Miriam,
I agree up to a point. Working Class people sought the trappings of
the favored White Collar Workers. So they organized Unions and the
Blue Collar Workers in many cases, out earned the White Collar
Workers. And even so, the White Collars scorned the Blue Collars, and
treated them as inferior.
So the Blue Collars moved to the suburbs and lived next door to their
White Collar counter parts, leaving the Central Cities to the newly
arrived immigrants and Blacks migrating from Southern States looking
for work. As we began measuring our success by our material
possessions, the Slum Dwellers also longed for the material comforts
being hawked on the radio, in the magazines, and later, on the TV.
But even as the Lower Class tried to emulate the folks on the next
rung up, so did those on the next rung up do their best to mimic the
wealthier folks higher up the ladder. And ultimately it was the so
called Middle Class attempting to pretend that they were members of
the Upper Class. And it was all based on smoke and mirrors. The
truly rich could afford to own several huge homes around the planet,
staffing their private yachts and planes, buying politicians, and
spending their days in private clubs where they plotted and planned
with their cronies. Impossible as it was, the eager folk on the
Ladder of Success made every effort to move from the Upper Class to
the Truly Rich Class. When I was young they called it, "keeping up
with the Jones". Later it was known as, "The Rat Race". But whatever
we choose to call it, it's destroying our world. When we finally get
it through our thick skulls that there is only one Class of Human
Beings, the People, we might have a chance. But we must destroy this
insane belief that true happiness is just one rung above us.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/14/15, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
> Miriam,
> I agree up to a point. Working Class people sought the trappings of
> the favored White Collar Workers. So they organized Unions and the
> Blue Collar Workers in many cases, out earned the White Collar
> Workers. And even so, the White Collars scorned the Blue Collars, and
> treated them as inferior.
> So the Blue Collars moved to the suburbs and lived next door to their
> White Collar counter parts, leaving the Central Cities to the newly
> arrived immigrants and Blacks migrating from Southern States looking
> for work. As we began measuring our success by our material
> possessions, the Slum Dwellers also longed for the material comforts
> being hawked on the radio, in the magazines, and later, on the TV.
> But even as the Lower Class tried to emulate the folks on the next
> rung up, so did those on the next rung up do their best to mimic the
> wealthier folks higher up the ladder. And ultimately it was the so
> called Middle Class attempting to pretend that they were members of
> the Upper Class. And it was all based on smoke and mirrors. The
> truly rich could afford to own several huge homes around the planet,
> staffing their private yachts and planes, buying politicians, and
> spending their days in private clubs where they plotted and planned
> with their cronies. Impossible as it was, the eager folk on the
> Ladder of Success made every effort to move from the Upper Class to
> the Truly Rich Class. When I was young they called it, "keeping up
> with the Jones". Later it was known as, "The Rat Race". But whatever
> we choose to call it, it's destroying our world. When we finally get
> it through our thick skulls that there is only one Class of Human
> Beings, the People, we might have a chance. But we must destroy this
> insane belief that true happiness is just one rung above us.
>
> Carl Jarvis
> On 5/14/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>> Well, the book I'm reading gives all the background, the history, the
>> ways
>> in which Americans' beliefs and lifestyles have been influenced, the
>> changes
>> in our financial system, the various philosophies of our people, the
>> history
>> of the labor movement, all of it complex and intertwined and beautifully
>> analyzed and stated. Basically, it tells me how we got here, but I doubt
>> that it will tell me how we can get out of here. There was one thought
>> that
>> came to mind as I read. When most people referred to the term, "the
>> working
>> class", they meant specifically people who did manual labor. So that
>> would
>> be people like my father who worked in a hat factory or construction
>> workers. But the author points out that because of advertising, working
>> people wanted to have all of the material comforts of life that they saw
>> on
>> TV and these were symbols of middle class living. So as people were able
>> to
>> acquire all these things, the suburban houses, cars, TV's vacations in
>> far
>> away places, clothing, jewelry, etc., they identified as middle class
>> because they now owned the symbols of middle class life. And that
>> explains
>> why everyone, except the working poor, everyone who isn't an immigrant or
>> a
>> person of color living in a ghetto, identifies himself as middle class.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Blind-Democracy [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
>> Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
>> Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 9:00 PM
>> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
>> Subject: The Price We Pay For Conservative Scorn Of Amtrak
>>
>> So just who are the real Americans? The ones who come to mind when we
>> speak
>> of those who care for the well being of their neighbors. The ones who
>> sacrifice to give of their resources to help those less fortunate. the
>> ones who shell out their fair share of tax dollars.
