lincolneconomics-blog

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a living-Sabrina Ren vickie lam

Sabrina Ren is an 18 year old. She’s Asian American who just recently graduated from Eastwood Academy high school in 2016. She graduated with a GPA 3.83, took a lot of AP/Honors class, and has Dual Enrollment.  She lives in Houston, tx and goes to school at University of Houston, majoring in Business. She had took over her Family shop after her family death from a car crash and turned it into a trending restaurant. How she makes a living wage is by her trending restaurant. She wakes up then heads to school. After school she go to her businesses and supervise her workers and do homework at the same time. When it's closing time she makes sure all lights are off and doors closed. Then she goes home then have a little her time then go sleep. She makes $150,000(12,000/month). She also pays for her student loans which is $385/month. Sabrina life seem likes she’s doing a good job and has a great life with the money she’s making

Sabrina’s living expenses monthly are $9,265  and yearly are $97,320. Her income is 150,000 so she has spent about 97,320 a year. So she makes 52,680 as a profit which is a lot. The typical expense for 1 adult is $22,985 which is according to living wage calculator, but for Sabrina expenses it's around 20,460 due to the reason that she house and car. Boba shops other than Tea Ren makes area 18,930 a year and Tea Ren makes 150,000 a year which is way than other Boba shops. Well she is able to save and make a lot of money. With the money i think she will save it for the future or make Tea Ren more modern and better for the customers.

Sabrina’s grandparent had immigrated to the US from China in 1965 where opportunities had opened for new immigrants. As her grandparents moved to the US they pick the state of Texa and the city of Houston. They opened a small business and made the same amount as the whites but sadly they were still considered foreigners. When the business got passed to her parents they still were considered unequal. But times had gotten better when Sabrina took over she had faced less racism, earned more money, and was considered equal. For institutional it’s Asians being treated unequally. Interpersonal, Asian to whites because white thinks they are better. Ideological, Asian not being equal and consider foreigners. Internalized is when whites think they're the only race making Asian think they don’t belong. Her family experience inequality and racism because throughout history her family was treated like they didn't belong even though they should have but as time passed she hasn't gotten any negative comments. Their income are different because she gets more than they did back then since people today earn more. Sabrina’s economic dream is to bring tea ren to all parts of the world and get married and have kids.

  Work cite:

Dr. Amy k. Glasmeier, Living Wage Calculator.MIT. edu.2017 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Color Of Weath. New york. New York press. 2006 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Perils Of Being Yellow: Asian Americans As Perpetual Foreigners

            Lenses Of Economic Inequality, Citizenship

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Lagile Saysuop

Lagile Saysuop by Larissa Braganza

       Our Character’s name is Lagile Saysuop. He is a 35 year-old Latino African-American male, who graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. He lives with his mother and is a landlord of their small house in

Salem, Oregon, their hometown. Lagile is a ex-professional tennis coach and works part time at works part time at Target and earns an annual income of $79,000 a year, but has to pay off his student loans of $3000. Every morning, he takes cares of his mother before going out to his tennis job which earns him $69,000 and the remaining at his other job.

       His living expenses for two adults (one working) in the house is $17.75 according to The Living Wage Calculator in Oregon. According to our own living wage for Lagile, he earns $26.38, which is $8.63 more than what he should be earning. His monthly income is $4,220.65 or $50,647.74 annually. According to the Living Wage Calculator, his annual income is $36,921 excluding annual income before and after taxes. This means that our character earns a dollar less before paying taxes. His cost of living is a bit more expensive compared to what my group has calculated.

       Even though Lagile is a Latino African-American, he gets a good salary compared to what others can earn in the real world. Connecting to the Colors of Wealth, African American families earned less than $0.17, but our character is able to earn $26.38 which is 155 times more than what an African American can earn back during that time.

  Cites Sourced:

  Glasmeier, Amy K. “Living Wage Calculator.” livingwage.mit.edu. 2017 Date Last Accessed; November 1st, 2017

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Lagile Saysuop

Our character is Lagile Sasyuop. (sounds like agile, L is silent) He’s a 35 year-old Latino African American male who graduated 10 years ago from the University of Oregon. He’s earned his bachelor’s degree, drives a Toyota Prius and lives with his mom in Salem, Oregon. He also is an Ex-professional tennis player and is now a coach. His favorite thing in life is collecting shoes. He probably has a specific place in his room for all of his shoes that he has. His income is $60,000/year being a professional tennis coach. During the day, he takes care of his mom and runs errands for her. In the afternoon, he coaches professional tennis players and helps them improve on their skills.

  Lagile’s annual living expenses are $50,647.74. Since he makes $60,000, he has about $10,000 left over for things that he may want or things that his mom may need. SInce they live in Oregon, there living expenses are lower than if they were to live in San Francisco. The difference of the costs would be huge between the two cities, so living in Oregon is better for them. Compared to others, Lagile’s income and only living with his mom is actually cheaper than almost every other group. They will definitely save a lot of money and will use it for things that they desire in life or they would just save it.

  Historical and institutional factors have affected Lagile in a major way. Since he is both Latino and African American, he had to work harder than others just because of the color of his skin. He struggled more than others in his life, but those struggles helped build his confidence and formed the person that he is today. It connects to the 4 I’s of Oppression because he has to work harder than someone who’s white just because of skin color. In the past, African Americans had to go through slavery and suffered every day of it. On the other hand, whites were the slave owners and acted superior over the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished, you can still see some type of superiority in everyday life. That belief of slavery a long time ago carried all the way to the present day and has shaped the people of the world. The reading of Latinos shows that Latinos are in the bottom 40% of income which is $0-$40,000 which is not that much every year. Also if you look at neighborhoods, African Americans and Latinos tend to be living in some of the most unsafe areas in each city. Maybe only a few would live in a much safer neighborhood, but majority live close to poverty.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Rickey He 1 Period

Bradley O. Baker’s Blog

  Our character is Bradley O. Baker, a young white male living in Harvey, Louisiana. He has a degree in nursing from Tulane University, Louisiana. His income is 57,000 yearly and he has a job in nursing. His day to day life consists of working at his nursing job and then either going out with friends or heading home. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, he is at the esteem level. He is doing fine with his life in a big city so he can have fun. He also is saving about half his yearly paycheck just for the living cost, so he does have money for leisure activities.

