Reply #37: So that's like saying that I, rather than the @$29k gross I make, [View All]

[RaleighNCDUer]

actually am a solid middle-class $45k/yr worker, because of the value of my health and dental insurance, the potential to earn time and a half if I work holidays, and the employer contribution to my 401K, SS & medicare.

So I don't REALLY take home $1600/mo to my crappy 1 bdrm apartment for which I pay 1/3 of my take home, and drive a 12 year old vehicle. I'm middle class.

Funny. I still feel poor.

(caveat: I know I am doing much better than many, many others out there, in that I am employed and have insurance. that doesn't change the reality on the ground that I am barely making my bills and not because I have an extravagant lifestyle.)

$30/hr straight time is OK. It is a good, solid income. If wages had kept up with inflation over the past 25 years, it would be slightly above what most of us out here are making. I'm certainly not going to begrudge anyone making $60k/yr when, by the standards of the '50s, I should be making $48k myself.

This is all just an attempt to bust the unions. Nothing more.