|
Actually nurses and garbage collectors make quite
good money. Not kidding. I think you should try living here before
you knock the U.S. so much. Same deal with me--I should try living in
different countries too.
The people I work with (in electronics) mostly
don't have college degrees and they make pretty good money. Although
they're hardly "cultured" (most went through the military),
they are decent people and seem pretty happy. And most are quite
interested in music.
I'd say for the most part people aren't that driven
to compete for high status. Most folks go to work, come home and want to
enjoy their free time and do like respect but it's not a duel to the death over
it.
\t
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 2:00
AM
Subject: Re: living without
money(O.T.)
The answer is Mark, that in your country (as far as I can tell)
status means alot...respect is everything, fear of not being respected and
somehow being less worth is so great that peoples priorities become tainted
from what they feel to be right, good and proper, into what your society (as
advertised by your biased news and tv stations) tells you is what you
need. Plus you need money to buy your education (if you want anything
more than the basic package) and you cannot afford to be sick (you said that
yourself).
That is not to say there are not problems in either of my chosen
countries (norway and the UK) England for example has a large homeless
problem, but there, and certainly here in Norway, it is predominately drug
users and the mentaly sick that end up on the streets, and that is a different
social problem, that is very hard to eradicate. In Norway however, there is
simply NO homelessness. There are enough beds in shelters for eveyone, thats
not to say that some dont choose to sllep rough, but for half the year, its
simple not possible, they would die there. Consequently the councils have HAD
to provide some sort of shelter (Yes councils, not charity).
The little
quirks in the system (like your homeless people eating goumet food quip) are
just quirks, and as stories serve to misdirect the populace rightful guilt on
the subv´ject of the homeless.. So.. they eat nice bread, but they sleep in a
hole under railway bridge in ther own excrement. I myself go a kick when I
offered a himless guy a Cola drink that came as part of my "Meny Happy Meal"
at Mc Donalds.. the homeless guy said.. "Not thanks, I dont eat that shit...
bunch of capitalist evil bastards, destroying the rain forests
blablabla..."
In the US, you are obsessed with freedom, and choice.
Fuck that!!! is what I say.. You just dont wanna pay your taxes!!! You
say you worked at a soup kitchen, thats wonderful. But you shouldnt have to!!!
You always tip in resturants and cabs, why? Cos you know that they are not
well enough paid! You CHOOSE where to give... My Mother died of Cancer, so I
am predisposed to give charity to Cancer Research, but shouldnt
As for
your advice on how to survive, I couldnt agree more... I lived for many years
extremely broke. And I could do the same again... I might have to move to a
warmer country tho... 2 tanks of petrol could get me and my familly to
Spain, where its cheap to live.. dont need heating... and well.. its nice
there... For that life I could (almost) live on the streets... a small
apartment would do... do a few odd jobs, sit in outside cafes, swim before
breakfast, live on bread and olive oil and tomatos ... I dunno... Im
almost packing as I write this!!!
So what's poverty in a land where
food is abundant?
Its discussting isnt it... but whos got that
abundance of food, certainly not the starving.
If food isn't abundant,
where you are, why are you having children?
Why not? Is procreation a
bonus for the rich?
Why is status more important than education?
See
above
Why has being a craftsman or worker become a bad thing?
Surprised
you had to ask that... BAD PAY!!! waitresses and nurses are paid so
badly, would you wanna be one? Nope, And you knew that from young right? so
you went to college right? Now you earn good huh? OK then.. Pay them
workers better, Pay then Nurses better, Pay them Garbage collectors better,
then people will do those jobs, then less people will go to college, which
will mean more spaces at colloge for those that wanna, which means education
costcome down, which means... ? well what dos that mean... maybe you can get
to pay less taxes?
Final point is about Taxes.. so here I go... lets
compare.
I pay 42 percent of my monthly wage in Tax. (With some exceptions
December and July are Tax free - meant to help you pay for family occasions
such as Christmas and Holidays - ok tis a bit "Nanny State" for me too, but
there you are, gives you an idea what what the Government believes is its
responsibilities are)
Wow.. better get back to woork... But will end
with this one (its old so apologies for repetition on this list...)
Now
I wont say this clip is NOT without flaws.. there ARE errors (which Micheal
Moore slammers are only to quick to pint out) but MOST of this bit on Norway..
TRUE!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGTzbj3fRSw
Mark
On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 12:41 AM, Mark Sottilaro <zerocrossing@gmail.com>
wrote:
This is all well and good, but it would snuff out your
ability to loop
pretty quickly. I think it would be more useful to
compare money to
wealth as concepts and do a bit more in educating people
about the
difference. i.e. going into credit card debt to buy
spinners for your
Hyundai when the mother of your child is obtaining food
stamps to feed
themselves.
I was pretty poor for a very long time.
Traditional "starving
musician" type. It was stressful, but
mostly in a way that getting a
parking ticket would send me into a
tailspin because I'd be short on
rent. Other than events like that
life was pretty good. Live
outside a small town and you can live
pretty lean. My health plan
consisted of me planning on not getting
sick.
In a weird way, now that I'm doing OK I often think, "what if I
lost
it all?" The answer is I'd just go back to where I was and
make it
work in some way. I never quite get people who jump off
buildings
when they lose their fortune. I recently heard an
interview of a
homeless guy on NPR where he says that he actually gained
weight being
homeless due to the availability of good state and church
run food
programs in his town. I remember the soup kitchen I worked in
served
bread from the gourmet bakery I worked next to and it was my
one
change to eat there bread as I usually couldn't afford it.
So
what's poverty in a land where food is abundant? If food
isn't
abundant, where you are, why are you having children? Why is
status
more important than education? Why has being a craftsman or
worker
become a bad thing?
These are the things I think about.
--
www.markfrancombe.com
http://vimeo.com/user825094
http://uk.youtube.com/user/markfrancombe
http://www.myspace.com/markfrancombe
http://www.looop.no/shop/catlabel.php?q=Synch%20Non%20Synch
|
