Saving $63,000 on Minimum Wage Salary

[jeffrey]

Time is running out for Pedro Zapeta. An immigration judge ordered him to voluntarily leave the United States by the end of January.

Considering he managed to save $63,000 while earning minimum wage, I propose we should grant him citizenship and give him a show on CNBC to educate debt ridden Americans on how to save a few dollars.

Proud to Live in America

[Knows Money]

mmmm . . . thinking back to the years when I made 7.50 an hour . . . the more we make, the more we spend it seems if we don't have the discipline to live on the necessities. Most of us would probably not want to sacrifice the things that Pedro sacrificed to save that money. I'll admit it . . . I don't want to go back to apartment living and I don't want to move in with anyone. I like the services on my cell phone and home phone. I like buying fresh fruit and fresh vegetables frequent. I keep a bottle of wine for those stress relief moments. I like my cable . . . its sad. I'm conditioned to feel like I'm entitled to have certain things. I had to learn to create a way to afford these things and put together savings, but imagine if I could really cut off my cell, cable, home security, not shop for clothes . . . WOW, the things we could all accomplish. I'm quite jealous (really, I'm not being sarcastic) - there's a song by Elizabeth Withers called "The Simple Things." If I could really be satisfied with the simple things - I'm learning.

[Ima saver]

I lived on minimum wage (never as much as $7.50) for many years and always saved at least 10% of all I made.

I saved some money.....It can be done.....We were saving for the down payment on our house.

I cut bills to the minimum, used coupons, samples and stopped buying wants and only bought needs.

Why is it that sociaty thinks people who save money by not living above their means must be doing something wrong?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Here's a little more recent story about the situation.

Guatemalan dishwasher still fights for money

Now the IRS wants to take money sympathetic people have donated to the man.

[jasanderson]

Wow. It's hard to say if it is drug money but shouldn't it be up to the stupid government to prove he is guilty? Isn't that the way our law works?

[jasanderson]

ps = innocent until proven guilty - noble concept that should apply whether you are a legal citizen or illegal.

[cptacek]

Um, he is here illegally. And he didn't pay income taxes on his earnings. And he didn't declare the money. Isn't the rule of law worth anything in this country anymore?

Oh, and if you read the freakin' article, he admitted that someone gave him the money and he was supposed to deliver it to four men:

Zapeta then told a Spanish-speaking detective he had received the money from a person in Stuart whose name he did not know.

"Zapeta stated once he arrived in Guatemala he expected to receive a telephone call from an unidentified person and that person would give him additional instructions as to the deliveries," Baker wrote.

Zapeta then identified four men who were to receive the money, but had only their first names - Francisco, Luis, Nicolas and Tomas. But he "could not provide any additional information related to the identity of these individuals or how to get in touch with them."

"Later Zapeta changed his story and said all of the money was his," Baker wrote. "A short time later Zapeta changed his story a third time and stated $15,000 of the money was his but he could not identify which envelope was his."

Court documents include a piece of paper, allegedly found in Zapeta's bag, with the names of the four men. Next to the name Tomas is the figure 10,000.

[sweeps]

I tend to agree with cptacek. Ok, drop the silly charge about carrying around too much cash. But then book him on illegal immigration AND failure to pay income and SS/medicare taxes. Think of the consequences a legal resident would get for never filing a tax return.

[Aleta]

This is not just an illegal thing, it's the law of our land. I can remember stories of coin collectors traveling around with more than $10,000 and haven't their money confiscated. There is a law that if someone pays you more than $10,000 at a time, that you have to report it. By the way, the coin collectors never received their money back. They explained that their business was usually cash only because noone wanted to deal with checks in that business.