Forum Post: Housing costs Rock Springs, Wyoming: $800/ month
Posted 12 years ago on March 22, 2012, 10:32 a.m. EST by aflockofdoofi
(-18)
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Your housing cost for a year would be $9600. A couple working full time at $9.00 an hour would earn $36000/ year. Thats about 25% of your expenses in housing costs, which is considered satisfactory.
That couple would have a decent amount of money left to enjoy life. And thats to own, not rent. Also, due to the oil industry, places like Rock Springs, Casper, Cheyenne are literally boom towns. Wages are rising faster than the cost og living.
An oil field worker in Wyoming earns at the bottom rung $23/hr. They get medical, dental, eye, life insurance, travel insurance, travel pay, relocation pay, paid time off, paid sick leave, high school diploma or equivalent.
Medical Insurance Employee & Anadarko Dental Insurance Employee & Anadarko Vision Insurance Employee Employee Assistance Program Anadarko Basic Life Insurance Anadarko Supplemental Life Insurance Employee Basic Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance Anadarko Supplemental Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance Employee Business Travel Accident Insurance Anadarko Paid Time Off Anadarko Extended Sick Leave Anadarko Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance Anadarko Flexible Spending Accounts Employee Retirement Plan Anadarko 401(k) Employee Savings Plan Employee & Anadarko Adoption Assistance Employee & Anadarko Educational Assistance Program Employee & Anadarko Survivor Financial Counseling Anadarko
There are hundreds of these type jobs available, now.
I don't think the people reading your post on here really want to go where the work is.
No kidding? My guess is there are actually people here that are trying to get the world around them to change to alow them to work at Starbucks for $25hour and live in a nice co op on Central Park West.
I often wonder if anyone who offers the 'move to where work is' solution has taken into consideration what the costs are involved in moving...
First there is the closing of accounts, elec, heat, phone etc, admittedly there are generally refunds of deposits for such things, however, those deposits are usually mailed at a later date.
Secondly, there is the cost of transportation. Since closing accounts usually entails spending funds to bring payment up to date, finances for moving would be reduced.
Next there is the issue of securing housing...motels get rather expensive and do not usually provide a physical address for such things as securing a picture ID for the new location.
Then there is the actual securing of employment. Some may be able to do so prior to making the move, previous experience in the industry, special skills etc.
Moving isn't as simple as some seem to think...it all starts with having enough funds to make the move and to secure a situation, then simply existing until the first pay day.
I've done it and know it's always more difficult in practice then what you anticipate. Moving isn't something you can do on a whim. It's an individual decision that should be made after some thought.
That said, if there is work to be had and it pays well, get on the computer and get started. Most of what you have to do can be done on line. You could even do it the old fashioned way and take a field trip. It's better then whining about no work or a minimum wage job.
A single person, with few responsibilities finds relocating a bit easier than one with a family to support both financially and emotionally.
While much of the 'ground work' can be done online, anyone who has moved, not just across town, but to another state knows that there are many things that have to be done in person...I know I would not rent or purchase a place to live if I could not physically inspect the premises.
The suggestion of a 'field trip' would possibly work fine for someone with adequate funds, yet many receiving unemployment benefits do not have that luxury...
I replied in another thread about witnessing the last 'migration' during the Reagan years...it wasn't good then and it's even worse now.
If one is considering a move to Rock Springs, WY, or even ND, I'd have to say, be prepared...It's March and even though this past winter has been mild, it and temps are above 0, snow storms are not uncommon, sudden drops in temp, low enough to endanger life are occurrences that are to be expected.
As JP stated, it's a individual decision for individual reasons and with that in mind we should not condemn those who choose not to take risks they are not prepared for.
I don't mean it to be a condemnation, it's a statement made in general terms, it's not meant to be directed at you personally. There are unemployed people in location A there are jobs in location B. It is also likely there are not enough jobs to satisfy the needs for all those unemployed. Saying that however is not offering a blank check to all the unemployed to sit and do nothing more then hope their old job comes back.
Risk is certainly involved, but there is risk in doing nothing too. It's up to each person to make the final decision. Few people want to leave the security of familiar surroundings for new ones. It might be a solution for the recent graduates with fewer things to move and student loans to pay. Any that do take advantage of the opportunity may ease the pressure on the over saturated job market where you are.
It may not be a solution for you personally, but I've known people that live out of their car for a month or two before feeling secure enough to send for their family. It just depends on each person's situation and what they are willing to do to find a solution.
I thought it was visible I was agreeing with you, apologies if it was not.
This is OWS personified. A complete disconnect from reality.Life and success are all about taking risk.If a person wants this so called " living wage" they need to take on challenges and risk. If your degree in poetry has you stuck in a dead end job, go back and get one in hard rock mining engineering or metallurgy.
What a bunch of cry babies.
I assume you are meaning my statements...
I'm one of the older participants on this forum and most of the things I point out are from personal experience.
I've moved when I was single, with only myself to be concerned about...that was adventure. I've moved after I married, just two of us adults, yet we had to consider that both would be seeking work. I've moved with children, which added demands on the criteria of my decisions.
Even a 'field trip' to secure work and housing placed demands on finances and personal issues. Two households to support, separation of the family unit, will work secured for one support the reunited household? What about schools, child care if both parties work, what about work for the second party?
Just the simple realities of moving farther than across town.
In many respects OWS owes a lot to the Situationists of 1968 whose main slogan was "Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible." If sleeping out in a park all night isn't taking a risk, I don't know what is. If challenging the authority of the police to defend the status quo isn't taking a risk, I don't know what is. If risking arrest and being arrested night after night isn't taking a risk, I don't know what is. If abandoning one's job and one's career to join the movement full time, which hundreds of activists have done, isn't taking a risk, I don't know what is.
