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[Macam]

Morgan Spurlock is at it again. The man who exposed the unsavory side of fast food in the popular documentary Supersize Me takes on minimum wage in his new series “30 Days.” In the show, which launches tomorrow night on FX, Spurlock will submerge an average American in a completely different lifestyle for one month. (The Center For American Progress is holding an advance screening of the show in Washington, DC tonight.) For his first episode, Spurlock decided to explore exactly how hard it is to live on a minimum wage income for thirty days. He and his fiancee, Alex, moved to Columbus, OH and lived on $5.15 an hour for a month. They found out it’s pretty impossible. Here are the facts behind minimum wage in America:

4.3 million: Number of Americans who have fallen into poverty since President Bush took office

$5.15: Federal minimum wage

26%: How much the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has eroded since 1979

0: Number of times minimum wage has increased since 1997

7: Number of times Congress has increased its own pay since 1997

$0: How much more a year people earning minimum wage earn today compared to 1997

$28,500: How much more a year members of Congress make today compared to 1997

$10,700: Amount a person making minimum wage will earn in a year

$5,000: Amount below the poverty level working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year at minimum wage will leave a family of three

7,300,000: Number of workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage

72%: Percentage of adult workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage

1,800,000: Number of parents with kids under the age of 18 who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage

11 million: Number of jobs added to the economy in the four years after the last minimum wage hike

$8.70: Amount minimum wage would have to be today to have the same purchasing power it had in 1968

2.5 years: Amount of health care for two children which could be bought by raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25

86%: Percentage of Americans who support raising the federal minimum wage

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=1092

I'd love to catch this, but I don't have TV unfortunately. I hope it proves to be as interesting as Supersize me was.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

I do think there should be an increase of wage to at or above $7

 

[Odnetnin]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

what?! They shouldn't have too. Especially when minimum wage jobs tend to be pretty shitty.

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

I do think there should be an increase of wage to at or above $7

How is he a one trick pony?

 

[Bent Hamm]

he adopts one aspect of the lives of lower class americans for one month?
sounds like a one trick pony so far to me.

 

[Macam]

Fuck this one trick pony.

You rang?

 

[Lil' Dice]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

I do think there should be an increase of wage to at or above $7

You mean the new show is also about fast food?

 

[MrPing1000]

sure enough a lot of people only eat mcdonalds for a month

 

[Dilbert]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Say WHAT?

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

If people have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet...don't you think there is a problem with that situation?

I do think there should be an increase of wage to at or above $7

What makes you think that wage is sufficient?

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

Yes, because we enjoy working our fingers to the bone and having very little cash to go around to show for it.

Fuck that. If a television show is what to takes to fucking wake America up - I'm all for it.

Hopefully I'll be able to acquire this at some point. I'm very interested in this show.

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

What's a weekly pay packet on minimum wage in the USA?

 

[the year 20XX]

That depends-- what's a weekly pay packet?

 

[Otaking]

So...basically the story of about half of American citizen's lives?

 

[Triumph]

Good to see that you guys haven't, you know, grown hearts or anything in my abscence.

Anyone know what channel/time this is gonna be on?

 

[enjoy bell woods]

FX. 9 PM CST.

Going by the commercial, he's experimenting with quite a variety of things. I'm definitely very interested.

 

[ronito]

You rang?

Teh winnar!!!

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

And just to put a fine point on the matter for all the Richie Rich kids out there that are oblivious to the plight of the working poor:

For Immediate Release: December 20, 2004
Contact: Katie Fisher, National Low Income Housing Coalition,
202-662-1530 x222, Katie@nlihc.org

Report finds families struggling to pay rent this holiday season

* National Housing Wage outpaces the median hourly wage in U.S.
* Communities struggle to provide low wage workers opportunities for decent homes


As housing costs continue to increase faster than wages, millions of working families will spend the holidays struggling to pay for their homes, while many others will bring in the New Year without a home at all.

Out of Reach: 2004, a report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) finds that the national Housing Wage for 2004 is $15.37, or $31,970 a year, almost three times the federal minimum wage. The housing wage represents the amount a full-time worker must earn to be able to afford the rent for a modest two-bedroom home while paying no more than 30% of income for housing. Working families, the elderly, and people with disabilities struggle to pay for their homes and are left to make impossible choices among necessities.

Out of Reach calculates the Housing Wage for every state, region and county in the U.S. and reports that in no community, city, county, or state is housing affordable to low wage workers. Other findings include:

* Families with extremely low incomes (those at 30% or below the area's median income) continue to face the most severe affordability problems. There is not a single metropolitan area where an extremely low income family can be assured of finding a modest two bedroom rental home that is affordable.
* Those families with the most barriers to finding and keeping a modest rental home are those earning the minimum wage. According to the 2004 numbers, housing is out of reach in more counties across the country than ever before, even for a working family with two fulltime minimum wage workers. Renter households in over 990 counties, home to almost 79% of all renter households in the nation, must have at least 80 hours a week of work at the local minimum wage to afford a two bedroom apartment at the local fair market rent.

