tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32199165.post2106312605203368781..comments2024-03-18T19:38:47.408-04:00Comments on Blue Country Magic: No Warm FuzziesCountryDewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03243893531509380824noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32199165.post-91664674976871060432012-04-23T07:54:08.830-04:002012-04-23T07:54:08.830-04:00So we are all to join in the chase to the bottom, ...So we are all to join in the chase to the bottom, with wages plunging and conditions becoming more and more inhumane? This debate can only take this line if we carefully leave out of the equation those people who *can* afford to pay more tax, and who *can* afford to pay more in wages, but who choose not to. Who not only choose not to but who choose to spend a lot of time and effort finding ways to dodge their taxes and who routinely find dodges to reduce not only the wages paid to their employees but also the number of their employees. All to boost their takings and the amount paid to shareholders. The USA is *still* the richest country in the world, yet it is choosing to let its children work in third world conditions and to pare back the wages of its workers to third world levels too. That isn't good enough, and it shouldn't be accepted as good enough. Ordinary people, and their children, are worth more. Public services set a sort of benchmark. They should pay fair wages, insist on fair conditions, provide fair benefits. They should represent the best of good practice, not the worst. Allowing the public services to be dragged down to private employer standards damages the hopes of private employees for an improvement: for decent pay, decent healthcare, decent pensons. It sets a low ceiling on the hopes of ordinary working people, while leaving the rich without responsibilities to society and its improvement. But in any half way decent society, especially one calling itself a democracy, everyone has obligations to the good, fair working of society, and the improvement, not the degradation of living and working standards.Briarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06242731014996459484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32199165.post-55061164508837663482012-04-22T22:18:23.722-04:002012-04-22T22:18:23.722-04:00Well, people always vote for the services. That wa...Well, people always vote for the services. That was the first meeting--WE NEED THAT! But they never want to pay for the services. That was the second meeting. And I think you're right. The people who can't afford the tax increase can't afford the time or the energy to come to the meetings because they are busy suffering. <br /><br />I think our counties can find ways to cut back just like our households have had to. For one thing, I think our county workers should take a pay cut just like we have had to. I feel bad about that. But we're all making less. We have to install flooring for what we used to get paid back in the mid-nineties. We've taken a big pay cut. That's what we've had to do to get work. Why shouldn't government workers take a pay cut like us to keep their jobs? <br /><br />As far as air conditioning in schools, I can't afford air conditioning in my house. I don't think it's fair to make homeowners pay for things that are not really necessary. Yes, we'd like it. But we're not going to die without it. When I went to school there was no air conditioning. We were lucky if we had fans. When I heard Kelly's new school didn't have air conditioning, I was happy! Not that my child would be suffering. She'd suffer more if we lost our house because we couldn't pay the property taxes. And this teaches her that we can't have everything we want and we must be sensible and prioritize. <br /><br />Lastly, it will also affect the renters. It's not just the twenty dollars. Don't you think the landlords are going to raise their rents when their property taxes get raised? That'll be passed on. That's a landlord's business. No one is going to rent a property if he can't cover his costs. Tax increases hurt renters even more than homeowners in the long run because they pay a higher percentage of their incomes--assuming that most renters don't make as much money as most homeowners which I believe is the case.Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Countryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05448845964131250749noreply@blogger.com