tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post140558743350013844..comments2024-03-27T13:25:58.065-04:00Comments on Stayin' Alive: Econ101, my way -- continuedCervanteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-59568684601674319922009-03-11T15:10:00.000-04:002009-03-11T15:10:00.000-04:00yes, you did -- thank you. it is impossible to be...yes, you did -- thank you. it is impossible to be exhaustive -- and economists, for the most part, don't bother with the details.<BR/><BR/>this comment is partly a personal exercise in fitting some information into understanding how badly things have failed. as a middle-class suburban person, i can get worked up about a line of credit being suspended for reasons having nothing to do with my personal responsibility -- but it is easy for me to forget that much of my good fortune rests on the backs of unseen others. <BR/><BR/>if someone in the house wants something, we can run to the market and get some. it's so simple. but if you talk to people who have done some of the backbreaking behind-scenes-work to get things to market -- it's horrifying. i need to remember that.kathy a.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14479337952651746193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-83945411456239368102009-03-11T14:37:00.000-04:002009-03-11T14:37:00.000-04:00Thanks Kathy. I did try to cover that sort of iss...Thanks Kathy. I did try to cover that sort of issue in the previous post but you're right, it's almost impossible to be exhaustive. The transactions and outcomes that are visible to economists are less than the tip of the iceberg.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-43169896073461610182009-03-11T13:32:00.000-04:002009-03-11T13:32:00.000-04:00nice analysis.you left out most of the people who ...nice analysis.<BR/><BR/>you left out most of the people who help the supermarket operate, though -- and most of the environmental and human costs, and some behind-scenes corporate stuff.<BR/><BR/>the food that is sold in the supermarket is grown and produced somewhere else, most often on corporate farms and in corporate factories. the food is harvested, packaged, and shipped to destinations by a sea of unseen workers. <BR/><BR/>the people working crops and raising animals [for dairy products and for slaughter] are essential to the process, do some of the most grueling work, and generally the most poorly paid in the food chain. digging potatos, picking strawberries, sorting tomatos -- these are thankless jobs. [don't get me started on immigration policies, because a good deal of underpaid and hideous work has gone to illegal immigrants, who cannot protest conditions because they will be deported.] <BR/><BR/>field workers are apt to be sprayed with or otherwise exposed to toxins used to control pests. working conditions can be awful beyond description -- you ever try crouching over for 8-10-12 hours a day to harvest crops on the ground? dairy and meat operations are huge polluters; many have inadequate space, and especially with cattle and pork, inadequate methods for dealing with waste products. these conditions affect both workers and everyone nearby.<BR/><BR/>factories processing food range from slaughterhouses to canneries to bakeries to packaging operations, just at a glance. much of the work is repetitive, fast-paced, loud. the work is often poorly paid; there isn't desk work available for those who are injured. the factories may not be safe, and they often are polluters. <BR/><BR/>once you've got your food all packaged up and boxed, it needs to go where it is going. a great deal of food transportation is by truck. drivers are expected to work very long shifts, and to meet deadlines that allow for little sleep, even in unsafe weather conditions. then you've got your diesel fumes pouring out across the country. <BR/><BR/>there is a large subterranean work force behind that 50 cent apple or the $4/lb. beef at the supermarket. those guys and gals often don't have it so good as the checkers and stockers at the market itself. it is very easy to forget they exist at all, or that the conditions existing before something turns up in your market have an impact on us all.kathy a.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14479337952651746193noreply@blogger.com