30 Days of Minimum Wage

Our G&T class recently finished watching Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days: Living on Minimum Wage. It was when Morgan and his fiance Alex spent 30 days living on minimum wage. They locked up all their cards and money, and started off with a week's worth of minimum wage savings ($5.15/hr), which was around $130-150 each. After that, they moved to Ohio because Ohio has 4 out of the 25 poorest U.S. cities within their state.
I think that something that surprised me the most was the hospital bills, and the minimum wage itself. Both Morgan and Alex had to go to the Emergency Room in the same day. For Morgan, just walking into the hospital was over $500..... And an ACE bandage was $40! How crazy is that. Think about how scary those numbers could get for people in poverty living without medical insurance (which is most people in poverty) For Alex, walking into the hospital had been over $100 and her prescribed medicine was over $20. That was something that really surprised me. Why is there any need for the walking in fee to be $500+!?!? Also, the minimum wage surprised me because it hasn't changed in over 7 years. The minimum wage has stayed at around $7, and there are some states that either have no minimum wage law, or have a minimum wage of less than $7.
I think that this was in some way a realistic view of living life on minimum wage. They had to live in an apartment that was in horrible condition because it was the cheapest one, they had rice and beans for most of their meals, they had to go to the free store to get free furniture and supplies, they couldn't get into the free clinic because they couldn't miss work, Morgan worked 2 jobs, they both got injured and had to pay off medical bills.. Even though some people go through much worse, this was still a realistic portrayal of what some people have to go through everyday.
Viewing this episode, I learned a lot about the minimum wage and the conditions of people living in poverty and on minimum wage. I didn't think it would be so bad, to be honest. I didn't think that people would have to work so long for just $50, and I realized that it's much worse for people with children. During this show, I was thinking about how bad it would have been for my family and me if we were living on minimum wage. It was saddening because it showed small parts of parents and children that were living on minimum wage, and single mothers struggling to provide for their children. It was saddening to see all of this going on in a country that actually has some very rich people and areas. People living like this get ignored everyday, and it's sad. There are free stores that they can go to. Free stores that people donate too, even when they themselves don't have much. In the store, Alex was tearing up saying something like, "I forgot that there actually are kind people like this." And it was sad, because so many people can be helping, yet they don't do anything to try to help these people in need.