  The cost of the living wage around Harvey is around $11.26. His main expenses are paying for his rent and food. The typical expenses are around $23,000 yearly. He makes 57,000 so he does save more than half of his paycheck he gets yearly. As a registered nurse, the average income is 71,000 so he is making less than the average. He can spend that extra money on buying a house. HIs current address is an apartment and he can afford getting a bigger house. If not, he can spend it on traveling and leisure activities.

  The historical and institutional factors have benefited his life. Because of his race, he can get accepted in society easier then compared to others. He also would have an easier time getting a job, a loan and even getting accepted for his apartment. He has benefited from the four “I's of oppression by gain advantages compared to the others. He has an easier time applying for things like college and housing. He also doesn’t have student loan debt. His college tuition was paid by his parents. The reading does connect to him because he did end up on the good side and not fall into debt and other things. His income is also lower than the average nurse, but in his location he is still saving a great amount of money.

Sources

Glasmeier, Amy K. “ Living Wage Calculator.” livingwage.mit.edu 2017.

  Lu, Meizhu et. al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living- Sabrina Ren Vickie Lam

Sabrina Ren is an 18 year old. She’s Asian American who just recently graduated from Eastwood Academy high school in 2016. She graduated with a GPA 3.83, took a lot of AP/Honors class, and has Dual Enrollment.  She lives in Houston, tx and goes to school at University of Houston, majoring in Business. She had took over her Family shop after her family death from a car crash and turned it into a trending restaurant. How she makes a living wage is by her trending restaurant. She wakes up then heads to school. After school she go to her businesses and supervise her workers and do homework at the same time. When it's closing time she makes sure all lights are off and doors closed. Then she goes home then have a little her time then go sleep. She makes $150,000(12,000/month). She also pays for her student loans which is $385/month. Sabrina life seem likes she’s doing a good job and has a great life with the money she’s making

Sabrina’s living expenses monthly are $9,265  and yearly are $97,320. Her income is 150,000 so she has spent about 97,320 a year. So she makes 52,680 as a profit which is a lot. The typical expense for 1 adult is $22,985 which is according to living wage calculator, but for Sabrina expenses it's around 20,460 due to the reason that she house and car. Boba shops other than Tea Ren makes area 18,930 a year and Tea Ren makes 150,000 a year which is way than other Boba shops. Well she is able to save and make a lot of money. With the money i think she will save it for the future or make Tea Ren more modern and better for the customers.

Sabrina’s grandparent had immigrated to the US from China in 1965 where opportunities had opened for new immigrants. As her grandparents moved to the US they pick the state of Texas and the city of Houston. They opened a small business and made the same amount as the whites but sadly they were still considered foreigners. When the business got passed to her parents they still were considered unequal. But times had gotten better when Sabrina took over she had faced less racism, earned more money, and was considered equal. For institutional it’s Asians being treated unequally. Interpersonal, Asian to whites because white thinks they are better. Ideological, Asian not being equal and consider foreigners. Internalized is when whites think they're the only race making Asian think they don’t belong. Her family experience inequality and racism because throughout history her family was treated like they didn't belong even though they should have but as time passed she hasn't gotten any negative comments. Their income are different because she gets more than they did back then since people today earn more. Sabrina’s economic dream is to bring Tea Ren to all parts of the world and get married and have kids.

  Work Cite:

Dr. Amy k. Glasmeier, Living Wage Calculator.MIT. 2017 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Color Of Weath. New york. New York press. 2006 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Perils Of Being Yellow: Asian Americans As Perpetual Foreigners

Lenses Of Economic Inequality, Citizenship

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a living-Sabrina Ren Vickie Lam

Sabrina Ren is an 18 year old. She’s Asian American who just recently graduated from Eastwood Academy high school in 2016. She graduated with a GPA 3.83, took a lot of AP/Honors class, and has Dual Enrollment.  She lives in Houston, tx and goes to school at University of Houston, majoring in Business. She had took over her Family shop after her family death from a car crash and turned it into a trending restaurant. How she makes a living wage is by her trending restaurant. She wakes up then heads to school. After school she go to her businesses and supervise her workers and do homework at the sametime. When it's closing time she makes sure all lights are off and doors closed. Then she goes home then have a little her time then go sleep. She makes $150,000(12,000/month). She also pays for her student loans which is $385/month. Sabrina life seem likes she’s doing a good job and has a great life with the money she’s making

Sabrina’s living expenses monthly are $9,265  and yearly are $97,320. Her income is 150,000 so she has spent about 97,320 a year. So she makes 52,680 as a profit which is a lot. The typical expense for 1 adult is $22,985 which is according to living wage calculator, but for Sabrina expenses it's around 20,460 due to the reason that she house and car. Boba shops other than tea Ren makes area 18,930 a year and tea Ren makes 150,000 a year which is way than other Boba shops. Well she is able to save and make a lot of money. With the money i think she will save it for the future or make tea Ren more modern and better for the customers.