"Out of Reach shows both the depth and breadth of the housing shortage in our country. The gap between what people earn and what their housing costs is stark," said Sheila Crowley, President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "For the one third of the nation paying too much for their homes, the consequences of ends that do not meet are all too real."

The report will be released at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time during a conference call with press on Monday, December 20. Speakers on the call will include Crowley and Danilo Pelletiere of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Both speakers will be available for questions during and after the call.

According to Out of Reach: 2004, the least affordable states and their Housing Wages are:

1. California $21.24
2. Massachusetts $20.93
3. New Jersey $20.35
4. Maryland $18.25
5. New York $18.18
6. Connecticut $17.90
7. Hawaii $17.60
8. Alaska $17.07
9. Nevada $16.92
10. New Hampshire $16.79

The least affordable Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and their Housing Wages are San Francisco, California ($29.60) and Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut ($27.63).

Fair Market Rents

Please find out more about the Fair Market Rents in 2005 in Appendix A at <http://www.nlihc.org/oor2004/appendixa.htm>.

Methodology

For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn to afford a rental unit of a range of sizes at the area's Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. The FMR is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) best estimate of what a person seeking housing would have to pay for a modest rental unit in the local market. For the majority of jurisdictions the FMR is defined by HUD as "the dollar amount below which 40 percent of the standard quality rental housing units rent." In some metropolitan areas, this is set to the 50th percentile due to generally high costs and high geographic concentrations of affordable housing. (See Appendix B at <http://www.nlihc.org/oor2004/appendixb.htm for more details on methodology and data used.)

####

About the National Low Income Housing Coalition: Established in 1974, the National Low Income Housing Coalition/LIHIS is dedicated solely to ending America's affordable housing crisis. NLIHC educates, organizes, and advocates to ensure decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone. NLIHC provides up-to-date information, formulates policy, and educates the public on housing needs and strategies for solutions. www.nlihc.org.

It also helps living in a state where every time after there is a recession and the job market shrinks, fewer jobs are added then are lost. Which runs counter to job loss / growth trends in other large cities.

 

[MrPing1000]

uk minimum wage is £4.85 which is around $8.83 and its going up by 20p in October. Just incase u cared.

 

[StoOgE]

you know, for all thes hit talking Michael Moore does, his movies havent actually changed anything.

Supersize me nearly bankrupt McDonalds and forced them to change their menu.

Hopefully this will have the same effect.

FWIW, if the democrats grew balls and started pushing this kind of shit instead of trying to be "we have homeland security too" they would do better.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

FWIW, if the democrats grew balls and started pushing this kind of shit instead of trying to be "we have homeland security too" they would do better.

Neither party is mine - not the jackass or the elephant!

 

[KingGondo]

Supersize me nearly bankrupt McDonalds and forced them to change their menu.

Um... not that I have any stats, but that sounds WAY off. Anything to back it up?

 

[Odnetnin]

you know, for all thes hit talking Michael Moore does, his movies havent actually changed anything.

Supersize me nearly bankrupt McDonalds and forced them to change their menu.

Hopefully this will have the same effect.

FWIW, if the democrats grew balls and started pushing this kind of shit instead of trying to be "we have homeland security too" they would do better.

yes but it didn't affect school canteens and the other fastfoodplaces. KFC is still fried chicken as are the other places. Candy+Cola is still everywhere

 

[StrikerObi]

he adopts one aspect of the lives of lower class americans for one month?
sounds like a one trick pony so far to me.

He doesn't only adpot the aspects of lower class. Off the top of my head, I know he's doing an episode where he lives as a muslim for 30 days. I think it will be interesting.

 

[KingGondo]

He doesn't only adpot the aspects of lower class. Off the top of my head, I know he's doing an episode where he lives as a muslim for 30 days. I think it will be interesting.

After the first one or two episodes, he'll only be hosting. The "muslim" convert is actually a devout Christian. Should be even more interesting

 

[SoVos20]

uk minimum wage is £4.85 which is around $8.83 and its going up by 20p in October. Just incase u cared.

Tobad more people in the UK make min wage than in the U.S. The real median wage wage in the U.S is higher than in the UK, infact it is higher in the U.S than any were in the world.

 

[Johnas]

Fuck this one trick pony.

Plus people with minimum wage have more than one job.

