magictoy

I think that a few statements, plus a not insignificant amount of time spent looking through archives, may have backed up my point. (Which, in case anyone has forgotten, is that people who work hard almost never stay in minimum wage jobs).

Judging by what you say about your present income, it would seem to have been a good deal. If I remember correctly, you own your house and car. Your statements have also led me to believe that your educational loans are paid off. According to your profile, you're 25. Not bad, I'd say. If your response is, "I worked my ass off," my answer would be, "That's the idea." If you are saying minimum wage should be higher so you would be in your current financial state of affairs BEFORE age 25, I'd say you were being a bit greedy.

However, your espousal of a minimum wage hike (and your interest in my personal life) encouraged me to learn how to search the archive, with the following results.

1. Although you describe yourself as a "low-income" teenager, you attended martial arts school(s) from age 4 to sometime past age 16. Martial arts are not cheap, and those payments didn't go into your college fund. You also weren't earning income while you were taking those classes.

I conclude that you made a conscious choice to study martial arts, even if it meant you had to borrow a "crapload" of money later. I don't fault that decision, but I don't accept "whining" (your word) about your lack of funds at the time, either.

"A few years back." You were 24 when you wrote that. Most people use the term "a few" to mean 3 or more. So if you were age 21 at that writing, which just about HAS to be when you were in college, the state of your finances, once again, was not as dire as it could have been.

Maybe, but if someone with a "severe heart condition" could be a 5th degree black belt, AND drive race cars, AND own his house and car, AND have his education paid for (you said you DID, past tense, have student loans) by age 25, well, this is a great country and we shouldn't fool around with it.

I don't understand this statement. What I was referring to is the GI bill, by which so many military veterans have obtained higher education.

The subject is minimum wage, not crappy jobs. I believe that anyone who has spent 5 or so years working at minimum wage isn't trying hard enough to improve their status.

Since you're so interested, I'll give you the full story. At the time I wrote that I was "with my parents," I was. In 2003, my sister and I were moving them to a house near us, because they were no longer able to manage all of their affairs. My mother had fallen for the workman appearing at the door to "do some repair work he'd noticed they needed." My parents fell for that--twice.

We got them moved near us. Two months ago, my mother died, and since she was the one who kept an eye on my father, who has Alzheimer's, I, my sister, her two kids, and my two kids are supervising my father in shifts.

Are there any more questions about me or my parents?