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Here’s a paycheck for a McDonald’s worker. And here's my jaw dropping to the floor.

So we've all heard the numbers, but what does that mean in reality? Here's one year's wages — yes, *full-time* wages. Woo.

Making a little over 10,000 for a yearly salary.

I've written tons of things about minimum wage, backed up by fact-checkers and economists and scholarly studies. All of them point to raising the minimum wage as a solution to lifting people out of poverty and getting folks off of public assistance. It's slowly happening, and there's much more to be done.

But when it comes right down to it, where the rubber meets the road is what it means for everyday workers who have to live with those wages. I honestly don't know how they do it.


Ask yourself: Could I live on this small of a full-time paycheck? I know what my answer is.

(And note that the minimum wage in many parts of the county is STILL $7.25, so it would be even less than this).

paychecks, McDonalds, corporate power, broken system

One year of work at McDonalds grossed this worker $13,811.18.

assets.rebelmouse.io

The YouTube channel Just Frugal Me discussed the viral paycheck and noted there's absolutely nothing wrong with working at McDonald's. More than 2 million people in the U.S. alone work for the fast food giant. The worker's paycheck shows they put in 72 hours over the pay period making $8.75 per hour. Before taxes, that's $631 for the week. Just Frugal Me's breakdown is even more eye opening, breaking down this person's pay after taxes and weighed across average rent and utility costs. Spoiler Alert: the total costs for basic necessities far outweighs what this person is making even while working 12 hours per day. But they do make too much to qualify for Medicaid, meaning they will have to go out and buy their own health insurance.

Even in states like California, where the state's $20 minimum wage ensures that people earn nearly three times as much as the federal minimum wage, which remains as low as when this paycheck first made the rounds nearly 10 years ago.

Still, even for a worker that maxed out at 40 hours per week and took zero vacation or sick time, that's only a little over $41,000 per year. That's barely half the median wage in the state of $78,000 and far below a sustainable living wage in cities like Los Angeles.


This story originally appeared on 02.26.15. It has been updated to reflect new information.

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The airplane graveyard that 3 families call home is the subject of a stunning photo series.

From the skies to the ground, these airplanes continue to serve a purpose.

This article originally appeared on 09.18.15


What happens to airplanes after they're no longer fit to roam the skies?


Decommissioned planes are often stripped and sold for parts, with the remains finding a new home in what is sometimes referred to as an "airplane boneyard" or "graveyard." Around the world, these graveyards exist; they're made up of large, empty lots and tons of scrap metal.


Photojournalist Taylor Weidman recently stopped by a graveyard in Bangkok, Thailand.

In the city's Ramkhamhaeng neighborhood sits a lot peppered with parts from jets and commercial liners. What's most interesting, however, aren't the planes, but rather the people who live among the wreckage.

Life in the graveyard is about as bare-bones as it gets.

The three families living in the lot seem to get by with little more than the shelter created by the hull of a 747, mats, and makeshift curtains. For money, several collect recycling, and as the International Business Times reports, "they occasionally supplement their income by charging tourists and photographers 100 Baht (about £1.80 or $2.77) to look around their homes."

Weidman's photos shine a light on the luxuries we so often take for granted in life; namely, the ability to travel.

Seeing vehicles once used to jet people around the world for business, pleasure, and everything in between used in a much more fundamental way — as the basic shelters needed for survival — is its own form of forced perspective. It also highlights the creativity of those living in the lot; being able to transform airplanes into places to call home is no small feat.

Most of all, Weidman's photos tell a story about the importance of empathy.

The families in the Ramkhamhaeng lot are human, just like you and me. Like all of us, they're doing their best to survive.

This stunning collection of photos brings just a brief glimpse of what it's like to step into their shoes; something we should all strive to do more often.





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Things a black kid is often taught not to do that his white friends can are heartbreaking.

This is what it's like to be raised as a black child. "The talk" is slightly different than most people get.

Clint Smith, an amazing educator and writer, spoke at TED's annual conference about what it's like to be raised as a black child.

