Alejandro Cartagena - http://www.alejandrocartagena.com/
30 Days: Minimum Wage - Surrounding the basic notion of the documentary - society evolving beyond a minimum wage and establishing a living wage that allows a person to fulfill their basic necessities - what other ideas can you infer from the documentary that relate to the class? Talk about a living wage, but relate it to the class, not simply ‘everyone deserves to have their basic necessities fulfilled.’ Things to think about: creeping normalcy, individual responsibility towards the environment, reorganization of society, the control of our basic necessities, business concerns and rationales for their actions or lack of action, housing and urban development, cheap food vs quality food, Seventh Generation philosophy, lack of grocery stores in poor/destitute urban neighborhoods,...
Do not feel like you have to rely only on the ideas I put forth.
Matthew Acomb
ReplyDeleteADP III
James Rotz
With our current economic situation, people who normally wouldn’t be working these minimum wage jobs are beginning to do so just to make ends meet. Some are lucky if they can even get such a job. This might just be a temporary thing, but for all we know, minimum wage could become the norm and our standard of living will sink to the level of the couple in the documentary. This scenario does not sound very unreasonable if you take into account the concept of creeping normalcy. For many people this is the reality of life and they don’t really know anything else.
Although this documentary was eye opening in a lot of ways, I’m not sure it’s a very accurate portrayal of what it is like to be in this situation. For one thing, because the couple was actually pretty well off, they probably would not qualify for and assistance from the government such as food stamps. Considering the cost of food was a major part of their financial burden, I think they should have accounted for this variable. They probably would have been eligible for even more financial aid if they actually had kids.
This film also made me think of how different the priorities of people in this financial situation are from my own. People are living in even worse conditions all over the world and I seriously doubt that they’re concerned with issues like organic farming or what the working conditions were like for the person that made the piece of clothing they were able to afford.
Anita Sidler
ReplyDeleteADP 3- James Rotz
Response 5: 30 Days
I really like what Morgan Spurlock has done with his mini series of documentaries. I think that he tries to affect the people who are sitting at home doing nothing and to try to get them to do something.
There were parts of the 30 days: Minimum Wage episode that affected me, and some were not. My family has suffered financially since we’ve moved to the states. My mother is a single mother who raised two kids after leaving her abusive husband by moving to a different country. My mother didn’t have many friends and survived through teaching Chinese to Chinese- American kids. My mother would ask for old bread from sandwich shops that were about to be thrown out and use that bread to make my brother and my school lunches. My mother would work everyday for 10 hours doing private or group lessons to be able to pay rent and feed us. It was rough and it got worse but we survived. If my mother didn’t have a talent for teaching, we would’ve been homeless the day we got to the states.
In the episode I feel like what they lived through was pretty normal for me. We never lived in Columbus Ohio but some things were pretty close to their feelings of stress. Two things affected me the most from the show was when the one in the car talks about getting paid 7 dollars back in 1970’s and today gets paid 6 dollars. And the other was when they got their hospital bills. I think I’ve had life insurance for about 3 years of my life, and now don’t have it anymore. In the same reaction, I can’t go see the doctor because the bill will be the same. Many Americans can’t even afford to help themselves be healthy, that’s crazy.
I feel like in response to the video and our responsibilities to the environment and ourselves are that it is hard to afford to do the right things. Until we can be paid better and have prices go down, buying eco-friendly bulbs is hard or buying organic. People who have to work 10-hour days can’t grow their own food. And on the other hand, if we eat like crap and buy regular bulbs, we end up paying for more later in life. So what makes more sense, cheap now more expensive later? Or a little more expensive now, and hopefully no problems in the future? I personally go with the theory: little more expensive now in hopes I won’t get health problems by eating more healthy and spend a little more and energy efficient bulbs to create a less expensive electricity bill every month.