I do think there should be an increase of wage to at or above $7

I think it's safe to assume you've never had to work a minimum wage job. Honestly, that's a shame. Perhaps you're very young? Whether that's the case, or you're simply privileged, I think it's a great idea for every young person to put in a year or two working a "crappy" minimum wage job, just to see what they take for granted, especially those who are privileged. I was brought up in rather modest circumstances, but I can imagine it would be easy to look down on other people simply due to income level, if you grew up in a wealthy family. It's a cliche, but the working class is the backbone of America.

 

[Cherubae]

Oregon minimum wage is $7.15

 

[Bigfoot]

Um... not that I have any stats, but that sounds WAY off. Anything to back it up?

Maybe the fact that McD's doesn't "supersize" anymore, and the fact that they now offer healthy choices on their menu.

 

[KingGondo]

I was mainly referring to the idea that McDonald's nearly went bankrupt.

 

[cloudwalking]

Oregon minimum wage is $7.15

Yeah, each state has its own seperate thing going on. Some states have minimum wage laws that are lower than federal, some higher, and some states have no minimum wage laws. Where federal and state law have different minimum wage rates, the higher standard applies.

See this map: http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

 

[Phoenix]

Teh winnar!!!

Technically he'd be a 3 trick pony

 

[Cubsfan23]

I was mainly referring to the idea that McDonald's nearly went bankrupt.

They didn't. They've had one loss in 50+ years.

 

[StoOgE]

I was mainly referring to the idea that McDonald's nearly went bankrupt.

I overstated it, but they were bleading marketshare over it pretty heavily for a while. In fact, they are still bleading marketshare... closed some stores, stuff like that. McDonalds still isnt doing nearly as well as they were a few years ago.

Of course, charging 6 bucks for a fucking terrible meal might have something to do with it.

 

[Archaix]

Just so everybody's clear--The pasted article says that it airs tomorrow night, but it is actually airing tonight(wednesday) at 10PM EST twice in a row. It's an hour long, so if you miss it at 10 it'll start again at 11PM. As mentioned, it is on FX.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I've thought for a while that the minimum wage should be somewhere between 8 and 10 dollars an hour.

 

[RonaldoSan]

0: Number of times minimum wage has increased since 1997
7: Number of times Congress has increased its own pay since 1997

That's just sad. So every year since 1997 they have voted no to increased minimum vage and yes to more money for themselfs. I know congress work is way more important but they hardly put in the work minimum wage workers do.

 

[Phoenix]

I think it's safe to assume you've never had to work a minimum wage job. Honestly, that's a shame. Perhaps you're very young? Whether that's the case, or you're simply privileged, I think it's a great idea for every young person to put in a year or two working a "crappy" minimum wage job, just to see what they take for granted, especially those who are privileged. I was brought up in rather modest circumstances, but I can imagine it would be easy to look down on other people simply due to income level, if you grew up in a wealthy family. It's a cliche, but the working class is the backbone of America.

I absolutely agree. When I was younger I cut lawns, washed cars and worked as a bag boy and a weekend stock room worker at Winn Dixie. In high school I worked collections for Sears Credit Central and the grill/register at McDonalds. In college I set up for conferences/receptions at Marriot Hotels and worked in Xavier University's computer labs. I believe all of these experiences working at the ass end of the American economy have made me into a much more understanding, caring, and rational person than I might have been otherwise. It also pisses me off to no end when people yell at or otherwise degrade these workers 'just because they are servants'. These are people just like you and I and I respect them all the same. At work I talk to all of the people in those areas, the janitors (actually did that for a few days), the service folks, etc. I respect them just as much as I do my boss, or even the president of Time Warner and expect other people to do the same.

I have always been of the opinion that all kids should have that summer job experience and find out what working 'really is' so they can appreciate what it takes to make it, what it means to be at the ass end of the economy and appreciate the situation that people, some of who are trapped in that existence, have to endure in order to survive. Its also one of the reasons that I both loathe and despise some of the tactics of Walmart. Any company who would go out of their way to shit on employees already at the ass end of the economy deserves no love from me.

 

[Phoenix]

Just so everybody's clear--The pasted article says that it airs tomorrow night, but it is actually airing tonight(wednesday) at 10PM EST twice in a row. It's an hour long, so if you miss it at 10 it'll start again at 11PM. As mentioned, it is on FX.

