Click on the link to do the simulation. Click on prove it and then find a job. How did you do in the simulation? What was the hardest decision to make? Do you have to compromise any of your morals in order to survive? If you were a representative in congress what you suggest as a solution to a problem presented in the simulation? What challenges would your solution face? Look at your classmates solutions, what challenges did they not fully appreciate in their respective solutions?
41 Comments
Kyle DeLima
4/21/2014 07:52:01 am
I lasted the month with 96 dollars to spare, yet rent is due the day after. Probably the hardest decision had to be in regards to either seeing the play, or helping a friend move to earn an extra $50 bucks, and unfortunately, the money was needed otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pay for the next upcoming bills. A moral compromise was most definitely having to talk to the union worker, and by doing so, I lost my paying job which set me back quite a bit. If I were a representative my first goal would fix the amount it takes to pay for healthcare, to immediately have to drop 200 or more with only a 1000 fora month is a hefty price when I have to factor in food, gas, rent and other various repair bills and the such. I'm not sure what challenges my solution would face, but it seems certain that something regarding the money of others, whether through a requirement for healthcare or increased taxes, would cause an grumbling amongst the people, despite it's possible good effects.
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Dayanna S Carlos
4/21/2014 11:00:42 am
i did fairly well in the beginning of the game, but towards the end I lost a lot of money because i couldn't afford to pay for an overdue car insurance payment and lost almost all of my money. One of the most hardest decisions i had to make was having to pay for things that i didn't do for example some kid in the neighborhood broke of the windows of the house and the landlord said that i still had to repair it and things like that were just hard to make a decision. In a way because sometimes i had to get cheaper things and try to live on what saved me more money but the quality was bad and i only did so i could have enough money to pay for other things. If i were a representative in congress i would increase the minimum wage for the unskilled workers and provide more help for them and i would also make more jobs for them. The challenges that i would face would be that not everyone would agree with the proposition and creating new jobs would be very difficult to do as well but it is due able.
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Andre de Limur
4/21/2014 12:18:48 pm
The game allowed me to see how difficult it is to find employment and maintain a steady flow of income. I ended the month with $230 in my pocket, but that was before rent was due. I had student loans to pay off and insurance payments to make. I had to compromise on my morals several times during the game, including having to opt out of attending my son’s school play. Even in a job that pays above minimum wage I had struggles getting by. I think that it would make things easier if I had a spouse that helped me support my child and would have work elsewhere. I believe that paying for medical insurance was my biggest setback, if the government could reevaluate the healthcare system it would be extremely beneficial to many, even if there was some initial unrest about increased taxes. Living as a single parent is nearly impossible, I have no idea if I could make it in the real world.
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Cori Calabi
4/21/2014 01:19:08 pm
The first time I tried the simulation, I got to day 27, then ran out of money. The second time I successfully got through the month with money remaining, although I would not have lasted very long in the next month. The hardest decisions I made were not paying for the damage I caused in a car accident, and putting the family pet to sleep instead of treating it's illness. Yes, I did have to compromise my morals, especially in the hit-and-run incident.
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Miguel Garcia
4/21/2014 01:35:16 pm
The simulation was difficult to do because you really had to manage your money well. Whether it was getting your body checked up at the doctors, or getting your car checked up, you were faced with crucial decisions. It really helped me see how expensive some things are, like getting your car checked out. I hesitated to pay the 500 dollars to get my car fixed after a minor bump, and I didn't get myself looked at after I was experiencing heart problems. It just seemed like I didnt have enough money for everything. I missed my child's play in order to make ends meet. As a member of congress, I would continue to make food stamps readily available. However, that would raise the possibility of people taking advantage of food stamps and beneficiary support groups like that.
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Brian Gonzalez
4/21/2014 01:39:48 pm
I ended the game with $117, however, rent was due the next day. I found it challenging to maintain a steady amount of money and I did have to compromise some of my morals in the game. I lied about breaking an object at work and got another person fired. There were also bills I couldn't pay and events I couldn't attend because of my lack of money. I also decided to opt out of medical insurance which was risky. If I were a representative I would improve the healthcare system so that it is more accessible and more people could benefit from it. Taxes would then become an issue though, they would be raised and some people would not be happy. Just playing the game stressed me out and I can't imagine what state I'd be in living in the real world single while trying to support a child. I don't think I would be able to make it.
