No. My main and perhaps only point is the wages of today have less purchasing power, than yesterday, especially when it comes to the ability to 'rent' real estate.
Bears I am a bit confused by your statement. I am left wondering if you saw my previous post. I gave 2 examples showing that those on minimum wage in fact have
MORE buying power today then they did in the past. I also sent you to the calculator (provided by the United States Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics) I used to source the information. I will post those 2 examples again and the link to the calculator. Again these are not some numbers I pulled from website or anything, this is information provided by our own government.
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
$3.35 in January of 1989 (minimum wage) has the same buying power as $7.10 in August of 2019.
$0.25 in October of 1938 (minimum wage) has the same buying power as $4.58 in August of 2019.
This is why people like me think fight for 15 is so ridiculous. People already have more buying power than they ever have on minimum wage. Despite the fact they have not raised it since 2009. Raising minimum wage does not work anyway, it only triggers a market correction (meaning minimum wage employees end up right back where they started) and makes us less competitive in the world trade market.
I'm WELL AWARE that a guy working at walmart CAN afford a 'crib' in certain parts of the country. (I would not be surprised if some parts of OK. might be one.) U S News and world report had a feature story of where in the country was the cheapest places to rent a 1 bedroom apartment, and it was in Wichita Ks. So i'm guessing Wichita has a very low amount of people living on the street.(Of course there are Everywhere where a certain % of peoples who can never be 'reached') But La Li Lu Le Lo, not everyone lives in places like Wichita.
You are absolutely right that some places are simply more expensive to live but those places also have a higher minimum wage.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx
That is the thing about minimum wage, states can adjust it as they see fit due to cost of living. Those states very well may
NEED 15 an hour but in say... Tulsa that simply is not necessary. I live in a 1,700 sqft (rounded up) 3/2/2 with a metal roof, 2 large storage buildings (both with power), a car port (one that is built into the house and matches the house) big enough to park 4 cars under, an RV Pad (covered and also with power) and a fenced in yard by the lake for only $150K (rounded up). I shudder to think what that would cost in NH. I would probably struggle to get a shack where you live for 150K. So yes a HUGE difference in affordability compared to say.... NY but then again NY makes a lot more per hour on average. It all sort of balances out. It does not balance out in California (some cities) but that is because allowing illegals to flood the cities have lowered wages and caused a housing shortage.
This calculator (
https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator#du2LqhCM8U) shows the expected income of someone in Tulsa Oklahoma working for minimum wage. That comes out to be about $501 every 2 weeks.
Gross Paycheck $580
Taxes 6.00% $35
DETAILS
Federal Income 4.69% $27
State Income 1.31% $8
Local Income 0.00% $0
FICA and State Insurance Taxes 7.65% $44
DETAILS
Pre-Tax Deductions 0.00% $0
DETAILS
Post-Tax Deductions 0.00% $0
Take Home Salary 86.35% $501
So that is about $1002 a month.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/14-E-50th-Ct-N-Tulsa-OK-74126/22180467_zpid/?
$35,900
4 bd1,128 sqft
Est. payment: $184/mo
Rent Zestimate $810/mo
I think we can both agree that while this is no palace of fine living it IS livable and the neighborhood lawns look to be maintained. You don't see trash lying around in street view.
You first stated people have lost buying power when it comes to renting real estate. Well.... this is a fine example. A house you could buy for 184 a month but cost you 810 to rent. The gap between buy and rent is certainly not driven by corporate greed.
Now you may already know this, but one BIG REASON that AA never had to worry about contracts being rejected in TUL, TULE, was their members $$ went much further there, than even DFW, let alone BOS/NYC/PHL/DCA/ORD/LAX/SFO/SEA areas ! Which is EXACTLY why AMR relocated from NYC to DFW/and TUL. That move alone, guaranteed contracts Never being rejected, due to the sheer #'s of twu voters in those two places. As much as it kills me to admit this, it was an OUTSTANDING move on AMR's part !
I agree with you 100%. It's a problem.