Re: WGA Strike 90%+ vote to strike

DevilsPGD wrote:
In message <0001HW.C3532EBC013C7CABF0182648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Amy Guskin
<aisling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm guessing you've never had to live in subsidized housing.

Damn straight.

<rant>

I've worked a job since shortly after I finished high school, which is
why I can afford to pay for my rent, my bills, my food my toys, plus pay
my taxes to pay for subsidized housing too.

I've never walked out on a job without lining something else up first,
and ended up homeless.

I've never bought a motorcycle and not had enough money for rent.

I've never been short on rent, but still had money for beer or pot.

I've never been short in rent, but still had cable TV and a broadband
internet connection.

I've never failed to pay my utility bills because my brand new truck got
a scratch so I had a panel repainted.

(All of these have happened to various friends of mine, all of which
ended up in subsidized housing within two years after the fact. Not one
of them *had* to live in subsidized housing, each of them made a choice
or series or choices which landed them there)

I live in a city with damn near everywhere is hiring. You virtually
cannot get paid minimum wage anywhere. Minimum wage was recently bumped
to $8/hour, gas station jockies at the hole-in-the-wall pumps down the
street from me make $12/hour+shift bonuses, grocery store clerks are
getting $12-$18/hour before bonuses and benefits, and you will typically
get hired on the spot if you can manage to muddle your way through an
application form.

Daycare is more or less free during work hours if you're below the
poverty line (Based on helping a friend work through the paperwork for a
subsidy after a breakup)

There is zero excuse to not be working if you're willing and able in
this city, even if you're completely unskilled.

Skilled workers are in even more demand.
</rant>

Most people wouldn't choose that if they could afford anything better.

I'm not so sure about that, many of the places around here are decent
apartments, much better then some of the lower end paid rentals. I've
hung out with friends that live in them, and I've lived beside them,
although not actually lived in one.

I can tell you unequivocally that the only people I ever chatted with at
the unit I lived beside were definitely there by choice.

Compared to one place my brother lived, I'd probably have preferred
paying full price in a subsidized housing apartment then living in his
place, were those the only choices.

A lot of these high-priced items you claim to be seeing in subsidized housing are not _bought_, but rather _rented_. Or purchased on time. And when payments are missed, the item disappears. So the reason someone in subsidized housing has a much newer, better tv than my 1995 32" ProScan is _not_ because they had a spare $4000 to plunk down on a brand new 52" Sony Bravia; it's usually because they got it from Rent-a-Center, or bought it on time, and thus only need a small amount each month.

It matters not what payment method they choose, be it up front, financed
with monthly payments, or rent it.

Certainly, that's not every instance of every premium consumer item you've ever seen in the hands of someone living in subsidized housing, but nor is the situation as black and white as you're painting it.

Correct.

However, what it is black and white as this: If you can afford a big
screen TV, or you can afford to buy beer, or cigarettes, or pizza
delivery, you are receiving more of my money then you need.

(In all cases, those who *cannot* work are excluded from my comments. I
actually have a big problem with the way the long term disability system
is structured too, most notably that these individuals do not get enough
money to live on -- You can actually get more handouts by not working
then you can being unable to work, and I consider that very, very wrong)

I am very much in favour of helping someone get back on their feet when
something unexpected comes up (sudden loss of job, illness, whatever),
or when someone cannot work.

But when employers are out there willing to hire you, you're able to
work aren't working, that should be your business and yours alone, it
shouldn't involve me, nor my tax dollars.

What he said.

All of it.

Actually, that rant applies in a lot of areas. With the numerous types of construction projects - buildings, roads, etc. - leading up to the 2010 Olympics, there are jobs galore available here in the Vancouver area. Even if you're not "skilled trade labour", if you can push a broom and pick up scraps, you can get a job. Construction crews are almost begging for workers, and recent news item told of falling enrollment rates at trade schools because more and more people were just going straight into the work force (reminds me of that old Cosby bit, "They told me to finish school so I could get a job, so I did... and when I got out, I couldn't find a job, because all the dropouts already had them.")

Another recent news item had donut-shop and grocery store cashiers in Calgary *starting* in the $18-$22/hr range, because they were so short of staff. As you say, ultimately for most people, it comes down to choice and priorities - it's not a matter of not WANTING to work for a living... it's a matter of just not wanting to work THAT HARD... or not wanting to move to another area.

.

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