I was wandering around the Democratic Underground forums earlier. Why? I honestly dunno. Lack of sleep + morbid curiosity? Anyway, the thread had become a bitch fest about obesity in America, and how the evil corporations are trying to keep the working poor in a state of failure, when I came across this little gem.

Have you ever worked an 80 hour week?
I have. I remember coming home from 16 hour shifts (which were really 18 hour shifts when you added commuting time) and being too tired to watch television. I would stare at the wall until I fell asleep. And I didn't have children. I did laundry recreationally. As I said before, the nearest grocery store was a forty minute walk each way. Factor in shopping time and each trip to the store was four hours. When you're getting four or five hours sleep a night, that's four hours that ain't gonna happen week after week after week. And the food at that store was filthy. I found spiders and caterpillars in the vegetables. I picked up a package of fish once and my hand touched a cockroach. I picked up a jar of peanut butter and saw, perfectly defined in the dust on the lid, a trail of rat tracks. Who is going to put up with that shit when they can get a hoagie from the deli or a $7 pizza? It's bully for you that you're in a situation where you can buy reasonably sanitary produce and get it home. Not everybody is in that situation. And a little more humility would be a lot more flattering on you.

The poor poor working poor.
I mean, even though he was working 80 hours... and at minimum wage, that translates to about 22k a year (assuming he works two 40 hour jobs, 27k if it's just one job)

Sheeeit. Once again, this is the myth of the "Working Poor"... the people who have it so bad because they have to take two jobs and live from paycheck to paycheck and boo-hoo.

Ugh. Cry me a damn river. I make 17k a year, max. I work at a convenience store. I have rent, insurance, CAR PAYMENT, electricity bill, and so on and so forth. I have absolutely no problem paying these off... at 5k less a year than this other guy is making. But, for the sake of argument, let's play the numbers game.

Minimum wage job, 40hr's a week -- About 10.9k yearly.
Rent for a single room efficiency. 400/month, 4800/yr.
Utilities (assuming they're not paid for by the rent). 150/month, 1800/yr.
Food. Let's say you splurge a little... 150$ / month, 1800/yr.
Car payment. Long loan, cheap car... 100/month, 1200/yr.

What are we up to now? 9600$.
Which leaves you a cool $1300 to pay your medicair and socail security taxes on, with enough left over to go get sloshed at the bar.

Bah, I'm tired of people bitching about how bad they have it.