Sabrina’s grandparent had immigrated to the US from China in 1965 where opportunities had opened for new immigrants. As her grandparents moved to the US they pick the state of Texa and the city of Houston. They opened a small business and made the same amount as the whites but sadly they were still considered foreigners. When the business got passed to her parents they still were considered unequal. But times had gotten better when Sabrina took over she had faced less racism, earned more money, and was considered equal. For institutional it’s Asians being treated unequally. Interpersonal, Asian to whites because white thinks they are better. Ideological, Asian not being equal and consider foreigners. Internalized is when whites think they're the only race making Asian think they don’t belong. Her family experience inequality and racism because throughout history her family was treated like they didn't belong even though they should have but as time passed she hasn't gotten any negative comments. Their income are different because she gets more than they did back then since people today earn more. Sabrina’s economic dream is to bring tea Ren to all parts of the world and get married and have kids.

  Work cite:

Dr. Amy k. Glasmeier, Living Wage Calculator.MIT. 2017 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Color Of Weath. New york. New York press. 2006 last

  Lui Meizhu, The Perils Of Being Yellow: Asian Americans As Perpetual Foreigners

Lenses Of Economic Inequality, Citizenship  

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living: Kenta Yamato

                             My character’s name is Kenta Yamato and he is a 30 year-old Japanese-American. He currently works as an administrative assistant in a nursing and rehabilitation center, and has a bachelor’s degree in management. He lives in San Antonio, Texas and takes care of a dependent (which is his 8 year-old nephew). Kenta helps take care of his nephew because his nephew’s mom is busy with work, and his nephew’s dad is incarcerated. He earns 40,000 annually before taxes and pays $100-$200 each month for his student loans. He works as a nursing home administrative assistant. His day-to-day life consists of going to work in his parents car, drawing and exercising in his free time. Kenta has his basic needs fulfilled, and he is fairly healthy because he exercises and has enough money to eat healthily. He is currently comfortable and happy in his apartment.

         Their living expenses in total is $2,745 for the first month ($30,743 for the first year because of the first time deposit). The living expenses include food ($376.33 per month), medical costs ($601.34 per month), rent ($529 per month with a 200 dollar deposit), taxes ($366.67 per month), maintenance ($300 a month) etc. Their annual income is $40,000, but after taxes, it is $35,600. So, Kenta has $4,857 left for unexpected costs or for saving up. The living wage for the average person in San Antonio, TX is $22.12 per hour, and their average annual income after taxes is $40,448. Therefore, he is making less than the average person in his area. Others in the same field make $4,924 a month, so he is making about half of the average reported salaries. They are able to save money up, and it will be used on going on vacations, hobbies, etc.

          Historical factors have impacted Asians when they were not allowed citizenships because they weren’t a free white person. This was enforced by the government’s laws and in court (institutional factors). According to The Color of Wealth, “The 1922 Ozawa ruling that Japanese were not Caucasians and therefore aren’t white” was one law that limited their rights. This was a problem for Japanese people also because they couldn’t seek justice in case of theft or murder. White employers also achieved higher profits by using Asians as low-wage replacements for white workers. These things connect with the four “I’s” of oppression because Asians internalized that they cannot amount to what benefits white people have, so they feel they are worth less. They’re being treated with racism, which is ideological. These interactions of oppression happen between white people, and Asians (interpersonal). They also deal with the government enforcing the laws (institutional). This reading connects to my character’s experiences because if Kenta’s parents or grandparents were in America while Asians were excluded from citizenship, then they would’ve had lower wages (than white people).Therefore, Kenta’s family may have been in the lower part of the middle class. Kenta’s economic dream is to be able to save up for a house, and to be able to go on vacations more often.

Sources:

Glasemeier, Amy K. “Living Wage Calculation for San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX.” Living Wage Calculator - Living Wage Calculation for San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017, livingwage.mit.edu/metros/41700.

Lui, Meizhu. The color of wealth: the story behind the U.S. racial wealth divide. New Press, 2006.

“Nursing Home Assistant Administrator Salary.” Nursing Home Assistant Administrator Salary, www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Nursing_Home_Assistant_Administrator/Salary.

“Salaries.” Jobs, 31 Oct. 2017, www.indeed.com/salaries/Nursing-Home-Administrator-Salaries?period=monthly.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

          My characters name is Sabrina Ren. She is an 18 year old Asian American college student, who just finished high school at Eastwood Academy and currently goes to the University of Houston to major in business. Sabrina has an average GPA of 3.83. For college (student loans), she pays $385/month. Her family died in a car accident, so she inherited her family's boba shop to make a living wage for herself and she makes $150,000($12,500/month). Everyday, she would go to school at 8 AM then after school she would first go home to eat dinner then goes to her shop to supervise the workers and do her homework there. After, she closes the shop and goes home to wash up, finish homework if she needs to and relax. Her quality of life is excellent besides the fact she lost her family.

          Sabrina’s living expense is $9,265 monthly or $97,320 yearly. Her annual income is $150,000 and she spends $97,320 a year so she makes/earns a profit of $52,680. The typical expenses for 1 adult according to “The Living Wage Calculator” is $22,985 and her personal expense (not including the expenses for her business) is only $20,460 since she doesn’t have to pay for her house. Compared to other boba shop owners in this field, Sabrina earns $150,000/year, while they earn $18,930/year. Yes, she is able to save money. With that money, Sabrina will save her money to either open up another shop, remodel her house/current shop or save it for her marriage/child's.  

