| Food for Thought |
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WARNING: Contents under pressure. DO NOT OPEN IN AN INTELLECTUAL VACUUM. ~ A rubber stamp
In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of. ~Confucius
"The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach
"I would not exchange the laughter of my heart for the fortunes of the multitudes." ~Khalil Gibran
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi
"How can we say there is peace when so many go hungry?" ~Oscar Arias Sanchez
"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~Attributed to both T.H. Thompson and John Watson
"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infans. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. ~Omar N Bradley
"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it." ~Margaret Fuller
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| Friday, December 23, 2005 |
| 3 Days and 28 Miles -- What Next? |
I am seriously behind on everything, as you've no doubt noticed.
Part of the reason is that I've spent 12 hours over 3 days walking to work.
That translates to 28 miles total.
9.3 miles per day -- roundtrip.
4.65 miles 1 way.
1 hour and 3/4 each way.
2 and 2/3 miles per hour per trip.
Yeah, yeah, I'm slow. My days of the 8-minute mile are long gone -- old women bypassed me along the sidewalks, and my feet hurt and my thighs burn, but at least I got about 5 years' worth of exercise in one shot. What joy! Who knows, maybe I'll be up for 5 back-to-back marathons next. *snort*
That's right, I was affected by the huge mass transit strike that hit the Big Apple.
So, what that means is I lost time. Time that I could have put to good use in edits (or sleep). However, I did get some reading done on a couple of new submissions as I walked... well, part of the way, at any rate. Once I hit more congested areas, I couldn't walk and read simultaneously. What a bummer.
As for the strike itself -- I have a few things to say (like when don't I, eh?).
I think both the Transit Workers Union (TWU) and the Mass Transit Association (MTA) were at fault. However, I do feel that the TWU were making many unreasonable demands.
7%-8% salary increase per year for 3 years?
Retirement at age 55?
No healthcare deductibles?
Who in their right minds wouldn't want all that or better?!
The reality is that across all industries, the average salary increase per year is between 1% and 3%; the retirement age is only going to go up, not down; and employees are increasingly forced to share in their own healthcare costs.
Not to mention that tens of thousands of people have been laid off this year, as well as the hundreds of thousands who have lost their jobs since 9/11/2001.
As for the MTA... if there are billions in surplus, thus allowing half fares on the weekends through the new year, then why are fares going to increase next year, why is there talk of needing more money to effect repairs, and why aren't they cutting the load of excess monies that have either been wasted through continued mismanagement or gone to pad the wallets of the upper executives?
Let's face it: no matter how you look at the situation or who you think is right or wrong, the real losers are the commuters and businesses.
Many people who only get paid if they show up for work suffered from no income on already tight budgets because they lived too far away or couldn't afford the fare for taxis. Businesses hard hit after 9/11/2001 (lower Manhattan, including the financial district, Chambers Street, Chinatown, etc) never really recovered; the strike only served to do further damage.
I would not be surprised to learn that many more businesses will be forced to close/shut down because the strike pushed them over the line between survival and death.
$400-$500 million in business lost for each day of the 3-day strike.
As Major Bloomberg said, there are no winners in a strike.
[For other comments, click here.] |
posted by Cheshire Cat @ 12/23/2005 12:23:00 pm   |
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