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Re: (COOLLIST) class.war reaction
Okay Ben, you asked for a debate, you got it. >8->
> I bet Mr. Sanders has more than 717 times the number of people relying on
> his decisions and their outcome. While it is unfortunate (I guess) that so
> many people are poor, the reality is that the decision is their own making.
> If the trash doesn't get thrown away today there is always tomorrow. If the
> deal don't go through there are lots of people looking for work.
Objectivist claptrap. I can't prove this guy wrong, of course, but his
response is overgeneralized and misses the point. No one is trying to say
that CEO Sanders (is that the 90's equivalent of Colonel Sanders?) should
be making the same amount of money as the janitor. I doubt even the
janitors would find that sensible. The question is, are the lower-end
and service workers for these industries making ENOUGH?
Ben's citation says that ONE THIRD of the regional population earns less
than $15,000 a year. I'm living in Atlanta, and while I could probably
subsist (more or less) on that level of income, I wouldn't be able to raise
a family on it, and it wouldn't in any way be fun. I'd be scared to try it
in California, particularly the Silicon Valley area, where the cost of
living is about 40% higher.
I've never been a believer in trickle-down economics, but we need to talk
about practicality here. The area in question is a very prosperous part of
the country, with a healthy service industry growing to accommodate it.
Prices are naturally geared to the higher end of the spectrum, not the lower
end. Is $5 an hour survivable for a large minority of the population? For
that matter, is $7? THESE are the questions that matter. What the upper
echelon makes really isn't relevant, since their personal impact on the
economy is negligible.
> To get this level of decision and reliability is more than simply going to
> the right college and making good grades. That aspect is really irrelevant.
> It is one of outlook and drive, most maintenance folks have neither. If they
> did would they spend their evenings guzzling beer instead of reading about
> DE's? Would they have not finished that GED 20 years after dropping out of
> school?
Judgmental, aren't we? I agree with you on the question of outlook and
motivation. Without it you won't get ahead. With it, there's a better
chance (no guarantee) that you will. What annoys me is your implied
generalization that the educated are as a class BETTER than the uneducated.
Or that everyone would want that "level of decision and reliability."
If you've got the motivation and background then sure, you'll make more
money and have a higher standard of living. But there are no demographics
anywhere that can tell you about QUALITY of life. Who's happier, the CEO
or the janitor? It's a toss-up. The CEO has plenty of money but no time.
If he can ever manage to spend an hour watching TV with his kids, he's
probably happy. The janitor has plenty of time but no money. If he has
a place to live that isn't falling apart, and enough food on the table that
his stomach isn't growling, he's probably happy too. As to which is HAPPIER
-- well, you can't compare just by knowing their job description.
The question isn't one of comparison. It's one of needs satisfaction. Do
the lower class of Silicon Valley make enough money to satisfy their basic
needs and remain happy? Well, then there's no problem. If they don't, then
the corporations should raise the minimum standards to satisfy those needs;
something they can easily afford.
> Life simply isn't that simple.
Piffle.
Blessings,
_TNX._
--
Stephen F. Eley (-) gt6877c@prism.gatech.edu )-( Student Pagan Community
http://www.gt.ed.net/sf | "What use is magic if it can't
My opinions are my opinions. | save a unicorn?"
Please don't blame anyone else. | - Peter S. Beagle, _The Last Unicorn_
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