He shared "the talk" that black kids all across America hear from their parents:


All GIFs via TED2015.

As a white kid, growing up, I never got a talk like this from my parents. No one ever told me I couldn't pretend to shoot guns. No one ever told me to be extra careful around the police. I was able to just be a kid.

For Clint and for other kids like him, "just being a kid" isn't that easy. This kind of warning isn't an overreaction from overprotective parents.

"With the average age overestimation for black boys exceeding four-and-a-half years, in some cases, black children may be viewed as adults when they are just 13 years old."

A 2014 study found that black boys are perceived as older and more threatening than they really are.

There's actual science indicating that black boys as young as 10 are perceived to be 4.5 years older than they are.

As co-author of the study Dr. Phillip Goff stated, "Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent."

Co-author Dr. Matthew Jackson added, “With the average age overestimation for black boys exceeding four-and-a-half years, in some cases, black children may be viewed as adults when they are just 13 years old."

This suspicion of black children doesn't end when they grow up.

I spoke with Clint over email and asked him for examples of things that kids like me grew up taking for granted that he couldn't, and how that translated into adulthood.

"I can only speak for myself," he told me, "but just within the past week: I've been followed around in a store in the very neighborhood where I live, it's been implied to me that I only got into graduate school because of affirmative action, and I've been passed by taxi cab after taxi cab just trying to get home from work."

"It's the small things, the sort of daily reality of being made constantly aware of your otherness, that exacts trauma and exhaustion on people of color on an ongoing basis," he said.

People with "black-sounding" names are 50% less likely to be called into job interviews.

A University of Chicago study found that having a "black-sounding" name meant a person received 50% fewer calls to be interviewed — with the exact same résumé.

They concluded that having a white name looks like the equivalent of about eight more years of experience to a prospective employer.

"It's the small things, the sort of daily reality of being made constantly aware of your otherness, that exacts trauma and exhaustion on people of color on an ongoing basis."

And black people are far more at risk for being pulled over and/or arrested.

In Boston, black people made up 63.3% of police stops while being only 24.4% of the population. And here's the kicker: 97% of the stops didn't involve a seizure or arrest.

According to a recent piece over at Slate (emphasis mine), "if you compare the murder rate among police officers with the murder rate in several American cities, you find that it is far safer to be a NYPD officer than an average black man in Baltimore or St. Louis."

With numbers like that — and believe me, there are a ton more — black parents have to have a talk with their kids that the rest of us don't.

But Clint refuses to accept that the way things are is the way things need to stay.

There's an easy way to help move this conversation in a productive direction: by talking about it. By letting people know that bias is real and we have to be aware of it if we're gonna fix it.

Making the world safe and just for everyone involves getting stories like Clint's out there. The more that others realize the injustices, pain, and unique lived experiences of those around them, the more equipped we all are to address them.

Imagine a world where black parents don't have to give that talk to their kids.

That's the world I want to live in. How about you?


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This adorable cartoon explains privilege in the most nonconfrontational way possible

We can learn a lot from a snail and a caterpillar. We might even make the world a cooler place while we're at it.

Image pulled from YouTube video.

An animated cartoon offers some perspective on the subject of privilege.

I have no idea what it's like to be a snail. Or a caterpillar. Or *you*.

And you have no idea what it's like to be me.

Funny how that works, huh?



Do you have struggles?

I definitely do. We all do, in one way or another. Big, petty, annoying, unfair — the struggles in life *are* real.

You could be:

gay

transgender

living with a disability

a different religion

a different race

wealthy

not wealthy

a snail (?)

[insert fact about your life here]

The bottom line: You are you. Not someone else.

It can be hard to see a different perspective or understand what someone else's life is like because you walk in your shoes — not theirs. And because of that, it makes it that much easier to assume you know what's going on with them.

But if you take time to listen and learn...

And imagine what it's like to be in their position...

It'll help you understand your privilege, and it'll show others some serious respect. I'm working on it myself, and I'm pretty sure if we all try it, we'll be way more accepting and the best humans we can be.

What's not to like about that?

Watch the video linked just below: