There was a report on the radio Friday about how much money it really takes to live in the US.

Instead of just using the poverty line, they include what you have to set aside for (a) retirement and (b) emergency savings.  Add that to transportation costs, insurance, and so on, and it comes out to something like $30,000 per year.

The irony is that the people who are all for personal responsibility and "invest and save and don't depend on the government for anything" are the first ones who think it's perfectly okay to pay people a lot less than this.  The whole movement to make government less supportive of everyday people undermines the very ability of those people to support themselves.