>> Those who give their lives to keep our nation safe. Would it be the 1%?
>> Probably not. But if it is you and me, how come we keep getting the
>> shaft?
>> But even more tragic is the fact that we are supporting the 1%. And how
>> are
>> they showing their gratitude? By paying their Lackeys to undercut our
>> social services and our public services. Even as the cries of anguish
>> still
>> rose from the twisted Amtrak passenger cars, Congress busied itself
>> chopping
>> a huge hunk out of the already dismal Amtrak budget. How do we continue
>> including these 1%ers as Americans? They are sucking the marrow from our
>> bones. Our infra structure will soon reach the point of no return. Our
>> inner cities will become garbage piles. And our children and grand
>> children
>> will die younger and poorer than did our parents. If an infestation of
>> mice
>> chewed your houses insulation and tore up the insulation in your walls,
>> would you consider them fellow occupants? You would do all in your power
>> to
>> rid your home of these little pests. But here we are, allowing little
>> pests
>> to strip our resources, steal our factories and jobs, send our youth out
>> to
>> be gunned down, and we don't lift a hand to rid ourselves of these
>> varmints.
>> How is it that I would be thrown in prison for life if I walked up to you
>> and shot you in the heart, but if I merely polluted your home and
>> neighborhood with toxic fumes, I would be hailed as a world leader?
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
>>
>> On 5/14/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>>> The Price We Pay For Conservative Scorn Of Amtrak Published on
>>> Thursday, May 14, 2015 by Campaign for America's Future Blog The Price
>>> We Pay For Conservative Scorn Of Amtrak by Isaiah Poole
>>>
>>> The Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia on Tuesday night claimed
>>> the lives of at least seven people, with a dozen still unaccounted for
>>> as of Thursday morning. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters) On Tuesday
>>> night, an Amtrak train spectacularly derailed on its way through
>>> Philadelphia, killing at least seven people. On Wednesday morning, a
>>> House appropriations subcommittee voted to cut federal funding for
>>> Amtrak by about 20 percent. Those are two dots Republicans don't want
>>> you to connect.
>>> "Don't use this tragedy in that way," Rep. Mike Simpson is quoted in a
>>> Politico article as saying, after Democrats on the appropriations
>>> subcommittee for transportation and housing criticized Republicans for
>>> proposing and eventually approving the cuts.
>>> The vote took place before news reports that the train may have been
>>> going around a curve at speeds of about 100 miles per hour when the
>>> derailment occurred. If those reports had surfaced earlier, the
>>> Republican objections to linking budget cuts to the derailment would
>>> likely have been much louder.
>>> The objections would also have been equally out of line. Here are a
>>> couple of issues to consider.
>>> First, there's the site of the crash itself, which the New York Times
>>> reported is at roughly the same location as another spectacular train
>>> derailment in which 79 people died - in 1943.
>>> The curve ultimately proved not to be the key factor in that disaster,
>>> but it does raise this question: Why is that curve there in the first
>>> place, some 72 years later? Why has there not been an effort to
>>> rebuild that curve so that trains could move through that area safely at
>> higher speeds?
