From: Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net>
>The latest societal convulsion in the SF Bay area has created
>some oddities. During the bad old days of the late 80s, we
>had a great number of signers: these guys holding signs insisting
>that they would WORK for FOOD, etc.
>Well, unfortunately for them, prosperity intervened
>(Clintonomics?) and even they must have recognized the absurdity
>of the notion, holding such a sign on the street corner, when all
>the local fast food places had *permanently mounted* their HELP
>WANTED signs in the window.
Bill Clinton has nothing to do with the current period of
prosperity.
>Last year, the government issued a very large number of visas,
>to pretty much anyone who could pay taxes on 60k, which is
>just about the starting wage around here for anyone who can
>place one line of code in front of another, so as one might
>suspect we had a massive influx, which caused the apartment
>vacancy rate to drop to a few parts per million, which caused
>the rent prices to skyrocket to the point that the "homeless-
>will-work-for-food"ers were in danger of actually becoming
>literally without a home.
Yes, this is an attempt to hold down the price of skilled workers.
>The will-work-for-fooders stand out there on the corner,
>with all limbs in apparent working condition, while Burger
>King is *crying out* for someone willing to just push a
>mop and wipe tables. And they will hire *anyone* no
>questions asked, dog kickers, mass murderers, whatever.
>They hire the mentally retarded, but oddly enough, there
>arent enough of them either. And the fast food gets steadily
>slower, because there arent enough people working the
>kitchen. Meanwhile the floors and tables get ever dirtier.
I've noticed that so called homeless deliberately avoid areas with
"Help Wanted" posters nearby.
>Engineering teams dissolve because the young PhDs
>cannot afford the rent. Those who argue that National
>Missile Defense is an impossible task never do site the
>*real* most difficult hurdle facing it: keeping teams together
>in areas that are too expensive for those working the project.
>For those who have managed to acquire a home, of course,
>it is like winning the lottery in slow motion.
>So here in Silicon Valley we see a foretaste of a future
>in which wealth is distributed ever more based on technical
>ability and insight, steadily less on the number of hours worked.
>I can see that what must happen here is that the techno-have-nots
>must abandon the valley, being replaced in the short run by
>commuters from the outlying areas, these being replaced in
>the long run by androids. All this looks great from the point
>of view of a techno-have, but I can scarcely imagine the
>anguish of the other half. My solution is to not be one of
>them. Other ideas? spike
Chicago is becoming a haven for New York expats who are
discovvering they can have a high quality urban life for half the
cost.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
Adler Planetarium www.adlerplanetarium.org
Life Extension Foundation, www.lef.org
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Mars Society, www.marssociety.org
Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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