Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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quote:
OMG. I agree with Term.
Hope you don't mind my shit eating grin while I alert the media.
Now for part "next". I don't know about other states but here for unemployment you usually have to actively seek work to collect. I haven't collected it in about thirty years but I can tell you how it used to be. There were three classes, one was general labor, two was skilled and the third was seaonal or union.
In the first class which generally included minimum or near minimum wage jobs you had to report seeking employment at like four places every week and take any work offered of which you are capable. In the second class you had to seek employment in your field of experience, and you could refuse a job if the wage was substantially less than what you were making. In the third class you had to call the union hall or the ex employer about every week.
All throughout the unemployment office were pamphlets etc. from trade schools and such, many offering government sponsored financing. Back then you had to have a GED and pass an entrance exam. When your benefits ran out you had better do something because there were no extensions ad infinitum, not that there are today.
Next stop was welfare. Now thngs may have changed but I KNOW for a fact that back then paying in to UI was not mandatory. In fact it started as an insurance plan to keep employees from suing for wrongful dismissal in case of a work slowdown. It is actually private but administered by the state. (sound familiar)
So I got this buddy who had been making good money, but on 1099s, which means he did not pay into and thus was not covered by UI. The company went belly up and he eventually ran out of money. He was the working type and the problem was he had little in the way of skills. He had been making damn good money going cross country refurbing offices in the middle of the night. They would put new tops on all the desks, and electrostatically paint all the furniture. The people walked in on Monday morning and the place was completely different. That pulled in some decent money but it was mainly living like a truck driver and working ridiculous hours that made for a good check.
So eventually he is at the end of his money and winds up at the welfare office, which I told him to do, not for a check, but maybe for some education. He got a small check, moved into a smaller place and went to one of the better trade schools. He studied, passed and got a decent job. He now makes about 60K a year for forty hours, with full benefits, medical and matched retirement.
The bottom line : He has paid a hell of alot more in taxes than he ever collected. He would not have done that flipping burgers, people whjo make that kind of money rarely pay anything in income tax, and if they get into the EIC income zone may get more back than was deducted.
So gere's the thing that gets me about how fucking stooopid the government is. First of all people make so much out of tax cuts for the rich that it is out of proportion. Of course they probably dhould pay more, in fact I have already stated my proposal, a totally flat rate with one exemption (no dependents allowed). But even that doesn't solve it.
The old axiom is that it is easier to get a dollar each out of a million people than a million dollars out of one. Logic also dictates that to get a million dollars from anyone they must have it. No blood to be found in those turnips.
And then people bitch that taxes are driving companies out of the country and then five minutes later bitch that comanies aren't paying taxes. Which is it ? Neither.
So, here we have it. You can't afford to go school because you can't get a good enough paying job and you can't get a good enough paying job because you can't afford to go to school. And "they" made it that way pretty much to ripen us up for exploitation.
See when the rich (as a unit) acquire wealth and see the value of the dollar go down, it hurts them. But the whole thing boils down to this - if the bottom is falling out of the money, why do they want it ? Really if I won the lottery I would spend it as fast as I possibly can. I would have an underground bunker and all that of course but I mean other things, generators and huge tanks of fuel, water, tools, weapons, things like that. Why ? BECAUSE THE ONLY THING GETTING CHEAPER IS MONEY. Logically they should be spending it which would stimulate the economy. One would think.
So, these people with all this money can't be all that stupid so the way I can see it working out is thus. They corner the market on money, this will cause deflation. That will be because the market forces will have been influenced. The basic idea is that nobody will be able to afford anything. Grain wil rot in the silos, milk will stale on the shelves (it no longer goes sour because of that virus). New cars will rust on the lots (this happened to imports in the 1970s BTW because nobody would buy them). But it won't be that people won't buy these things, it will be that peple can't buy these things.
So the bigwigs are not really in cahootz here, they are gouging each other's eyes out just like anyone else. It is a matter of who can wait it out the longest. Which of the price structures will fall first. I say it will be food because much of it is perishable, but there are other possibilities, fuel for example.
But back to the subject. I think once someone gets on welfare they should be skill assessed and they should be sent to school. Perhaps not full time because they should have some time to seek at least parttime employment for the time being. That's the market, so go with it.
But they MUST become literate, they MUST persue getting a skill. The government should be teaching auto mechanics or (in the case of my buddy) HVAC with computerized control (energy efficient), or something. You can send them folks to trade school for ten grand a year and they can be done in two years. It's much better sending the druggie kids of yuppies to Harvard for toga partying and sculpture tp the tune of a hundred grand.
That is another thing. They will cut medicare and yet still fund the arts. OK crucify me for that but as much as you might like pretty things the dead will not see them.
So teach people useful skills that employers want, and employers might just come back. If not maybe new employers will take the place of the old. How many businesses you reckon never get started because of the difficulty of obtaining labor ? I know of one for sure, the one I would have started a few years ago. One little drop in the bucket, but how many other drops are out there, never to see the bucket ?
And there is one other BIG thing that has to be addressed correctly, which is not. Healthcare. There are a hell of alot of peole out there who will not work because on public assistance they get free healthcare. Lots and lots of them and how can you blame them ? There are a hell of alot out there workng under the table. Alot of people have kids, never get married, don't have their name on the birth certificate and let their olady collect welfare to get free medical for the kids, and don't pay any income taxes at all.
How do you fix that ? Well with all that schoolin and shit clogging up people's minds the obvious has escaped them. Either you give it to everybody, or nobody. It really is that simple.
Being regular forty years ago meant working, buying a car and a house and all that. Normal now is to be broke generally, no wonder college kids all want to be bank presidents. The middle class is no longer in the middle.
T^T
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RE: The path to economic prosperity. - 
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