• @Asafum@feddit.nl
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      332 months ago

      Employer: We fired Asafum for disobedience and poor conduct. (No mention whatsoever of retaliation for discussing pay.)

      I was told when I was hired that they would fire anyone discussing pay. We work in a factory, there is no such thing as email proof when you’re a meat machine with no email.

  • HubertManne
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    752 months ago

    I often wonder similarly. comes down to double income. We went from families being raised on 40 hours a week labor to 100 or more.

    • NutWrench
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      362 months ago

      Yup. Something to remember whenever Forbes or WSJ publishes some feel-good article about how, “household income is keeping up with inflation.”

      What they don’t mention is the “household” now includes everyone except the family dog. And even with everyone working, the quality of life continues to decline.

    • @Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      282 months ago

      As someone currently raosong 2 kids on a single fairly meager income, it comes down to budgeting, extreme price sensitivity and using the annual child tax credits as a cash injection to rebalance everything every 12 months and/or subsidize major needed purchases

      • HubertManne
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        282 months ago

        imagine if that credit was removed due to certain politicians who respond with people need to budget better and bootstrap and crap.

        • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Politicians should have to live on the federal minimum wage. Their jobs and staff can be managed by an office manager. Any personal wealth has to go into a blind trust so there’s no cheating.

          Let’s see how fast that wage comes up.

        • @Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          A trump presidency would be the beginning of the end. Republicans want complete control because they need it inact their cruel policies. When the common folk are on the streets hungry, the rich start to look awfully appetizing.

          • @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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            2 months ago

            Don’t worry rich people, the police will get a wage increase to keep those hungry beggars away from you.

        • @Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          12 months ago

          I’d be more concerned about that if I were looking at my current economic situation continuing for the long term, but realistically once both kids are in school (which might happen within 12 months even!) my wife can start working, plus I haven’t reached the coasting phase of my career yet, so I have plenty of opportunity to increase me income.

          This year’s tax credit will be paying off the last of the nasty debt accrued from my wifes various jobless phases before I went back to college and started making just enough that she didn’t need to work anymore, so that’ll be $200ish/mo back in our pockets to start building a proper emergency fund then figure it out from there. Plus my special needs child should have Medicaid very soon which will be another $200ish/mo back in our pockets as well given his very expensive appointments that had us to hit the deductible before March

      • @tmcgh@lemm.ee
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        42 months ago

        Glad I’m not alone in this. Tight budgeting that slowly trickles down to negative and then the tax credits come in and give us a boost to hopefully last the next year.

  • @gearheart@lemm.ee
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    202 months ago

    In addition to this way too many people I know are receiving SSI disability checks on top of that. 😅 I got folks on oxygen and walkers that get less SSI then a bunch of 20 year olds I know.

    • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      112 months ago

      The entire SSI/SSDI system is fucked. It’s arbitrary and unnecessarily complex. Linking disability benefits to time worked is also cruel and arbitrary to younger workers who become disabled. And especially to people who never have the chance to build a work history at all. Then the idea that it has to be capped to an even outcome instead of a livable floor plus medical expenses…

      That last part might just be why the younger people get paid more. They have less assets that count against the monthly pay.

      But there is one thing SSI/SSDI have in common. The pay drops in step with money earned. So if you go get a job then you’re not going to get much of an SSI check, if any at all. And SSDI can be outright revoked for working.

    • @fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      82 months ago

      I find this hard to believe. I’d be curious to hear roughly how many people you know that are on disability.

      For those unaware, social security is extremely strict with earned income affecting benefits. It’s also incredibly difficult to start getting disability benefits, even with mountains of documentation and medical records. It’s quite common to have to appeal a case multiple times, and it often takes years for people to be approved.

  • @Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
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    132 months ago

    They aren’t. Your coworkers are making more. Talk about pay with coworkers as you may be getting screwed

  • @qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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    52 months ago

    My kiddo is just a toddler, but in our VHCOL area, at this age the only thing that really matters is childcare expenses. If we had family/grandparents taking care of them, the additional cost would be pretty minimal, in the scheme of things.

    The max contribution to dependent FSA (tax free account for daycare) is a joke, less than 2mo of care.

    The material things we’ve needed probably amount to less than one month of daycare expenses (diapers notwithstanding).

    Saving for college, on the other hand…