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Zoe Alfaro
4/21/2014 02:05:08 pm
I feel that I did fairly well in this game because in the end I had $798 which could pay my rent the next day of $788. And pay day should be at the end of the month as well so I can pay for food for my kids.The hardest decision to make was missing my grandfathers funeral and letting my dog suffer morally this was hard on me . The two choices of going to see my child perform or make $50 bucks was hard but I went to the play because in the long run that is priceless and remembered,how ever it meant less quality food for the week. If I was a representative in congress I would recommend that the government help college graduates with their loans when they can not find jobs at their degreed level. Maybe the government could make laws to require the banks to offer more time to pay off college loans until they find jobs in their field. Also they should make the free lunch program work so that kids don't know who gets free lunch. Like our cafeteria has those cards and kids should not know if the card has money put on by the program or the parents. When looking at classmates challenges I found that by missing their kids show just for $50 more dollars they may not has understood value of what it means to the child and might help the child in the long run to do better in life knowing that the parent supports their talents and interest .
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Gabriela Aguayo
4/21/2014 02:06:24 pm
I finished the game with $625, and rent due the next day. It was hard getting through the game, the first time i didn't get through the entire game, and this second time that I tried to play it I didn't get to many things one big one being health insurance and it got hard when i got sick. The hardest decisions where the once that you can avoid in the short time but will be a greater effect in the long run. If i where part of Congress i would really have the workers check who gets benefits and make sure its not just someone who does not deserve the help. Another thing i would change along with other of my classmates it the health care choices. Make sure that everyone is covered . There are many things that can be improved its just to take action.
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Maria Corona
4/21/2014 02:17:45 pm
I ended the month with $96, and still had rent and other bills to payoff.I would never survive with my income like this I would have to go live with parents and have them feed me. I would have to pay so many loans for school which I would rather quit to save up money. I also had to let go of some of my health care and pet insurance because I needed to reduce my budget to keep on living. And if I were a representative I would lower taxes so people wouldn't have to pay too much but then it would lead to greater problems. This is why you need to share a house or something in order to survive and keep going to school. And people need to keep from having babies at such a young age because then you won't be able to live!
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Anne Damoe
4/21/2014 04:18:44 pm
I finished the month with $497 still having to pay rent the following day. For me the hardest decisions were when the consequences affected others than me - which definitely was against my morals. I also had to ignore the fact that my child rather would starve than eating the food, provided by the food coupons, in fear of being bullied for being “poor”. The situation did not get any better, when I couldn’t afford the payment for attending a school team and thereby excluded him or her to interact with the other students in social activity. Because of unexpected expenses it was a challenge to maintain a stable economy, which made it harder choosing what to do or what not to. If I were a representative in Congress I would suggest that the government would give a subsidy in the form money to a single parent earning around what would be the minimum wage. In that way it will help a single parent to optimize their support for their child(ren), and hopefully be easier for them to afford health insurance and finance for their child(ren)s education.
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Gatlin Blakeley
4/21/2014 04:18:56 pm
I did fairly well in the game ending the month with just over $550, but with that being said there was rent due the next day… This game made me choose against my morals multiple times with things such as missing my kids play in order to make a few bucks. It is really crazy to see how hard it is to live making more than minimum wage. It's nearly impossible to live at such a low wage and try to create a life for yourself with family, let alone just get through each day with food to eat. One of the biggest problems i would present would be the ability for workers to opt in for health and dental insurance in jobs. Jobs should allow for their workers to get this insurance no matter what, or you end up with a $1000 root canal or a trip to the hospital with a heart deficiency that you can't pay for. It seems that most people didn't do to great either. This simulation really shows how hard it is to make it month to month off of a salary that doesn't seem to bad to us, that being said we also don't have any expenses to pay for yet.
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Sandra Arroyo
4/21/2014 04:22:22 pm
I ended the month with $176 and still had rent to pay the rent and it wouldn't have been enough. This simulation was difficult and made me realize that it isn't easy to live off a minimum wage job as well as balance work with children. If I were a representative I would be sure to keep health care to help benefit those in need of it.
