Children do not need an education they need knowledge and critical thinking skills.

It’s interesting that you note that you have been on both sides of the power pendulum in the work place. It seems your experience has led you to believe that there is no alternative to capitalism, as Ms. Thatcher said…repeatedly. This is a common assumption in the U.S.. You ask what do I expect? Well, I don’t expect much at all from the capitalist system, that’s for sure. As I inferred above, I don’t expect managers to act like regular, caring human beings, because that is an impediment to profit maximization. At worst, capitalist firms encourage managers to emulate psychopaths. Even so, I will not refrain from razzing such managers or encouraging fellow workers to organize and throw a wrench into the machine whenever they get a chance.

If you believe it is my place as a wage worker to put up, shut up or choose another master (or unemployment), I must strongly disagree. Like most anarchists I have never been good at knowing my place. Ask my pig of a boss about that one! People who have to give up their freedom for 40 + hours a week just so they can pay rent or eat are not truly free. It pains me that people who call themselves “libertarians” cannot grasp this concept.

Don’t get me wrong, I consider right-libertarians (or conservative libertarians or liberals or whatever) to be my strategic allies when it comes to criminal justice policy, foreign policy and some economic issues like eminent domain or corporate welfare. But when I hear one of my allies infer that my employer and I have equal bargaining power and that my employment contract was purely voluntary I just blows my mind. It just takes a lot of neo-classical brainwashing to actually believe that. Sorry, that is just how I feel.

There ARE alternatives to the capitalist wage system. We can work independently or in worker-managed operations (cooperatives). Those who do the work should control the day-to-day operations and reap the profits that come from their labor. Ultimately, the state and the boss need to go. In a free society, we will have a better opportunity to see what production models are best.

I’ll bitch about lack free markets any day of the week, but lets not pretend lifeguard hiring practices are the most egregious. At worst the guy will be required some kind of ocean certification to be a lifeguard.

I’ve been a wage slave too, I’ve been fired for bad reasons, and I’ve had to fire people too. You’re going on about hierarchies and limiting freedom. I mean what do you expect? That someones going to be paid a wage and have absolutely no conditions on what they can and can’t do? An employer pays an employee to do something, whatever rules they draft concerning that job will be a guideline for termination or continued employment.

If a company makes a point of having bad rules, or loose guidelines regarding terminating employees, they will have trouble keeping a functional staff. Which is exactly what happened in this case. That really is the basis of a free market. You accept a job based upon the compensation and duties expected of you.

Not so far fetched, unfortunately. I would like to know how many men DO kill themselves (or attempt to) when they are being investigated for receipt/possession of child porn. This is about all I have been able to find:

In the northern district of California, according to the area’s leading legal newspaper, The Recorder, four suicides and one suicide attempt have been recorded in the last nine months.

There’s a clue right there, I suppose, to the reason why those numbers aren’t known. Because there are far too many suicides.

http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/cctv-exposes-police-lie-20120705-21jl5.html

Everything about this sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The worst story of this sort I ever heard was a case in rural GA where a lady (black) was stopped on some BS traffic violation. The cops searched her car without consent (said they smelled pot). Found a tiny remnant of a joint. She was arrested for possession of marijuana, fined 1000 bucks. She could not pay so of course she was put on probation with all of the attendant fees. She didn’t make enough money to pay the fine quickly enough so they put her in jail. She lost her job and her kids went into state custody since she had no family or friends who could care for them.

All this over a goddamn roach.

Really? We have a free market now? How did I miss that one? Did government disappear? Are we all roaming around engaging in voluntary transactions without interference from coercive structures? With all due respect, Strange One, there is no free market. There never has been a free market in the U.S. and there never will be a free market in any state capitalist society. Capitalism would cease to exist without a little help from its friend the state. Don’t believe me? Read about enclosure movement in Europe. Google “Dutch East India Company” or maybe “Ludlow Massacre.”

This lifeguard was fired for violating an arbitrary rule crafted by a private bureaucracy, possibly in concert with the local government. Hierarchal institutions–be they public or private–are not human friendly and thrive because they are legally able to limit freedom and keep people in fear. So it doesn’t matter that this man saved a life. He did something that displeased his masters so he had to go. No concern for human life is necessary to be a corporate manager. Indeed, people who care too much probably don’t make it past the interview stage.

Why do “libertarians” get warm fuzzies and speak of a free market that has never existed whenever some poor wage slave gets fired. I find this to be both perplexing and annoying. Then again, I am just a wage slave myself, so no one really cares what I think. But us wage slaves know one thing for sure: Every boss needs a yes man.

Welcome to Neoliberalism 101 peasants! Your loss of control is our gain! All hail corporatism!

I think the sensible answer is that even on crowded beaches drownings are rare. He wouldn’t see or hear of someone drowning a half mile away, but 500 yards is close enough that he can save someone. Hes a lifeguard, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on his sprinting ability.

The company can’t have a policy like that and expect to enforce it without a mountain of bad publicity. A bunch of other lifeguards already quit in solidarity with him. It’ll be pretty hard for them to hire new guards without some reanalysis of the policy. That’s the free market.

I don’t think he should have been fired, either, but I do see the argument.. Where is the limit? If he sees something happening a half-mile out of his zone, should he abandon the people who are expecting him to be there? Will people then expect him to come-a-runnin’ even if that means he has to watch thousands of feet of beach?

I’m not offering an answer here, only that this isn’t black-and-white.

Down on the gulf coast the new building code are based on “What If” we have 150 MPH winds. Balderdash! I’ve been through 9 hurricanes down here and the wind has never damaged my home, but it did knock down my tree that did damage my home.

I see a code comming that all trees near a house will be chopped down.

Not to mention fire codes, OSHA regs, Etc.

If I want to build my house out of toothpicks and duct tape it should be my right!

Also, I always thought that building codes were for safety reasons, now we have “energy” codes. So at the point of a gun I MUST make my home “energy wise”.

How do you fight a system when major industries and the federal gov. are partners in crime?

The profit motive. City governments refuse to raise taxes or cut spending, so they increase fees and fines. This gives them even more of an incentive to pass more restrictive laws.

Likewise, bringing in a private companies to execute policing and court functions whose profits depend on the number of law breakers or those delinquent in payments of said fines also increases the likelihood that we’ll see more lobbying for tougher laws and penalties.

Get used to seeing more of this in rural America. City gov’ts, cops, probation agencies have become vampires, leeches,shameless self-serving bloodsuckers,willing and able to suck as much money out of your bank account as they want.
And when they lock you up, they’ll charge you for that too, you peasant scum. Who ya gonna run to–the police? LOL

No amount of money, charter schools, or vouchers will overcome this shitty policy as long as it is on the books.