How hard was your paycheck hit?

[tbburg]

Unfortunately I just took a 14% pay cut Dec. 11. Not really noticing 2% on top of that. Bad part is, I read somewhere that they haven't released the 2013 withholding tables yet. IRS was waiting on Congress to pull their head out and do something. So they're still using the 2012 withholding tables. On top of the SS/MC increase, we have another blow to look forward to in a couple months when the Fed. withholding gets updated. Then again at the end of the year for those of you who expect a refund check. It won't be as big because of the low first quarter withholding.(This isn't bad in my opinion, less refund means smaller interest-free 14 month loan to the govt., but some people like the year end check.)

 

[MaxxXJ]

I claim 2 all year long and single and 0 or 1 on taxes... I don't get much for taxes but I'd rather live better for 11 months instead of blowing it on 1 month.

 

[in4aride]

Mine was hit 100%. My job went away.

Same here. Our city is so in the hole they laid off about 20 of us because the budget had 20 less pay slots for '13. hooray.

 

[1-tonxj]

My brother has a friend on government sponsorship ( welfare) he was told do job training or no welfare , so while on welfare he got schooling at Lincoln tech paid for and graduated automotive and is ASE certified , and about 3 years later is now still on welfare and never a single job after the graduation in 3 years ...he stated they only offer'n jobs from $10-12hr ...lol...well that's what entry level jobs pay . The thing that bugs me is that in 3 years he has sat at home playing video games smoking pot and hits the clubs with the (babby momma) and friends to get get their drank on , but no job ...HOW DOES A PERSON WITH NO JOB HAVE RECREATIONAL MONEY ???...I'll have to ask him if his EBT card is loaded any differently this year ...lol...nearly the entire apartment complex he lives at is on welfare , and no one seems to be working they all just hanging out shooting the breeze smoking trees ...even the apartments are income controlled which i beleive is called section 8 ...anyway this is the majority of folks on welfare , and none ever seem to find jobs ... on a funny side not folks on welfare don't live super well ,but better than they should with no jobs , but when they see a person buy things that have jobs they seem to get pissed like it's a mystery how that happens .

 

[Tom R.]

I first saw this when it was covered by Mike Huckabee. I checked around and saw that it's also on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget website and was reported by several news organizations (not mainstream):

Last month, the Senate Budget Committee reports that in fiscal year 2011, between food stamps, housing support, child care, Medicaid and other benefits, the average US household below the poverty line received $168 a day in government support. What’s the problem with that much support? Well, the median household income in America is just over $50,000, which averages out to $137.13 a day. To put it another way, being on welfare now pays the equivalent of $30 an hour for a 40-hour week, while the average job pays $25 an hour. And the person who works also has to pay taxes, which drops pay to $21 an hour. It’s no wonder that welfare is now the biggest part of the budget, more than Social Security or defense. And why would anyone want to get off welfare when working pays $9 an hour less?

 

[Boatwrench]

"why would anyone want to get off welfare when working pays $9 an hour less?" Well pride comes to mind.

 

[DrMoab]

Lots of welfare recipients have no pride.

 

[Beezil]

"why would anyone want to get off welfare when working pays $9 an hour less?" Well pride comes to mind.

it used to bring shame to a man collecting anything from anyone else.

now, especially in urban areas, you a foo if you aint gettin sumfin

 

[XJEEPER]

get ya sum WIC an a 'Bama phone, yo............

 

[XJEEPER]

Same here. Our city is so in the hole they laid off about 20 of us because the budget had 20 less pay slots for '13. hooray.

I feel for anyone who loses their job. This is how the system is supposed to work, if revenue can't support expenses, then expenses must be trimmed until revenue is increased.

Our federal government has been allowed to borrow money, print money (de-valuing the dollar) and operate without a budget to avoid accountability for repeatedly spending more than they take in, without making the required spending cuts to balance the budget. It's been over 4 years since the US Senate passed a budget.....yet Obama claims the there is no spending problem. Our financial issues go way back, Obama is responsible for all the debt....however I'm critical of Obama because he wanted the job and all the responsibility it entails.

Denial, delusion, deception........it's right there in 3D. :doh:

 

[MaxxXJ]

I'd like to find a job that pays 21 dollars an hour... Apparently im getting raped for running heavy equipment for $15/hr and barely bringing in $40k a year..

 

[in4aride]

I'd like to find a job that pays 21 dollars an hour... Apparently im getting raped for running heavy equipment for $15/hr and barely bringing in $40k a year..

Psshh tell me about it. I run equipment, and have CDL, but cant find anything around here for more than 10/hr. And they are hiring guys with 10x my experience at that price. It sucks.