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Jen Galasso
4/22/2014 12:54:05 am
I had to go through the simulation twice because the first time I ran out of money on Day 25. The second time through I was much more careful with my money and ended with $879, but there were several bills I did not pay throughout the month. It was really difficult to decide in this simulation because many of the money efficient options went against my basic morals. The hardest decisions to make were associated with the child. It was hard to say no when he wanted to play sports or go on the field trip because it is not his fault that his family cannot afford them. I had to compromise my morals in several situations, such as choosing to hit and run.
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Ernesto De Haro
4/22/2014 04:00:38 am
I ended up with only $16 left in my pocket,and with rent due the next day. It was very difficult for me to stay above $250 through out the game. I tried to pay every bill and had to borrow money from a friend. One of the bills that i couldn't pay was the dogs treatment and was forced to put it to sleep. The best investment i probably made was going with paying for insurance. As a member of congress i would make employers provide some sort of health benefits to their employees to make and i would tax the middle and lower classes much less than people that make a lot more than what they need.
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Katie Begerow
4/22/2014 10:39:51 am
I struggled in the simulation, but ended up with $270 at the end of the month. However, this wouldn’t even come close to covering my rent the next day. I think had a hard time deciding with many of the issues but specifically whether or not to check my heart, and not providing my kid with the additional $3 for their lunch. In terms of morals, the small things like rejecting to join a union or pocketing the ten dollars that I saw someone drop...they could be in a similar financial situation as me. I think that a large issue was healthcare and I think businesses should have to supply health benefits if their employees are on a minimum wage, otherwise it puts your health and safety at risk and therefore your support for your children is put at risk. This solution could have issues in that companies may refuse it, and potentially put people’s jobs at risk that ask for it. For others responses it doesn’t seem realistic to me to reduce taxes or provide housing through subsidies. Reducing taxes won’t have as large of an impact on people with minimum wage salaries and will only make products more expensive to account for the change. Also, for housing there simply isn’t enough are for housing and it wouldn’t be right to take those housing options away from people who need it and can afford it.
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Alondra Diaz de Leon
4/22/2014 12:04:21 pm
The simulation was a struggle for me. By the end of the month i was left with $77. The hardest decision for me was to either take your dog to the vet, put him down, or ignore it. I did not have enough money to pay for the dogs treatment nor to put him down but i also did not want to let it suffer. Also another challenge for me was to either buy things for my daughter like ice cream and a present for her friends birthday.I did not want her to be sad but i also could not afford it. The decision of going to my grandfathers funeral was easy and i had the money at the time anyways.I did not want to try to go on strike with the rest of the workers for a higher pay because i was afraid i would lose my job.
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Miguel Alfaro
4/23/2014 03:23:20 am
The simulation was difficult for me. I ended the month with $198 left with rent due the next day. The hardest decision was having to put my dog down and having to skip my grandfather's funeral. I did have to compromise some of my morals like having to take a coat from my neighbors with out paying for it and not staying to pay the car I had hit. If I were a representative in congress I would suggest something that would help people who are living near the poverty line who get into accidents and cannot afford to pay for it. The problems that would face is that it would be difficult to get other people on board with the idea to pass it.
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Jeanne Oberschulte
4/23/2014 01:16:44 pm
After participating in this simulation, and only making it 27 days before I ran out of money; my life has been put into perspective. The hardest choice that I had to make was "skipping my grandfather's memorial" because I couldn't afford a plane ticket or to take time off work to drive several states away. Also, my child was being bullied because he was eating the "free lunch" at school because I was too poor to supply $3 a day for lunch money. The fact that children are made fun of because they are poor, as if they can help it, is sickening. Multiple compromises were made to survive and in the end, I went broke because I didn't pay for the registration on my car because I had to get a window fixed in my apartment-but the weather was cold and I couldn't let my child freeze and night. I don't think I would be able to represent in congress because approaching a problem like this takes an army, and there is not just one simple solution to make all of these problems disappear. Healthier food needs to be marketed at a lower price so that hard working Americans can avoid health problems from eating food off the dollar menu. Which leads all the way back to farmers, how can we make it easier for farmers to produce organic foods so they can sell it for a cheaper price? Furthermore, less health problems would lead to affordable health insurance (hopefully) which has been an on-going crisis, low-income workers need plans that cover their health as well as the rest of their family's. Plans like Obamacare and Covered CA offer insurance to hard-working adults for a common price, but to supply insurance for their children could cost up to hundreds of dollars. Things are priced so high in this economy because it is moving at such a fast pace that hardly anyone can keep up (except the 1%). Car registrations cannot be lowered because road conditions have to be paid for, which is not getting cheaper. If there were a way to decrease the value of the commodities we need to survive, I believe that is the only way to help eliminate the struggling lower class of our society.
