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does this forum allow posting under multiple names, aka sockpuppets?
I thought that was highly frowned upon here.
What? That's a different person. As I just told you, I posted about Animal Farm earlier, and thought that had triggered the discussion of it between you and westcobb.
Extremely high unemployment
High illiteracy rates
Massive crime rate
Etc
They don't even have reliable running water, and public transit is so nonexistent that people are having to walk miles and miles to make a living. I wouldn't be surprised if the roads were really bad, too.
Detroit is 100% third world, as is East St. Louis, and many parts of Appalachian country.
They don't even have reliable running water, and public transit is so nonexistent that people are having to walk miles and miles to make a living. I wouldn't be surprised if the roads were really bad, too.
Detroit is 100% third world, as is East St. Louis, and many parts of Appalachian country.
I think their water system works.......if people did not pay their bills is when they do not have water.
that car will open his horizons and bring him way more places than walking or taking the bus.
I'm worried that it's just going to immediately get stolen. Honestly, with all the publicity he's getting (including of all the money and free brand new cars he has in store for him), he may be targeted for crime. Perhaps even in danger.
It's Detroit, not a suburb in Idaho. Unless he's a glutton for punishment, he needs to move -- ideally to somewhere with a better economy and standard of living. He's got more than enough money to do this now.
They don't even have reliable running water, and public transit is so nonexistent that people are having to walk miles and miles to make a living. I wouldn't be surprised if the roads were really bad, too.
Detroit is 100% third world, as is East St. Louis, and many parts of Appalachian country.
The US is very unique that it has aspects of both developed and third world nations. When people think of third world they automatically think of the worst cases of extreme poverty like in Sub-Saharan Africa. They don't think of stagnant nations like in Eastern Europe which resemble a lot of similar parts of the poorest hit spots in the US.
A lot (not all) of nations have developed to a point where living standards are a bit comparable to the US. It used to be there would be a vast difference but these days the difference isn't that grand unless you're coming from Somalia or the hundreds of other extremely poor nations.
For instance, if you look at Chile in South America. That nation has grown into a viable developed country but there still lags chronic poverty. It's not whole populations living in trash heap bad but it's still bad. It's not extreme poverty but it's still poverty. Now last time I visited the little nation looked no different in terms of developed as California. In fact some parts of LA were worse than in the Capitol. The point is that one country developed and the other stagnated.
To conclude, the US isn't exactly first world in the real sense of the word but then again the world has changed so much that the meaning of those two terms aren't as relevant in today's economy.
Yea, I know... it's a great story of dedication. That's not how I took it when I heard the story. Let's get to work:
1) Walking 21 miles to work in America is not "awesome." It's called being poor. It's called being poor in a country that hates the idea of being poor more than the desire to fix poverty. This man is not the only lower-income person that endures a marathon commute to earn a living. There are poor folks in major cities working three jobs on several different bus routes with no time to eat, sleep, or watch their kids. He is not walking because he is a special "hard worker;" he's walking because he is poor.
2) Why is no one criticizing Detroit? The solution is just to "get him a car." Detroit screwed its low-income workers 60 years ago when it told public transportation advocates to go to hell. How does a Metro area with over 5 million residents have such terrible transportation options ?!?!
3) How will a man making $10.50 / hour afford the maintenance, insurance, gas, and other miscellaneous expenses with car ownership on a 42 mile daily commute? Did it ever occur to people that owning a car is just not a sound financial solution for lower income citizens?
4) No, more people don't need to "be like him." The dedication is certainly admirable, but there is nothing appealing about putting "work ethic" on a pedestal when meritocracy is an American myth. No amount of hard work is going to make his life change for the better. He had been living that way for ten years, and only the compassion of others will make his situation marginally better in the short-term. His employer and everyone else praising him today never gave a damn.
Detroit was run by corrupt LSD's. (liberal/socialist democrats)
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