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I just spent time driving through the gulf coast and came to a similar conclusion. Have you all seen Mobile, for example? Oil rigs as far as the eyes can see.

I just spent time driving through the gulf coast and came to a similar conclusion. Have you all seen Mobile, for example? Oil rigs as far as the eyes can see. Stopped by the gas station to see these poor, filthy men counting change to buy tea and cigarettes. It made me really think...these people work way, way harder than me on something way more important to society (right now). Why are they so mistreated? Why do whole cities , usually poor, have to deal with the eyesore and potential health issues of oil and gas? And why do oil companies, who are unmistakably the richest in the world, pay less than tech companies who lose money each year? It just feels like some weird, giant imbalance. If you asked me today whether I'd rather go without Twitter, FB, and Netflix...or gas and plastics, sorry, you lose Silicon Valley. I don't have any answers or even suggestions, just thoughts and questions for now.

m-alsuwaidi 5y ago
Here’s a pointer: a wolf works much much harder than the oil rig worker to feed itself yet lives in a state of extreme poverty.
- bigDinosaur 5y ago
  Successful wolves gain control over quite a lot of territory and rule it ruthlessly. Since land has value to all living things, and wolves control land, they are actually quite wealthy.
  - astrange 5y ago
    I didn’t know wolves read Henry George.
jl6 5y ago
> these people work way, way harder than me on something way more important to society (right now). Why are they so mistreated? Just an aside, but oil & gas jobs are generally quite well paid, including the filthy ones. But maybe not all. The reason why very important jobs can be very low paid is no great mystery: it’s because the labor market is based on supply and demand, not importance.
TMWNN 5y ago
As jl6 said, O&G jobs are quite well paid. Those "poor, filthy men" do not have O&G jobs, or if they do will not have them for long.
AussieWog93 5y ago
Did you ever take the time to stop and have a chat with these "poor, dirty men"? Unless you happen to be a doctor, lawyer or Silicon Valley software dev, they're probably taking home a bigger paycheck than you!
cornel_io 5y ago
How hard people work has never and should never affect how much they are paid. That isn't a factor in supply and demand except to the extent that people will be more hesitant to take hard jobs.

m-alsuwaidi 5y ago

Here’s a pointer: a wolf works much much harder than the oil rig worker to feed itself yet lives in a state of extreme poverty.

bigDinosaur 5y ago
Successful wolves gain control over quite a lot of territory and rule it ruthlessly. Since land has value to all living things, and wolves control land, they are actually quite wealthy.
- astrange 5y ago
  I didn’t know wolves read Henry George.

jl6 5y ago

> these people work way, way harder than me on something way more important to society (right now). Why are they so mistreated? Just an aside, but oil & gas jobs are generally quite well paid, including the filthy ones. But maybe not all. The reason why very important jobs can be very low paid is no great mystery: it’s because the labor market is based on supply and demand, not importance.

TMWNN 5y ago

As jl6 said, O&G jobs are quite well paid. Those "poor, filthy men" do not have O&G jobs, or if they do will not have them for long.

AussieWog93 5y ago

Did you ever take the time to stop and have a chat with these "poor, dirty men"? Unless you happen to be a doctor, lawyer or Silicon Valley software dev, they're probably taking home a bigger paycheck than you!

cornel_io 5y ago

How hard people work has never and should never affect how much they are paid. That isn't a factor in supply and demand except to the extent that people will be more hesitant to take hard jobs.