in Corvallis
Engineer
71. 36 yo Electrical Engineer
01 year ago
1. I see everything in terms if Stories. For example, we have the story of Democracy, of the Free Market, of Capitalism. I’d like to shift those to the story of Humans, of Nature, and we have to include Families in those stories. There are places offshore where parents are working and living in bunk beds 500 miles from their children, who are being raised by grandparents. Where is the culture in that? It’s destructive. Everything has become subordinated in the name of a Higher Good, of Moving Money, which is not really even something “good”.
It’s like our Stories have come to resemble herbicides, removing the Forest’s cover. When both parents and sometimes kids are working, that’s an invasion of our lives. Those may seem like extreme examples but how does all this apply to us?
2. People are turning to substance abuse because of the destruction of culture. It’s a rash, but what is the underlying disease? The core of our Culture is Family, and the Family has become completely stretched out. Everything is distraction. Billboards, media, the internet – everything is in motion but there’s a difference between motion and progress. We are exhausting our nation in motion.
57. 25 yr. old Hardware Engineer
01 year ago
1. Jobs are scarce. Personally, I’m willing to pick apples, whatever, if they’d be willing to pay a minimum wage. The problems we have need to be solved, otherwise there will succeeding waves and they will be extremist. We need to imitate the nation’s founders if we are to find our way, and fight for our rights.
2. Public institutions are no longer public. They have become the private domain of the 1%.
3. Private debts are huge and the only ways to get out of debt today are to have a public job, become disabled, die, or be a stripper.
4. A single payer health insurance system is the only solution. A member of my family needs life-critical care right now and we are waiting for the treatment to get approval. Healthcare administrators squeeze healthcare workers so shareholders profit from sickness and death. And money is more important to most doctors than the patient’s health. Most doctors are in the profession for the wrong reason. And their guild, the AMA, restricts the number allowed to enter the profession. We need to throw the medical schools wide open and train physicians, train them because they value medicine more than they value high incomes. Physicians claim that their rates are high because of malpractice suits and yet they oppose single payer health insurance because they fear mandatory rates which might erode their income.
37. yr. old Engineer
01 year ago
1. Somehow, whether by legislation or otherwise, the Citizens United decision needs overturned. Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
2. We need stimuli for job creation.
3. The Glass-Steagall laws on separating commercial (consumer savings and checking) banks from speculative investment banks. The current bank meltdown was predictable after the laws were weakened following the Savings and Loans scandals.
4. Single payer, universal health care needs to be instituted.
22. 41 yr. old Engineer
01 year ago
1.Unemployment is a huge issue, with investment in infrastructure and education essential to stimulate the economy. There is a lot of talk of the deficit but that is the only recourse we have now. Investment in the future is hugely important.
2. Home ownership is a huge issue. The only debt relief went to the banks and the very rich. People are left with debt and no equity and lack confidence in their futures.
3. There is a huge disparity in income. We need to re-instate a progressive income tax. The super rich are the only ones who have made any gains the past years.
4 The ignoring of global warming is catastrophic.