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Daboss, if you are thinking of relocating to Costa Rica from the US, bear in mind that you would at least be leaving the country that imprisons more people than any other country on earth. One person in every 100 is in jail in the U.S. That is six times as many per capita as are jailed by the communist Chinese, ten times per capita as many as are jailed in Cuba.
Not only that, but it is big business. Jailed Americans are forced into slave labor. They manufacture 36% of all US made domestic appliances, 40% of US made office furniture as well as a high percentages of paints, military helmets and a host of other products. And more and more jails are being managed by private business whose stock is sold on the open market and its value increases as more prisoners are added to the roster,
Those of us who are not in jail, are what are called economic slaves, imprisoned by unending debt to the banks. But at least we can still escape.
sprite, I’m not disputing your assertions immediately above about prison industries, but can you offer some citations? I’d like to read about this myself.
In Michigan, where I spent my work years, there was a serious move away from prison industries due to the competition they presented to industrial producers on the outside. Even prison farms were cut back. Maybe that trend has been reversed.
Hey David – not sure where Sprite got his info because there are both State and Federal Programs. There is some interesting reading here:
http://www.unicor.gov/information/publications/pdfs/corporate/CATMC1101_C.pdf
I used to work in an industry where we competed with / against and also sold products to prisons. It’s very interesting. Most prisoners earn a wage of around $1.60 per hour – slave labor – possible but at least it’s not going to China and it’s teaching the most valuable skill to prisoners -how to WORK!
[quote=”johnr”]Hey David – not sure where Sprite got his info because there are both State and Federal Programs. There is some interesting reading here:
http://www.unicor.gov/information/publications/pdfs/corporate/CATMC1101_C.pdf
I used to work in an industry where we competed with / against and also sold products to prisons. It’s very interesting. Most prisoners earn a wage of around $1.60 per hour – slave labor – possible but at least it’s not going to China and it’s teaching the most valuable skill to prisoners -how to WORK![/quote]
Are you serious? You think it’s better to be imprisoned in the US than to be a worker in China? Is this opinion based on personal experience?
sprite, I think John meant that at least the work that U.S. prisoners do isn’t going to China, not that it’s better to be in a U.S. prison than to be in China. John, please correct me if I’m wrong.
And, sprite, if you’ve been reading the news lately about the suicides in plants that produce Apple electronics (and others), it’s not at all clear that workers in some of China’s megafactories (small cities, actually) are not held in what amounts to imprisonment.
And I’ll wager that many a Chinese manufacturing worker would be thrilled to earn $1.60US per hour. I’m surprised at John’s statement that U.S. prisoners are paid that much.
That’s an interesting report on prison industries, John. In Michigan, all our prison populations used to be engaged in some sort of productive effort on a living unit-by-living unit basis.
Cellblock Nine at the State Prison of Southern Michigan in Jackson used to do truck gardening in the summer producing fresh vegetables and herbs for the prisoners’ consumption. Some years ago, an informant among the prisoner population reported to the authorities that a conspiracy was underway to hijack the prison’s entire annual production of dried herbs. They were to be sold outside on the black market. Think about it. A half ton of dried herbs has huge economic value.
The story broke in the prison newspaper under the headline, “Snitch in Nine Saves Thyme”.
I apologize for not wording that more correctly. I would not want to be in a US or Chinese prison, However, I used to be in the framed art business and David is not far off in that Chinese Factory workers (some industries) rarely leave the grounds of a manufacturer. Granted they have housing, three squares a day, a store, but very little interaction with anyone outside of the factory. So, kinda of like prison.
Ha – I like snitch in nine – we had one group at the Stillwater State Prison that would count wood screws into bags of 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000. When inventory time came we would spot check about 1/2 of the open carton stock – it was very rarely off. We later outsourced to a “private” company – always had count issues. The prisoners took pride in their work.
Whether you are slaving away in a Chinese factory, or in a US prison or office, you are slaving away. The quality of life in your enslavement is just a matter of degree.
