<snip> I also lived in rural america (Kentucky) and I even lived below the poverty line. These "car, wealthy people, society is the fault" arguments never seem to place any value on the individual decisions made by the people. Its always culture, society, or some other bad guy that caused all their problems.
I used to work in downtown Denver. ------------------------------------------ Seems to me you left. Denver is not rural America. Many people -- or at least their wives-- are not ready to leave all their family behind for urban opportunity. That means the reality of minimum wage. I live in central Montana. Skilled blue collar workers get $7 to $10 an hour. Yet repairs at a dealer are within 10% of LA prices. It is called exploitation and it is not the fault of the man who lives here. The owners of these corporations are USUALLY out of staters. Sort of a variation on ghetto labor exploitation. The bad guys wear 3 piece suits and are pillars of society. I see them as pirates or something out of a Dickens novel. You want to be blind to their greed and manipulation OK but a little compassion for your fellow worker would be a good thing.It's called empathy or compassion. Kirk -----Original Message----- From: aegent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 9:24 AM To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: [biofuel] car-culture and rural poverty in the US was Re: SUV's and Mark, I agree with some of your post but must respectfully disagree with the "car-culture and rural poverty in the US" argument. On insurance, the issue is who is liable the driver or the car. If the costs were fairly allocated it would fix part of the problem. Gov't. seems to make problems worse whenever they get involved. I also lived in rural america (Kentucky) and I even lived below the poverty line. These "car, wealthy people, society is the fault" arguments never seem to place any value on the individual decisions made by the people. Its always culture, society, or some other bad guy that caused all their problems. My view is that the only reason anyone in america is poor is by their own choice. I have heard so many arguments against getting education when I lived in rural areas. "you don't need that", "book learnin won't make you smarter", "got book learning but no common sense", "Why you can stay here and work for less than minimum wage, you don't need that college". Having been below the poverty line and having worked my way up to middle class, I have no liberal guilt. I am happy to talk to people about how to resolve this but too many people have bought into the socialist view that the reason they are poor is because someone else took their share of the pie. Personal and individual decisions are a major and possibly the most significant part of this equation. Been there, done that.
