Agenda Mon 5/7 & Tues 5/8 AND Wed 5/9 & Thurs 5/10 Stock Project Winners! QOD #34: Your lifestyle Minimum Wage Overview 30 Days on Minimum Wage Credit & Debt Homework: ◦ Cost of Living Project DUE: Tues 5/15 & Wed 5/16

QOD #34: Your lifestyle Based on your current lifestyle (vehicle access/use, housing, food, entertainment, utilities, etc.) what do you think it takes to sustain that monetarily? First, list out all your expenses and what you estimate the cost is per month. Second, determine what you would need to make to cover those costs each month (remember, taxes are about 1/3 of your total income). What would your hourly wage need to be to maintain your current lifestyle?

Origins of the Minimum Wage On January 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced his $5/day program for autoworkers at his factory. In this program, which Ford called "profit sharing," workers over the age of 22 who had been at Ford for at least 6 months would be guaranteed a minimum of $5 for an 8 hour work day. For many Ford workers, this policy more than doubled their pay and made them the highest paid workers in the industry. At the time, there were no minimum wage laws in the U.S. Other industrialists scoffed at Ford for raising production costs unnecessarily.

What Ford’s Policy Did The main purpose of Ford's policy was to reduce high turnover and the associated costs of having to constantly train new workers. One outcome often attributed to Ford's policy was the creation of the American ‘working’ middle class, because he was the first manufacturer of a "luxury" item to pay his workers enough to afford the product they built. In 1913 the Model T cost $550, it dropped to $440 in 1915 and by 1920’s the price had fallen to $300

A Federal Minimum Wage Federal minimum wage established in 1938 at 25¢ an hour. Federal minimum wage US Congress determines the minimum wage.minimum wage Some states set their own minimum wage.minimum wage  California, Massachusetts, Washington Some cities require that workers be paid a living wage  Santa Fe, New Mexico  San Francisco, California

30 Days on Minimum Wage Three Rules  Must work minimum wage jobs  They are allowed to start with one weeks worth of minimum wage - $206 or only $178 after taxes  They must freeze all bank accounts and credit cards Take notes on 30 Days Worksheet Answer the discussion questions after the film

CREDIT CARD DEBT “Credit cards, like loans, allow you to build up a credit history. This may help you with credit related activity such as getting a student loan, car loans, renting an apartment, or buying a house. Credit cards are also convenient since they provide a reduced need to carry cash or checks, and provide security in case of an emergency. However, credit cards are not for everyone, and if you have one you need to act responsibly. You need to be able to afford a credit card, and also need to try to pay off the balance each month. The over-use of credit cards has been a major reason why so many individuals have too much debt, and why bankruptcy rates are high.”too much debt

AMERICAN DEBT Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $793.1 billion, as of May 2011 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, July 2011)Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit U.S. consumer debt: $2.46 trillion, as of January 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010) Total U.S. consumer debt: $2.43 trillion, as of May 2011 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, July 2011) Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,799* * Average total debt in 2009 (including credit cards, mortgage, home equity, student loans and more) for U.S. households with credit card debt: $54,000. (That's down from $93,850 in 2008.)

Average total debt in 2009 (including credit cards, mortgage, home equity, student loans and more) for all U.S. households: $16,046. (That's down from $35,245 in 2008.) Total U.S. consumer debt (which includes credit card debt and noncredit-card debt but not mortgage debt) reached $2.45 trillion at the end of 2009, down sharply from $2.56 trillion at the end of (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report, March 2010) Total U.S. consumer revolving debt fell to $866 billion at the end of 2009, down from $958 billion at the end of About 98 percent of that debt was credit card debt. (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report, March 2010) AMERICAN DEBT

CREDIT CARD OFFERS U.S. consumer debt: $2.46 trillion, as of January 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve's G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010) “Consumers are bombarded with offers from credit card companies, offering various incentives and interest rate options. For those that fall into the credit trap, being in debt seems almost forever. Meanwhile, high interest charges and late payment fees eat up most of their available money. Many credit card holders do not even know how much they are paying in interest, and what impact it has on their overall financial well-being.”overall financial

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