No its foolish. Nothing is going to be changed by shitting in a public park. Your idea of a complete collapse will never happen.
You want change? Run for office.
Why run for office in the very institutions to which you stand opposed? For years I was predicting the collapse of the Berlin Wall and of the Soviet Union. Even six months before it happened people thought I was nuts to hold such a view, that the Cold War would be a permanent fixture not only of our own lives, but as far into the future as could possibly imagined, but I have met many young people involved in OWS for which the Cold War is not even a memory. The only thing definite in life is change and the only real question is, which side are you on? BTW I have been to many, many occupations and I have never seen a single instance of anyone shitting in the park, though given the frequent lack of port a potties, I have often felt on the verge of an accident myself.
First off, lots of people are very happy with America. Lots. We can argue about some fine tuning of our institutions, but only a crackpot thnks what John Adams and Thomas Jefferson created needs to be destroyed.
Seriously, you need some professional guidance. You are delusional.
It is true that lots of people are very happy with the state of things in the United States, but that does not include the base of activists in OWS and it is of them which we are speaking. It is they who see the institutions of American society as being responsible for the crises we are in so it makes no sense to expect them to seek leadership in the very institutions which they oppose and which they see as the source of the crisis.
Precisely what is delusional about that? I have been to several different occupations in several different localities and that is my perception of the dominant views of OWS activists. Do you have a different perception? In what sense are my perceptions delusional? From what profession should I seek guidance?
Hole digger a troll go figure..........
Reminds me of a song. ( by Stevie Nix ? Heartless ? yeah thats sounds right )
Huh.
Troll = aflockofdoofi
Anti America = aflockofdoofi
Supporter of greed crime corruption = aflockofdoofi
Everyone here is squawking about working at minimum wage, no benefits, and I show you an income 300% more, with absolutely comprehensive benefits, a far lower cost of living, and you worry about closing a bank account?
Bizarro world! I love it!
Excuse me? I made no mention of a bank account, but then I guess anyone who has not had utilities billed in their name would understand that the word accounts means more than just passbook savings.
But the alternative you suggest is dependency or making the world come to you. And, presumably, you'd advocate the use of government force to make just sitting there viable. See, properly functioning people would choose to move.
Odd how simple realities are turned into something they don't even resemble.
Odd how readily dependency and helplessness is rationalized.
Nothing rationalized, simple facts. When considering an action all consequences of said action should come into that consideration.
When considering living off of taxpayers, all alternatives should be explored first, not last.
It's quite clear that the term group think doesn't apply here, more like hive mind.
Nice not talking with you.
Group think refers to the OWSers. The type deletes opposing views and does that creepy talking in unison thing.
Living off of taxpayers is one's last option, not one's first. Radical. Pack your shit and move. If it still doesn't work out, then we'll talk.
My experience with OWS is that it is exactly the opposite of group think. As a matter of principle it does not believe that anyone can "represent" anyone else and that we can all only represent ourselves. I've had some of the most thoughtful political discussions of my life at Zuccotti and at other occupations. In no sense did I ever get the impression that anyone was parroting a "line."
As far as the mic check goes, I have found that repeating what someone says, especially when you don't agree with it, is a very good way of actively listening.
Yes, only represent yourselves, but then surround yourselves with the same point of view while claiming to represent everyone. Yeah, real open mindedness on display with that. LOL.
By no means are the people at occupations of the same point of view, though conservatives may thoughtlessly meld them all together. I have spoken to anarchists, socialists, liberals, progressives, right wing libertarians and even conservatives who stopped by occupations either to heckle or out of curiousity at several different occupations.
Well, that's good news then.
I myself stopped by Occupy London when that was going. I had very polite conversation with the people in person. Moonbats, it became clear, but good conversation.
I'll share a few quick anecdotes. One guy's tent had writing on it from his last camping protest: Climate Camp Edinburgh 2010. They had a healing tent. They had a teach-in tent where a guy had his economics down 80%, but was severely off for the rest of it. At Finsbury Square, they had posters up. One was against welfare cuts. Another was quoting Pres Kennedy's "ask not what your country can do for you..." I asked a media rep if he could reconcile the two, one advocating welfare and the other advocating not seeking welfare. I just got a stoner look back.
In my experience many of the people who were tented were themselves fairly marginal and only a step or two away from being part of the chronically homeless (though significantly younger than the chronically homeless), but that really doesn't account for the vast majority of occupiers, many of whom had full time jobs and came to an encampment before and after work or during week ends and who often had no tent, but went home to sleep or basically stayed up all night when they chose to come to an encampment.
Here's one I am sure you will like:
Ask not what you can do for your country - Ask WTF is it doing to you?
This has been a public service announcement.
Because.
The more you know.
Apparently you have a hard time recognizing Sarcasm.
That was the look - DOPE.
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You are completely correct the manufacturing world needs skilled labors that is what people should be going into
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Question is, is it better to camp out and live like rats protesting for OWS, hoping for changes that are never going to materialize, or make a bold move and start living life, a life that is short anyways.
Newsflash: Then don't make $9/hour. A normal person observes the situation you note and then takes action to avoid it through a process called MOTIVATION.
You should also realize that minimum wage earners solely supporting a household are the minority of minimum wage earners. The category includes many people like elderly just earning something extra, teenagers, or those simply providing supplement incomes to their households. Sorry to burst in with some reality.