         Historical and institutional factors have impacted Asian Americans. It impacted Asian American’s since racism played a huge role in history. In example, when Sabrina’s grandparents had immigrated to the United States (Houston, Texas) in 1965 from China, they faced racism and unequal treatment due to citizenship, sexuality (women had greater disadvantages) and Disability (education barrier and communication barrier). No matter how hard they try to impress whites, whites always believe they are more superior and treated other races as foreigners. Furthermore, whites treated other races unequally especially women since they believe that women don’t need education and much more. However, as time has passed, racism had lessen and everyone had been a bit more equal. In terms of the 4 “I’s” of Oppression, these things connect to institutional since asians (other races than their own) were treated unfairly due to their race. They connect to interpersonal since “Asian to whites,” where whites believe they’re the best and it connects to ideological since Asians weren’t treated fairly/ equally and were considered foreigners due to language barriers, education barrier, etc. Lastly it also connects to Internalized since whites self center themselves and believes that asians do not belong where they are.  This reading connects to my character’s experience since it talks about how racism and unfairness were a huge role back in then, but as time passed things have improved causing less racism, unfairness and a greater/happier community. Their income compared to back then has increased greatly due to trends and people earn more today. My character's economic goal is to spread her shop globally and help out those who have similar challenges.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Bradley O. Baker

My character is called Bradley O. Baker. He’s a 22 year old white American male. He graduated college from Tulane University with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and is now working as a registered nurse in Tulane Lakeshore Hospital. He lives by himself in a 1 bedroom rented apartment but he’s saving up to buy a house. He works 40 hours a week and has an annual income of $57,000. He has a car and his quality of life is great since he has a good job but sometimes the work can be stressful.

Bradley’s living expenses is $2,461.50 monthly or $29,538 annually. His income is about much higher than the cost of living in New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans, the living wage there is $11.26. The typical expense of 1 Adult in New Orleans according to The Living Wage Calculator is $23,421. He has enough money to pay for his needs and spends $6,117 (annually) more to live more comfortably. He owns a car but usually stays home a lot so he spends a lot on electricity bills. His annual income is about the same as others in his occupation field which is $56,860. Bradley is able to save up money since he doesn’t use it a lot for recreational use and his income is more than enough for him to live comfortably. He is planning to buy a house with the money he’s saving up.

Some historical factors that affect Bradley is that there are many instances where white people are favoured more than other races. For example, there were three runaway Virginia servants that were caught but the two white servants were sentenced a four-year extension on their contract while the black one was sentenced servitude for life. There are many times where white people are given advantages while the other races get discriminated against. Another example is that the GI Bill gave benefits more towards white people than it did to black people. Among the veterans, there was a lower participation rate for black veterans compared to white veterans. A lot of black veterans were discharged with dishonorable discharge which excluded the veterans from obtaining the benefits of the GI Bill. This mindset is still common today and Bradley has obtained benefits from it. Bradley has a pretty high wage even when he’s just starting to work as a nurse. The typical annual salary is about $56,860 but he’s already making $57,000 which will probably increase over time. Bradley does care about how he gets special privileges but he doesn’t know what to do about it.

  Citation:

Lui, Meizhu, et. al. The Color of Wealth. New York; The New Press. 2006.

Glasmeier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016. Last accessed, October 2, 2017

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living: Kenta Yamato by Herman Chee

           My character is called Kenta Yamato. He is a 30 year old Japanese-American citizen living in San Antonio, Texas. Kenta did get a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Texas but he recently got out of college so he is still struggling to pay off student loans. He currently works as an administrative assistant to support himself as well as his nephew. He has an 8 year old nephew called Kaito who he cares dearly for. After a tragic incident, Kaito’s father was incarcerated so Kenta decided to take Kaito in as a dependent to help out his aunt (Kaito’s mother). According to the Lenses of economic inequality source, children with fathers who have been incarcerated are significantly more likely than other children to be expelled or suspended from school. Since Kenta went through a similar situation, he felt horrible and wanted to help Kaito. Currently, Kenta is living in a 2 bedroom apartment that he rented and Kaito often stays over here because his mother works long hours at night. Each day, Kenta goes to work at Buena Vida Nursing and Rehab Center from 9am to 5pm. During the day, Kaito’s mother comes over to watch Kaito and at night, Kenta comes home from work to take care of him. He must work 40+ hours a week to sustain the rent and student loans. Each year, Kenta makes $40,000 before taxes which is enough to scrape on by. His goal one day is to be able to afford a house and pay off all his student debt.

         Living in a big city like San Antonio, Kenta has many expenses to pay. His apartment is about $500 per month with a $200 deposit. Although this may seem like cheap rent, his apartment doesn’t come with much so he has to pay way more for utilities, laundry, and maintenance. Other major expenses he needs to pay are for food($376.33 monthly) and medical bills($601.34 monthly). He also does not own a car but is using his parent’s old Corolla so each month will cost about $110 for gasoline. Another major expense is student debt. Since he had loans, he still is paying off his student debt interests that have accumulated. Each year, Kenta must also pay about $4,400 in taxes. The living wage in San Antonio is $22.12 per hour and $3539.20 monthly. Kenta’s earns about $17.00 per hour in his job which is below the average living wage compared to others living in the area. However, it isn’t that bad because Kenta doesn’t actually need to pay much for his dependent’s child care. The typical cost of living for Kenta’s situation of 1 adult and 1 dependent is just a little higher than what he earns. It cost an average $46,006 annually to live here and he only earns $40,000 per year before taxes. One advantage that Kenta has is that he earns about $9,000 more than the typical income for those working in his field. This is because he was introduced to the job by a close friend and got a high starting salary. Kenta earns about $35,000 per year after taxes. Kenta is trying to save money so he isn’t spending much which is why his current living costs are only about $30,000 annually! So, he actually has $5,000 extra money each year after taxes that he could spend or save up for the house.

