[speaker001:] here we go
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] okay Janet could you tell me what your thoughts are
[speaker002:] well I think the idea of public uh health services is a good one I think that we all um perhaps have a civic duty but I don't know as though it should be uh and I don't know if this uh was my interpretation was that perhaps it should be uh like a forced thing um I think it should all be voluntary as it is now but um I do agree that I think it is a good thing because I don't know how else a lot of these um things could happen if they didn't have the volunteers to do it
[speaker001:] yeah they uh um the example they gave was like the Peace Corps
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh I'm not so sure if I I agree with that see uh back in Roosevelt's administration they had the CCC camps
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I don't know about down in your area but like up here they built bridges and they built uh uh waterways leading from reservoirs to reservoirs to get to the city
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] in fact in my area it's it's kind of a rural area and it's and the waterways are still in place you know they're uh they're beautiful they're all stone walled and it it just leads from the reservoirs way up in the hills and it just leads down into other reservoirs some of the bridges are still standing too I mean some of them need repair now
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but because of the recession back then or the depression whatever you want to call it uh there was a lot of people out of work so the government brought them in I mean they they performed a a public service
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but yet they were paid for it too
[speaker002:] well that's true and of course there was the need there and they didn't have any other resource and and uh I guess it it served it's purpose
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] right is that what it was meant to do but as you say they were paid and I'm not all that familiar with the Peace Corps although I have friends who have family members that are in it and um um they generally go abroad and and uh serve but they don't get a salary and they give up uh X number of years of their lives to do this
[speaker001:] right yeah but they must get some compensation somewhere
[speaker002:] um I know some people that just came back from South America and uh they they are degreed and once they got their degrees they're a married couple and they went off they got uh some they got some compensation but it wasn't a whole lot
[speaker001:] uh was was it like a sabbatical
[speaker002:] yeah more like a sabbatical I would imagine and uh I guess a lot of it was a learning experience for them I I imagine it takes just different kinds of people
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and now they're uh back in school so maybe they're people in the beginning that just want to be in a constant learning environment I I don't know
[speaker001:] uh yeah like yeah
[speaker002:] but uh
[speaker001:] yeah I think I think we need it in this country
[speaker002:] yes I I agree I so much so many of our things are going outside the country to benefit other nations and okay that's fine but what about here
[speaker001:] right we're uh
[speaker002:] you know
[speaker001:] you know we're supposedly on the leading edge of technology which uh that can be disputed I guess by a number of other countries um I do now that our rapid transit system uh is in terrible shape I mean most areas of the country we don't have anything
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] where overseas uh they do their rail lines their their uh their subways are in much better condition than ours if we put if we put a force to work in this country building a network of rapid transit systems you know just from say outlying districts of downtown especially California where the I saw a program on uh PBS last night they're saying the average
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] the average speed on the California freeways now in southern California is thirty six miles an hour and it's roughly uh a two hour wait to get from the outskirts of downtown
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and they figure by five years the average speed is going to be eleven miles an hour
[speaker002:] I'll be
[speaker001:] that's that's atrocious
[speaker002:] you know maybe we've um got a turn around here maybe in the beginning we thought it wasn't such a good idea but perhaps if we instrumented it here in the US rather than taking all that manpower out of the US and providing a service for people to join here and do some good we could come up with some of those things
[speaker001:] we have we have a lot of people that are in college and we have a lot of people that for one reason or another that that can't get into college either they can't afford it or or perhaps they don't have the abilities
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] that's all more manpower and and one of the ways where we're we were coping with that was they were going into the military and they were getting a semblance of an education
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] now the military's laying off
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh I think there should be mandatory that people that are not in school should at least get into some kind of a career program I mean they can help build the United States back up
[speaker002:] that's uh that's a good thought now see I hadn't thought about it that way my first uh thought was when they mentioned that was to people who go abroad and do service abroad and perhaps there might be as you say more of an effort here needed
[speaker001:] yeah  and we've done we've sent people abroad and the people that do go abroad are are usually um college educated
[speaker002:] yes that's true
[speaker001:] they're taking the knowledge that we have and bringing it with them which is which is fine because in the long run if we educate those people and we build up their economy they're going to want to buy products that we make
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so but I don't know if that if that is really taken place like the Philippines with the the massive corruption in there I mean a few people got it and the rest of didn't
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] the Middle East same thing a few people got it and and the rest of them don't so in theory if you build up their economies and help these people yes it can work but the corruption at the top I think limits that
[speaker002:] I agree it doesn't always work that way the way it was intended and then the people change in this country too and not and are not able to see it through our administration changes also
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] yeah I'm kind of uh a dreamer I guess I still I still believe in we could put this country back to work we could bring the steel mills back in we could we could build our own rails we could we could create all kinds of jobs
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] if we just had the incentive like um I'm not sure who started the national highway system you know the the freeways
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I don't know if it was if it was if it was Johnson or Kennedy or sometime before them the way they decided that yes we're going to have uh I guess we've got some of the best roads in the world we could do that too I mean we could we could get a national program Kennedy had a national program to land uh a man on the moon
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and we did it so I I think if we if we put our minds to it we can do just about anything we want yeah sounds like I'm on a soapbox
[speaker002:] I I think I'm inclined  but it's been interesting it's been an interesting soapbox so
[speaker001:] yeah there's I just I just remember how it used to be and it seems like that
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] everything's just deteriorating you know you you can't go anywhere without waiting in line you can't um
[speaker002:] now I thought that was just a sign of the times we're all stressed out that's what they're trying to tell us that that we now get upset because we have to wait in line or wait in traffic but in in reality there's so much more traffic and so many more lines and really like you say something needs to be done about that too
[speaker001:] yeah it just seems to be a waste of time
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I mean it takes it takes longer and longer to get back and forth to work
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] we're adding to the pollution in the in the world whether that's creating the greenhouse effect or not whether it is or not uh it's still being debated
[speaker002:] apparently uh if we could get like we were discussing some people involved in this country like they want to be involved in other countries maybe we could do some some real good here you know and not take so long to do it
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I think it could happen
[speaker001:] it could the the main thing is um like you said earlier in the conversation if we make it a mandate and say you have to do it then we're going to create all kinds of problems
[speaker002:] that's very true
[speaker001:] but I don't see why we can't say that I don't see why we can't you know you contribute well you don't go to school well spend two years doing something
[speaker002:] or put these people that are in prison you know
[speaker001:] we have a welfare system that  is defeating itself because they get more money from welfare than they can working at ordinary jobs
[speaker002:] that's very true
[speaker001:] so what's the incentive for them to go to work
[speaker002:] yes exactly
[speaker001:] the prison population right that's there's I don't know how many millions of people now are incarcerated
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] which is uh which is a huge drain on society
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] what do you do with those people
[speaker002:] and supposedly we're uh reeducating them and putting them back out in the public so give them some public service
[speaker001:] yeah but are we really doing that educating I I suppose some
[speaker002:] I don't know I I suppose to somebody's way of thinking we are but um I know that when they do get out the majority of them aren't able to find jobs are they or get back into society because they have that stigmatism
[speaker001:] no that's right and as much as you say yes you know I've paid my debt to society and all that it's still there
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and they're going to be apprehensive and if you had to choose between one or the other you know you wouldn't you just wouldn't look at those people
[speaker002:] that's very true if you had uh uh a public health organization in the US that took and say a lot of the