Feces and syringes in San Francisco

[ZigZagZeke]

The big picture here is that we are seeing the results of 40 years of corporate greed. When I was in high school a man with a high school diploma could go to work in a factory, get married, have kids with his stay at home wife, buy a house, buy a new car every 3 years, and still have money for vacations and fun. There weren't any homeless people. There were a few perennial campers. They were called "bums" and they liked their lifestyle.

People once had hope. They had the American dream to which they could aspire. Today there is no hope for a lot of people. There are no factory jobs. Those have all been moved to China, India, or Mexico. PGE just installed 1 million new "smart" electric meters for all of its customers in 2012. Where were those meters made? Mexico, where the environmental restrictions favor cheap manufacturing. NAFTA made it possible to quickly, easily, and cheaply export all of America's manufacturing jobs to places with no unions, no child labor laws, no minimum wage, no OSHA, and no EPA.

As good paying factory jobs turned into minimum wage fast food jobs, people figured out that they had to put mom to work in order to make ends meet and have a comfortable life. The corporations quickly figured out what the market would bear, and the price of houses quadrupled over a period of about 10 years. Now it takes two wage earners just to get by.

People used to trade in their old cars for new ones every 3 years like we trade in our cell phones. These days people keep cars 7, 8, or 10 years, and then buy used cars to replace them.

Vacations are out of the question for many Americans. Even if they could afford it, they can't take the time off from their 50-60 hour a week jobs for fear of being replaced.

And then there is health care. The insurance companies have inflated the prices of drugs and medical care to the point where you can't afford to be uninsured, and now with Obamacare they are mandating insurance coverage and doubling the prices.

I understand the very real and valid Conservative/Libertarian notion that less government is usually a good thing. I also understand the Liberal notion that government has some legitimate functions without which capitalism turns into abuse. Unfortunately, the corporations that bribe our government officials to turn a blind eye to their abuse of the American people have just about completely taken over our government. I don't know what the remedy is going to be, but at some point we will all become disgusted with living in our own little "Calcutta", and we'll want to do something about it. At that point I just hope it's not too late.

 

[Mikej]

And yet we have politicians and voters insisting we need to import tens of thousands of more refugees into our country every year. If we can't take care of our own, how the heck and we expect to bring in more and take care of them? From what I've seen we do it by ignoring those in need, such as the homeless, veterans, etc., and focusing our efforts on the immigrants. We have enough problems on our own not being solved, probably best to restrain the flow significantly until we can get things right at home. I don't think any reasonable parent with several kids on a shoestring budget would try and solve the budget problem by suggesting they need to add more kids to the mix - yet that's exactly how things are working in our government right now.

Sorta off topic....An acquaintance has fallen in love with the Philippines. He's also fallen in love with a Filipino girl girl, in what order really doesn't matter. His plan was to bring her over here, get married, work, save money then move to the Philippines with her and open up shop/business. He had it all worked out. In the interim the U.S. gov. changed the rules from him having to make $20,000.00 a year to $30,000.00 a year to bring her here legally. How is it that people can flow across the border and get to stay and the guy can't get his girl over her for a period and then move away?

I though that was screwy.

 

[Mikej]

The big picture here is that we are seeing the results of 40 years of corporate greed. When I was in high school a man with a high school diploma could go to work in a factory, get married, have kids with his stay at home wife, buy a house, buy a new car every 3 years, and still have money for vacations and fun. There weren't any homeless people. There were a few perennial campers. They were called "bums" and they liked their lifestyle.

People once had hope. They had the American dream to which they could aspire. Today there is no hope for a lot of people. There are no factory jobs. Those have all been moved to China, India, or Mexico. PGE just installed 1 million new "smart" electric meters for all of its customers in 2012. Where were those meters made? Mexico, where the environmental restrictions favor cheap manufacturing. NAFTA made it possible to quickly, easily, and cheaply export all of America's manufacturing jobs to places with no unions, no child labor laws, no minimum wage, no OSHA, and no EPA.

As good paying factory jobs turned into minimum wage fast food jobs, people figured out that they had to put mom to work in order to make ends meet and have a comfortable life. The corporations quickly figured out what the market would bear, and the price of houses quadrupled over a period of about 10 years. Now it takes two wage earners just to get by.

People used to trade in their old cars for new ones every 3 years like we trade in our cell phones. These days people keep cars 7, 8, or 10 years, and then buy used cars to replace them.

Vacations are out of the question for many Americans. Even if they could afford it, they can't take the time off from their 50-60 hour a week jobs for fear of being replaced.

And then there is health care. The insurance companies have inflated the prices of drugs and medical care to the point where you can't afford to be uninsured, and now with Obamacare they are mandating insurance coverage and doubling the prices.

I understand the very real and valid Conservative/Libertarian notion that less government is usually a good thing. I also understand the Liberal notion that government has some legitimate functions without which capitalism turns into abuse. Unfortunately, the corporations that bribe our government officials to turn a blind eye to their abuse of the American people have just about completely taken over our government. I don't know what the remedy is going to be, but at some point we will all become disgusted with living in our own little "Calcutta", and we'll want to do something about it. At that point I just hope it's not too late.

