Julia Danson: 30 Days on Minimum Wage

1. Alex and Morgan did a fairy good job budgeting. Going into the thirty days, they set expectations on how much they would spend on an apartment, furniture, food, etc. Both of them found jobs within the first week, and made it a priority to have an income. Although, they did not account any money to pay for potential emergencies. Both Alex and Morgan were required to visit the emergency room to help out with their health. Keeping an emergency fund is extremely important. Going to the emergency room twice, spent almost all of their money from an entire week. Minimum wage is extremely low, so keeping this fund is not easy, but there needs to be some way to be prepared if something happens. Also, if they were able to have health insurance then this would help them be prepared. With the Affordable Care Act, it is much cheaper to get insurance. Alex and Morgan also did not budget to have any fun. They signed up to work all day everyday, and then go home and do nothing. This lifestyle limits them from having any fun, and without free time their stress levels will go up.

8. The technical definition of the working poor is a person that is below the poverty line for 27 weeks. They must either be working or looking for work. Although, with the low minimum wage, the working poor are still working insane hours to even make a fraction of the income needed to survive. In the movie Gerald and the driver are both considered the working poor because they are working at lower than minimum wage. In order to help the working poor it is vital to raise minimum wage like Ted Kennedy suggested. As time has gone by the middle class is shrinking, and the number of people in the working poor is growing. Something needs to be done.