Text 23399, 118 rader
Skriven 2007-11-25 17:23:04 av HAP NEWSOM (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: STATELY HOODS 71125
===========================
Hi There Glen!
-> 
->  -> Katrina made such a mess of the tourist attractions of New Orleans
it
->  -> is possible that Louisiana may join Mississipi in poverty.  The
states
->  -> where I have travelled most have been New York and Texas.  Some of
the
-> 
->  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 
->  HN> who (often) have entered the country 
->  HN> illegally and can't find better paying 
->  HN> jobs for that reason. 
-> 
-> 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?
-> 

Many of them do quite well financially...but sharing is not an automatic
attribute of the wealthy...many of them got that way by being penny
pinchers and its' a hard habit to break once you're entrenched in it! In
fact many of the wealthy think nothing of trying to pay a less than living
wage to any employees they can. One reason why illegal immigrants get paid
so little for working so hard at menial jobs is they can't complain to
anyone about it. Most Agricultural jobs are exempt from federal minimum
wage requirements (Farmer's have a strong lobbying network) .

->  -> Texans seem to be managing well enough financially, although they
->  -> didn't look as happy as the out-of-town New Yorkers.
-> 
->  HN> Lots of oil companies in Texas...
-> 
-> Yes, it is possible to smell it.  (Or is that the refineries?)
-> 

Does it matter? (grin) both are "money buckets"


->  HN> I think most people are kind hearted 
->  HN> and friendly. Most people have little 
->  HN> nice to say about the French...but when 
->  HN> I lived there in the early 1960's I found 
->  HN> them to be friendly, and welcoming. 
-> 
-> 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)
-> 

Even in Paris (for the most part) I seldom 
met rude or unfriendly folk. As to them 
not speaking english...(a) I spoke french 
fluently (in those days), and (b) I never 
expected a French person to speak anything 
other than french...Sadly there are those 
Americans who expect EVERYONE to speak 
"american" for their benefit...my first 
exposure to that attitude was in Paris...
and american tourist was speaking to a cab 
driver (who spoke little english  and was 
really doing his best to understand and be 
understood). When the cabbie failed to 
understand what the Tourist was saying, 
the tourist seemed to think that simply 
repeating the instructions (again in english) 
at a LOUDER volume would suddenly make 
the person understand....needless to 
say it did not, I intervened and translated 
the instructions from the tourist and the 
cabbie was more than happy to take him to 
is destination, once he knew where that 
destination was! The cabbie offered to pay 
me for my translation services (which netted 
him a fare) which I refused...the tourist on the
other hand was still complaining about the 
cabbie not speaking english. If I had been
an adult at the time I think I might have 
taken a poke at the tourist who certainly
gave the rest of us americans a bit of a 
bad reputation to overcome by his lack of 
civility and his bad behavior. 

->  HN> The country where I found the people 
->  HN> the least friendly was Spain...but this 
->  HN> was during Generalissimo Franco's heyday 
->  HN> and I don't think the Spanish were friendly 
->  HN> with anyone they weren't directly related 
-> 
-> That is going back a few years.  I haven't been there, yet.
-> 

It was an interesting experience and one I'd like to repeat 
now that the government is in different hands! I'd be interested
in seeing if the attitudes of the people have
changed in the last 40 years!

->  HN> to! (grin) The friendliest I've ever met? 
->  HN> Oddly enough it was the Scots, who have a 
->  HN> reputation for being dour and suspicious 
->  HN> of everyone. 
-> 
-> That is just the way they look, not how they act.
-> 
You seem to be correct!
chat with you soon
ha
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