neet, chansen in anthropologist mode

so that strange, long, Romanesque bridge has a name...interesting :3

the Canada side looked like some kind of theme park one the edge of a crumbling cliff t'me

i feel for the gov'ts who have to figure out how to adapt to the new economy that is coming (post scarcity, value-based), the new technologies (like 3d printing of houses, home biotech & nanotech, cognitive enhancement)...

The whole "Niagara Frontier" area in the US is suffering economically. We live close to Buffalo (the border's about a half hour drive from my front door.) We're in the city a fair bit, up to Niagara Falls, NY now and then. It's a very depressed area - and if you get into a really poor area it can be depressing to see. Niagara Region in Ontario is having problems, but nothing like the other side of the border.

Actually, based on what I've heard from folks with some knowledge of the industry, Costco is one of the best employers around among the big box/warehouse stores. Apparently Target's not bad either. But Wal-Mart from what I've heard is a horrible employer.

I've worked at Walmart.  They didn't pay minimum wage to anyone then at that location.  I disliked some of the managers and questioned their skills, and some of the 'customers' shouldn't have been allowed back in the store, but some managers were great.  Overall, the conditions weren't bad and they were super flexible about my schedule, even looking into a requirement of minimum hours.  I was able to fill out some paperwork to work less hours than the minimum because it was my choice, I had friends whose employers wouldn't bother with that paperwork and they had to choose between quitting or working more hours than they preferred while in school.  The opposite also occurred, during the summer I filled out paperwork stating that it was just temporary that I wouldn't get full time benefits while working full time hours.  Maybe that seems shady on Walmart's part, but I had all the benefits I needed at the time (2 drug plans) and wanted the extra hours for a few months.

I realize that buying from local Walmarts also helps them on a global scale, but I don't think the Canadian stores are as bad as the US ones and that can probably be said for quite a few chains.  At least they pay minimum wage, in the US some restaurants pay something like $2.50/hr.

I've seen the same thing in other parts of New York State. (Watertown, Syracruse) 

Their problem is an unwillingness to invest in public infrastructures like schools, roads, arts, etc. (Which comes from a belief tha ones well being is seperate from the community)  Without trained workers, or modern transportation you can not have a moden economy. 

Texas is currently closing down public hospitals and changing paved roads to gravel roads, becausde they are too poor, (which means they refuse to pay higher taxes on the oil industry).  Compare Texas to Alberta and you will understand why the US is the only country in the world to go in reverse,(from developed, to underdeveloped) 

The main form of assistance in the US are food stamps. 1/6 th of americans recieve food stamps in order to survive. 

Yet those are under attack by the wealthy as being a waste, and unneeded. The following is a video from Fox News about the evils of food stamps. 

The whole series nevr mentions once what the average wage is of a food stamps reciepiant. Howevr it profiles one, and shows him living the high life and eating lobster and other gormet meals.       Obviously a lie, as the food stamp program is limited to 200 a month and that there are no other social assistence available to this guy.They also show him cooking a pre cooked lobster and it is obvious he has never hade lobster before.   but it shows how seprate American news is from reality.

Thanks for this chansen. It is shocking that in a country that is alledgedly as weathy as the US ought to be in such a mess. It certainly is not a place of freedom in my eyes. I don't shop in Walmart unless I am stuck. Unfortunately, it is the only store of its kind in my town, so I do go in there maybe once or twice per year. Our local Walmart is not one of the better stores in my opinion. I have have been thinking of joining Costco and may do that soon!

I do almost all my shopping at the Direct Charge Coop store, having bought my shares (membership) thirty years ago.  Groceries, meat, dairy - mostly locally grown, raised or processed.  Canned goods.  Whatever - almost any food item I could want.  A butcher to talk to.  People in the fruit and vegie section who know where the vegies were grown, and how they should be stored and cooked. 

We also have a clothing section, a pharmacy, electronics, household goods, appliances and furniture. An in season an outdoor garden centre.

And a gas bar.

Owned by the members - we elect the Board of Directors at the annual meeting. Very low staff turn-over. I think they are happy there. '

And good prices, usually matching or lower than advertised specials at other stores.

A few years ago Costco opened a big box store in the area. At first we were afraid that people would leave the Coop and shop at Costco. Some did at first. Seelerman bought membership. But I don't see local produce in our Costco. You have to buy in such large quantities - everything pre-packaged. I never see anyone at the fish counter who will weigh out 1/2 lb. of haddock, or two salmon fillets, or a butcher who will divide a package of liver and give me two thin slices. They will at the Coop.