        There are many advantages and disadvantages of living in San Antonio as a Japanese-American male. Kenta Yamato’s family has been in the United States for a while and he has learned about all the hardships they went through economically. According to the “Color of Wealth” reading about Asian Americans, one major historical event that has affected Kenta’s family is the Immigration Act of 1924 which excluded Japanese to come to United States. This law stayed in place limiting the number of immigrants for around 30 years and was finally lifted in 1965. This was important to Kenta because many of his relatives were able to come over. Another major event that impacted many Japanese-Americans was the World War 2. During World War 2 when Japanese pilots bombed Pearl Harbour, many Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps.  Even though many had lived here their entire lives, they were still seen as enemy spies because of their appearance. This caused many Japanese-Americans to lose their homes that they worked very hard for. Kenta’ grandfather was actually taken into an internment camp even though he has a house and stable job. This war had a big impact on how much Japanese-Americans made and what jobs they got. Throughout many historical events and factors, Japanese-Americans had always been targeted or oppressed in many different ways. The 1924 legislation Immigration act shows the institutional factor of oppression of Japanese because they were being targeted by the U.S. government. The ideological factor of oppression is shown when all Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps because of their race. Interpersonal factors of oppression is shown when Japanese-Americans were released from the camps and had to work together to build their communities back up again. The internalized factor of oppression is shown when Americans refused to claim responsibility of locking up Japanese-American citizens after World War 2. The “Color of Wealth” reading connected with my character’s experiences in many ways. The reading about Asian Americans had an interesting graph on page 212 that showed the average household income for Japanese Americans were around $50,000. Although Kenta is below the average for his group, he is doing pretty well finding ways to save up money in order achieve his goals. Another interesting point in the reading was on page 193 when it describes how land ownership and leased acres by Japanese decreased tremendously during the past. This relates with Kenta because many of his relatives and ancestors he knew never owned a house which is why he wants to break that barrier, and achieve his goal of owning a house. This dream of Kenta’s may seem daunting based on his economic background, but slowly and surely, he will get there. And before you know it, Kenta Yamato will be the first in his entire family to own a house.

Sources

Glasmeier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016. Last accessed, November 2, 2017.

Lui, Meizhu, et al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006.

The Pew Charitable Trusts. Lenses of Economic Inequality. Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility. Washington, DC.  2010.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living: Sabrina Ren by Stephanie Lam

Sabrina Ren is an 18 year old Asian-American girl who currently lives in Houston, Texas. Sabrina’s parents had tragically died in car accident leaving her a house and a family shop. Her yearly income is $150,000 (12,500/month) and pays $385/month for student loans. Her day-to-day life consists of going to school and checking up on her boba shop. Her quality of life is considered to be quite great because she makes $150,000 on her own with no dependents and is very young. She is also currently attending University of Houston-Downtown.

Her living expenses are $1,705 monthly and $ 20,460 yearly. For the business she owns the expenses are $7,560 monthly and $76,860 yearly. Her income compared to the cost of living is more than enough to cover her living and business expenses. According to the Living Wage Calculator in Sabrina’s situation, 1 Adult’s typical expenses is $19,218. Sabrina saves a lot of money due to the inheritance of her house which she rents out to two roommates. Meanwhile, she also runs the boba shop that was also passed onto her, allowing her to pay for college.

According to the “Color of Wealth”, many Asians had no choice but to resort to self-employment, and in this case it applies to Sabrina and her family. Currently she runs the family shop after her parents had passed away. However, instead of being the “typical” laundry shop it is a boba shop. Comparing to other Asian immigrants she is on par with how they were in the “Color of Wealth”. Historically, Asians have always been thought of as foreigners. However, economically Asians have been closer to white Americans. Since she is an American born Chinese, she was not necessarily seen as a foreigner, but her parents likely were due to the ideological belief of Americans. This discrimination her parents likely faced was due to the lens of citizenship as they were immigrants.

Sources:

Lui, Meizhu, et al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006.

Glasmier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016

“Lenses of economic inequality”

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making A Living: Kenta Yamato

  Kenta Yamato is a 30-year-old Japanese American who lives in his apartment in San Antonio, Texas with his eight-year-old nephew. He works as an administrative assistant at Bueno Vida Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Antonio for about forty-five to fifty hours a week (about 6.4 hours/day, including weekends). As he currently has an annual income of $40,000 before taxes, he needs to be frugal. Since he works at a health center, he sometimes needs to stay behind and do more work, so working about 7 hours or a bit more is not out of the ordinary. Despite having a tight budget, he lives near a lot of restaurants, gas stations, and many services, so going to get necessary items is not much of an issue. There are also some markets nearby, so he can buy some foods without having to travel far, and cook a cheap meal for him and his nephew. Additionally, his nephew’s school is nearby, so dropping off his nephew at school is not too much of a hassle. He and his nephew cannot have the most exquisite clothes or luxuries, but they get by with what Kenta earns.

Since he lives with his nephew, Kenta does not make as much money as preferred. He makes about $17 per hour compared to the average $22.12 for one adult and one child, but he and his nephew still manage to survive. The typical cost of living for one adult and one dependent is $46,006 before taxes. However, this cost of living average includes child care, which Kenta does not have to pay for. Since Kenta’s parents live nearby and come to pick up the nephew after he is done with school, and they watch after him until Kenta comes home. Compared to other Americans working as assistant administrators, he makes $40,000, which is a little more than the average salary of $38,786 for an administrative assistant working in San Antonio. Though he makes less than the average income required before taxes in San Antonio, he does not need to pay for childcare, so he does save a bit of money. His living expenses amount to about $2545.33 per month, which include a monthly rent of $529 and monthly food costs of about $376.33 as his major expenses. Since he just started renting out at the beginning of the year, he had to include a $200 deposit for his apartment into his total of expenses, which amounts to $30,743.96. Since he has to spend $30,743.96 every year on expenses and $4400 on taxes, he has approximately $4,856.04 leftover. He occasionally takes his nephew out to have a fun day for just the two of them, or he may use it to pay off some of his student debts from college. Since he does have money leftover after taxes and expenses, he does make a living wage in San Antonio.