I couldn't bring myself to put a like on this ^^^.

I've been seeing/saying the same thing for 30 years! It's the death of the middle class in America.

 

[albin25]

Mexico, where the environmental restrictions favor cheap manufacturing. NAFTA made it possible to quickly, easily, and cheaply export all of America's manufacturing jobs to places with no unions, no child labor laws, no minimum wage, no OsSHA, and no EPA.

Those all sound like it's Government forcing manufacturers (your eeevil corporations) offshore to survive it's onerous over-regulation in order to compete in very competitive world markets...
...ie; harder to comply at home and also export competitively causes them too change how and where to do business.

It's a very simple concept;
make "it" harder = less of "it"
make "it" easier = more of "it"

same applies to the addiction problem.

 

[Alexx1401]

And yet we have politicians and voters insisting we need to import tens of thousands of more refugees into our country every year. If we can't take care of our own, how the heck and we expect to bring in more and take care of them? From what I've seen we do it by ignoring those in need, such as the homeless, veterans, etc., and focusing our efforts on the immigrants. We have enough problems on our own not being solved, probably best to restrain the flow significantly until we can get things right at home. I don't think any reasonable parent with several kids on a shoestring budget would try and solve the budget problem by suggesting they need to add more kids to the mix - yet that's exactly how things are working in our government right now.

Yes!! The same people telling you "nothing can be done for dopers so we need to support them" are the same ones. They gladly tell the people who actually worked they need to do without. They want to throw cash at the trash and tell those who paid to pound sand. They will tell you that's because they are enlightened and compassionate and you who are cold hearted are not. Notice all the red herring thrown out when you try to talk to them? They will make up all kinds of inane arguments to support throwing you tax money at this trash who have never been productive. The "Government" only does what the voters allow. People are either voting for this or are just shrugging and allowing it. Same thing.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well if they'd stop shooting up prunes we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[Captain O]

We could reopen a few of the old WW2 "Internment Camps" and place gun turrets (with overlapping ranges) around the perimeter. With a 30-yard two fence "no man's land" with razor wire and "poof gas" booby traps in between them, these poor "incorrigible" individuals can be housed, fed and isolated indefinitely. (Perhaps we could arrange for another situation similar to the Dry Tortuga prison system). This could be done for those that "cannot benefit from habilitation" to the world of the general population. Let them go through withdrawal, and be fed, clothed (prison garb) and work at manual labor. Indeterminate sentencing.

We'll call it "civil commitment on behalf of public health". We do the same for the criminally insane, don't we?

 

[Lilhigbee]

Sorry, not much compassion here for people who willingly and knowingly F up their lives. Yes drugs should be cheap and readily available to those who want them. Let them all have MORE than they need.
Perhaps Billy Mays should be their poster child, a genuine role model.
"Ever considered suicide?? It might be your best option!!"

 

[Alexx1401]

Sorry, not much compassion here for people who willingly and knowingly F up their lives. Yes drugs should be cheap and readily available to those who want them. Let them all have MORE than they need.
Perhaps Billy Mays should be their poster child, a genuine role model.
"Ever considered suicide?? It might be your best option!!"

LOL, as I have said I'm very libertarian on this. If someone wants to make a mess or even end it all fine with me. As long as they don't ask me to pay for it or include kids.
For those who use "greed" to justify the dope heads one word. E D U C A T IO N. Yes it was nice that for a long time you could leave High School and take a job that paid VERY well. Work it for 30 years and walk away with a nice pension. Now those who claim "greed" did away with this What party is it that championed these jobs? Same party that wants to flood the country with cheap labor. There is still good work but it often means you have to get some kind of education. I have gone back to school twice in my working life which has spanned over 40 years now. That does not include all the continuing training when I was still working as a machinist. You can quit learning and blame everyone else, or you can try to make yourself more valuable in the market place. It's all a mater of personal choice. Drugs are a personal choice too. As is standing with hand out screaming that everyone else needs to go to work and hand you money so you can get high.

 

[PaulB47]

It been a while since I spent any time in Portland, but on recent visits it looks dirtier to me than it used to. I have no real reason to go down there any more. Used to spend time at Powells but Amazon takes care of that problem...

 

[CoastRange57]

I live 30 miles west of Portland. I have no reason to go there any more, and really try and not go east of Hillsboro. I will go north or south or over to the coast but have no need or desire to go to larger metro areas.

I have lived here all my life, but find that our plan is to move to Central Oregon in two years. More and more people moving to this area with no chance or additional roads or pubic infrastructure improvements. Property values are through the roof with all the people from Hungcouver and Shanghi West ( San Francisco) moving here.

 

[Captain O]

IMHO, "once a Junkie, always a junkie". Even those that recover from opiate addiction will always be vulnerable to relapse. This is why I have such misgivings concerning habilitation from said addictions.

Once the brain chemistry has been inexorably altered, the individual can no longer be trusted in the affairs of finance and also in the matters of other's lives. The belief that a junkie can be "cured" is erroneous. The chemical alteration is permanent and irrevocable.

Sorry, kids.

 

[Goosebrown]

I thought this was the name of a hipster club for a second...