Absolutely correct! The casual confessions of another in a friendly
conversation goes a long way to building an overall impression of who
that person is.
My brother-in-law and I are able to express our differences and still
remain on friendly terms. But there exists a chasm of lack of
understanding between us. On the other hand, his wife, my
sister-in-law, has emailed me privately and asked me not to send them
any of my, "Controversial Stuff". She, on the other hand, sends out
the wonderful 200 percent American stories about mangled war veterans
who have been abused by the uncaring "leftist" government. She also
posts horror stories about the "riff Raff" who are running amuck,
robbing and murdering innocent folk...like her, and why our bleeding
hearts are allowing them to roam about the streets forcing us "good
guys" to hunker behind our barred windows and triple locked doors, as
if we were the criminals, not them.
I do not ask her to stop posting such crap to me. I read it all and
remind myself that this is the "mind" behind that friendly, smiling
face beaming up at me at family gatherings.
And their daughter, her husband and their young son are all living in
the same mind set. Are they bad people? I prefer to think that they,
along with millions of carbon copies, are victims of a monster Empire.
Certainly they are not going to listen to my views. What they believe
has worked for them, financially. My brother-in-law was a faithful
employee, in a management position, for what Cathy and I call, "The
Feather Factory', a maker of down comforters and winter clothing, and
upon retirement the company gave him a large enough bonus that they
paid off their home and banked enough to enable them to take world
cruises and live securely. On paper, they are far better off
financially than Cathy and I, Do I envy them their good fortune? Do
I believe that they are being rewarded for being "Good Americans"?
Not a bit of it. I would not trade places if I could. The one
important thing they had to give up in order to "live the good life",
was their personal freedom. They long ago forgot how to question what
causes our nation's troubles. They allowed themselves to be gathered
into the Empire's Fable. At Christmas and on her birthday, they give
Dorothy a gift certificate for $100 at Safeway. They drop by to see
her on her birthday and on Mother's Day...if Cathy really pushes. And
they consider themselves caring people. But since I only see them two
or three times each year, it's easy for me to welcome them into my
home and wine and dine them during their visit to dear old Mom.
I have no illusions that what I believe will make a difference in this
world, make life easier for the downcast, bring world peace and end
the corruption by the rich and powerful. But I can at least go to bed
each night with the knowledge that I am a Free Man. And I see the
seeds stirring in my eldest daughter, my son and my younger sister.
And of course, Cathy. Naturally, Cathy. Her Free Spirit is what drew
me to her in the first place.
Well, enough rambling. I need to get on the phone and set up
appointments with prospective clients, and then go back to beating up
on the brush that threatens to take over.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/18/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
He sounds like my daughter. And I have to say that when people express such
values, it does affect how I feel about them. I won't stop loving my
daughter, but when she expresses sentiments like that, I like her less
because the lack of concern for the welfare of others says something about
her values and who she is. It's a view of life that infects one's actions,
how one treats other people, and whether or not one would object if
government policy hurts categories of people who aren't one's relatives or
close friends. If you don't care about the working poor, you don't believe
that our society should ensure that everyone's basic needs are met. All
sorts of things follow from that.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2017 12:45 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: housing in New York City
If you work for $10 per hour, and you manage to get in 10 hours a day, and a
full 5 days per week for 52 weeks, you will earn a whopping $26,000.
Working a 40 hour week at $15 per hour for a full 52 weeks will bring
you about $31,200. To make over $40,000 per year you will need to
get 52 weeks of 40 hours each, with an hourly wage of $20. This brings in
$41,600 And that is before any taxes or medical or FICA. You can count on
at least $10,000 coming off the top for taxes, Medical, and other fees.
Now you have close to $31,000 to cover house or apartment, utilities, food
and incidental expenses,transportation expenses, clothing, and on and on.
You can plug in the numbers for you and your family, but
$41,600 a year is not going to enable you to save enough to pull your family
out of danger of the poverty line.
This afternoon my wife's family gathered at our house to celebrate her
mother's 91st birthday. My brother-in-law, a 67 year old Vite Nam Marine
veteran, said to me, "These people wanting $15 per hour for entry level jobs
are not doing work that is worth that much".
I said, "Look at it from the other side. The level of income in order to
live at or just above the poverty line is actually closer to $20 per hour.
You were not responsible for a rising cost of living that requires $20 per
hour to survive. Your employer is not satisfied in running a business that
allows him to live at the poverty line, so why should he expect you to be
satisfied with it?"
Sure, the boss will need to adjust his prices a few pennies on the dollar,
but so will all the other businesses in town. Why should we expect that you
should sacrifice any bit of this bare bones living in order to assist your
boss in living a life style you will never attain?" My brother-in-law made
one more try at convincing me that some jobs are just not worth such an
amount of money. "Flipping a hamburger doesn't take any real skill", he
argued.
"But flipping hundreds of hamburgers each day, day after day, as well as
keeping current on sanitation regulations, and all of the other foods you
must prepare and serve is worth a decent living, if it is important enough
for the business to provide a service to the community".
We left it at that and went on to other topics. I doubt I convinced him,
and for certain he didn't sway my belief. But we like each other and we
both understand that our fighting over the minimum wage will not change
anything, but it could prove harmful to our family relations.
Besides, I know that I'm right!!!
Carl Jarvis
On 7/17/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I just heard an item on the WBAI Pacifica news. The Homeless have been
demonstrating because new low cost housing is being made available to
the poor. The housing is for families with incomes as low as $40,000
or $45,000.
The problem is that many working people in the city don't make $40,000.
Their incomes are $30,000. There is no affordable housing for them.
Shelters
exist and a great deal of money is spent for them. But there's no
permanent housing The demonstrators were marching in front of an empty
lot, owned by the city, that had been just sitting there for 47 years.
They would like the city to build housing on this property in which
they could afford to live.
Miriam