As Japanese-Americans, Kenta’s family did face some discrimination that affected Kenta’s economic status and social status due to race. The 1849 California Gold Rush, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1873, and World War II heavily impacted Kenta and his family because they were not very welcomed into the country due to institutional laws that banned Asian immigration, and tension between the Japanese and the Americans. The government used these laws to oppress specifically Asians from entering into the country. Fortunately, the Japanese and other Asians were finally allowed to enter into the country legally, and Kenta’s family overcame the immigration barrier. However, this discriminatory sentiment is still very present, as Asian-American families still need to work very hard for their money and for their survival, compared to their white counterparts. This ideological oppression that Asians-Americans(and pretty much any other race) that they are never as or can be good as whites is partially why Asian-American economic and social statuses are not as high. The wage gap between whites and Asians is still significant. Due to this economic inequality, only 56.3% of all Asians-Americans have enough money or wealth to own their houses, unlike 75.4% of all whites who own houses in America.   Due to this, Kenta feels inferior to his white co-workers, who live much better lives economically, hence internalized and interpersonal oppression. Though Kenta could attend college to get a better education, he is still paying off student debts from when he was in the process of obtaining his bachelor’s degree. He continues to work hard and just earn money to pay off his debts, but also to help his nephew in his tough road of life.

Works Cited

Glasmeier, Amy. “Living Wage Calculation for San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX.” Living Wage Calculator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2017. Online. http://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/41700, 2017 Nov 2.

  “Assistant Administrator Jobs: San Antonio.” Indeed, Indeed. 2017. Online. https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Assistant+Administratir&l=San+Antonio%2C+TX, 2017 Nov 2.  

  “Career Center: Assistant Administrator.”  Buena Vida Nursing and Rehabilitation Center San Antonio, Buena Vida Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. 2017. Online. https://buenavidasanantonio.vikus.net/jobs/5mOnJQMHMEWkGTJIBW98hAref=Indeed&title=Assistant%20Administrator%20%2F%20AIT, 2017 Nov 2.

  “Iron Horse Valley.” Zillow, Zillow Group or its companies. 2017. Online. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2439-NE-Loop-410-5285974-San-Antonio-TX-78217/2092834230_zpid/, 2017 Nov 2.

  Photograph of how administrative workers spend a lot of time at a desk. Career Planning, The Balance. 2016 June 14, https://fthmb.tqn.com/YSjw9driAsLHdFgilLe_8TJgeUY=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/administrative-worker-56a0f1155f9b58eba4b56807.jpg

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Ramune Ramen

   Ramune Ramen is a 25 year-old Japanese man that lives in San Francisco. He has a bachelor's degree in business, which was paid by his parents.  He has no dependents, and he send $500 to his parents’ banana farm  in Jamaica monthly. His current job as a HR Director earns him about $80,000 a year.  Ramune spends every week day working at his job, first thing in the morning when he wakes up, he puts on his roller skates and heads out to work with a glass of ramune and a cup of ramen.  He works all day from 9-5 trying to hire new recruits to the Big Company.  Once work is over he’ll head back home and eat dinner and then do the whole process again.  On Saturdays he spends time at the local soup kitchen to help out the poor and homeless.  He usually gets free breakfast and lunch for helping out, and after he finishes with that he heads home and calls his parents for at least an hour before eating dinner and heading to bed.  On Sundays he goes to the local grocery store and spends around $200 for a few cup noodles, bottles of ramune, and other fruits and vegetables for his meals.  He wishes to one day own a nightclub and live that rich life, and be able to afford a nicer apartment than the one he has now.

   Ramune lives in an studio apartment that he pays $1,785 in rent every month. He spends about $200 per month for his toiletries and $400 for any other utilities, like the water and electricity bills. He uses about $250 for a new suit every month and $50 on laundry.  His income supports his living wage pretty well, since he has at least $1000 left saved up after every month.  His $5,00 per month cost of living is a little lower compared to other people that live in San Francisco.  According to smartasset.com, the average amount a person needs to make to have a good enough living wage is about $155,000 per year and their cost of living is $12,916 per month.  It’s basically doubled the amount of what he’s living on at the moment. But he does make a more average amount in comparison to other workers in his field according to resources.workable.com. The money he is saving is going to go towards his dream job of owning a nightclub, but first he also wants to find a better paying job to be able to save even more money for his nightclub.

   In his childhood he was harassed with racist comments  from time to time at school, and his neighborhood.is really racially segregated.   Back in the history days people of Asian descent were never welcomed as citizens of the U.S. according to the Asian’s Color of Wealth packet. This relates to the four I’s of oppression with, the Ideological idea that in his neighborhood, Ramune is bombarded with racist comments because they see him as a failure for not even being able to own a car.  Institutionally the amount of money Ramune could earn was slashed just because he was not a Caucasian male.  He feels interpersonal that he lives in a racist neighborhood that is filled with racist ideals on a daily.  He internalizes that he should have followed his parent’s expectation to become a doctor or a lawyer but instead he spends his day recruiting people for the Big Company.  Since Ramune is japanese, this doesn't benefit him like any other white american, instead he faces a lot of racism and segregation.  In the Asian’s Color of Wealth packet, it states that asians and other races will never be equal to whites, and so Ramune will never be able to live a wealthy easy life like the whites do.  Asians still make more income than other races but they will always be right behind the whites amount of income.  Ramune dreams that one day he’ll make enough money to own his own business, an all night long nightclub and make a good amount to buy a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood, and to be able to support/ pay back his parents for all the support and love they gave t him to complete college.  .  

