December 20, 2005

• Topic: Strike, work, Bolivia, sociology…

  
  

  
  
  • from discussions w/ a few people, it seems the NYC transit strike is going to have some interesting effects.  For me personally, I take the Long Island Rail Road to work, so I’m really in no way effected.  For poor people who generally rely on public transportation, they are bound to suffer, as they will be forced to chalk up money for cabs or private buses.  For the transit union, those in charge are likely to be jailed for violating the Taylor Laws which make a strike such as this one illegal, and for the general workers, they are looking at fines as well as losing 2-days pay for every day they strike.  For the union in general, they will possibly be losing the benfit of having the MTA collect union dues through workers pay checks, therefore requiring individual workers to write checks to the union which will make it difficultfor the union to collect their dues.  How long will the strike last, what sort of deal will be reached, those things we’ll have to wait and see.
    
  
  
  • Bolivia has a new President, the socialist leader Evo Morales.  He is the first indiginous Indian President of Bolivia, and has a background as a miner and a coca-leaf farmer.  There a a few issues surrounding his victory.  First, is the issue of the coca-leaf industry.  In Bolivia, the leaf is traditionally used for teas and to be chewed on, and Morales has no intention of eliminating the industry.  The US is concerned because the leaf is used for making cocaine, to which some Bolivians respond, “we are not responsible for the US cocaine problem.  The US is more interested w/ having a military presence here than eliminating cocaine.”   Besides coca leaves, the big issue for Morales is his intention to nationalize natural gas, which is currently held by many foreign corporations.  By nationalizing gas, Morales hopes to use the profits to help poor Bolivians, rather than watching the profits go towards CEOs and shareholders abroad.  Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is in the midst of telling ExxonMobil to either become a partial-partner w/ Venezuela’s nationalized gas and oil, or to get out, because he has the interest of his people ahead of just making profits.
    
  
  
  • Headlines are talking about George Bush’s approval ratings, and to be honest, our society abuses these polls for no good.  First of all, whatever sample of people are being polled is never going to be a true-cross section, and more importantly, poll numbers mean nothing compared to what real people have to say.  And…poll numbers simply spike and drop according to the weather of the day, and fail to capture the general mood of a country.  I’ll be honest though, I’m more upset with having an incoherant, arrogant, ignorant, close-minded, naiive president, than I am with most of his policies.  I honestly don’t follow every policy closely.  For example, the headlines now are about “illegal” wire-tapping.  Like every issue, people immediately jump into their ideological camps…but, without having read deep into the article, I can’t see on the surface why this is such a huge problem, or why the problem can’t be ameliorated through simple discussion.  I see how the problem is when innocent people get sent into prisons, locked up, tortured, etc. but I think the issue of “I don’t want the gov’t invading my privacy,” is a bit extreme.  First of all, I have nothing to hide, I’ve done nothing wrong, so the law bothers me not one bit.  And while I think it’s silly when the FBI is snooping around in people’s book clubs, what they’re looking for are people who might be physical threats to other people.  You can have all the radical views you want, but I support the gov’t tapping people’s phone calls if it means finding out about a possible subway bombing in the future.
    
  
  
  • I just spoke to a co-worker who works down in Austin, Tx.  She just bought a 1br house, a one-story w/ a basement.  Price….about $70,000!!!!  Now that I’m getting comfortable in the NY area, I’m starting to accept the fact that when I do buy something, a condo, a house, whatever, it’ll likely be $300,000+ for whatever it is I buy.  And this won’t be happening for several years.  But it’s really something to think about, a decision up there with choosing a college.  Where do I want to live, what kind of home, what price range, what neighborhood, what city???  How long do I live at home, how long do I rent, at what point to I buy, should I wait till I’m married???  Although stressful, I have to say I enjoy the responsibility and freedom to make this decision, and although I’m a bit lost in the way I was lost choosing a college, I at least know that I’m lost, and can start to do the research…out of curiosity, has anyone been around Princeton, NJ.  Would be interesting to be near a college campus for sure…
    
    
    
    
    

  • 1:51 pm
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