Text 23501, 96 rader
Skriven 2007-11-28 00:45:02 av HAP NEWSOM (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: STATELY HOODS 71127
===========================
Salutations Glen!
-> 
->  ->  HN> Most of the south suffers from poverty to 
->  ->  HN> some degree. Once you leave the urban 
->  ->  HN> "osasises" you are in agricultural lands 
->  ->  HN> and most towns are small and mainly 
->  ->  HN> support the nearby farmland. Most of the 
->  ->  HN> farmland is owned by relatively few and 
->  ->  HN> worked by those who don't own land. Wages 
->  ->  HN> for agricultural work are low and many 
->  ->  HN> of those jobs go to migrant workers 
->  -> 
->  -> So the farmers who own the land should be doing very well,
particularly
->  -> those growing corn or other government-subsidised crops.  Doesn't
much
->  -> of that money go back to the state?
-> 
->  HN> Many of them do quite well financially...but sharing is not an
->  HN> automatic attribute of the wealthy...many of them got that way by
being
->  HN> penny pinchers and its' a hard habit to break once you're
entrenched in
->  HN> it! In fact many of the wealthy think nothing of trying to pay a
less
->  HN> than living wage to any employees they can. One reason why illegal
->  HN> immigrants get paid so little for working so hard at menial jobs is
->  HN> they can't complain to anyone about it. Most Agricultural jobs are
->  HN> exempt from federal minimum wage requirements (Farmer's have a
strong
->  HN> lobbying network) . 
-> 
-> I was thinking of money paid in taxes and for services, or are there
-> ways of farmers avoiding or minimising taxes?
-> 

There are more (at least it seems so) 
ways to avoid the taxes than there are 
ways of collecting them! In fact sometimes 
the farmer gets paid by the government to
NOT grow something!

->  -> I was told by the mainly friendly French people I met in the South
that
->  -> it was the Parisians who were horrid, but even in Paris we were
guided
->  -> by a local to the hotel we were looking for.  She didn't attempt to
->  -> speak English, though!  (g)
-> 
->  HN> Even in Paris (for the most part) I seldom 
->  HN> met rude or unfriendly folk. As to them 
->  HN> not speaking english...(a) I spoke french 
->  HN> fluently (in those days), and (b) I never 
->  HN> expected a French person to speak anything 
->  HN> other than french...Sadly there are those 
->  HN> Americans who expect EVERYONE to speak 
->  HN> "american" for their benefit...my first 
->  HN> exposure to that attitude was in Paris...
->  HN> and american tourist was speaking to a cab 
->  HN> driver (who spoke little english  and was 
->  HN> really doing his best to understand and be 
-> 
-> I have seen that sort of behaviour by tourists, and also by locals who
-> think that all visitors should be fluent in English, but as people
-> travel more, multi-lingualism is increasing.  Most people here, as in
-> other countries, are helpful to visitors, providing they don't act like
-> your "American in Paris".
->  

It's a sad commentary, and I must admit 
to having seen German Tourists act quite 
the same way in Italy and in Morocco.

->  ->  HN> The country where I found the people 
->  ->  HN> the least friendly was Spain...but this 
->  ->  HN> was during Generalissimo Franco's heyday 
-> 
->  HN> It was an interesting experience and one I'd like to repeat 
->  HN> now that the government is in different hands! I'd be interested
->  HN> in seeing if the attitudes of the people have
->  HN> changed in the last 40 years!
-> 
-> Some of my friends have been there, and enjoyed the food, the music and
-> the people, although I saw on the news that there is still a hard core
-> of Fascists left in Spain.
-> 

It's the attitude of the government that 
would make the difference, I'd think that 
most of the people would be happier now 
than they were back then!

chat with you soon
ha
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