That is a decrease of $3.20, or two percent, since the last survey was taken for the week ending July 24.
The decrease is primarily due to sale items in the meat and fish category.
The marketbasket survey is intended to provide consumers with information regarding fluctuations in the local cost of retail foods.
So if I get one of those $10 dollar an hour jobs that everyone is so happy to create, I would earn a gross pay of $400.00 per week and net somewhere near what? $300? $320?
That would leave me around $120.00 or $480.00 a month for rent, the electric bill, a telephone, car maintenance, car insurance and oh yea - gas. Nothing for clothes, cable, kids, school supplies or anything else that could possibly be thought of.
Make it $15 dollars per hour and I am still struggling here in Ulster County.
The point is that the next time we hear our politicians bragging that the jobs that are coming in will pay at least $10 dollars per hour - (we see them fight like hell against $12 dollars an hour in most cases)- we need to remember what that really gets the employee who earns it.
Not suprisingly, the politicians who think these are great wages are also the ones who are against unions.
Smarten up people. Do the math.
9 comments:
Real food costs a lot less but those at the bottom of the pay scale ladder aren't likely to choose intelligently enough to get further ahead in the game. I lived pretty well in Manhattan on my $9/hr. teamster job. The system is skewed severely against the stupid people both in pay and in the cost of living. A high salary is just another sucker to be fleeced by the consumer market. Some people like my neighbor can raise big families and get still get rich here in Ulster County on ridiculously low salaries. He's union too.
Greetings Bullhorner, from jolly old Kingston where the politicians screw over labor! Im feelin ya bullhorner on these 10.00 per hour jobs,thats what Mayor Sottile and his jackass Economic Devolopment Head Steve Finkle push for here. These two assholes have not brought in any project of respectable note except the Walgreens on Broadway that has been shut down for now! Oh yea, the pig Mayor yelled from the rooftops that Steve and Barrys was coming a couple years ago, and come they did with minimum wage jobs only to close down 6 months later! LOL Hahaha what a jerk off!
You should write a book on living in Mahattan on $9 dollars an hour!
So what can YOU live in Ulster for - $4.50?
If that is a testamonial to the benefits and virtues of paying low wages, it's not flying with me.
Break out the basic monthly costs for me - Ulster style -
Rent, Food, (Include 23 brown bag lunches) Gas, Car maintenance costs, Car insurance, Health Insurance cost -and use a low number like $800 a month for family, Gas, Electric, Heating costs, clothing,and lets splurge - cable and phone. That accounts for no money for other expenses if you happen to have a kid or two - which by the way which is impossible to get away with.
Can you say backpack and sneakers?
I think you are dreaming with your $9 dollar ticket to ride.
"testimonial" for all of you in the teachers union.
I recently read an article that made the argument that when you adjust for the differing costs of living, the state of New York is one of, if not the poorest state in the U.S.A.
Thats what you get for the highest taxes in the entire nation..You get starved out.. The cost of living is a nightmare..You don't live..you barely survive.. And the taxes are going up astronomically in Ulster County and New York..
Bullhorner,what are the politicians in Kingston doing to help out the good,working people of their community? Are they lobbying hard to bring in good paying jobs? Where does Aldermens Reynolds, Hoffay, Landi, Senor stand on that issue? Our people are hurting and there is no hope for our children to stay settled here at home if we continue down this path of no community or economic development! Working people unite and do what you have to do,vote in some new faces and push out the old regime that has destroyed our community on thier watch! Vote out Reynolds,Hoffay, Senor and Co. and start anew.What do ya have to lose?
I'm not here to defend the economic development policies of the Sottile Administration and I'm no fan of the box stores, but I will point out that Congressman Hinchey and Assemblyman Cahill have secured a lot of funding for economic development in Ulster County, specifically solar power but also for a Department of Defense contractor in Kingston. The NYC DEP over the past two years,has invested millions in its facility in midtown and is now one of the largest employers in the city. The merger of Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals has produced new construction jobs right behind City Hall. The school system has invested in repairs and construction of its facilities and will soon start on the Carnegie Library building. Millions of Federal dollars are being invested yearly in the Rondout section. Uptown Kingston is awaiting final approval from the DOT to start restoration of the Pike Plan canopies, that's over a million dollars for painters, electricitans and carpenters.
Much, much more needs to be done of course, but our economy will be based more on digital corridor initiatives like Seven21 Broadway and tourism, which are less visible but real economic engines, then it will a return to manufactoring.
It's very easy to point out the shortfalls, much more difficult to give credit and join in the efforts to improve things. Pulling people down and getting personal solves nothing. This is a community made up of many different groups and only by working together and being proactive and positive will we achieve our goals. Organized Labor is a very important part of the community and labor's needs and contributions are very important. Once again, I invite your readers to participate in conversations on how we can deal with a very large budget deficit and not lay off our workforce and not overburden our homeowners. Your thoughts are welcome. Check out my website and join in the conversation: tomhoffay.wordpress.com
thanks
-Tom
Bullhorner that comment by Tom Hoffay is a bumch of bullshit, I was told by acouple of CSEA members "that Hoffay and Renyolds meet with them last years budget cycle and discussed ways to avoid layoffs the two of them voted for layoffs anyway." Remember Renyolds gets payed up in Albany to be a SPIN DOCTOR, and Hoffay is right up his ass.
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