She lives in Chicago. She pays 900 dollars for a small two bedroom apartment. 2 kids. One teen and one in jr high.
My cousin tells me all this. She makes 14 bucks an hour as manager. She wants to quit walmart because she claims the customer are mean to her. Trust me she is very lazy. She would rather go back to school and not work or back full time on the dole.
So, ~$28K in wages tax-free, net of the following year's tax refund, plus another ~$5K in-kind also tax-free. ~$33K tax-free is like getting $41.25K-$44K before taxes. IOW, net of EIC and in-kind bennies, she's making ~$20.60-$22.00 per hour.
$14/hr. isn't fancy, but a low-level shift or section manager can be promoted and get wage increases. IOW, she could rise to a point where she's doing pretty well. Customers treat her mean? Well, welcome to retail management! Does she also whine about the lazy employees she manages? She is paid to handle all that plus doing what it takes to keep the stuff customers want in stock and reasonably accessible. Managers don't sit in the back office drinking beer and doing teeny- and 20-something minimum wage stockers. Welcome to reality!
And US taxpayers are on the hook for a $90K college degree?
[Sarcasm] Just makes me so eager to haul my partially-caffeinated tail into work early this AM and maybe put in a couple of hours of OT!
[/Sarcasm]
