WHAT IS A DECENT AVERAGE SALARY IN THE US?

Discussion in 'Economics & Trade' started by LafayetteBis, Jan 30, 2020.

  1. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2016
    Messages:
    9,744
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Who is the "working class".

    The family earning together the average salary in the US? It looks like this (from here):
    • 25 to 34 years: $828 weekly/$43,056 annually
    • 35 to 44 years: $1,065 weekly/$55,380 annually
    • 45 to 54 years: $1,094 weekly/$56,888 annually
    Of course, it all depends upon what we might call "average". The median-salary (that found about halfway up the entire American population) is around $56K a year. So, let's take that one.

    Which means that the Average American Mom-'n-pop (if both working) are making around $110 a year. Is this your "working class"? If so, here is a tax-calculator off the i-net. that indicates taxation (ie "take home salary") by state. Unfortunately, not for the entire US. So, taking two states from each opposite - say Massachusetts and Idaho - the range is $78.6K and $77.4K per year. (Or, say, for California and Virginia, its $76.8K and $78.1K)

    That is, not that much of a difference state-wise.

    So, the next question is: Is such a "working class" annual salary as shown "decent". That is, fair?

    Any answers? That is, just what is a decently fair Net Salary? Here's some help (from here:
    Income needed to live comfortably
    Not much of a difference ...
     
  2. vman12

    vman12 Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2015
    Messages:
    66,645
    Likes Received:
    46,473
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It depends entirely on where you live, and what you call "decent".

    You've presented a subjective question and tried to base it in objectivity.

    How much you earn is entirely a reflection on YOU as an individual. If you dropped out of high school, decided 40 hours a week was too much work, and put no effort into yourself......then what you earn IS fair.
     
    roorooroo and Collateral Damage like this.
  3. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    A fair salary is what the company pays, if you are willing to work for that. If it doesn't suit you then you have no choice but to find something better. It's up to each individual to compete and plan, and make it the best they can for themselves in this competitive world. Because nobody owes us a damn thing.

    My youngest sister's son wants her to move to Houston, where he's making a fortune. He loves Mama.

    But she has retired and would be poor in Houston and don't want to live off her son, so she's moving near a small town of 4,000 people in the middle of Iowa, where she will be pretty well off, and be near some of our cousins. Once she gets her well drilled I'm going up to Iowa and install the well pump and tank for her, and build the well house and wire it up, to get her off to a good start. She has figured out and planned what is best for her with what she's got.
     
    roorooroo likes this.
  4. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    39,883
    Likes Received:
    2,144
    Trophy Points:
    113
    So discriminatory pay is fair? How about rent seeking 'zero hour contracts' that feed off worker desperation for any income (further facilitated by the right wing governments that use welfare policy to coerce their "a fair salary is what the company pays")?
     
  5. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2016
    Messages:
    9,744
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Maybe in your world, but not mine.

    Things are changing, and they are changing for good. We left the Agricultural Age in the mid-
    18-hundreds for the Industrial Age - which swept people off the farms and put them around large cities in factories.

    Age-change is happening once again - the US has as a percentage of the population working in "Industry" at only 12%. Where did they all move to?

    To the Information Age, populated by mostly services-industries. What's the BigDifference in this evolution. One needs to be one helluva lot smarter. Meaning a Post-secondary Education diploma in the pocket.

    But, unlike the secondary-schooling, it aint "free, gratis and for nothing". In fact, at a state post-secondary schooling it can cost up to $14K a year. Which is about 20% of the Average American Family total income. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 88% of Americans had at least a high school diploma or GED in 2015. Thirty-three percent had a bachelor's or more, but only 12% had an advanced degree such as a master's or professional degree, or a doctorate.

    So, barely a third of the population is ideally trained to profit from the Information Age that requires a very much higher skills-level. (And that means not just a computer with an internet-connection.)

    For the moment, America's unemployment level is a bare 3.6% - but where do the other 96.4% people work?

    Good question ... !
     
  6. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    If you're worth more and have the skills go out and get it.
     
    Texan and roorooroo like this.
  7. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    39,883
    Likes Received:
    2,144
    Trophy Points:
    113
    So discrimination doesn't exist and is the fault of those "discriminated" against?

    You're also not making much sense. Labour market flexibility tends to create a low skilled equilibrium. There is too much economic rent from exploiting low wage labour. That isn't a supply side feature (i.e. solved by workers simply investing in human capital). It is demand led. You ignore these facts and just give crass cliche.
     
  8. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Don't worry what stupid governments are saying or what the ivory tower soothsayers are saying. We are made in our nature to go out and bust ass and get it for ourselves.
     
    roorooroo and Collateral Damage like this.
  9. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    39,883
    Likes Received:
    2,144
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Where we have labour market flexibility (which is seen as "go out and bust ass") we know the result: underpayment (fancy language for exploitation), discrimination (which you've ignored) and low productivity. Its a shame right wingers don't think more in their individualist attempt to ensure corporate power...
     
  10. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2016
    Messages:
    9,744
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    This is a Debate Forum, not a Message Board. Try harder ...
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2020
  11. David Landbrecht

    David Landbrecht Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Messages:
    2,005
    Likes Received:
    1,163
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    The past was based upon competition for survival in a world where one did not know if there was enough for everyone.
    Today, we know there is enough for everyone.
     
