[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', ' ')Zimbabwe will never be a Rhodesia again,that's for sure, nevertheless it does not mean it is about to starve. Miners in Zimbabwe are making $200-250 per month and never cease to complain , so obviously they don't go hungry.

[Pretorian]

I would like everyone to remember this data: recommended ration--12 kilograms of maize per month. Price of maize per pound as of right now -- 10 cents. It takes $2.66 to supply one adult with food for 1 month. With a monthly dose of $180 in food stamps, an adult can get over 5.5 years worth of food. One year on food stamps gives over 67 years worth of food for an adult. Remember this.

[Cog]

If you really want to see a country that practices starvation as a government policy you need look no further than India. About one billion into overshoot and counting.

[AdTheNad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'P')rice of maize per pound as of right now -- 10 cents. It takes $2.66 to supply one adult with food for 1 month.

[Newfie]

Somehow we have drifted from the US and westernized economics to sub-saharan Africa.

Plate tectonics?

[Cog]

Thread drift caused by the mooch class posters who believe money grows on trees.

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')hread drift caused by the mooch class posters who believe money grows on trees.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AdTheNad', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'P')rice of maize per pound as of right now -- 10 cents. It takes $2.66 to supply one adult with food for 1 month.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('prajeshbhat', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')hread drift caused by the mooch class posters who believe money grows on trees.

[Newfie]

Cog,

I am thrilled to hear you say there is no reason to be rude. I quite agree.

[Tanada]

So much to my chagrin I just learned that businesses where employees work under 30 hours per week are exempt from the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 aka Obamacare. Having lost my full time job of fifteen years and being on the lookout I was astounded how few full time positions are being posted compared to the large number of 24 to 28 hour a week jobs being posted, at least in Northern Ohio and Southern Michigan.

Is anyone else experiencing the same effect where you live/work?

[dbruning]

My wife works for Superstore in BC, it's a good job, but even at maximum seniority the limit is 28 hours per week.
I think a lot of the big companies have decided that with the amount of people looking for any work at all, that they would rather have 2 part timers with no benefits than a single person with benefits.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'S')o much to my chagrin I just learned that businesses where employees work under 30 hours per week are exempt from the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 aka Obamacare. Having lost my full time job of fifteen years and being on the lookout I was astounded how few full time positions are being posted compared to the large number of 24 to 28 hour a week jobs being posted, at least in Northern Ohio and Southern Michigan.

Is anyone else experiencing the same effect where you live/work?

[AgentR11]

Working as intended. This creates a very large pool of people outside of company health plans, who have "jobs" and must pay their fine/join a govt plan for not having private insurance. Eventually, this will create enough demand that a government paid health insurance plan gets good traction; the government then feeds in more $$ to the program, and it should eventually morph into an NHS with a parallel private market serving management, union bosses, high end skilled labor, etc. That is the desired result, and as far as I can tell, its going to go down like clockwork.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', ' ')Eventually, this will create enough demand that a government paid health insurance plan gets good traction; the government then feeds in more $$ to the program, and it should eventually morph into an NHS with a parallel private market serving management, union bosses, high end skilled labor, etc. That is the desired result, and as far as I can tell, its going to go down like clockwork.

[Newfie]

Really, can we get off Obama care?

The whole medical insurance system in the US is just stupid.

Enacted by stupid politicians voted in by stupid voters.

There are 2.5 clerks per physician in the US. So if I see my Doctor for 1 hour, it takes 2.5 hours to pay him? Yeah, I don't think so. The whole medical insurance business is just a work fare scam.

I mean really, what benefit do they provide?

We already have a single payer system, the wage earner pays taxes and insurance. The Government and Insurance companies pay the Doctor.

But you can't have reform, because that would put hundreds of thousands of people out of work. Not that they are doing anything valuable. They aren't.

And that brings up back to the point of this thread. Why do we work so many hours per week? Because we want to think we are doing something valuable with our time and our lives. We are not. We are just churning and burning energy.

I have no illusions that this will ever change.

Here is a suggestion. Everybody gets 5 years of unemployment. Lower retirement age to 55. What ever unemployment you don't use, say three years, gets deducted from your retirement, so your retire at 52.

That makes a lot of room for younger folks to work and helps unemployment.

And yes, I'll be 62 this month and am still working. But that is a domestic dispute that don't have jack to do with this argument.

[SeaGypsy]

Agent's point is that the legislators could see the writing on the wall and predicted this will amount to a death blow to the stupid system; without enacting something the insurers could fight in court. Perhaps the lawmakers are not so stupid.

(Very perceptive of you again Agent)

A move straight from the old complete b/s system straight to a NHS would have been a great thing, if it were legally possible. Fact is big insurance would have spent the next decade stalling such in court and meanwhile, no change.

Obamacare is a sneaky measure, but perhaps the only workable transition towards NHS. Pity that ordinary workers get screwed in the process, but either/ any way possible, someone was going to cop the short straw.

[Newfie]

Well, maybe. I just don't think anyone is sufficiently smart to pull that off.

No conspiracy theories for me, except Kennedy.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('babystrangeloop', 'r')eally produce things at white collar jobs

[ralfy]

No amount of adjustments in work requirements will help if the essential problem of the economy involves too much borrowing and spending. Unfortunately, that problem cannot be avoided as the currency is also used worldwide and needs to be propped up by an expensive military.