cost of living poor in North Carolina

Are you frustrated yet? Did you trust the wrong data provider; bank; airline; boss; retail chain? And who reimbursed you? Who treated you with respect and answered your concerns in a human way? Were you able to get a hold of anyone at all? If you did, did they help you? Welcome to the land of Capital Control. Capital Currency. To have it is to have control, to go without is to be criminal. This is the first major flaw. We have been sated by entertainment and luxuries and we are willing to let some things go due to that. What do we get for these concessions? What do we get for following the 9-5 and 5-Close work hours? Not enough money to pay rent, not enough money to pay back student loans, not enough money to feed a family, and certainly not enough money to afford forced insurance. North Carolina. The first state in the US to shorten Unemployment and to cut its benefits. Also a state where car insurance is mandatory. a "right to work" state, a state almost devoid of unions. Minimum wage is 7.25$ (3.94 Euros as of 1/17/14). "Single family homes, both in and out of the city, averaged a list price of $288,000 at the end of last year and seller’s are now asking an average of $273,000."[Realestate.com/state/NC]. (201,828.90 EUR - 212,918.40 EUR). So, let's make some calculations using available averages. We will use, for example, a college graduate entering the work force. The argument for ending unemployment was that people would take minimum wage jobs instead of waiting for higher paying jobs to open up. "The average debt load for the class of 2012 was $29,400, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for College Access & Success' Project on Student Debt."[http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/pf/college/student-loan-debt/] Let's say this student took out less than average. With 20,000$ of student loan debt, paid in 180 months with the lowest amount of interest possible the end cost to student is over 25,000$. That is roughly 140$ a month for 15 years. Lets add in a very low ball park figure for car insurance and health insurance. let's say they pay 50$ a month for car insurance and 100$ a month for health insurance purchased through their job. With the student loan money added in, this person must pay 290$ a month or face expensive legal issues. (If you don't have car insurance in NC your tags expire. If you drive with expired tags, the police remove your tag and force you to park your car wherever they pulled you over. It costs 150$ to pay for tag and DMV "fees". This does not include the price of having your car towed. Because, as you know, it is illegal to drive a car without legal plates.) Most minimum wage full-time jobs in the state strongly appose workers trying to "get overtime". this means they enforce the 40-hour work week rather strongly and tend to verbally berate workers for working more than 40 hours. "North Carolina's personal income tax system consists of three brackets and a top rate of 7.75%. That rate ranks 10th highest among states levying an individual income tax. North Carolina's income tax collections per person were $961 in 2010 which ranked 18th highest nationally."Tax Foundation Org [http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/north-carolina] working 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks of a year, this single NC person will make 15,000$ a year. This means they will pay: 1,050$ state taxes (7%) 2,250$ federal taxes (15%) (total: 3,300$) Leaving 11,700$ after takes. After subtracting a years worth of insurance and student loan payments (3,480$) this subject makes 8,220$ a year. So what about cost of living? What about rent and food? Let's say this person uses the available free time to cut coupons and compare prices and never eats out. Let's say they spend only 100$ a month on food (a very low figure). That leaves 7,020$ a month for rent and utilities. If this person uses the remainder of their money for rent they are left with 585$ a month for rent and utilities. Some things to consider: 15 years is a long time to never get sick 15 years is a long time for a car to go without repairs To pay rent at a 500$ a month apartment complex (that isn't in a crime-heavy part of town) usually requires the renter to be making 2.5X rent. This person is about 200$ a month shy of making that much. This person must either commute or live in a crime-heavy part of town. That means an increased likely hood of theft, break-ins and vandalism.