Living 30 Days on Minimum Wage

     2) Budgeting played a key role for Alex and Morgan to survive 30 days on minimum wage. Every time either one of them made money, they would add it to a collective jar to count. Based on how much money they had, they could determine what they are able to spend money on. Unfortunately when both Alex and Morgan had to go to the emergency room, this took a large toll on their wages, leaving them practically broke. At that point they also owed money to their landlord as well as the electric company. For this reason, even with budgeting the minimum wage was not enough to allow them to survive. Neither one of them were making enough money to be saving, and they were literally living on paycheck to paycheck. In their case, they were unable to successfully pay off the debt that they had from the movie. For their purpose they most likely used some of their money from before filming the show to pay off the debt. In reality however, there are people that actually experience these problems and are forced to make hard decisions like whether or not to go to the hospital.

     6) I disagree with the idea that raising the minimum wage would help families. While many argue that it would help the economy to raise the minimum wage, in the long run it would actually harm the economy. Raising the minimum wage would actually result in a higher unemployment rate because many small businesses wouldn't be able to afford paying them. In addition, the companies wouldn't necessarily be making more money because it is not a guarantee that they people that would be making more money, wouldn't just save it, instead of acting as a consumer. In addition, raising the minimum wage would mean that they employees that have worked at a place for a longer period of time would expect a raise in their salary. According to Forbes.com, 60% of people living below the poverty line are unemployed.  For this reason increasing the minimum wage would not help them. Finally, maintaining the current minimum wage allows more people to be employed. If companies are cutting back in the number of people that they have working for them, the first people to be cut are those that are unskilled workers.  If the minimum wage was raised, it would make it harder for unskilled workers to get a job, because their worked would be valued higher.