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Posted
You sure got a pretty mouth

And you have an ugly mind. That book gives me the creeps. Great grammar lessons in it though...

The humor is that I used that phrase in its historical connotation of comment on the speech of another... knowing there was a probability the more recent sexual connotation would be recognized. It was your ugly mind that chose to receive only the sexual implication.

I love this, you rule, thanks.

What the fuck are you talking about? I didn't "receive" any sexual implication. It was a quote from Dickey's book. Plain and simple.

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Posted
Jay -

Ever seen the big hole in Butte Montana, or heard about the salt mines beneath Detroit? Your statement about ALL mining taking place exclusively in remote areas is simply incorrect and I wonder if you know what you are talking about with the wages, too. I'd be willing to guess that those who work in a West Virginia coal mine are not paid a great wage, though I suppose it may be higher than the guy pumping gas or working in the local grocery store -- do you have any information on this? Note: I'm pretty sure that day laborers in Seattle make no "premium" wages, but you can get guys to do any dirty job you want if you drive down a certain block on Western Avenue.

 

Change "all" to "the overwhelming majority" if you want to engage in semantics, and I suppose you can qualify towns like Butte as "urban" if you want, but it doesn't really change the picture in a meaningful way.

 

As far as mining wages go, you can check them out here:

 

http://www.nma.org/pdf/m_wages.pdf.

 

As far as the risk premium goes, that's an established economic fact. There should be at least two-centuries worth of data out there for you to Google your way through if you want proof.

Posted
You sure got a pretty mouth

And you have an ugly mind. That book gives me the creeps. Great grammar lessons in it though...

They made a book out of the movie? confused.gif

Posted

Looks good, Jay, but you distinctly said "all mining" takes place in remote areas, and that is just not quite true. Yes, it is plainly obvious, I suppose, that they don't generally mine near cities and residential areas and we need not waste our time quibbling over that fact.

 

As to the statisitcs about the relatively high wages, I am sure that, all other things being equal, workers would rather work a safe job for the same pay so there is some upward pressure on wages for high-risk employment. However, I don't think that over the course of history that has been sufficient to overcome the unequal bargainning power enjoyed by mine operators and miners. In a quick Internet search we find only statistics supplied by mining companies or the state agencies connected to "econimic development and promotion." It'd be interesting to know just what the dead guys in Tallmansville were earning, and how much their cousins who worked above ground in the immediate area earned by comparison. My guess is that neither the State of West Virginia or the Mining Association of America can be counted on to provide accurate statistics.

Posted
No kidding !! Nothing like a good scrap, how can we stir it up even more ?

 

bandwagoner.

 

if you weren't in on page 1, you're nobody.....

Posted

JayB: I buried the nub of my argument. Try this:

 

Assuming you are correct in your assertion that that the miners must have made more money than others in the community who had safer jobs, do you believe the miners in Tallmansville were likely to have been fairly compensated for the risks they took? Is this intended to suggest in any way that we shouldn't feel sorry for them or their families because they knew the risks and glady accepted them?

Posted

I feel a lot more sorry for the family of an Army Reservist, has 3 kids, who isn't making shit and has left his job and family to serve, and got killed in Iraq because his truck wasn't armored correctly.

Posted

That sympathy is probably well placed, Jon, though if you knew more about the circumstances of some of those miners you might find great sympathy for their families, too -- of course maybe not but my point is the war hero has been celebrated as such and I would guess that contributes to your feeling.

Posted
I feel a lot more sorry for the family of an Army Reservist, has 3 kids, who isn't making shit and has left his job and family to serve, and got killed in Iraq because his truck wasn't armored correctly.

Oddly enough he's probably from WV (or somewhere like it) and wasn't able to get a job at the mine.

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