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Ruthie Sager
4/23/2014 01:18:38 pm
By day 30 I had earned $653 with rent due the next day. The hardest part of this exercise was trying to separate morals from logic. I had situations where I felt that I should pay for this or send my kid to the field trip, but money was so tight that it was not possible. I learned how most Americans struggle with simple everyday choices that we make. If I lost my job then I wouldn't be able to pay for rent or for simple things like groceries. If taxes were lowered it would have an impact on some, but most, not for the ones who really need the change to happen. It would only affect some of the top percentage in America. The housing market isn't helpful for the majority either, it is too expensive for most with families to afford but if the prices went down too much then the housing market would inflate and there would be a huge shift. It's hard to decide these simple basic necessities but if it were to change too much, then it would affect ordinary citizens in the wrong ways also.
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Carlos Reyes
4/23/2014 01:29:00 pm
The stimulation started to get difficult having to make hard decisions to pay for things that were necessary one of the hardest decisions I had to make was to go to the funeral or not because for me it's really important to go. I also had to compromise my morals to be able to have money throughout the month if I was a representative of congress I would increase the minimum wage of the worker to have a more stable life without much of depression. Some challenges my solution would face is the time there could be a raise in the minimum wage it would probably not be something that would happen from one day to another and many families could use the raise the same day it was announced.
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Julia Eyer
4/23/2014 02:22:05 pm
I was successful throughout the simulation until day 30. I delayed on several payments which I already to delay in my own life, and unfortunately they caught up to be by the end of the month, when I lost all my money. One of the most difficult elements of the simulation was rationalizing my good judgement and my morals. I would wish to support my family and friends financially, but I also wasn't sure how I could pay for upcoming bills and grocery store visits. I also believe that being able to put these financial circumstances into perspective helped me individually realize the potential problems I might face in the future as I go out into the world next year on my own.
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Cooper Rockwood
4/24/2014 01:51:35 am
I finished the game with $269 to spare. The hardest decision to make was deciding whether or not to give my mom medicine, and whether or not to go see my child perform in the play. Yes I had to compromise some of my morals in order to survive. If I was a representative in congress, my solution to a problem in the simulation would be doing check ups on businesses to make sure they weren't firing people because they join unions. This was the main reason I struggled in the simulation-because I got fired. This would face problems with business owners who don't like not being able to fire people who will fight for better pay. The challenge most of my classmates decide to solve was the transportation problem. A lot believe that transportation should be free so jobs in other areas are easily accessible.
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Verenicce
4/24/2014 02:19:35 am
I made it through the month with $25. Some of the hardest decisions to make was with my child who wanted some things but I couldn't afford them. I did have to compromise some of my morals like running off when I hit the car and borrowing from others because I do not like owing others money. If I was a congress member I would work in improving the higher education system. If I was a parent I would want my child to succeed in school and in the game it said that some parents can not help their children with homework and be involved in their schooling. This situation is due to either the parent not being well educated or the parent needs to take on extra work. In order to fix this problem I would cut the military budget. The problem that I would face is getting support because not many people want to give up military support because they may feel vulnerable. In Cori’s solution I believe people would also have trouble in coming up with funds from the government to help support the homes of the lower class. More specifically if the government did help where would the money come from?
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Verenice
4/24/2014 02:34:52 am
I finished the the 30 days with $223, but that was because I refused to pay certain aspects of my life. One of my hardest choices was that of my pet, to chose if he got treatment, suffered, or died. And at the time I didn't have enough money to help him/her, but I knew if he/her was well enough to still be allowed treatment he/her wasn't so far along to die, or for me to put him/her down. I had to compromise some morals, yet I couldn't allow the choices to take all my morality. In the case of my dog, I had to let him/her suffer a bit more, and to me that's morally wrong. But I later was presented with the option to join a union and I accepted, to stop working for the person who had given me a job, to try to get a better outcome, for my family. I would try to find an affordable education, because in the simulation I had to face my child struggling. And I would cut money from the NSA or the military. Not to leave them vulnerable, because that would make people not like this option, but just enough to help the struggling in education. I feel like the wages should not be raised, but the cost of living be lowered. Some students, suggested raising the wages, but with more money, people raise to adjust to it, and the individual is left with the same amount. I don't think many people would like this though because it would lower the amount of money people get, and end of lowering other things as well, making the scale turn negative.
