fixxer (u/fixxer) - Readit News

fixxer commented on John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005) whatever.scalzi.com/2005/... · Posted by u/brudgers

jachee · 8 years ago

I lived this.

Being poor is growing up between the trailer park and the dump.

Being poor is skipping homework to help repair the $600 car so dad can make it to work tomorrow.

Being poor is your mother crying over a $100 invoice for the dental service you just received for the first time in living memory.

Being poor is quitting junior college early, because your Pell Grant ran out, and a $12.15/hr opportunity is over double your fast-food wage.

Being poor is never going back.

Being poor is 3-years-old glasses and squinting from the front row.

Being poor is _definitely_ going to put some money in the savings account next month.

Being poor is getting pulled over just for your car and hair looking ratty.

Being poor is 2 nights in jail because of a clerical error.

Being poor is realizing years later that you still live like you're poor.

Being poor is reading about VCs and ICOs and funding rounds on HN and thinking how huge an improvement just a tiny, tiny fraction of that money could make in your life.

fixxer · 8 years ago

> Being poor is 2 nights in jail because of a clerical error

Tell us more

fixxer commented on Inmates offered reduced sentences for birth control procedure bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/abhi3

ceejayoz · 8 years ago

We're not talking about Chicago, are we?

You said "In fact, I find the lax sentencing in Scandanavian countries appalling." I'm asking if you're appalled by the low recidivism rates their apparently-appalling justice system produces.

fixxer · 8 years ago

Sure we are.

"Socialism works so well there! We should do it here."

"They have such low recidivism there! We should use their sentencing as a standard!"

I think violent offenses are more than something that requires reform for the perpetrator. It requires justice for the victim. Rape and murder? Fuck you, you're going away FOREVER.

fixxer commented on Inmates offered reduced sentences for birth control procedure bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/abhi3

ceejayoz · 8 years ago

> In fact, I find the lax sentencing in Scandanavian countries appalling.

Do you find their low recidivism rates similarly appalling?

fixxer · 8 years ago

I find their population bares little resemblence to Chicago's.

fixxer commented on Inmates offered reduced sentences for birth control procedure bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/abhi3

fixxer · 8 years ago

I suggest reading about http://www.projectprevention.org for a less coercive version of the same concept.

fixxer commented on Inmates offered reduced sentences for birth control procedure bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/abhi3

andrei_says_ · 8 years ago

Prison in the U.S. is cruel and unusual punishment, as well as an institution of modern slavery.

Race and income are the highest predictors of whether a person would end up in prison.

Both of these speak loudly about us as a society and about our true values.

fixxer · 8 years ago

In the case of drug crimes, I agree with you. Appeal of the logic starts to break down when you scale it out for violent offenders. In fact, I find the lax sentencing in Scandanavian countries appalling.

fixxer commented on How Amazon Crushed the Union Movement (2014) time.com/956/how-amazon-c... · Posted by u/adamnemecek

chimeracoder · 8 years ago

> Private sector unions are great for collective bargaining, though I prefer they abstain from broad political platforms (immigration, for example), as these are so far removed the intent of the union. I tend to view these Unions as being political vehicles first, collective bargaining agents second. That isn't a compliment.

The feature you're describing is not an accident. Lobbying for restrictive immigration laws (not just political platforms in general, but that specific platform and issue) is the exact reason that unions like the AFL originally gained the size and political power that they have today.

fixxer · 8 years ago

Things have changed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_policies_of_Americ...

fixxer commented on How Amazon Crushed the Union Movement (2014) time.com/956/how-amazon-c... · Posted by u/adamnemecek

fixxer · 8 years ago

Looking through the comments, I see a combination of anecdotal evidence about Unions being bad/good and a few (very logical) statements about how collective bargaining leads to higher wages & benefits.

Here are my two pennies:

Private sector unions are great for collective bargaining, though I prefer they abstain from broad political platforms (immigration, for example), as these are so far removed the intent of the union. I tend to view these Unions as being political vehicles first, collective bargaining agents second. That isn't a compliment.

Public sector unions are awkward in that tax payer is not represented at the bargaining table. They should be restructured to make bargaining comparable to the private sector case (or reverse Aboud).

My personal experiences with Unions are very negative.

In the first experience, in SoCal in the early 90s, I saw first hand when the Teamsters moved to unionize drywall framers. My dad was a small scale developer in the San Gabriel Valley and during a protest, a Teamsters boss on a megaphone encouraged a mob of picketers to run through the project with hammers and destroy recently hung drywall. My dad also received death threats and we had a rock thrown through a window.

My second experience was doing campaign targeting for AFSCME. The people I met from that org were in the extreme far left part of the political spectrum (as in "Stalin had some good ideas"). Take from that what you will.