this has nothing to do with babies etc but was just curious

[rccresswell]

Ok I watch Judge Judy like everyday lol.  I was just wandering if 18 dollars an hour over there is considered a great income?????  Sometimes you see people that earn like 12 dollars an hour - is this normal?????  or are all the people that go on Judge Judy in the low income bracket?????

I know it has nothing to do with babies etc but I know a lot of you are in America and thought you might have a little insight.

[SunWorshiper_26]

Sorry I don't know why my phone wrote IRS lol.

The finances over here were hit HARD so many people were out of work, the housing market crashed our home dropped $40,000 in value even after we made improvements!  Lots of foreclosers and it's much more difficult to get a home loan now too. Our ecemics are still in bad shape here in the US and it will take a while for us to recover (us being the U.S.). We have poor spending habits as a nation and we are up to our eye balls in debt we owe so much money to so many other countries it's ridiculous!  

[rccresswell]

ok so it is pretty much where you live.  Did the global financial crisis hit you hard there???  House prices here are quite stable so there hasn't been much of a down turn.  What does IRS mean????  Our house is very small also.  Our kids bedrooms are so tiny but then we have two lounges.  I would much prefer bigger bedrooms then a little lounge lol.  I think if we went about an hour and a half from the city we would get a house for about 240000 although with my hubbys income and 3 kiddies we would be lucky if we could borrow 100000 now!!!!!

[SunWorshiper_26]

We have a 3 bed 2.5 bathroom, 2 car attached garage and backyard but it's small and IRS $230,000 but usually it's $250,000 my parents have a 3 bed 2.5 bath 1 car detached garage and there house is $750,000 they live 40 min south of me. It really depends upon where you live. They live just outside of Chicago.  My friend who lives in San Diego is a medical dr and cannot afford a house bc they are all so expensive you are looking at 1 mil for a decent house!! :O

[rccresswell]

Oh Wow!!!!  That is very affordable!!!  I guess house prices here are expensive.  If you want to live in the worse places you are still looking at paying 270000 plus.  It is amazing what you can get there.  I don't quite understand sq ft but I am guessing they are big houses if they have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths etc

[trying43]

We have a modular home we bought in 07. Its 2000 sq ft 4 bdrm 2 bath and it was $115000.  But houses in our area have always been affordable.

[Majikat]

we got a house built 2 years ago and it was 240 its 1510 sq feet
that will always depend on where you are living prices are different everywhere... even where my frind lives you can buy a decent size small house for under 100 thousand its crazy

[rccresswell]

I also wanted to know about house prices.  I would watch this show about people buying houses and the house you got for the money you spent was amazing.  The houses there are huge!!!!!!  We have a tiny 3 bedroom house with a single garage in a nice suburb about 20 kilometres (30 minutes) from the cbd.  We paid 300,000 for it almost 3 years ago.  House prices here seem to be a lot more expensive for the size you get over tyhere.  Did the gfc really hit the house market in the US and is it back on the up

[rccresswell]

ok thanks for that.  The min age here for an adult is 15 dollars an hour.  Sometimes when I watch it I think how on earth do you survive.  Do you get family assistance or government help over there when you have children to help those on low/middle incomes??? - like a weekly or fortnightly payment????

[SunWorshiper_26]

The people on that show are usually low income. I used to babysit for $15 an hour. My husband makes approx $1,000 per week on a 36 hour work week I think the average income in the US in 2011 is $40,000. Min wage is $7.25 per hour but most people mKe more than that unless they have no education. When I finish my PhD I'll prob be salaried at $120,000 my first year but I'll also be in debt that much for my education. I think what it boils down to is where you live. Some towns have a high average income while others are very low.

[Majikat]

I live in Ontario and i think that un educated people would be very happy with 18 an hour... minimum wage here is only 10 dollars and there are a lot of people living off of that income its crazy to think about!!!!!