Meanwhile, within a few months after Costco opened a couple of small service stations and corner stores closed, and even at the market the 'cheese man' tells me that he can't sell locally made fresh cheeses for the price Costco sells imported blocks.

I almost never shop at Walmart - I avoid it as much as I can.

The United States modeled themselves after the French Republic, which arose from the French Revolution. Originally, the United States embraced the three ideals of the French Revolution: Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality.

Now, Liberty is over-emphasized and the other two are forgotten. And Liberty has come to include the liberty to exploit one's fellow beings and one's natural environment, for the enrichment of a powerful few, which is contrary to the spirit of the French Revolution!

When will the American people smell Marie Antoinette's cake and rise again in revolution?

It's been about eight years now since I read "NIckel and Dimed - On (Not) Getting By in America".  A journalist went undercover and worked (and tried to live on her salary) at various low-paying jobs in the US - hotel maid, Walmart, house cleaner, etc.   It opened my eyes.

It's been about eight years now since I read "NIckel and Dimed - On (Not) Getting By in America".  A journalist went undercover and worked (and tried to live on her salary) at various low-paying jobs in the US - hotel maid, Walmart, house cleaner, etc.   It opened my eyes.

It was my third (and last) time for a winter break in Florida. For the first time I really looked around - other than the sandy beach, the hotels, the shopping outlets. For the first time we turned down little side roads and saw that the pavement often stopped 100 yards from the main road, and the homes were shacks, or old trailers. For the first time I looked at the gated communities and wondered where the workers lived - obviously not on the beach-front properties with heated pools, tennis courts, specialty shops, and private golf courses. And in the down-scale motel where we rented for the month - I looked at the maids and wondered what their lives might be like.

I don't think things have improved since then.

But do people think twice about who gets the money when they hire Molly Maid (or any other service)?

In the US or anywhere?

What happens in US in a big way, also seems to happen in Canada - perhaps to a lesser extent.  We do have a better social safety-net  (medicare, minimum wage, guaranteed income supplement for the elderly, social assistance) but it must be guarded.

I find the states a very depressing place to visit - the poverty in Florida is horrendous.  I'm always glad to come back to Canada whenever I go which isn't very often any more.  Yet I'm amazed and the hordes of people that flock to Florida every Winter.  Granted the weather there is nice but I honestly couldn't abide being there for any length of time.  I've seen the looks in peoples eyes to and most of the people working in the service industry seem very stressed and desperate.

One thing that shocked me was going to the grocery store in the morning only to find it staffed with people in their 70's and 80's who cannot afford to retire. 

Our eyes are only half opened when we can't see the hopelessness of some living in affluent neighbourhoods also.

Thats an excellant point.  Before 1980 for example University and College tuition was basically free in many states, including California and New York. WHile there were minimal tuition rates in Canada.

Students tuition has gone up  to the point where student debt in the US is higher than consumer debt,  and we are catching up in 9 of the ten provinces, with higher tuition rates leading to debt levels that are well under the US but are extremely large compared to the seventies.

 Quebec is the exception. During the student strike, many said they were spoiled or foolish for demanding a freeze on tuition. It was clear to them there was no reason to go down the same road as the US and the ROC.

From environmental and business regulations, taxes, social services, we are told we need to stay closely inline with the US. Howevr it is the differences in these things that actually make us healthier economically. But if you igore where we stand next to the US today, we will see how since the 80s we are adopting many of there polices, or making ours closer to theres.

It's taken me awhile, but I now realize that exorbitant student debt is staggeringly profitable to lenders. Why would anyone change that?

Get ready to lose your job

(part of a series of articles that are chock-full of hyperlinks)

Software is eating the world

more than half the population of our planet lives within this circle

Get ready to lose your minds!

Inanna- the get ready to lose your jobs article sounds like a sci-fi junkie's fantasy come true- a cold, aesthetically dead world IMO. There are people who want a weird new world like this. They can have it. By then, I'd rather be an old hippy relic, growing my own food from a stackable balcony garden, writing poetry, weaving silk and learning to play the dulcimer- than living in a world like that. I'll move to the Amazon and live with a the aboriginals. That sounds like a better life to me. I would guess that this world will be counter-balanced by a reaction to it- and alternate 'economies' / communities will be created that de-emphasize reliance on high tech, focus more community -on nature, aesthetics, and on art made by human hands. There'll be an artisan revival- yay! Where there are creative minds there will always be options. Unless, of course, reliance on the technology someone else created drains people's ability to, not just work, but think, for themselves. Already see it happening with people walking around with their minds fixated on their angry birds apps and celebrity twitter feeds.