I think educating people about what makes more sense budget-wise is important because it is hard for some to think about the future when buying a cloth bag is 8 dollars as opposed of getting a plastic one for free now or paying 3 dollars for one bulb (as opposed you could get 4 regular bulbs for 1.50) now and having it last 9 years and lowers electricity bills. Or even just eating right to avoid health problems in the future from eating too many sugars and hydrogenated foods. I think it is our responsibility to help those even just around us about basic budgeting like this. Because just writing angry lettings to governmental people wont do anything. Action starts from one friend helping another friend not from one person to some other person who doesn’t even care what you have to say.
After watching 30 Days: Minimum Wage what stuck out most to me was just the vicious cycle many people get in, especially with healthcare. With the kind of physical work that is involved in most minimum wage jobs this are the people most likely to get injured on the job. Since they make so little they don’t have insurance. Preventive treatment is often not available to them. So they are forced to wait until it gets so bad that they have to go to the emergency room. Where after they are done and get their treatment they are left with a huge medical bill. Which when you are already living paycheck to pay check puts you really far back. Most likely they end up in debt and once in debt theirs very little chance of getting out. So they become even more of a slave to there minimum wage job that got them in that position to start with.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest things we could do to help these people out is by having free universal health care. I think the most important thing you can have is your health. Granted they would still be living paycheck to pay check but at least they wouldn’t be set back by medical bills. This along with better preventive care would possibly raise the standard of living for these people. I think what would really raise these peoples standard of living would be a dramatic increase in minimum wage. I also think that shortening the working hours per week would help these people clearly need a break. I also think having less hours at work would help bring families back together. The reason we have so many troubled youth is because their parents are always working, they don’t have quality time with their children. However, I think for any of these changes to happen the people in this lower class need to speak out. I don’t think they realize the power they have being that they are the majority and many depend on their labor. What would happen if the minimum wage workers stopped working?
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
Weekly Statement :: Tuesday October 13th, 2009
This past week we watched the 30 days episode about living on minimum wage. First off, I am “that guy” in the class that hasn’t been persuaded or really changed by any of the environmental talk or any of this “end of the world” discussion that has been brought up in class; it takes a lot to persuade me and to make me want to change something. Overall though, the 45 minute episode was the thing I’ve felt strongest towards during the entire class. It was the only thing I can actually, legitimately say was an eye-opener and made me want to do something. I know that recycling is a money hoarding semi-moral scheme, and that “going green” is just a quick buck trend, but the episode about people who work and slave hard all day for nothing just hit me more so than other things.
I am a firm believer that you can’t get anything you want, but you can get anything you’re willing to work for. After watching the 30 days episode, it really made me rethink that attitude and strategy. Morgan and his fiancé had to struggle like no other just to barely make it, and they hardly spent anything on entertainment or for themselves after working long hard days. I will admit that I have grown up with lots of privileges and that made me feel extremely guilty watching what they had to do.
All that being said, do I think there are ways to solve this? Yes, but I don’t believe that the government is best suited to do it, but that is an entirely different argument, in which I don’t wish to involve politics. The function and reality of it, is that they were acting out their part in the poor and lower class area of the spectrum. Am I acknowledging a class system? Yes, I notice patterns and they make sense to acknowledge. More so, that class is needed very much, the middle class and upper class could not stand or function at all without the lower class. They are important and it is important that we take better care of them, but getting there is a twisted road that many individuals must choose to help out with.
At the end of the video though, what put Morgan and his fiancé over the edge was the hospital bill, which was just too much for them to afford. Do I think that’s outrageous? Yes, but the suggestions in government to fix it right now with universal health care scare me too. Why do they scare me? Did you see in the video where they went to the free clinic, the clinic where everyone didn’t have to pay? Everyone and their brother was there, and loads of people couldn’t get cared for. It sucks to see, and yes this is America where this should be taken care of, but until I see better and more viable options, I will continue to feel sorry for them, but I won’t support universal health care.
All in all, I do support that idea that we as a country can do better to help out minimum wage workers and I put that at the top of my list when I give to charities and support groups. At the end of the day though, I realize that these realms of society are needed and necessary, as Utilitarian as that sounds, that’s just how life is.
One thing about this episode that bothered me is when he mentioned that we don't have health care in this country we have sick care. We don't offer help to people until after they've had their heart attack, or after they get diabetes, rather than take preventative measures. But really? Who, in a lifestyle living paycheck to paycheck, is going to go to the hospital to make sure they aren't going to have a heart attack in five years? The system we have is the working system for health care, because it is what people take responsibility for. When someone wakes up with pain shooting through their arm they go to the doctor and get it fixed. It would take too much time, effort, and money for citizens to go to the hospital to prevent something which they may not even need to be worried about. I think that we definitely need to make some changes in our system so people aren't just throwing their money away, but that change starts first with peoples desire to take care of their health before they get sick. And that will be extremely difficult to do.
ReplyDeleteA large part of human nature, is that for the most part, we're really lazy. We want to get the most by doing the least. (That's one reason communism failed- it went against human nature!) We want to save the planet, but if we have to actually go out and DO something... it doesn't seem as important anymore does it? We want to have great health care, but if we have to actually take on some of that responsibility, we decide our tax dollars could be better put to use elsewhere.
We need to practically force ourselves to do the right thing, by making it the only option we have left. And unfortunately, at the rate we're going that may just happen.
Marian Perez
ReplyDeleteADP III
10/9/09
This week’s discussion was a good change from the norm and helped connect this class to more aspects besides the ones we have discussed in class, such as food and the readings. The episode “30 Days: Living on Minimum Wage” really connected human life with the bare necessities that are needed to survive. It tend to blame or complain about the U.S. government for not helping people more, but I thought it made a good point about living at a bare minim. Its point is something that goes just as unnoticed as our environment, both affecting the way people live their life.
Something I disagreed with from the episode was how the United State’s government should help people struggling to survive more than they already are. There are a lot of people around the world struggling a lot more to survive everyday then those living on minimum wage, the U.S. government is already helping a lot compared to other countries that have harsher famine. There is Africa, Mexico, and the Middle East where people are living is worse situations and can’t get help, suffering so much more. Our government has a lot of human services programs that give families food stamps, necessities to single or young mothers, or help cover day care and health care expenses. Our taxes goes to these types of programs that help people in need and some even criticize our country for spoiling the needy by allowing some to take advantage of the programs. The United States at least offers free clinics; there are so many other countries in greater need of services like ours to help their citizens.
As for Morgan Spurlock and especially his fiancé, they complained a lot. It was no surprise his fiancé got sick first and so quickly. It is expensive to be vegan or whatever eating habits she had, lowering her immune system, and thus why she was so much unhappier than Morgan. That just goes to show that living at a minimum with what the environment has to offer is what you get and that you can’t be so picky in dire situations. People starving in other countries because of wars or destroyed ecosystems don’t get a choice of what diets or eating habits they get to follow, they barley get the opportunity to find food. The way Morgan freaked out about his wrist when he just started to work was not necessary and he insisted way too much on going to the hospital. People in the past have gotten hurt so much more severely on the job, such as losing a limb, and it was an accepted thing that people just put up with in the past.
Morgan and his girlfriend conveyed well to our nation that working and at minimum wage is difficult, even in one of the richest countries in the world. I just wish they applied that to the whole world more and shed light on how other people must feel in much worse situations. It opens the eyes of ordinary people who go about their daily lives selfishly and unappreciative of the things they have. Often times society looks down at people who make minimum wage or claim that they are all school drop outs. This episode proved otherwise and that people who ride buses or work at minimum wage are not slackers, but instead are one of the hardest working individuals in the country.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
James Rotz
I found this documentary very relatable. Growing up in a family of four kids, with a single mother trying to raise us all on a low income, I know too well the struggles of trying to make it by in America with little money. Although we never had it as rough as most of the people shown in the documentary, I am still able to understand the frustration of the healthcare system and the uncertainty that comes with a minimum wage lifestyle. It is scary to think that you don’t know how long you’re going to be able to stay in your house, or if you’re going to be able to eat dinner that night, or if you will be able to get healthcare if you become sick or injured. These are all aspects of life that many of us have never experienced. We have become so comfortable with the privileged lives we have been given that we do not see or understand the struggles so many Americans go through everyday. I always hate it when people scold the Federal welfare system. They say that people simply take advantage of it-do not even attempt to get a job and mooch of the state as long as they can. This may be true for some, but for a lot of people, welfare is a true necessity. They are barely getting by, working 13-hour days. Yes, there are people in other parts of the world that are far worse off than we are, but the demographic that Morgan is representing is a huge part of America. I think it is important to be aware of the suffering of other countries, but we need to be well informed of the struggles of our people as well. When it comes to these people, the environment is the least of their worries. When food alone is difficult to come by, thinking and buying green just is not an option. This serves to make our responsibility towards the environment more important. Those of us who have the ability to affect our environment should take full advantage because we are the voices for those who can’t afford to have one. Speaking of environment, one thing I picked up from the documentary was the environment these people were forced to live in. It really makes me appreciate my home so much more. If I was struggling that hard to afford an apartment that yucky, I would hate my life so much.
Leopold’s final section of his book was much more the typical conversationalist book that I was initially expecting. The end of the book was really a calling to the public or I guess the reader, to go back to the basics and live simply and conserve land. He starts talking about conservation, and the only issue I have with this section was the issue of outdoor recreation. I would argue that now the recreation industry, although still very important, is much less thriving that it was when the book was written. I think that at that point outdoor recreation was more important and exploited by companies. Today instead of going to a lake or ocean people would prefer to swim in a pool or an indoor water park. I do agree how the birth of the rifle and hunting industry changed our perspective of conservation and necessity with hunting. But also our mentality as a whole culture has changed. We now are a culture that’s really aware and interested in consumption. Also wilderness conservation at this point is impossible to improve. Urban sprawl and population has already spread and caused extinction and loss of biodiversity and soil erosion and many other problems. There isn’t enough land that’s even being conserved now to really make a difference. Although there are small areas of land set aside for conservation of land and wildlife, it’s not enough. Leopold understands this. He concludes talking about how without a love and understanding of the wilderness, one will not have the desire or interest or ability to conserve it.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated learning about the Lorax and how on the west cost in logging towns they banned the book and rewrote one. Its so interesting seeing how kids are conditioned to believe and think things industry wants them to.
The thirty days documentary was really eye opening. I’ve never been exposed to the struggles of living on minimum wage. It’s really important because we’ve been talking about the cost of keeping food costs low. Clearly it’s an issue we need to address, our minimum wage is too low to support a lifestyle in modern America, because of this we need to keep mass producing food and goods as well as use government subsidies to keep costs low. This trade off hurts the environment and farmers.
Trisha Previte
ReplyDeleteADP III: James Rotz
I would be lying if I said 30 Days: Minimum Wage was not shocking to me. Stunning and completely eye-opening, this video quite clearly captured my attention, and in an entertaining and interesting way, to say the least. Before I even begin discussing the topic at hand I just have to commend the impressive power of this video. When raising awareness of issues of social justice, finding a balance between informative and entertaining, a balance that actually stimulates an emotional response or connection from the audience, is an extremely difficult task, if not the most difficult. This video somehow managed to do that for me.
That being said, clearly, drastic changes need to happen in America; however, there is so much to address and improve, that I think each specific problem on its own becomes lost in the chaos. The situation resembles a massive, intimidating tangle of yarn, so many different colors knotted among an unsettling entanglement of chaos. Someone needs to delve in and get to work one knot at a time or else the knots will grow in size and number, but how do we choose which problem to untangle first? Personally, I will dare to go against the current plead for universal health care and state that a living wage needs to be established first. Sad as it is, money does matter, even and especially in this country of hope and wealth. Without it, people cannot obtain food, shelter, or clothing in 21st century America. Living off of people’s charity on the streets is not a viable or safe option for United States citizens. Americans deserve better than that. Sad is the fact that America is always so engrossed in the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, so much so that they often forget or dismiss those who cannot do that. We pride ourselves on the idea that we have no class or rank because anyone can achieve any social status that they so desire. After watching this video, however, it is clear that this is untrue. For some, solid financial footing and a white picket fence can never be realized, not when the need for basic food, shelter, clothing and health care cost more than double your income. Enacting a living wage might actually make this so-called American Dream possible, at least in an ideal world. Personally, I doubt employees would be happy about such a law. In fact, this may even contribute to high unemployment rates for American citizens. Why? Well here I cannot help but bring up, as one explanation, the immigrants living in this country, making less than minimum wage because technically they are not citizens here. I doubt whether those who employ them even consider them citizens of the human race, a miserable attitude that raises all sorts of questions about human rights, borders and the debatable human claim to land demarcation. Let’s slow this down a bit though. The high concentration of illegal immigrants in this country attests to two issues: that one, even the horrendous minimum wage conditions, as so horribly illustrated in the 30 Days video, is better than the life these immigrants left behind, and two, if companies presently opt to hire immigrants to save a dollar, what will happen if a living wage is established? Certainly these corporations will not be happy, but will they protest? Those who employ illegal immigrants may not even bother, and if they do, it may only be a façade to shield themselves from facility investigations. Certainly more employer fraud and employee mistreatment would ensue, not to mention a possible lay-off of those employees that hurting companies may no longer be able to afford. These, among so many others, are just a few of the questions raised by a single knot in the tangle that is America’s current social and economic structure. Really, what I am left wondering is, who could possible unravel a knot like that?
Amber Harrison
ReplyDeleteADP III
10/12/2009
I could relate to the struggles that minimum wage, and middle-class America deal with in this documentary. I grew up in a household where both parents had full time above minimum wage jobs, yet even as an only child there were times, at a young age I was very aware of our hardships. When I was nine years old I remember there was a time period that all we could afford for dinner were hot dogs, without buns. My family was normally really into cooking and we would have delicious meals, but we had run into a standstill financially. We had become that whole idea posed in the film of living paycheck to paycheck, and when one of my parents had fallen ill it took a toll. We were more fortunate then most to be able to bounce back quickly, but the memory of the uncertain future that those hot dogs represented remain in the back of my mind.
Morgan and his girlfriend showed that when Americans are living at minimum wage they don’t have the choice to make healthier, or even safer eating habits. In class we learned about organic foods, and the shadowing affects of imported foods, but for Morgan during his time of minimum wage all the information in the world about cod from the Pacific vs. the Atlantic wouldn’t make a difference. The two of them barely had the choice of eating; let alone becoming socially and politically conscious of their purchases. It is interesting though with Wal-Mart being brought up in class being a green company. This business is known for their affordable deals and then they go and start a green campaign with "green" light bulbs. I think in this case people on a budget actually have access to changing their environment in an easy way. But, then the question is posed when someone is on a strict budget, even at Wal-mart prices, should they purchase what society says is good, or do they buy dinner? During the time of the hot dogs as much as it was unhealthy and unappetizing, I was grateful that it was affordable, and that is what budgeting and survival is all about. In America we are a consumer culture and we tend to think the more we have the happier we are, but when you have what you need after struggling for it is very satisfying. However, I do believe that healthy food should be available at the very least for children in this country. The idea that any growing child should be stunted because of money is ridiculous.
As difficult as it was for Morgan and his girlfriend to live on minimum wage, they still had jobs, food, and a roof. Sure, it was very far from ideal the living conditions that they possessed, but they were taken care of. We have seen in class how in other countries whole families only live on a few dollars a day and so while minimum wage is a hard reality, it’s not the worst one. The government has raised minimum wage since that documentary, so that is the good news. It was also nice to see the charities that Morgan found who gave to the poor living necessities.
Spurlock’s intentions with 30 Days are noble, but I have conflicting feelings towards it because, while I find the show to be interesting and eye-opening, it is also unrealistic. I’ve seen several different episodes and they all leave me feeling the same way: the people who participate in the social experiment of sorts, learn valuable lessons about the lives of those different from their own, but ultimately continue to live as they always have. I don’t think 30 days is enough time to truly change ones perspective, and 45 minutes isn’t enough time to really introduce the full spectrum of an experience for the viewer. That being said, it does allow for an important introduction to various lifestyles that can in turn fuel further research and exploration.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in our country, a college degree really doesn’t provide the job security it once did. Our current economic state requires that people are more flexible and creative in finding work but there is a growing discrepancy between payment amounts between different occupations. My dad has his PhD. and after he lost his job in 2001, he worked as a men’s shoe salesman in a department for a period of time until he could find other work. He never expected that, but I feel that our generation should be prepared to work in many different fields.
Frankly, I think its ridiculous that the minimum wage is still hovering around seven dollars an hour. Its nearly impossible to survive with that kind of income much less enjoy life. I was appalled by the cost of the two very simple, routine hospital procedures Spurlock and his wife were charged for. Although, I do think that Spurlock and his wife had more medical emergencies than most people do in the average 30 day time span, their trips to the hospital provided very relevant information about our healthcare system.
When it is a struggle to meet the basic needs of human survival, there just isn’t time or energy for a more “green” lifestyle unless it is more convenient and more efficient and it rarely is. Not yet at least. Detroit has an awful recycling system and people end up throwing away bottles even when Michigan has a return deposit. That simple act of throwing away a pop can, hurts our environment and wallets.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteADP III
James Rotz
This documentary was pretty hard to watch. I have been in situations where my family has had very little money, but never to the extreme of trying to live on minimum wage. It reminds me of how Joe talked about happiness corresponding with annual income up to $10,000. In the documentary, there were times when they were happy and really learned to enjoy the simple things, but a lot of the time they were aggravated or depressed because of their work schedules, money problems, or sickness. It seems like the fact that they had bills to pay, and not enough money to pay them magnified all of their problems.
Another thing I noticed, especially in the picture on this post, is that there is no nature in these poor areas. No trees, no shrubs, and not even any grass. I think this may also be contributing to unhappiness. I know personally that nature is a huge part of my life and I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t at least see a tree from my window. Nature has become a luxury for those with little money. They are denied the lush lawns and beautiful trees and parks that we all take for granted.
As far as their diet goes, it definitely isn’t environmentally friendly or healthy to eat high sugar processed food in double packaging. I’m surprised that there aren’t usually grocery stores in poor areas. The kind of junk you buy from convenience stores is usually not as cheap as it would be to buy food from the grocery store and way less healthy. I think it is incredibly unfair to take away the freedom of healthy eating from people who have no way of getting to a grocery store. Not to mention the environmental effects that come from thousands of people in a community only eating processed food that comes from God knows where. I doubt Twinkie suppliers use organic practices.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteADP 3/ James Rotz
30 days response
For thirty days, Morgan Spurlock gave an extensive investigation into the life of someone living on minimum wage. He and his fiancée not only experienced living in general squalor but still have to find flexibility in their lives when faced with unexpected hardships. For them a trip to the hospital meant paying out of their own pocket, with money they had not earned yet. Getting a visit from their niece and nephew was supposed to emulate having children. It only sparked money issues and fighting. Any bad luck they encountered put them farther in debt.
Planning for the future is a hard thing to do when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. When they had to go to the hospital we saw that they couldn’t even plan for emergencies. Any clinic is full of hidden costs. I have seen this myself, having spent time going through hospital tests in the past. When you get a bill back for an XRAY or MRI it hurts the wallet, no matter if you have the best insurance in the world. Now my knowledge of public health care is rocky, learned mostly from a rocky Canadian but it is my understanding that a lot of our health care money goes to the politics of it all. From what he told me his waits in hospitals are drastically shorter, and he is able to get into lab tests in a fraction of the time it would take me here in the states. Since it is obvious our current health care system is not working now, we need to push towards greater reform. Ideas should not be scoffed at, instead they should be considered as plausible.