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living: Miguel Angel Rodriguez by Amy Liu

My character’s name is Miguel Angel Rodriguez. He’s a 36-year-old male Latino American. He graduated from city college of New York with a Bachelor’s degree in Business. The single parent takes care of his young daughter and both live in a small, rented apartment in Brooklyn, New York. He’s a full-time licensed security guard who works 40 hours weekly and makes an annual income of $41,990. He has no assets but a debt of $17,000. Based on Maslov’s hierarchy of needs, his quality of life will be in psychological needs.

The living expenses are $3,047.50 monthly or $42,520 annually. His income is about $500 lesser than the cost of living. The typical expenses is $58,585 for 1 adult and 1 child according to The Living Wage Calculator. His living expense is about $16,000 lesser than the typical expenses. He does not have enough income to pay for his expenses nor to purchase a car or house in New York since most of his money goes to housing and child care. His income is pretty much the same compared to other full-time security guard in his field. He will be less likely to save money because he has a debt of $17,000 and barely meet his living expenses.

Some “lens” of economic inequality that Miguel has is that he’s a Latino and his parents are unauthorized immigrants who received little education. According to The Color of Wealth, 57.35% of all Latino families fall into the zero to $40,000 income bracket. Native-born Latinos have a 73.5% high school completion rate. Compared to this data, Miguel has approximately the same income with other individuals in their racial group. And also as a native-born Latino American, he has a high school diploma and graduated from college. According to the chart of White and Latino family income distribution, 2003 in The Color of Wealth in pg. 135, more than 50% of Latino family income are lower than the income of $40,000-%59,999. Miguel’s income falls between this range, therefore he is more privileged compared to the group as a whole. But his parents’ income were far below the median income of US born citizens according to Lenses of Economic Inequality.

Comparing to other immigrants, Miguel’s parents did not make as much money as they do because they were unauthorized immigrants and they were poorly educated before and after they came to US. Because of historical and recent immigrant experiences, Latinos have stronger intergenerational memories of building wealth through tangible acquisitions, not financial assets such as stocks and bonds. According to The Color of Wealth, "Moreover, the desire not to hold debt or be indebted to institutions that may suffer losses leads many Latino families to a very conservative position with respect to a variety of debt instruments: credit cards, installment loans, and other forms of borrowing”. Miguel has pressures and feels responsibility for owning a car or a house, but fails and also owns debt for his college loan (internalized oppression). There’s a difference between an American citizens and his parents (interpersonal oppression). His boss believes that Latinos might not be skilled and doesn’t trust Miguel oftentimes (ideological oppression), as a result he sometimes feels unfair because he does not have an equal opportunity compared to American coworkers in his working field (institutional oppression).

Work Cited

Glasmier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016

Lui, Meizhu, et al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making A Living - Pete Anderon - Jasper Tan

  Pete Anderson is a White American 24 years of age.   Nick Anderson grew up thinking his passion in life was to become a bus driver.  During one unfortunate evening, Nick was hit by a bus, and was mentally scarred ever since.  He decided that becoming a bus driver was unrealistic and his true passion was teaching.  After being stuck in college for 7 years, he has finally graduated and is able to start the next chapter of his life.  Upon graduating he immediately wishes to teach elementary students.  Luckily in his 7 years at college, he was able to get the credentials required for such a task.  Nick Anderson spends his days by going to work and spends his afternoons amongst other teachers who he goes to dinner with.  He hopes to develop a friendly relationship with most if not all of his coworkers.  Nick Anderson covers all bases on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  Pete’s annual income is $40,000 a year after taxes.

Pete spends a majority of his monthly expenses on his San Francisco apartment.  He has around $3,300 dollars a month to budget.  It costs $2000 dollars a month for a tiny studio apartment in the sunset.  Water, electricity, internet, trash disposal, and a washing machine is provided for him already. Pete spends around $300 dollars on food and $200 dollars on leisure/entertainment.  The rest of the money he puts towards his college debt in which he is slowly overcoming.  His income allows him to live a hard working but occasionally leisurely lifestyle.  Their cost of living is considered to be on the cheaper side of his neighborhood considering that he has many things provided and $2000 dollars a month in the sunset is considered cheap.  Pete’s income is considered lower than other elementary school teachers because it is his first year teaching.  Where as the other elementary school teacher’s have taught for many years and their annual pay increases ever year.  

Considering that Pete Anderson is a White Caucasian male, he has an easier time in life than other races might have on average.  He has many connections and a large collection of assets. According to the article, Lenses of  Economic Inequality, “women are paid 78 percent of what men are paid,”  Meaning men get paid 22 percent more than what a women would get paid. Based on the same article,  Lenses of  Economic Inequality, “unauthorized immigrants are highly likely to be poorly educated, 47% have less than a high school diploma.” Since unauthorized immigrants are poorly educated, they are highly likely to be unemployed and have higher rates of living in poverty. Based off another article, Climbing The Up Escalator: White Advantages in Wealth Accumulation, “  As a result of having connections and assets, Pete is able to get an education where many other races wouldn’t.

Nick get his inheritance from his grandfather in WW2.  Because of his grandfathers race, he was able to benefit from the GI BIll without any discrimination, resulting in education loans and housing.  Upon the death of his grandfather, Nick was able to inherit many of his grandfathers assets having a significant financial boost compared to other races.

Lui, Meizhu, et. al. The Color of Wealth. New Yourk; The New Press. 2006.

