(July 8, 2014 at 9:15 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(July 8, 2014 at 8:22 pm)Blackout Wrote: Portugal. We are considered a relatively 'poor' country and are in a crisis, there are growing social inequalities, but still our minimum wage is 475€, I don't know how to explain how much that is worth, but I can tell you a very cheap house rent costs 200€, add the 100€ for taxes of social security and IRS and electricity, water...
Around here, "cheap" rent starts at around US$700, which is about 515€. Minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage ($9.10/hr in Oregon, $9.32/hr in Washington [I live near the border, live in one state, work in the other]). Minimum wage ends up being in the neighborhood of $1300/month take home if you can actually *get* 40 hours a week, but it's damn hard to live on that because of the cost of living. Have kids? You're fucked.
Yeah we're having a lack of young population crisis, it has been lasting for 10/20 years, but I guess with unemployment near 20% it's safe to not bring kids into such misery. I'm glad I can still consider myself middle class, it's a rare thing nowadays, kinda like being born black with blond hair.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