Kimmio,

and all of that is completely allright.  you don't have to be what you don't want to be

(and yeah, it is surreal ain't it?  i come across news stories that shows me that there ain't no wacky conspiracies anymore (Snowden, Manning, Wikileaks). that we're living in the future (vvat grown 'brain', vat grown meat, post-scarcity economics, asteroid mining, controlling other people's movements with your mind, bueller))

welcome to the future

(your life right now seems comfy and not cold to you because it is meaningful to you...for a hypothetical someone else could see your marriage as cold, your living situation as cold, your past job experiences as cold ('she got paid to eventually not get paid in order to stay alive....what????') etc etc...its just what is meaningful or not meaningful ii toink...what one is used to an comfortable with and that's completely alright)

Well, I thought you'd dig the dulcimer at least ;)

All one has to do is follow the money. University costs are driven, like all things, based on demand. The costs rise ridiculously in part because of increasing the demand. Demand can be increased by good advertising, great marketing, etc... Not every person needs a university degree and the debt amassed from obtaining one, but they think they do. Business began saying that a bachelor's degree showed commitment and initiative.  If you convince the masses that they do need it they will all scramble to get  it in a dog eat dog world.  Making a bachelor's degree the requirement for almost all jobs saying it shows commitement, etc... makes the demand higher. The more people who want a limited number of seats, the more they will pay. If it is true for a concert or sporting event seat, it will be true of a university seat. One person's debt is another person's profits. It is someone's investment, their dividend. Being in debt often leads to other debts.... quite the cycle.

One thing that worries me, even frightens me, is the apparent intent on US leaders to impse their system on the rest of the world.  Medecins sans Frontiers latest publication includes an article asking supporters to pressure their governments not to let the US pressure them into granting extended patent protection to drug manufacturers in the Trans Pacific trade agreement.

Kimmio,

mmm, hammer dulcimer

(loved going to Kitaro concerts and grooving to these and the Japanese drums...)

I saw that too, inanna- and another one she plays with a friend called "Cosmic Sisters", and I thought, "Wow. Actually, I really do want to learn it." I actually priced them out! Seriously considering saving up for that endeavour. The cheapest ones start at about $500. There's a kid on you tube somewhere who plays a dulcimer, super quick, with several different tools in place of hammers. Spoons, forks, pop bottles, chopsticks...they all make a slightly different sound.

You might want to check out this site, Whimsey:

http://www.thirdworldcanada.ca/

andree cazabon is a wonderful, beautiful person (a real polyanna) who is blessed to have the opportunity to live a mindful, active & engaged existence with her life

bearing witness and able to, thanks to various things like the internet, offer her witnessing and spirituality to a wider audience

the horrors that some people and communities are encountering and their tight-knit, agape family structures....

another pernicious effect of poverty

This is a staggering statistic. 80% of American adults face unemployment and near poverty. 80%?!

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3666594

So, that statistic is based on economic insecurity- 80% could become poor and unemployed- not 80% are poor and unemployed currently. The headline's misleading, but there is a high poverty/ unemployment rate.

Worry not. The top 1% of Canada and the US are now getting a greater share of the wealth that at any time since the 1920s.

One in six Americans lives on food stamps. But there's a change. The food stamps used to go largely to poor districts. Now, the greater portion of them go to the suburbs.

And the US is not going to recover. It isn't going to happen. one reason is the continuing, criminal behaviour of the banks (and that's  true over much of the western world), and because of free trade.

Despite its name, free trade is really a device to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. All those american jobs were not lost. They were exported to desperately poor countries with lots of cheap labour, and no taxes for the rich. The rich have no intention of opening up new jobs in the US.

Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan did immense damage with the passage of free trade. It's not free trade. It's criminal levels of exploitation.

Will this lead to violence? Of course. that's why american police are being re-equipped with more and heavier weapons. That's why the US operates the biggest domestic espionage system in world history.

It may also - as it already has in New Brunswick - lead to fascism. One of the characteristics of Italy's fascism was that certain groups, like the very wealthy, had a right to be in government without the need to get elected. that is very close to what we now have.