of time. In the challenge, though, the only ex-
penses that count are weekly ones.

No Way to Plan for Emergencies. In a long-term budget,
you can plan for expenses that only come up occasionally,
such as car repairs or doctor visits, by setting aside a few
dollars each week. But on the Live the Wage Challenge,

if one of these expenses comes up, you have to pay the en-
tire cost immediately out of your $77 budget. Many partici-
pants say emergencies like this left them with too little cash

to get through the rest of the week.

No Adjustments for Location. The minimum wage challen-
ge requires you to work with a budget of $7.25 an hour,

even if the actual minimum wage in your state is higher. So
if you live in a state where the cost of living is high, you end
up having to pay above-average prices for everything wit-
hout an above-average minimum wage to make up for it.

No Way to Change Housing Costs. The challenge al-
lots $176.48 of your $290 paycheck for housing, based on
some theoretical “average” cost. It doesn’t give you the op-

tion of cutting your housing cost, which is one of the most
important things you can do when you’re really living on a
minimum-wage budget.

The minimum wage

while the minimum wage has been increased periodically through-
out its history, the increases ceased to keep up with the rising cost

of living after 1968. The real value of today’s minimum of $7.25 per
hour has diminished to late 1950s levels as the increases in the
nominal wage have failed to keep up with the rising cost of housing,

food, transportation, and healthcare.
Will raising the minimum wage spur income and job growth? After discus-

sion by the students, reveal the points on the slide to continue the discus-

sion: