Making Rent

Yahoo! News - Report: U.S. Rentals Unaffordable to Poor

Fascinating story.

"For a two-bedroom rental alone, the typical worker must earn at least $15.37 an hour — nearly three times the federal minimum wage, the National Low Income Housing Coalition said in its annual "Out of Reach" report.

...one-quarter of the population earns less than $10 an hour

...The report quoted federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data that showed hourly wages rising about 2.6 percent over the past year, slower than the 2.9 percent rise in rents recorded in the Consumer Price Index.

...In only four of the nation's 3,066 counties could a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage afford a typical one-bedroom apartment, the coalition said. Three were in Illinois: Lawrence, Crawford and Wayne counties; the other was Washington County, Fla.

...no state's housing wage was lower than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, which has not changed since 1997."

However, the most intriguing comment from this article and one Democrats should pay attention tois the following:

"States with more residents in rural areas were generally the most affordable"


If Democrats are still scratching their heads about what to do with themselves, here are a couple of ideas.

1. Read the Newspaper.

2. Derail this talk about Social Security and if you really want to throw a wrench in the system start talking about Medicare and its woes.

3. Get the minimum wage up to speed with rent. Or at least so they wont have to work 3 jobs to make rent.

4. Make sure all those poor people you helped get to he polls in every election.

That ought to work out pretty well for you Democrats.