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Jason Varozza
4/24/2014 06:23:28 am
I made it to day 16 when I ran out of money. The last question was to save my dog or let it die and I choose to save it and and ran out of money. I did have to compromise on things especially when I got fired from my job for trying to join a union. If I were a congressman I would put firmer laws on stopping people from being fired by joining a union. That was the main reason I didn't make it. A lot of people had problems with transportation and had to miss something or spend more money then they should have to visit family or travel to work. We could fix this by creating more affordable public transportation and cheap housing close to the work place.
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Jonathan Sanchez
4/24/2014 10:25:08 am
I did fairly well the first time through the simulation. I chose the warehouse worker because it paid the most between it and the restaurant worker, seeing as I didn't qualify for the other one. The hardest decision that I had to make was giving my mom the $100 for her medicine, sorry mom, bills were due and you DO have other kids you can go to. If I were a congressman I would propose laws that would raise minimum wage for companies who make over a certain amount every year and not allowing those companies to raise their prices, the CEOs can go without a ridiculously high salary while their employees barely make it each month with their bills
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Josie Wheeler
4/24/2014 11:03:45 am
I did alright in the simulation, I lasted all the days, but only had $100.00 left. The hardest decision in the game was deciding on letting your kid play sports or go out when you did not have the extra money to do so. Since I said no, in real life the kid would probably have had a very boring childhood. The morals I had to compromise was giving up time with friends to work on extra work along with not allowing my kid to do extra circular activates like it wanted. If I was a member of congress I would either suggest raising the wages of the jobs or lowering the prices of bills, accidents, food, and child care. The challenges these solutions would then face was if you raised wages then everyone's wages would go up, even the already high wages, and if you lowered the prices of goods then they would become easier for everyone to have.
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Julia Torres(:
4/24/2014 01:40:46 pm
When I first started the simulation, I only lasted until day 8. That is choosing the warehouse worker. However, I lost money fast because I chose to live closer to home and chipped in money for others. The second time I tried being a restaurant server, and I lasted 14 days, which still wasn't much. I lost money giving my son lunch money, giving my sick co worker money, and lost all of it when I had to pay for my pet to live with me. I realized how hard it is to balance your budget with your moral values. Healthcare was also another expensive part of the game, and I now truly support Obama care and if I could, I would lower taxes. I did not realize how having a kid would also take away not only my money, but my freedom as an individual. I missed on a free concert because I did not want to pay for a baby sitter for my child. Transportation should also be lowered as well, because that would save people a lot of money on gas and public transportation such as taking the bus or a train. This game made me realize how easy it is to run out of money in a short period of time and how you have to sacrifice the things you love to survive.
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Noah Simons
4/24/2014 02:44:42 pm
This game portrayed the day to day struggles of a single parent who works a minimum wage job quite realistically, especially because of all the unexpected events that cost money. I ended the game off with $58 to my name, I had rent due the next day, a dental problem that would cost me $800, and a car payment that would cost $500. Going through this simulation I kept my morals, I paid for my moms medicine even though I couldn't afford it, I sent my kid to a good schooling program, and I paid for the little things that my kid needed. If I was a representative I would be pushing for further education beyond high school to be cheap so that the average workforce would be skilled and more useful and beneficial to the country as a whole. In turn, cheaper education would give those who are less fortunate a more fair chance to better their lives. I seriously don't know how some of these people make it through the month, living day to day, paycheck to paycheck would be incredibly challenging and immensely stressful..
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Sofie Pearson
4/24/2014 05:06:14 pm
I made it through the simulation with $114 at the end of the month. Many of the decisions I faced seemed difficult to me and making moral decisions sometimes conflicted with making financially logical decisions. The hardest decisions were the ones involving loved ones like a grandfather, mother or child because its difficult to see them suffer as a result of budgeting inflexibility. Sometimes I just couldn't afford to make a the decision I wanted to because my balance was too low. Missing my grandfather's memorial or not being able to pay $100 to help my mom in medical need were two examples where morals seemed compromised by my need to budget. Feeling restricted and controlled by a lack of money was not fun in this simulation. If I were a representative of congress I would focus my attention on the cost of health insurance and healthcare and its impact on struggling families in these situations along with managing rent and available housing. Another thing that could help would be progression towards transportation that didn't depend on gasoline as commuting takes out a big piece of a person's balance everyday. The challenges facing these possible solutions are controversy on the idea of affordable healthcare, availability of housing in areas with low-income families and few alternatives to spending money on commuting to work. I don't think that there is one simple solution to this national problem but I think that we can overcome some of these challenges in the foreseeable future.
