On 27/02/2011 15:40, Bob Sullivan wrote:
Boris,
No armed revolts here, but many unhappy people.
The perception is that public employees - teachers, police,& firemen
are retiring at 2/3 or 3/4 of annual salary as paid by the state government.
Most people are not covered by such pensions and have seen their
retirement 'nest egg' fall by 50% or more in the financial crisis.
(Falling home prices vs fixed mortgage loans have wiped out homes as assets.)
So the 'have-nots' now resent the union deals and see pensions
as something they will pay increased taxes to cover in the future.
The percieved injustice of the situation complicates things.
The public employee unions have been very successful negotiating with the
politicians. And the politicians have hidden that success in future IOU's,
not raising taxes to fund the future debts. The unions are often the
most powerful supporters of politicians with loose purse strings,
and the cycle continues.
You do know that about 2/3 of the highest grossing US companies and 68%
of foreign companies working in the US paid virtually no tax last year?
The injustice of the situation is radically different to the
perception. Many people outside the US are astonished at the way
turkeys keep voting for Christmas.
From time to time, we throw out the old politicians and elect new ones.
Often the new politicians have no idea how to solve the problems, but
propose some outlandish remedies that make the 'have nots' feel better.
After a lot of shouting and protest, the problems get sorted and painfull
solutions are implemented.
Regards, Bob S.
On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 2:23 AM, Boris Liberman<bori...@gmail.com> wrote:
Despite the fact that you eventually turned demonstrator, you did an
excellent job as a photographer, Christine.
I am not offended, obviously, though a little devil inside me begs me to
type down the question - aren't you going to overthrow your government too?
And then another little devil asking - has the world revolution finally
started?
But seriously, there is much sense in what's going on now practically
everywhere in the world. At least that's how methinks...
Boris
On 2/27/2011 5:16 AM, Christine Aguila wrote:
Hi Everyone: I know things are a bit politically charged in the U.S.
right now given the labor issue, and I'm sure most of you know by now,
I'm pro labor. I just wanted to say I'm not pushing my political views
on anyone here, so I hope no one will be offended. From a pure
photographic standpoint, I am rather proud of the two photos I posted to
my PAW blog this week. Frankly, I'm amazed I was able to get any
pictures taken, since I was constantly alternating between being
demonstrator then photographer--and in the end, mostly demonstrator. If
anyone is interested, there's a link below the second picture to a more
comprehensive gallery of the day's events. Cheers, Christine from
Chicago, Local 1600 :-)
http://aguilapaw.posterous.com/paw-week-8
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