>>> The answer to that question is easy: conservative scorn for Amtrak,
>>> which has been under sustained attack almost from the time it was
>>> created, and which has never received the levels of investment in
>>> tracks and rail cars that would be appropriate for a national passenger
>> rail system.
>>> Second, if reports prove true that the derailment was caused by the
>>> train operating at twice the speed it should have in that section of
>>> the track, why were there not automatic controls that would have
>>> slowed the train down and perhaps prevented the derailment? The
>>> Philadelphia Inquirer reports that "an automatic train control system
>>> designed to prevent speeding was not in place where Amtrak Train 188
>>> crashed."
>>> In fact, there is a requirement that Amtrak, commuter lines and
>>> freight railroads have positive train controls in place by the end of
>> 2015.
>>> Unfortunately, the task (and the bulk of the funding) was left to the
>>> privately run freight railroads, on whose lines Amtrak runs. Trying to
>>> implement the train control system on the cheap appears to have
>>> dramatically failed. (This article on the Eno Transportation Center
>>> website has some
>>> background.) In January, notes Gregg Levine writing for Al Jazeera,
>>> Amtrak published a newsletter in which it said it was "hopeful" that
>>> positive train control would be implemented throughout the entire
>>> Northeast Corridor by the end of the year. But in March, the acting
>>> administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Sarah Feinberg,
>>> told Congress that the railroad industry would miss the 2015 deadline.
>>> Meanwhile, a $17 million increase request from the Obama
>>> administration for the safety and operations budget of the Federal
>>> Railroad Administration, which includes funding for positive train
>>> control, was denied by the appropriations subcommittee. The budget was
>> held level at $186 million.
>>> Interestingly, the Republican committee report on the appropriation
>>> for the Department of Transportation had far more to say about the pay
>>> of workers serving food on the trains than it did about needed
>>> investments to ensure trains could operate safely.
>>> "Yesterday's tragedy in Philadelphia should be a wake-up call to this
>>> Committee - we must provide sufficient funding for Amtrak's critical
>>> infrastructure projects to ensure a safer transportation system," Rep.
>>> David
>>> Price (D-N.C.), ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said in a
>>> statement after the vote. "The majority's shortsighted, draconian
>>> budget cuts stand in the way of the investments that a great country
>>> must make."
>>> Price is not out of line. Advocates for increasing investments in
>>> transportation infrastructure - ranging from labor unions to members
>>> of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - had planned for Wednesday to be a
>>> lobbying day on Capitol Hill to call attention to the need for more
>>> federal investment in our transportation network. Now the entire
>>> nation's attention is focused on what happens when we choose not to
>>> invest in safety and other improvements to our rail network. It's time
>>> to ignore the people on the right who don't want us to make the
>>> connection between a disaster and the obstruction of investments that
>>> could have prevented it.
>>> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
>>> 3.0 License.
>>> Isaiah Poole
>>>
>>> Isaiah J. Poole has been the editor of OurFuture.org since 2007 and
>>> also directs the Campaign for America's Future's online communications.
>>> The Price We Pay For Conservative Scorn Of Amtrak Published on
>>> Thursday, May 14, 2015 by Campaign for America's Future Blog The Price
>>> We Pay For Conservative Scorn Of Amtrak by Isaiah Poole
>>> . 20 Comments
>>> .
>>> . The Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia on Tuesday night claimed
>>> the lives of at least seven people, with a dozen still unaccounted for
>>> as of Thursday morning. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
>>> . On Tuesday night, an Amtrak train spectacularly derailed on its way
>>> through Philadelphia, killing at least seven people. On Wednesday
>>> morning, a House appropriations subcommittee voted to cut federal
>>> funding for Amtrak by about 20 percent. Those are two dots Republicans
>>> don't want you to connect.
>>> . "Don't use this tragedy in that way," Rep. Mike Simpson is quoted in
>>> a Politico article as saying, after Democrats on the appropriations
>>> subcommittee for transportation and housing criticized Republicans for
>>> proposing and eventually approving the cuts.