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Sergio Saldana
4/25/2014 03:53:48 am
I made it through the simulation with $2 at the end of the month. I had to make a lot of hard decision but the hardest one was giving up my car. I could not afford to pay it and in the end i also lost my job because i could not make it to work. I had to compromise a lot of morals because I just did not have the money to hand over. It was a shame o go through this had actually go though everyday life. If I were a representative of congress I would focus my attention on the cost of health insurance and helping with lower income families who cant afford housing or even buying food for the house. The challenges facing these possible solution are controversy on the idea of affordable healthcare, more housing for low-income families and other ways so people can save as much money as possible. don't think that there's is one simple solution but I believe we can overcome these situations because we always do have always find a way to do so.
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patty zepeda
4/25/2014 03:54:11 am
Well I ended the month with nothing in my pocket but I would of been fine for the next month since I had a friend living with me. One of the hardest things I had to do was to decide to pay for my pet and not have my child eat or let it suffer, I had to let it suffer. I had to go agents some of my morals and I had an IOU and late bills that gave me a bigger payment later on but I had to do that to get threw the month. If I was a representative of congress I would increase the minimum wage for the unskilled workers and provide more help for them. I would lower the car tickets because its unnecessary and just makes things harder on family's who try to get threw the month.
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Selene Robledo
4/25/2014 04:52:45 am
My first job was a restaurant server for $8 an hour and that was not enough to service, they offered me health insurance which I accepted and my weekly pay was down to $70 dollars per week. I got an apartment that was too small and my stuff didn’t fit. So I had to do a garage sale and I only got $150. Then I had to move from my apartment because my land lord raised my rent so I moved out but I still had to pay a lot. Then they changed my working hours to midday were there was not a lot of costumers which includes not a lot of tips. I become very stressed out and my friend says if I want a cigarette I of course say no. I got fired form my job because I talked to someone from the union. I let my friend live in my living room for $200. I help my mom with her medication by giving her $100. I am burly at day 13 and I have no job and my friend is living with me. I didn't have enough money to pay for certain thing my child needed and I have only one dollar by day 18. On day 22 I had no money to pay for a broken window so I lost. This game was very hard; I didn't know what decisions to make for me and my family. It kind of freaked me out because I feel like I’m not prepared.
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Ingrid De Santiago
4/25/2014 04:59:43 am
I did not do well in the simulation. I ran out of money on day 20 because I couldn't get a better paying job. Some of the hardest things I had to decide on where giving money to my child and putting my dog down to not make him suffer and I didn't have enough money to pay for medical help. I also had to be very careful to not get hurt because I didn't have enough money for insurance. I believe a solution to the problem could be receiving more in my paycheck or having more available places to live where it wouldn't cost so much for transportation and be more affordable. Challenges I would face with lower house payments would be less quality places to live because land lowers wouldn't worry so much about the problems in the place.
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Jennifer Sanchez
4/25/2014 06:18:32 am
The first time I tried to simulation I only made it to the eighth day because I ran out of money. Once I tried it the second time I ended the month with a total of $318. The hardest decision I had to make was opting to stay home as well as making my child stay home because we couldn't afford to go out as well as not being able to pay for the medical needs of my family pet. Yes I did have to compromise my morals in order to afford food and shelter for my family. Like at times when I was asked to help a friend and even though I really did want to help and I knew it was the right thing to do I had to say no. If I was in congress I would try to make it possible to help with the bills or postpone the bills of those people who have to pay off their student loans but are still struggling to find a job because they just got out of college. A problem that my solution could face would be to get the school to agree to the postponing of debts.
