. . . . . entries for 6.2.06 . . . . .
A nerd? A prolific schoolwork-poster? Not *I,* said the Erin. Certainly not I.
The following is written concerning the article "What Is a Living Wage?" by Jon Gertner, released January 15th, 2006. Look it up on Google or something if you want to know what I'm rambling about - that, or steal the copy of someone in Bloom's APUSH class, or just ask him about it.
"I have never been to Santa Fe, but I have two definite associations with the city: first of all, one of the two St. John’s College campuses is in Santa Fe. The other campus is in Annapolis, Maryland, and I know from personal experience that this other state capital is classy to almost unhealthy extremes. Second, the United States branch of the United World College is located in Montezuma, New Mexico, near Santa Fe. Both of these are rather upscale educational facilities, to say the least. Upon this train of thought, one is led to think of Santa Fe as an upscale city.
So naturally, there is an issue of upscaled cost of living. My first reaction, as always, is that this is an enormously complex issue which I am not qualified to form an opinion about, let alone blather on about it, however: there are a few things in the article that caught my eye.
First, I make a practical observation concerning fried haddock. The fried haddock experiment was performed in a controlled environment. I, as a woman of moderately scientific character, know that the city of Santa Fe is not a controlled environment, and cannot be made into one. This is important for a couple of reasons: first, there is no surefire way to tell if anything that appears to happen “because of” a living wage law actually succeeds the passage of such a law as a matter of course. Following, there is no scientifically correct way that a political or economic thinker can use what happens in Santa Fe, good or bad, as an indication of what may happen in other regions in which similar laws are passed. This means that the Santa Fe experiment is not an experiment at all. If it will have any effect on the policies of other city governments, or perhaps on a state or national level, it will be due to a domino effect caused by a change in sentiment towards the city and its policies. Will more people want to work in Santa Fe for higher wages? Will more people want to live there because of the very “upscale” tinge which is now causing problems? Will the apparent problem with economic competition turn around entirely such that other cities are forced to change their laws to compete with Santa Fe? We won’t know until the experiment is much further along.
I am reminded of other political and economic experiments, especially the one lately conducted in the Middle East, but that is another essay entirely. Let us move along.
Given the chaotic nature of the experiment, with so many variables at work, and so many of those out of human control, we are left, as per usual, with that specter of the sciences: morality and practicality. In some respects, it is practical to clone humans, but is it moral? What about the practicality and morality of democratization? In this case, what is the morality-practicality ratio of the living wage experiment? They are all related questions, and this last is the real issue at hand in Santa Fe.
The words of Reverend Jerome Martinez caught my eye: “How can you worship a God that you do not see and then oppress the workers that you do see?” At first, I felt the Reverend’s righteous indignation, but looking back, I am inclined to see it through the employer’s eyes. The employer thinks that she has never oppressed her employees; she has acted within the law; she has come this far on her own wit and wisdom in her industry and wants to enjoy the fruits of her labor, and this law will not allow it.
I would like to believe that I have just the right perverse sense of self-gratification which would lead me to raise the wages of my employees and take the blow to my own lifestyle. That, I realize, is a rare trait in a free market economy, and it is certainly no one’s survival skill.
The predicament leaves me with the sincere wish that there were a way, in our fine old capitalist society, to measure how much of an individual’s success is talent, and how much is hard work, the latter of which I think is far more deserving of reward –– again, a bit masochistic of myself, seeing as I have spent altogether too much of my own life coasting on talent. I do, however, feel that we of the “talented tenth” have a duty, by virtue of our puzzlingly good luck in the genetic lottery, to assist our fellow human beings, who may be perfectly virtuous, work hard all their lives, and never reach goals which are, from our birth (which certainly indicates nothing for or against us), within our grasp. How any government would legislate that idiosyncratic little opinion of mine (if any House or Senate or city council would ever agree on it, and what a laugh that is in our day and age) is completely beyond me in any case; who can measure an individual’s industry as compared to their natural skill?
I will be interested to see how time unties this knot, as it is so very, very far beyond my own ability to do so."
: February 07, 2006 12:02 PM
come home?
.:people:.
{ting}
she looks like the real thing
{mari}
out and about
[kelsey]
THIS IS AMERICA
{yianni}
stop being depressed
{alisa}
other
[shannon]
close and far
{frank}
islands where no islands should go
[cassie]
eating knowledge
{colin}
my dm
[emily]
shoulder to the wheel
[brian]
nostalgic for fantasy
[nicole]
industry insider
{elle}
angry enviro
[matt]
never heard of miyazaki
[pirate dan]
are you reading this?
[olga]
distracted
[messiah dan]
messiah/believer
{max}
approach focus
[natalie]
wait a minute
[susan]
solitude
{greg}
manbeargreg
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.:skin:.
turtles! turtles! by araglas
(heavily modified by yours truly)