You might be surprised how many people are out for more money only to blow it on bass boats, 4-wheeler ATVs, sports cars, travel, rock concerts and other unneeded distractions. Meanwhile, if you observe some other demographic or ethnic groups out there, they're concentrating on and successfully sending their kids (or themselves) to college on a shoestring budget.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:25 pmYou make it sound like everybody is either Mother Teresa or the guy on the Monopoly box.However, not everyone wants to work in the field of public service. Some people just want more money so they can have nice flashy things that others don't have. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Should I advocate that people who want wealth and want to stand out should not be allowed to attain it?
Marxists say virtually the same thing about the excesses of private owners of industry. It's much the same talking point as profit being the "unpaid wage of the worker." You practically parrot it in your last line:Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:25 pmThey pay taxes -- and far too many of them -- and watch their government wash that money down the sink, with only a paltry bit of it coming back in services.
I mean, politicians are overpaid, over lobbied and overfunded by wealthy interests whether they be private individuals or corporations. Private enterprise is every bit as culpable. There's scandal no matter which sector you look in and harping only on the institution of government as the culprit is only half the equation. It gets annoying listing to it after a while.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:25 pmIt's the public's money, stolen from their labour and creativity by the government.
I work for a non-profit organization contracted with the county government to administer public mental health services. It gets painful to watch our clients floundering every day without means, hope or much purpose. We're all underpaid (managers and staff) compared to what our counterparts in the premium sector receive while they perform premium services for those with the means to afford it. I mean, I'm not asking for more pay, I live with my folks so I don't have to pay rent and can therefore afford to live reasonably well on the wages I make. It's a different story for many of my colleagues. But we are underfunded. Our IT department is substandard. We're chronically understaffed, especially in the nursing dept. Finding affordable housing that will put up with the special issues our clients have is extremely difficult. Getting them transported to receive our services is extremely difficult sometimes.
The State I work in is run by a Republican governor and we're ranked something like 49th or 50th among the US states in public mental health spending, so taxpayers are indeed getting what they pay for. If you want to complain about some of the civic dumpsters like Chicago and whatnot being administrated by Democrats, you have to acknowledge too that the Republicans are just as guilty. And Fox News is just as much a trash bin as CNN, MSN and most of the other privately owned and operated news outlets. I don't know what world you're living in, but most people I know turn to NPR or PBS (public media sources) for more sane news. So if you wish to trash public institutions, try working in our trenches for a while.