"dave weil" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 23:58:35 GMT, wrote:


"dave weil" wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:29:48 GMT, wrote:


"dave weil" wrote in message
m...
On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:14:28 GMT, wrote:

Naive and unrealistic thinking (at best). The coal mining areas of
West
Virginia are not known for their stellar economic performance.
You're
arguing that a father with two kids like you should choose not to
work
at what is likely the only game in town because it isn't safe.

I'm arguing that nobody is forced to work anywhere they don't want to.
If
you don't think the main employer is providing a safe workplace, tehn
it
is
time to move.

I guess that those coal miners in West Virginia should go work for
Hewett-Packard.

Assuming they are qualified and HP is hiring. :-)

Maybe they could move to SoCal. I'm sure that it's simple for them to
do that.

I reject the notion that people have to work in some place because it's
all
there is.

Reject it all you want. However, life isn't as simple as, "Gee, I
think I'd like to get another job".

Especially in rural West Virginia.

Then get out.

When Boeing got ****ed on the SST it put 50% of Seattle out of work.
While
I wasn't working for Boeing, I was also at that time out of work, so my ex
wife, a freind and myself pooled our money and bought a cheap truck and
loaded everything in the world we owned into that truck.
We decided that California had more job opportunity and less rain, so we
headed down the road. On the way, we stopped to see some friends who had
moved to Oregon and visited for a while. During that stay our truck
caught
fire and everything we owned burned. Somehow, without public assistance
or
any form of government handout of any kind, we managed to make out way to
California anyway and find employment and prosper.

Gee, are you comparing working in a coal mine to working in a white
collar job in Seattle? Or were you digging ditches at the time?

There's a whole range of things between white collar and ditch digging.

Obviously, you had a tidy little nest egg working for you if you could
afford an extended vacation while you were "looking for work".

We had about 300 bucks some saved some borrowed.

Apparently you didn't have 4 kids either.

No, but that's a choice people make. If they're going to make it, they
ought to be better able to provide for a family that being a miner if it's
that dangerous.

Are you also saying that
while you were unemployed before you left for sunnier climes, you
didn't get unemployment assistance at all during that time?

That's exactly right.

Also, how
old were you at the time? Sounds like you were quite young. It's a
little more difficult for a guy who's been doing the same job for 20
years to just "pick up his family and move".

But not impossible. I don't know what it pays to be a miner, but I assume
it's decent. The housing costs have to be less. The overall cost of living
I'm confident is less than in Seattle, which aside from the lower property
costs in those days, has always had a pretty high cost of living.

Sure, anyone can do anything at any time.

No, but they can plan. They can make sure they get the educatin and/or
training need for a better life if mine work is not appealing.

Should I criticize you for
not being as rich as one of your contemporaries? Hell, Bill Gates did
it, why can't you? And he did it in a community in the SAME community
where you couldn't make it.

It's probably part of the reasaon he was able to set up in Washington State,
somewhat later.
I never would argue that everybody is equal in ability, or everyone would be
Bill Gates.
That doesn't mean the average person can't plan and build for the future.

So if it's harder to get out of a mining town than it was for me to get
out
of Seattle and into California, it bloddy difficult, but still not
impossible.

No, it's not "impossible", but some people try to make a living where
their ancestors have established roots. This sense of community is a
glue that is a benefit to this country.


An opinion yu get to have. I see anything that people do that holds them
back from providing the best possible life for themselves and their family,
is not a benefit.

Nobody has to work or live anywhere they don't want to.

If you want to continue to get your energy and your consumer goods,
you should be glad that some live and work in WVa.

I'm not sayijng they shouldn't work there, but they should know what they
are doing and what the risks are. That much is expected from anyone who
wants to do more than just survive.