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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=uGTzbj3fRSwMark
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.comhttp://vimeo.com/user825094http://uk.youtube.com/user/markfrancombe
http://www.myspace.com/markfrancombehttp://www.looop.no/shop/catlabel.php?q=Synch%20Non%20Synch
