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Grex > Agora46 > #63: A nation of "trailer park trash": a good thing? | |
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| 23 new of 72 responses total. |
md
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response 50 of 72:
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Jul 10 14:44 UTC 2003 |
That's disgraceful. You can't be serious.
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edina
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response 51 of 72:
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Jul 10 15:14 UTC 2003 |
I agree with md. I know a lot of blue-collar people - heck, my family is
fairly blue-collar. It's my cousin's generation that is primarily
white-collar. Sometimes, education and sitting at a desk all day doesn't mean
you're all that. Heck, it rarely does.
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flem
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response 52 of 72:
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Jul 10 17:40 UTC 2003 |
My girlfriend's parents live in a trailer park about half of the year.
They're retired, have a decent income and a nice house. They just like it
there. It's possible that their preferred trailer parks are atypical, but
it sounds like they aren't that bad. For instance, most people there seem
to have internet access, at least by proxy (borrowing someone's laptop).
Oh, and as for the ability of people in trailer parks to "get the word out",
I'm pretty sure my gf's parents know just about everything about everyone
remotely related to anyone who has ever set foot in one of their trailer
parks.
I know that this probably isn't the kind of "trailer trash" that we're talking
about in this item, but I just wanted to point out some stereotype-busters.
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tod
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response 53 of 72:
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Jul 10 19:31 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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russ
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response 54 of 72:
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Jul 11 03:58 UTC 2003 |
I think we can draw a reasonable distinction between people who live
in trailers because they like it, and those who have no alternative.
Generally, people have no alternative because they lack the education
and/or skills to get the money for something better. A nation "overrun"
by such would be seriously short of of people in skilled positions.
Consider the lack of nurses. We already have a serious shortage; md's
"trailer trash" paradise would be far worse off in that respect, and
probably couldn't offer the wages to attract the immigrants we get
now. That's just one example; for a real nightmare think about the
impact on Social Security, which pays higher proportional benefits to
people at lower income levels.
Again, Michael, try to answer the question: Good for whom? Cui bono?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't all get down to earth now and then
(perhaps more often rather than less), but the conclusion doesn't follow.
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slynne
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response 55 of 72:
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Jul 11 12:50 UTC 2003 |
The lack of nurses is probably due to the low pay that nurses get when
compared to the wages of other people with similar education. It isnt
due to some kind of cultural phenomenon caused by "trailer trash"
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orinoco
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response 56 of 72:
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Jul 11 15:34 UTC 2003 |
Actually, I know a few nurses who md would probably call "trailer trash."
Doctors I'm not so sure about. Maybe someone who knows a thing or two about
economics would like to comment on the effect of a rising tide of trailer
trash on med school tuition rates. I suspect that tuition would drop if there
were fewer people who were able to pay it, but I'm no expert.
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keesan
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response 57 of 72:
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Jul 11 15:41 UTC 2003 |
Ten years ago the nurse we knew about was making $50,000/year with lots of
benefits and vacation time and a fixed daytime schedule. I doubt most people
with a four-year education make that much. Nursing is hard work, and probably
rather gruesome at times - that is my guess at why people don't all flock
to it.
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tod
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response 58 of 72:
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Jul 11 16:43 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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sabre
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response 59 of 72:
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Jul 11 20:03 UTC 2003 |
We need the trailer trash to pay for all your social security checks.
You lame fuckers sure aren't going to have anything else to live on when you
retire
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rcurl
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response 60 of 72:
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Jul 11 20:49 UTC 2003 |
And you? Surely you aren't going to accept Social Security checks from
the *government*!
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jmsaul
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response 61 of 72:
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Jul 11 22:22 UTC 2003 |
Re #56: Given that doctors tend to do med school completely on loans, I
doubt it.
Re #59: Wrong.
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senna
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response 62 of 72:
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Jul 12 05:03 UTC 2003 |
#56: Way back in the mists of time, very few people could afford higher
education. As a consequence, very few people actually received higher
education, and it was something reserved for the elite. Mostly, anyway. It
was a simpler, perhaps even a happier time for many (that would make an
interesting debate), but it sure did have a lower life expectancy.
No reason to think it would change. Tuition might decrease, but not
proportionate to the median income plunge, and fewer people would attend
college.
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russ
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response 63 of 72:
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Jul 12 06:27 UTC 2003 |
(It's very amusing to read items like this with a twit filter activated.)
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scg
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response 64 of 72:
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Jul 15 03:32 UTC 2003 |
It could be argued that the sort of taste that might cause people to live in
trailer parks by choice, when combined with more money, causes people to live
in places like West Bloomfield. Both tend to be sprawling, architecturally
uninteresting, and a long way from anywhere else the residents might want to
go. West Bloomfield, and places like it, are trailer parks on a much grander
scale.
<scg ducks>
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rcurl
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response 65 of 72:
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Jul 15 05:47 UTC 2003 |
Strangely enough, that fits "to the T" some people that I know.
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scott
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response 66 of 72:
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Jul 15 05:48 UTC 2003 |
Well, somebody has to be buying those Hummers.
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keesan
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response 67 of 72:
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Jul 15 12:32 UTC 2003 |
One reason trailer parks exist is zoning laws that won't let people build
small houses on small lots. In Ann Arbor you can't put a house on less than
5000 square feet and we were told 900 square feet minimum floor space.
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dcat
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response 68 of 72:
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Jul 15 14:12 UTC 2003 |
How old is that rule? My house is 900 sq. ft., but it's the biggest one on
the block, and I'm pretty sure none of the lots up here are 5K sq. ft. On
the other hand, our best guess for the age of the neighborhood is 1950s or
thereabouts.
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gull
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response 69 of 72:
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Jul 15 15:35 UTC 2003 |
There are also substantial property tax benefits to putting up a trailer
park instead of a bunch of small houses.
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keesan
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response 70 of 72:
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Jul 15 15:43 UTC 2003 |
There is a house on my street about 600 square feet. The rule must be recent,
or maybe nonexistent. When we submitted plans they told us 900 square feet
and now everyone denies it. We had to build 2 stories to get it big enough.
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tod
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response 71 of 72:
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Jul 15 19:44 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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pvn
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response 72 of 72:
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Aug 9 08:22 UTC 2003 |
re#71: I thought it was the places where the big bad wolf threatened to
huff and puff.
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