 

[bjoehandley]

I first saw this when it was covered by Mike Huckabee. I checked around and saw that it's also on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget website and was reported by several news organizations (not mainstream):

"why would anyone want to get off welfare when working pays $9 an hour less?" Well pride comes to mind.

I'm currently not making a whole lot more than that and I'm not on welfare, although I might be elegable for Medicade but never looked into it. Being too proud to take any handouts is all fine and such, but $7.50-$12 an hour and being lucky to get 30 hours a week don't mean a whole hell of a lot when gas is $3.00-$4.50 or worse for regular, 87 octane gas. Anybody else here ever DD their XJ's with that kind of income and gas prices that high?

it used to bring shame to a man collecting anything from anyone else.

now, especially in urban areas, you a foo if you aint gettin sumfin

To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that I still live with my parents, only thing I could afford is my now 15 year old Jeep, $20 a month gym membership (to clean up for work, although I could probably drop that down to the $10 membership), some clothing, some sort of cell phone, and that would be about it. I'd basically be sleeping in the back of my Jeep in a WalMart parking lot.

At over $4.00 a gallon, I spent around $200 a month on gas when my employer was still at it's old location, which was closer to home than the current location. Insurance at the same time was nearly $600 a year on just the Jeep and and a few hundred a month for health insurance (which I don't currently have), $20 a month for the above gym membership, then about $150 a month for cell phone and credit card bills. That's a good amount of money going out for sometimes less than $1000 a month income. Start throwing in maintenence on an older vehicle like my XJ or car payments like on my 200 and watch the money fly out the door faster still. Considering it's age, the Jeep is doing pretty good and I don't drive it as much as I used to. When I bought the 200, I bought a lifetime extended warranty for it (which will cost $50 per repair after the factory warranty is up) and with the Pentastar being a flex fuel motor, it can burn E-85 when, so when gas prices start exceeding $4.00 a gallon, I can at least switch to that and (out side of gas mileage) get far better performance out of the car. Those things can at least create some cost controls

 

[in4aride]

im in same boat ^
I wont take the hand out from the .gov and make everyone else pay for it. Even working at the city I wasn't making much, and now only getting a side job here and there, its really rough. Student loans, (small) truck payment, and gym membership I am all but wiped out. I live with family and do work on the house/cars/property to offset my being there. I think it is better than the hand out, but still a kick in the gut for pride...

 

[bjoehandley]

Tell me about it In4aride, not proud to be living at home in my 30's, but it beats nightly camping out in my Jeep when Chicago weather decides to go on the rag. I've still thought about selling some of my RC's, even the Jeep, but would prefer not to.......especially the Crawlers and my Stampede (had that for nearly 14 years now). I had been hoping to get a job before Christmas that paid better and had more hours than the current one, but nothing came of that. I'm now seeing that HR people use the lack of a Facebook account as a reason not to hire people. I've so far refused to get an account, but have been contemplating starting a basic one and putting pictures of my RC's, models, the Jeep and 200, as well as just pictures I've taken while out and about (some with my XJ Scaler in them) just so I have one for one of these people to find.

 

[kastein]

I'd rather starve than take a handout.

That being said, I'm hopeful that my income will be seeing a -100% hit, seeing as I have been running on savings since end of February. Fortunately I had a lot of cash socked away and left voluntarily, it may have been somewhat of a bad life choice to not start looking for a job till August/September or so but I'll pull through somehow... and **** taking handouts to do it.

 

[DrMoab]

It's all about the choices you make.

The trucking industry is starving for good drivers right now. Anyone of you who has a decent driving record and is over 21 could hop in a truck right now and make 40k a year with good benefits and an immediate roof over your head.

I bring this up all the time and constantly get excuses like "I hate driving" or "I can't be away from my family" or whatever. True it has a lot of downfalls but IMO it beats starving, being homeless or taking a government handout.

 

[in4aride]

My problem with that is only having.class b/tanker and everyone wants 5+ years exp with class a. id hop in a.truck tomorrow if someone would hire entry guys.

 

[DrMoab]

There are tons of companies that will hire with no experience.

Most of them suck....but not all. The first company I worked for had their own school. They were a mid to small sized company with about 450 trucks at that time. I knew my boss, could talk to the owner and I never felt like a number.

I'm not saying everyone should run out and drive truck for a living. My point was more that there are decent jobs out there but a lot of times you have to sacrifice some comfort in order to eat.

I'm sure the guys that got jobs with the Civilian Conservation Corp back in the depression would laugh at the mindset and mentality of the general public today. Those guys dug ditches for no reason at all in order to feed their families.

 

[Boatwrench]

My math must be incorrect. I figured it would be about $2K annually but the paycheck was a $23 hit.