I’m not suggesting that a living wage includes the “ability to purchase the Beemer and the 80 inch LCD for their McMansion. They may not be able to make a video on their iPhone 20.”
A living wage IMO covers the rent/mortgage, house insurance, property taxes, home expenditures, water, sewer, electricity, gas/oil, phone service, internet service, lawn maintenance, car insurance, car title’s, car tag’s, inspection stickers, maintenance, fuel, clothe’s, educational expenses for homeschooled families, health expenses (doctor and dentist), prescriptions and food. I may have missed some, but I think you get the point. Notice I did not include car payment’s, cable, life insurance, or health insurance.
If we use 40K-50K as a “living wage” for a family of four. They barely tread water, depending on where you live you sink. In this scenario one trip to the hospital for the average medical procedure is catastrophic. Any savings you may have put away for the rainy day fund is wiped out. I would estimate at our parish 1/3 of all families average 4-10 kids.
Pax,
Tarpeian