You might want to post a thread and start a discussion about it when its about to start. That tends to remind people and encourage them to watch

 

[number386]

It's sad really, when I was in high school I wanted a roland XP50 keyboard synthesiser so I worked for it. I made $4.25 an hour at mcdonalds ( thats how much minimum wage was back then), working 40 hours a week after taxes that would be less than $150, now I make almost twice that in a single day. Not to mention it was brutal work, you stand all day you have grease that splatters on you, you smell like crap. I always felt bad for the co - workers who basically needed that money to live on, and essentially could not get better jobs due to a lack of education, and the language barrier. I even felt guilty for taking the job knowing their is someone out their who is in desperate need of a shit job like that. The system is so fucked up. *sigh*

 

[Phoenix]

I overstated it, but they were bleading marketshare over it pretty heavily for a while. In fact, they are still bleading marketshare... closed some stores, stuff like that. McDonalds still isnt doing nearly as well as they were a few years ago.

Of course, charging 6 bucks for a fucking terrible meal might have something to do with it.

It wasn't supersize that did that. McDonalds has been taking it in the rear for years due to increased competition in the fast food space and their initial unwillingness/slow speed at moving to late night hours/24 hour service and the 99 cent value menu (where Wendy's has pretty much stolen enough marketshare to save them from financial ruin). The ones that have REALLY fallen off are Burger King. Their share is so low right now that they are considered a poor acquisition target. The company is 'for sale' but no one even wants to consider buying it

 

[King Jippo]

How is he a one trick pony?

He's using the same hook from his docu. Just replace fast food with some other gimmick. I give the guy credit - milk this for all its worth Morgan.

you know, for all thes hit talking Michael Moore does, his movies havent actually changed anything.

I thought he got K-Mart to stop selling ammunition.

Supersize me nearly bankrupt McDonalds and forced them to change their menu.

Nearly bankrupt? Do you find it difficult to breath with your head lodged so far up your ass? Quick, somebody tell McDonalds they almost went bankrupt last year - I think it slipped by their accountants! :lol

 

[SoVos20]

Raising the min wage can make most people worst off, companies have to make up for paying their lowest employees more, so they lower the wages of the average worker.

 

[pollo]

Raising the min wage can make most people worst off, companies have to make up for paying their lowest employees more, so they lower the wages of the average worker.

spoken like a true classical economist.

 

[Phoenix]

Raising the min wage can make most people worst off, companies have to make up for paying their lowest employees more, so they lower the wages of the average worker.

No, there are a whole host of scenarios for paying min wage workers more money. They DO write this off you know

 

[AssMan]

When will he show the one about working out?


P.S. Is my avatar bannable?

 

[Macam]

you know, for all thes hit talking Michael Moore does, his movies havent actually changed anything.

Supersize Me got my friend to stop drinking sodas which led him to lose some weight; and from there, he went on to lose nearly a 100 pounds. That's more than I can say for most any movie, including other documentaries.

Spurlock can't be dubbed a one-trick pony at this point: He's made all of one movie and he's airing a limited TV series. There's not too much of a real relationship between the two subjects and anyone that's seen Supersize Me can attest to that. It wasn't solely about McDonalds or lower income people (where that accusation surfaced from, I don't know); and I think it's entirely stupid to assume only lower income people eat at McDonalds. I know plenty of well off people that eat at McDonalds, fast food chains, shop at Wal-Mart, and so on; hell, it's rare to meet people that don't generally.

As for the lower wage topic, everyone should have that experience; I don't even care if it pays well as, I think on the whole, jobs, particularly when younger, are real eye openers. If it's low wage and deals with the public, all the better. It won't be enjoyable work, but generally, it seems to force people to mature in some aspects that I don't think they would otherwise. It's usually painfully obvious to tell amongst people who's been in that position and who hasn't.

Regardless, if anyone catches this series, please report back. I wouldn't mind knowing how it is, and given that it's not restricted to a two-hour medium, I think it should be a lot more fleshed out. I don't know if FX has plans to throw this on a disc or anything, but if not, I hope this shows up online in some form otherwise. I'll have to drop them a line and see what their plans are.

 

[Phoenix]

When will he show the one about working out?


P.S. Is my avatar bannable?

You'll find out in a few hours if you can't log back in

 

[SoVos20]

No, there are a whole host of scenarios for paying min wage workers more money. They DO write this off you know

They still would lose a lot of money, and overall more people would be worst off. Look at Europe those contries like the UK, France, Germany, ect have a higher min wage, but their average worker makes less than the average worker here. Rasing the min wage tends to shift the median income down.

 

[Agent Dormer]

Screw the haters, I'm really looking forward to this. Hell, I'm crazy enough to liveblog it for those are going to miss it.

 

[Hitokage]

Tobad more people in the UK make min wage than in the U.S. The real median wage wage in the U.S is higher than in the UK, infact it is higher in the U.S than any were in the world.

Factually incorrect. Americans work the most hours yet do not even make the most annually.

Raising the min wage can make most people worst off, companies have to make up for paying their lowest employees more, so they lower the wages of the average worker.

While continuing to give bonuses to their executive boards.