I find it astonishing that the US has jailed so many people. I don’t believe that Americans are any more misbehaved than any other people so the reason must be that we have a lot of scared citizens out there with a government only too happy to oblige their fears by locking up as many of their fellow citizens as possible..and perhaps causing a lot of that fear to begin with. This ties in with my point on gated communities. Americans will jail THEMSELVES out of fear.
[quote=”finnerty”][quote=”guru”]Under what circumstances did a husband owe his Tica wife a pension? Was the pay now amount of $1200 for $200 due a typo or typical court inflation?[/quote]
I think Part III will help explain a little of this… about how I got into this mess.
The $1200.00 figure is for four months plus the December double amount including the alguinado. I actually paid the last time in February of 2010… so I have “gotten away” with not paying much more.
I am not exagerating anything in any of this… my economic situation is very very bad. I was losing a lot of weight last year. I did not have $200.00 a month myself, let alone that amount to give to Doña Violeta. It is still pretty bad… I am hoping to get some work in a call center soon, driving the cab pays really lousy and it is dangerous.
But before everyone starts throwing rocks at me about how irresponsible and stupid I am to not have a great income I want to say that I have had my reasons for doing things as I have done. I had been a graphic designer for 15 years and 2009 was the year that broke me. I wanted to continue and thought I would make it if I just hung in there, but I was wrong.
A combination of things fixed my professional wagon. Frankly, I am too old to be a graphic designer anymore, my style is out of touch with current culture and anyway, 15 years in front of a computer screen 12 hours a day is long enough.
I have made a transition to a kind of work that I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to learn. I am IN my community and I am a part of it. Working in español is a real joy and serving the community this way is very satisfying. I am proud of that. I am also proud of living “like” my costa rican neighbors. I am poorer than a lot of them actually.
After working one month driving I went to jail for two months. I have been back on the road for about a month now, but this business too is hurting… too many piratas, portadores and taxi rojos and not enough clients.
The theme behind everything in my “soap opera” is the effect that poverty has on us all. There’s a lot of people who are “falling through the cracks” and I describe a couple further on in the series… I hope to make their general situation better known by writing here.
Most people in costa rica are living on no margin at all and working 14 hours a day for rice and beans. This is making estafas and dope dealing and robbery REALLY attractive alternatives for all kinds of people. Something needs to be done or… well… more people will go to jail for being poor, the ruthless rip-off environment will get worse, and more people will have a chance to write a Soap Opera of their own.[/quote]
stupid question? two actually
why would you do ANYTHING let alone sign a document in spanish to keep the women who threw you out of your house making it very clear to you that it was HER’s and not both of yours…. why would you do anything for that person after you have seen her true nature?
why bitch about after the fact?
another question? what do you have against gringos? or rich people for that matter?
in one of your articles you say something about the rich paying for things with other peoples money….WTF?
How do we find out who the “Greedy few” Costa Ricans are who are straving out the population by making import and local goods so expensive through market manipulation. Oh,, but wait, everybody is too afraid of the asenine libale laws to name names – the same libel laws designed to protect the greddy few I surmise… Robinhod where are you, or anybody with cojones will do. What about the gut who flew his plane into the IRS building. What was his name, Joe something?
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]That’s an interesting report on prison industries, John. In Michigan, all our prison populations used to be engaged in some sort of productive effort on a living unit-by-living unit basis.
Cellblock Nine at the State Prison of Southern Michigan in Jackson used to do truck gardening in the summer producing fresh vegetables and herbs for the prisoners’ consumption. Some years ago, an informant among the prisoner population reported to the authorities that a conspiracy was underway to hijack the prison’s entire annual production of dried herbs. They were to be sold outside on the black market. Think about it. A half ton of dried herbs has huge economic value.
The story broke in the prison newspaper under the headline, “Snitch in Nine Saves Thyme”.[/quote]
Good one, David! 😆
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