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Carlotta Sainato
4/25/2014 10:15:48 am
I lasted until day 29 in the simulation. I had to make a lot of hard decisions, balancing my relationship with my kid, friends, job and expenses. The hardest decision I had to make often regarded my kid, sending him to birthday parties without gifts and keeping him home. I had to compromise my morals by living further away from work, and thus using more gas and pollution than I would have preferred, I had to reject opportunities for my kid and myself so that I could make ends meet, I had to let my health decline, and I had to say no to helping people close to me. If I were a representative in Congress, I would suggest a higher minimum wage, so that people who are working low-paying jobs will be paid more. I’d also place more emphasis on public transportation, so that people in poverty do not have to worry about car insurance, and they have a reliable way to get to and from work, as well as food stamps, so that people in dire need of food stamps do not have to wait a month to receive the food that they require immediately. Raising minimum wage would be challenged by employers who would lose profit, and could result in fewer job opportunities, so if I were to use that solution, I would have to back it up with another plan to keep the number of job opportunities relatively the same. The only challenge I would potentially face regarding the public transportation and food stamps would be managing to get finances from the nation’s budget to focus on those issues. However, I believe that if I had enough data and a strong argument, I would be able to obtain such finances. Many of my classmates suggested altering the health care system, which, if done correctly, would be extremely beneficial to millions of people. However, I think they don’t fully appreciate how difficult it would be to propose an alteration to healthcare that would be able to lower healthcare prices without either being rejected by other representatives and government officials or causing a blow to the nations economy.
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Vanessa Ramirez
4/25/2014 02:38:54 pm
I did the stimulation and ended with $4. The hardest decisions involved paying for things that weren't yet due. I had to compromise a lot of my morals in order to survive, such as when I was running low on money and I had decide whether or not to pocket $10 that someone dropped on the ground beside me. If I were a representative in congress I would focus a lot on the cost of health insurance and how it's really hard for lower income families to pay for it. Challenges facing focusing on a situation such as this are conflicting opinions on how much support families need in regards to health insurance, and what incomes necessarily define those that are in "need."
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Heri Rios
4/27/2014 11:55:49 am
I made it wth 868 dollars at the end of the week but i had to put off paying for a DMV fee. The hardest decisions came when i had to decide between friends and work. I believe the biggest reason in life is because of your friends and family and to start putting them down creates harder times for you. We all work for our family and friends and ourselves. Probably not going to my "best friends" wedding or the severe tooth pain were the hardest ones to decide from just from that main friends and family ideology, however, it was really tough for some other questions. I believe adding help to families with minimum incomes if they qualified to get help from the government. I think this would help families that are really struggling with necessities. I believe we should really focus on helping the people that actually need it and are being honest and real about theyre problems. We should have stricter plans and methods for giving people other peoples hard earned money (taxes). Ive seen raising the minimum wage as a consistant solution,however, that is the immidiate reaction we get and believe to be the truth. But once research and inlightenment is done you see the consequences are much worse and useless than believe to be. That will just disrupt inflation with keeping the gap the same way
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Markley LaPointe
4/28/2014 11:20:15 am
I made $275 and had to give up many things to be able to survive the month, including not paying my medical bills or for my own mother. The hardest decision i had to make was in favor of what my kid wants and needs, more specifically if my kid needed more shoos then i would go to the thrift store and get $10 shoos instead of $100 pair of shoos which i don't see as needed. Although going to a "best friends" wedding would be fun for me, it would not benefit my family in any way making it hard to choose my family or one of my best friends. Some of the things i would not do in real life, probably would live of cereal without milk if i could, but knowing my spending habits I would probably run out of money and wouldn't be able to make it as a wear house worker.
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Peeka Zimmerman
4/28/2014 12:07:42 pm
I chose to work in a restaurant, as it seemed to be the job I would enjoy most- however it only paid $8 an hour. I had $1,048 to take home per month and ran out of money on day 6. I ran out so quickly because I saved my dog, paid my car insurance, had a landlord that raised my rent, and held an unsuccessful garage sale. I was surprised because the choices I made were what I felt needed to be done. On my next attempt I was missing my child's play, skipping a night out with friends, having no health insurance, letting my dog suffer, forgoing root canal treatment, and living without internet. I made it through the month with $117 on this second attempt, but was not doing what I really wanted to- my second job choice told me I was not a fast enough at typing to qualify for the job! I asked friends for help financially- marking how desperate I really was. The hardest choice was my dog- I would never let them suffer in order to save some money.
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Kacey Sargent
5/12/2014 02:13:12 am
GOOF
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