Ryan Singel

   Ryan Singel Tells The Truth 

     Contextly founder Ryan Singel, former writer for Wired Magazine and creator of Threat Level blog, a privacy and security site on the National Security Agency, shared his top tricks for breaking into journalism with students at his alma  mater City Collegeof San Francisco, the place where it all started 15 years ago.

Just do it. 

     His message was simple, just do it, jump in, follow your interest, stay open to process, and let your curiosity be a guide. More importantly develop an eye for what your readers would be interested in."Start to see stories everywhere"

Singel’s top ten tricks of the journalism trade:

1. Lean when not to nod.
2. Pretend to be really dumb and get all the pods of information. Find people who will show you the territory.  Loop back to those people when you know more. Learn more than you will use.
3. Pick up the phone and call. People like to talk. Don’t email. It is too easy to ignore.
4. Develop a reader’s eyes for what would be interesting. Start to see stories everywhere.
5. Trust the process to pick up what is necessary as you go along.
6. Think of every email, posting and memo as a postcard as an opportunity to build your reputation.
7. Check Twitter often. Follow other journalist on Twitter.
8.  Start making connections on Twitter, at meet ups and the Society of Professional Journalists. Find people who share your readers’ interests.
9.  Fully encrypt you hard drive. Remember your password.
10. Use your mailing list for developing a blog following. Share new posts.

What it Takes for Two Types of Families to Live Modestly in Florence, South Carolina

     For context to this post see Uncle Sam's Poverty Guidelines.

     Midwest cities like Kokomo, Ind. can be mighty cold in the winter. Warmer climes might be friendlier and more cost efficient. Let's see what Florence, South Carolina has to offer. Again, please use your own personal reference when considering this unscientific budget study for two types of families;

     Florence's median income is $41,738 with 19.9% of the population living at or below the poverty level between 2008 and 2012. Our hunch was right, it is cheaper to live in Florence according to our friends at the Economic Policy Institute.

      It will only take the family of four a little over 149 hours weekly to make sufficient income and the family of two a little over 111 hours at the minimum wage rate.

     The population of Florence is 137,948 in 2012. 26,900 people lived at or below the federally defined poverty level.

What it Takes for Two Types of Families to Live Modestly in Kokomo, Indiana

     For context to this post see Uncle Sam's Poverty Guidelines. 

     Maybe Modesto feels too upscale. The heartland of the Midwest may be a better choice. Kokomo, Indiana has median income of $37,300 and the poverty rate is 19.9% according the U.S. Census. Again, please use your own personal reference when considering this unscientific budget study for two types of families.

     It would take a little less than 167 hours for a family of four and a little over 116 hours for a family of two to produce sufficient income at the prevailing minimum wage rate.

     The population of Kokomo was 56,866 in 2012. 11,316 people lived at or below the federally defined poverty level.

What it Takes for Two Types of Families to Live Modestly in Modesto, California

      For context to this post see, Uncle Sam's Poverty Guidelines.

     The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington D.C., provides a regional calculator of what it would take to provide a modest standard of living anywhere in the country.  No other organization known at this time, liberal or conservative, provides a comparable regional calculator that offers an alternative viewpoint.

     Please use your own judgment and compare our budgets study of two types of families based on region. The first case profiles our same two families living instead in Modesto, California, According to the U.S. Commerce Department's United States Census the median income in Modesto is $49,205.

     Here is what the Economic Policy Institutes calculates for our two families. It would take a  family of four about 154 hours weekly to generate sufficient income at the minimum wage rate. It would take a family of two a little over 120 hours.

     The population of Modesto was 203,547 in 2012. 39,692 people lived at or below the federally defined poverty level.

Uncle Sam's Poverty Guidelines for Two Types of Familes

     The Department of Health and Human Services provides federal poverty guidelines for families of varying size.
 
      This blog study is an unscientific comparison for two families using the federal poverty guidelines. It helps us develop a baseline by demonstrating what a basic federal family budget could provide a family of four and a family of two at the threshold of poverty.

      It would take a family of four almost 57 hours a week at the minimum wage to produce this standard of living. It would take a single parent with one child a little over 37 hours week.

     Here is what the federal poverty guidelines would provide in a simple budget. How would this work for you in the same situation?

Minimum wage rates by state in 2014

     The U. S. Department of Labor provides this interactive map that depicts the minimum wage rates by state.

What do Jackie Speier, Neel Kashkari and Mark Leno have in common?

All walked a mile in the shoes of the working poor. Jackie Speier spent a night in a homeless shelter where she met a married couple both full-time workers. Neel Kashkari picked strawberries and Mark Leno got hungry on food stamps. 

Women and rent

Who are the minimum wage workers? Two out of three minimum wage workers are women.

Source the National Women's Law Center

Trailer for room or rent? Rooms cost on average 130 minimum wage hours per month in California.

Is $28.34 fair?

What if wages kept up with productivity or the Joneses?



Source the AFL-CIO



As for keeping up with the Joneses?

Source of the AFL-CIO

Why Do We Work So Hard?

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a nongovernmental organization in France that tracks quality of life issues of developed countries, came out with their 2013 Better Life Index. Spoiler alert, the U.S. did not rank well.

No sweat, GM's got the answer. What happened to working smarter not harder?

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   Courtesy Google images