Glasmeier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016. Last accessed: October 12, 2016

Cherry, Kendra. “The Five Levels Of Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs”. About.com Education. N.p.,

2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Mia Wolf

Mia Wolf

        Mia Wolf is a 23-year old Native American that has lived in Las Vegas, Nevada her whole life. She was born on August 15th, 1993. She was an only child that was raised by both of her parents. Her parents grew up on a reservation but were originally from North Dakota. Her parents did have a son when they lived on the reservation but he passed away from a chronic disease. There were disadvantages at the reservation for examples, houses had poor quality plumbing, high unemployment rates, overpopulated schools, and very low education rates. Then they decided to move to Las Vegas hoping for a better lifestyle. Once moving to Nevada they were able to get get jobs and afford a house while raising their daughter Mia. Now from 2003-2007 Mia attended Valley High School. While in High School she also worked for a little more than a year at Jamba Juice. Once graduated from High School she moved out of her parents house 20 min. from the strip. She graduated from University of Las Vegas in 2013 with a masters degree in business management and financial operations.

        Mia continues to live on her own and is employed and one of the account receivable manager at Vdara Hotel & Spa. The position she works as handles invoices, tracking payments, managing employees and of course keeping clients satisfied. When she was still in college she worked at front desk at that same hotel/spa then later got promoted to manager. She work more than 8 hours a day and also has a living expenses at $57,000 a year. Her living wage is about $10.53 & she makes about $4,750 monthly. For her rent and other necessities she spends about $850. Mia also spends about $8,550 yearly on taxes.She is at least able to save $1,500 to pay back student loans although she did have in state tuition. If you compare her to other people in Las Vegas in the same field Mia makes $720 more a year than an average business operator. Of course she faced hardships and discrimination for being Native American, a woman, and her age. She was very often looked down on for her racial background and her age. Luckily her being strong and independent she got through it and didn’t let hardships face her.

    Mia being raised as a Navajo Native American had advantages when it came to her living condition, education, and employment. On the reservation where majority of Native Americans live, living condition were/ are hard. Home are very small for big families, water wasn’t very sanitary, and economically dropping. However, Mia became lucky and was privileged that her family wanted more for them and moved out of state. She was/is fortunate enough to afford her own apartment, was able to receive higher education and a degree in business. Also to be fortunate to be a woman and making more money per year than that business reservation. Out of 197,300, 2 out of 5 business in 1997 had less than $10,000, and also 3 out of 5 had less than $25,000. On the reservation about 24% had lack of plumbing and also were overcrowded. Mia is privileged that she has the lifestyle she does compared to those Native Americans who still live in that reservation. This compares to economic inequality because usually at certain job Natives get turned down. Stereotypically Native Americans are looked at as “savages”, lazy, alcoholics/ drug addicts, etc.

    Of course Mia’s family was affected by this economic inequality. They weren’t able to support themselves which is why they lived in that reservation where the government of course sent them. They weren’t really given opportunities because of their race and were forced into the reservation. Although they made the decision to move out and make a change others really weren’t able to. They weren’t even given the best education because there was no funding towards the schools. Even though Mia had different opportunities she was still facing unequal treatment in her class because of her race.

Sources

Lui, Meizhu, et al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006.

Glasmeier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016. Last accessed, October 12, 2016.

“Las Vegas Apartments for rent”, Apartments.com, last time accessed on October 12th, 2016.

[lincolneconomics-blog]

Making a Living: Isabelle Smith by Brenda Kwong

Isabelle Smith is a 24 year-old heterosexual Latino- American woman who graduated from the University of Maine with with a Master’s Degree in Business. She currently lives in Augusta, Maine, and works as a manager at Elevation Burger. Her parents are divorced and she has three dependents (her two nephews and a niece). She works for 50 hours a week and makes about $36,000 a year before taxes. Including the money her dad gives her, ($2,000 a month), she earns about $60,000 a year. She lives in a small one bed, one bath apartment in Augusta, Maine. She commutes to work via bus and enjoys drawing and reading in her free time. Based on Maslov’s hierarchy of needs, Isabelle has fulfilled her basic needs and is now on the way to achieving belongingness and love needs.She is still trying to make friends with her coworkers at work because she has just started working there.

Her living expenses total $49,344 a year, which is about $25.70 an hour. This includes her rent ($585 a month), food, utilities, transportation, child care, and other life necessities. Thanks to her dad giving her an additional $2,000 a month, Isabelle earns more than her cost of living. Compared to the living wage in Augusta, she earns 13% below the average, which is $69,244. Compared to others in the business field, she earns 37% lower than the average, which is $57,150. After taxes, she is able to save some money due to her having three dependents, which she uses for her dependents and to pay back her college loans.

In comparison to other individuals in her racial group, Isabelle is more privileged. According to the American Association of University Women, Latinas earn an average of $31,221 annually. Isabelle earns 15% more (not including the money her dad gives her) than that. She is also affected by some lenses of economic inequality in that she is a woman and is a Latina. The National Partnership for Women and Families states that women are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men. Furthermore, Latina women are paid even less; they are paid 55 cents for every dollar paid to white men. Although Isabelle earns more than the median earnings of those in her racial group and her living wage, she is paid notably less than what would be paid to a white, non-Hispanic man.

Isabelle and her family immigrated to Maine in hopes of more opportunities and a better life. However, according to The Color of Wealth, the recession in 1990-1991 hurt Latino families with children and the poverty rates for them were 31% in 1990 and rose to 34.2% in 1995. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 also denied immigrants public social and health care services. Based on these facts, Isabelle’s parents might have had a hard time right after immigrating to Maine with Isabelle because they didn’t have much money to support themselves.

Works Cited

Lui, Meizhu, et. al. The Color of Wealth. New York: The New Press. 2006.

Glasmeier, Amy K. The Living Wage Calculator. MIT. 2016. Last accessed: October 12, 2016.

The National Partnership for Women and Families, “Latinas and the Wage Gap.” December 2015. Last accessed: October 12, 2016. (http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/workplace-fairness/fair-pay/latinas-wage-gap.pdf)

American Association of University Women (AAUW), “The Truth About the Gender Pay Gap.” Fall 2015. Last accessed: October 12, 2016. (http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/)