Work Reform

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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.

Our Goals

Higher wages for underpaid workers.
Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
Better and fewer working hours.
Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.

founded 1 year ago

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109

Why Americans can't keep money in their pockets — even when they get a raise (www.cnbc.com)

submitted 7 months ago by return2ozma to c/workreform

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yet another cause is lack of financial literacy. We aren’t taught how to budget and save. Some may be taught by their parents but many don’t get that. Schools certainly won’t teach financial literacy. That would hurt consumer spending and that wouldn’t be good for short term corporate profits and continued economic growth so it won’t be in our curriculums.

I realize I have no idea how financially literate or illiterate the average person is.

When I was planning on moving out, I opened a spreadsheet on my computer. Maybe that's already a leap beyond what the typical person would do?

I made a row for each expense I thought I'd have, rounded up to create some headroom. Plus a row for 'Other' with a sizable number to account for stuff I hadn't thought of. Summed that up.

Made another row with my gross pay. Looked up about how much I'd keep after taxes. About 70%. Calculate that value on another row. Divide that by 12. That's monthly net take home.

Compared that number to the number from the first section. If I'm not taking home more than my expenses, that's a problem.

What is everyone else doing? No one taught me that. It just seemed like how I'd add up my expenses and compare to my income. It's not perfect, but it helped me see what kind of rent was way out of reach.

[–] Vorticity 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, you did the logical and smart thing. I think many people don't and, for some, it is a daunting task to even get started. The part I was missing was being told "it's okay if it's not perfect, just do something close and adjust as needed". It was always something that I felt needed to be all or nothing, even if that's not logical.

Just having a two day intro to budgeting in high school or college would probably have done me a world of good. I doubt that I'm the only one.

Previous generations had classes like "Home Economics" to teach sime home skills but it has been decided that isn't needed. Those useful skills classes have been cut from the curriculum.