[wplug] The evilness of it all (Verizon OT post)

[kimberly]

You've got to be joking doug. I pay $1200/mo for a 690 sq ft apartment in
Sunnyvale. Real estate is the only thing that makes me want to move back
home.

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006, Doug Green wrote:

> Yeah, it's pathetic. Even more pathetic is that Pittsburghers have done
> NOTHING about the backyard monster for decades. The "don't hurt my boss"
> mentality runs deep there- wake up, UPMC has had the city by the nads for
> years.
>
> UPMC makes a majority of their money on real estate deals. Healthcare is,
> indeed, a profitable venture- but the corporate giant has it's fingers in
> deeper pockets as well.
>
> I'm afraid that the joke is on Pittsburgh. UPMC is the majority employer in
> the region. UPMC is the largest landholder in the metropolitan city area.
> UPMC is tax-exempt. To make up for the property taxes that are not paid by
> UPMC, the city looks to you.
>
> I've lived a lot of places in my life- including places where "the taxes are
> really high"- and I've NEVER paid so much for so little.
>
> I wasted 8 long years in the Burgh, hoping I'd see signs of change. I could
> rail on and on about how pathetic that area is, but instead I chose to
> LEAVE. I sold my house and got the hell out of there - and I took my two
> doctorate degrees with me!
>
> If you've read this far, you might be thinking "good- leave if you don't
> like it here". And that mentality is the exact reason that Pittsburgh is
> losing, and will continue to lose, the highly trained young professionals.
> Pittsburgh has done NOTHING to attract or retain them!!
>
> Food for thought: I now live 3 blocks from the beach in Southern California,
> and my rent is LOWER than what I paid in Shadyside (8 years ago). Unlike
> Shadyside, my utility bills are included. I get a personal retirement
> savings plan instead of mandatory social security contributions. I get a
> renter's tax deduction for my housing expenses. There is no "tax penalty"
> for being employed within city limits. There's no city income tax. There's
> no payroll tax.
>
> Yes, you are correct, there is something terribly wrong with Pittsburgh.
> UPMC is a good start.
>
> Cheers from greener pastures,
> Doug
>
>
>
>
> On 8/22/06 7:46 PM, "Zach" <netrek at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 8/22/06, Brent M. Rust <rust at lucasware.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Maybe they figure that if the oil companies can make record profits then
> >> they too can reap the benefits of a complacent public and little or no
> >> competition.
> >
> > Read in P-G today that UPMC posted a 77% increase in profits for the
> > past fiscal year ending July! That is insanity. They are now up to
> > over $ 1/2 billion in PROFITS. Hmm let's see we have most expensive
> > health care and universities in the world which an increasing number
> > of people can't access (and no not just the poor or working poor, this
> > is starting to hit the middle class), and then there is the equally
> > trend where wages have remained largely stagnant for past 5 years,
> > utility costs (electricity and natural gas) are soaring like e^x,
> > gasoline prices are insane, etc. ad infinitum. Seems more and more
> > people are working longer and harder to achieve a sub-standard quality
> > of living compared to their parents or grandparents' generation.
> > Wonder how far away we are from another big social inflection point.
> > :-) At least Linux is still free!
> >
> > Zach
> > _______________________________________________
> > wplug mailing list
> > wplug at wplug.org
> > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>