>>> . The vote took place before news reports that the train may have been
>>> going around a curve at speeds of about 100 miles per hour when the
>>> derailment occurred. If those reports had surfaced earlier, the
>>> Republican objections to linking budget cuts to the derailment would
>>> likely have been much louder.
>>> . The objections would also have been equally out of line. Here are a
>>> couple of issues to consider.
>>> First, there's the site of the crash itself, which the New York Times
>>> reported is at roughly the same location as another spectacular train
>>> derailment in which 79 people died - in 1943.
>>> The curve ultimately proved not to be the key factor in that disaster,
>>> but it does raise this question: Why is that curve there in the first
>>> place, some 72 years later? Why has there not been an effort to
>>> rebuild that curve so that trains could move through that area safely at
>> higher speeds?
>>> The answer to that question is easy: conservative scorn for Amtrak,
>>> which has been under sustained attack almost from the time it was
>>> created, and which has never received the levels of investment in
>>> tracks and rail cars that would be appropriate for a national passenger
>> rail system.
>>> Second, if reports prove true that the derailment was caused by the
>>> train operating at twice the speed it should have in that section of
>>> the track, why were there not automatic controls that would have
>>> slowed the train down and perhaps prevented the derailment? The
>>> Philadelphia Inquirer reports that "an automatic train control system
>>> designed to prevent speeding was not in place where Amtrak Train 188
>>> crashed."
>>> In fact, there is a requirement that Amtrak, commuter lines and
>>> freight railroads have positive train controls in place by the end of
>> 2015.
>>> Unfortunately, the task (and the bulk of the funding) was left to the
>>> privately run freight railroads, on whose lines Amtrak runs. Trying to
>>> implement the train control system on the cheap appears to have
>>> dramatically failed. (This article on the Eno Transportation Center
>>> website has some
>>> background.) In January, notes Gregg Levine writing for Al Jazeera,
>>> Amtrak published a newsletter in which it said it was "hopeful" that
>>> positive train control would be implemented throughout the entire
>>> Northeast Corridor by the end of the year. But in March, the acting
>>> administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Sarah Feinberg,
>>> told Congress that the railroad industry would miss the 2015 deadline.
>>> Meanwhile, a $17 million increase request from the Obama
>>> administration for the safety and operations budget of the Federal
>>> Railroad Administration, which includes funding for positive train
>>> control, was denied by the appropriations subcommittee. The budget was
>> held level at $186 million.
>>> Interestingly, the Republican committee report on the appropriation
>>> for the Department of Transportation had far more to say about the pay
>>> of workers serving food on the trains than it did about needed
>>> investments to ensure trains could operate safely.
>>> "Yesterday's tragedy in Philadelphia should be a wake-up call to this
>>> Committee - we must provide sufficient funding for Amtrak's critical
>>> infrastructure projects to ensure a safer transportation system," Rep.
>>> David
>>> Price (D-N.C.), ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said in a
>>> statement after the vote. "The majority's shortsighted, draconian
>>> budget cuts stand in the way of the investments that a great country
>>> must make."
>>> Price is not out of line. Advocates for increasing investments in
>>> transportation infrastructure - ranging from labor unions to members
>>> of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - had planned for Wednesday to be a
>>> lobbying day on Capitol Hill to call attention to the need for more
>>> federal investment in our transportation network. Now the entire
>>> nation's attention is focused on what happens when we choose not to
>>> invest in safety and other improvements to our rail network. It's time
>>> to ignore the people on the right who don't want us to make the
>>> connection between a disaster and the obstruction of investments that
>>> could have prevented it.
>>> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
>>> 3.0 License.
>>> /author/isaiah-poole
>>> /author/isaiah-poole /author/isaiah-poole Isaiah J. Poole has been the
>>> editor of OurFuture.org since 2007 and also directs the Campaign for
>>> America's Future's online communications.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
>>> https://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
>>>
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