2010 Midterm Elections Thread

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Still waiting on that budget that shows $18,000 being "comfortable" for someone who's not in high scool or college.

Why would high school or college matter?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Why would high school or college matter?

*sigh*

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

*sigh*

I'm with you. Being 'college poor' isn't really relatable to being 'poor' for a lot of reasons.

/not that some people aren't 'poor' in college, but the resources available for students are vastly different than the resources available for pretty much everyone else.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Well, we finally know who our senator will be for Washington - Patty Murray, returning for her, I think, fourth term. With this result I'm hoping that Dino Rossi goes away. I'm tired of voting against him - it's been three times now. Since eastern Washington likes him so much, I think he should run for something like mayor of Spokane.

Meanwhile, almost all of our congressional incumbants won, Democrat and Republican.

I'm curious what the voter turnout results were everywhere? In King County (Seattle and suburbs), they were expecting 68% of absentee ballots to be returned (our state is all-absentee now), but they're still counting the ballots and we're at 71% return rate already.

Our state voted down an income tax (though 35% voted for it and I think the issue will continue to come up), voted down an increase to our sales tax, and voted DOWN two initiatives that would have closed state liquor stores and permitted booze to be sold in every grocery, drug and convenience store. Sometimes my state surprises me! We legalized medical marijuana years ago and permit Joe Neighbor with a permit to grow it at home, but we want ONLY the state to sell booze.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

*sigh*

Here, I'll break it down for the sake of argument...

9 * 40 = 360*4 = 1440$ per month pre tax.

This will be from my point of view in my area, since I talked about the 9$.

I live in probably the nicest apartment complex in town, but my apartment is 480 for two bedrooms.

so, 240$ with a roommate a month. (for the nicest place in town)
80 for energy, 30 for water. split two ways, 55$ a month.

For medical insurance, with a 500$ deductible it's 11 some dollars per check, so 44 dollars per month.

My car is a little bit nicer than someone on minimum wage but it's around 400 with full coverage every 6 months. We'll go with that, but that's probably quite a bit more coverage for a nicer car than someone on minimum wage...so, 66$ per month.

I think right now we're at 405 a month, if the math I did in my head is correct. That gives us about a thousand (or 250 a week) to play with, before Uncle Sam the dickface, food, and miscellaneous get involved. I'm sure I missed something, but I can't think of it right now. All this is for naught, as I could cut costs even more if I was minimum wage. For instance, the production plant is close to alot of lower range apartments that are 350 for two rooms. Because they're pretty close, it would be easy to trade in the car for a moped which would be easier on gas and obviously the needless insurance. If I were a healthy young adult, probably go for the thousand dollar deductible and pay 6 dollars a check, or 24 dollars a month.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I live in probably the nicest apartment complex in town, but my apartment is 480 for two bedrooms.

Wow, where do you live? You *might* be able to find a studio in a bad part of town or in the hick part of my state for that. But my new husband and I live (for now) in a 2-bedroom apartment - spacious and updated interior, but building from the 1980s - in the suburbs of Seattle and pay $1,245 per month just for rent. And that's actually a really good deal around here considering our place is about 1,100 square feet.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Wow, where do you live?

In the Fort Smith area, which is the 2nd biggest city in the state.

You *might* be able to find a studio in a bad part of town or in the hick part of my state for that. But my new husband and I live (for now) in a 2-bedroom apartment - spacious and updated interior, but building from the 1980s - in the suburbs of Seattle and pay $1,245 per month just for rent. And that's actually a really good deal around here considering our place is about 1,100 square feet.

I'm actually about to downgrade to a one bedroom for about 360 a month. I haven't figured out what to do with a whole extra bedroom. This complex has a pool, weight room, and lounge as well.