  12. Reiver

    Reiver Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    39,883
    Likes Received:
    2,144
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Not in international terms mind you! If the world replicated US consumption levels, sustainability would never be an option!
     
  13. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2016
    Messages:
    9,744
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    You seem to ignore the fact that 12% of Americans live below the Poverty Threshold.

    From Wikipedia:
    There aint enough for everyone for as long as a Minimum Wage allows people to be hired for seven bucks an hour - because it needs to be reset at twice that amount ...

    PS: Yes, that means your BigMac will cost a bit more! Oh, wow!
     
  14. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2016
    Messages:
    9,744
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yes, you're right.

    But evidently, you did not see what I wrote. For those skills necessary one needs nowadays a post-secondary education - which is NOT free!

    In fact, a bachelor's degree costs about $14K at a state-school and a associate-level degree taking around two years to complete at a community colleges.From here :
    I frankly do not see why any National Government cannot assume the cost of such degrees, as it has in the past for high-schooling. (And frankly, the do in Europe!) It's worth the money spent - especially if we take it out of the swollen DoD-budget. (See here ...)
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2020
  15. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Here the state assumed the cost of K through 12, and guess what, a high school diploma doesn't mean anything because just about anybody can get one (just show up), and almost everybody has one.

    It's getting to be about the same with B.S. degrees (just show up) and you got yourself working in a chair in a cubicle on the phone all day because a B.S. is very common and most majors are easy peasy.

    The easier they make a degree to get and the more it is obtainable by those with little ability the less valuable it is.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2020
  16. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    The go getters deserve to get a whole lot more.
     
    roorooroo and Collateral Damage like this.
  17. Collateral Damage

    Collateral Damage Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2012
    Messages:
    10,535
    Likes Received:
    8,149
    Trophy Points:
    113
    If the method of demanding employers provide workers with a wage that is not commensurate with ability, experience nor production, you will not survive long in business. Why you would believe so is obviously not inclusive of you actually running business.

    Not every employer is looking to 'exploit' employees, but show me what percentage of employees actually think beyond their paycheck, aren't exploiting the business for their own monetary gain, and are concerned with the success of the business.
     
    Idahojunebug77 and roorooroo like this.
  18. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Sometimes I would have the thought that this isn't all that much money to be making -- but what if you had to pay this much to somebody else out of your own pocket? Now that looks totally different.
     
    roorooroo likes this.
  19. Spim

    Spim Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2016
    Messages:
    7,664
    Likes Received:
    6,183
    Trophy Points:
    113
    A big mac is already quite expensive, and I actually like big mac's but I hardly ever buy them, make it a meal and its $7+ , I do the $1 value menu when I need a fast bite of food at mcd's to hold me over until I can get home and get much better value. If I can't wait till I get home I can do better with $7-9 with other more healthy and better tasting options, the bagel shop, the pizza place, the chinese place, the chicken place, all are within $1 of a mcdonalds sammich meal, but preferably I eat just enough to last me till I get home for a legit meal that will probably cost $4-6 and won't clog my heart.

    If the goal is to get more people to eat healthy and at home, then doubling the min wage is a perfect solution.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2020
  20. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2017
    Messages:
    16,319
    Likes Received:
    10,027
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Two sausage McMuffins and coffee may be short on green vegetables, but it sticks to your ribs and puts strong red blood in your muscles for most of the day. Save that money for when Red Lobster throws a sale.
     
  21. Spim

    Spim Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2016
    Messages:
    7,664
    Likes Received:
    6,183
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I'll admit I do love me some Walts fried shrimp with those cheesy rolls, even living in coastal FL with all the markets and seafood restaurants nearby I still go the the Red a couple times a year.

    I've had a mc'd's under a half mile from my house and from my office for the past 20 years, I do my best to avoid them but I do like the $1 sausage burrito and a $1 cheeseburger on occasion, maybe once a month for each. Decent coffee too if I forget to buy a bag of beans the night before.
     
    jay runner likes this.
  22. Collateral Damage

    Collateral Damage Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2012
    Messages:
    10,535
    Likes Received:
    8,149
    Trophy Points:
    113
    At what point to do people become responsible for their income potential?

    If FMW were to be increased to 'twice that amount' without the same happening to production, what do you expect the overall economic impact to be? If all wages increase (the 'all boats float' theory), wouldn't that same '12%' still be at poverty level?

    Raising the base isn't going to solve any problems. People actually doing something to increase their wage above the base is what will start them on the rise up. And that can't happen unless their actual production is what does it.
     
    Hotdogr and roorooroo like this.
  23. Collateral Damage

    Collateral Damage Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2012
    Messages:
    10,535
    Likes Received:
    8,149
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Blood glucose will rise, likely spike, and on the down side will require a nap to recover. While I enjoy an Egg McMuffin about once a year, the glucose effect is mind boggling. Better than a McMuffin, would be something low to mid on the glycemic index, so you don't have the spike and crash.
     
  24. David Landbrecht

    David Landbrecht Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Messages:
    2,005
    Likes Received:
    1,163
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Exactly, and that is why the U.S. economy cannot, at the present rate of consumption, double again.
    There is enough for a decent existence for everyone. The problem is that some demand too much.
    The very concept of economy has to evolve.
     
  25. David Landbrecht

    David Landbrecht Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2018
    Messages:
    2,005
    Likes Received:
    1,163
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Why?
     

Share This Page