Jon Stewart hammered the so called job creators for using Obamacare as an excuse for layoffs. Stewart said, ‘Obamacare is just the latest excuse to rig the social contract.’
Part one of the video via Comedy Central:
Part two of the video via Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart had a heart to heart with America’s “job creators,”
Guys, I get it. Providing healthcare benefits to employees costs money, and as a group you tend to prefer things that don’t cost that. I watch Undercover Boss. But own your layoffs, and your policies. Let’s stop pretending that with this election bosses have been transformed into reluctant a**holes. Obamacare is just the latest excuse to rig the social contract. For many years now, full time benefits like sick days, maternity leave, pensions, lunch hours, chairs have disappeared by magically transforming full time workers into independent contractors or part time twenty year temp help.
Want to avoid paying half of your employees’ Social Security tax? Reclassify them as independent contractors, so they pay it all themselves. Make them fill out a 1099. That’s not a full time busboy. That’s Juanco L.L.C. Don’t forget to invoice us, Juanco. So let’s cut the, I’d love to give employees, I just can’t. Let’s face the facts. Pizza and coal companies are just unlucky enough to have a labor force that can’t be outsourced. You happen to be in one of the few industries that still has to hire Americans. I’m sure if you could outsource your pizza making to China, Papa Johns would quickly become Papa Sans. Which is actually Japan, but for the joke, you understand. It’s your fault. You could have gone tech Papa John’s, founded Instagram and made a billion dollars. But instead, you make pizzas with a filter that makes them taste like their from 1979.
And Murray with the coal company, don’t pretend you’re not going to fire all of your human coal miners the minute you figure out how to train bats to carry coal up out of the ground. Not that you don’t have a legitimate gripe against this president. If Obama would have fought harder for single payer, business owners like you would never have to pay another premium in your lives. You could stuff your pizza crusts with money, and still sell them for ten dollars. And if Obama banned natural gas fracking, then coal wouldn’t be getting its ass kicked in the, what’s it called again, free market.
So maybe next time take all the millions you donated for partisan political purposes, and pump it back into the kind of healthcare advances that may ultimately increase business productivity. And then we can just finally keep pizza out of politics. Because at a certain point, it’s going to make children’s politics very uncomfortable.
Stewart was dead on except for two key points. Single payer was never going to pass because it didn’t have the votes in the Senate. The reason why it didn’t have the votes in the Senate is because these same “job creators” who are laying people off right now also pumped millions of dollars into AstroTurfing and lobbying efforts to oppose the “socialism” of single payer.
It must be nice to be a job creator. They opposed the original healthcare reform proposal that would have benefited them because it is “socialism” a.k.a they might have to pay for something. For a second act these same “job creators” lay off employees because the watered down compromise that they forced into law will also cost them money.
The point that Stewart missed was that the only healthcare position the “job creators” supported was the healthcare status quo, because the cost to them was zero.
Everything else The Daily Show host discussed was right on the money. Guys like Papa John and the War on Coal conservative Richie Riches are angry because they don’t want to spend a dime on their employees. It isn’t that they can’t afford to provide their employees with healthcare. It’s that they don’t want to, which is why these layoffs are nothing more than the post election sour grapes of a few wealthy men who thought they could buy themselves a president.
Here is the problem with their logic. Their competition is going to participate in Obamacare. The best employees will go to the companies that provide the best benefits. In short, these bastions of capitalism, these sacred human gods Republicans like to refer to as job creators are about to be defeated by the one thing that they claim to cherish most.
The free market.
PoliticusUSA
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di
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Seriously? You don’t think that as an American Business owner they have the right to run their business however they choose? Oh wait! I forgot that the Government is making tons and tons of rules to force businesses to be run they way the GOVT thinks they should. I could see your argument if we were in good economic times. Many businesses are barely hanging on. Adding this is just going to put them over the edge. Many business owners have already had to take pay cuts to keep their businesses alive. This just makes it impossible for them to continue the status quo. And if a person wants to lay people off to continue to have an income to pay their bills…… Well this is still America right? Just wait until you see how many more companies start to send jobs overseas. They don’t have to pay them healthcare! The people in this country that believe they are “entitled” to everything others have are going to force themselves right out of jobs. Will be interesting to see your point of view in 4 years.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
The government has been making rules for business for a very long time. Dont pretend its new. If you dont like Obamacare perhaps you should be a single payer proponent and take business right out of the picture.
BTW, Obamacare will subsidize 50% of the cost of healthcare for small businesses of certain sizes.
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
(YAWN) More talking points again. You missed the point of the article that businesses like the two mentioned above CAN afford it. They just don’t WANT to. You are making the same old arguments that made it necessary to bring about unions, workers rights, and the minimum wage in the first place. Like Shiva said: common sense regulations have been a part of the landscape for a looong time.
Business owners are not gods and their employees are not poker chips. If you want to have live human beings work for you, and be a loyal, happy, and productive work force….then you need to provide them with certain things.
I am a small business owner and I recognize this. There is a price, and a responsibility for having the opportunity to own and operate an establishment in this great country.
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Oh, BTW look at all the very successful and profitable businesses in northern Europe that provide all these things for their employees; they have a very efficient and productive workforce.
Kind of puts another nail into the “let big business do whatever it wants, otherwise they won’t make any money” garbage.
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Shadowulf
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 11:49 am
cannot read the article because the amazon ad covers it and will not go away
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Are you on a phone or something?
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Used to like Pappa John’s pie. After this crap though, I refuse to order another pizza from them.
You think that I’m the only one that feels this way Pappa? Wait and see as your sales start going south.
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MrAverage
Nov. 19th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
You actually like Papa Johns’ pizza? It has to be the second worst next to Dominos. Tasteless muck. I personally don’t care about his political leanings, nor do I care about any product or services’ CEO. If it sucks, it sucks and I won’t buy it even if they spout the same beliefs I do. Shake Shack, Applebees, Ihop, Denny’s all garbage I wouldn’t feed my dogs with.
Why are people so stupid? Really. Why do people consume shit and just accept it?
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lm945
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Paying their employees a living wage and providing them with health care benefits are part of the cost of doing business.
If they can’t see that making sure their employees stay healthy so they can continue to do their jobs, thereby providing them with the vast amounts of money they so obviously require to maintain their luxurious lifestyle, perhaps they should find a new way to make a living. Something that will bring them exorbitant amounts of money without help or services from anyone.
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Sherry
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
If a business is required to provide additional benefits to their employees when times are good, does that mean the employees are going to pitch in out of their paychecks when things are bad? It seems logical to me that if you expect businesses to tow the line when life is good and they are making lots of money, then it seems to follow the same line of logic that the employees, who have never had to assume ANY OF THE RISK, should pitch in to support the business when everything goes down the crapper. The nimrods on this thread seem to think business owners are all greedy and won’t give to their employees. Isn’t that the consensus these days?
The liberals are in charge and they know what we should do to pull our country out of the great recession we are in, so things should start getting better really quickly. We don’t need those pesky business types to run things – liberals can do it without any help or advice from conservatives, who obviously know nothing. The 100,000 layoffs and 125 business and business chain closures that have occurred since the election are coinkadinks. Those rotten, stinking business owners! How DARE they fly in the face of liberal logic and lay off hard workers? The BUMS. Pretty soon we will all have Obamacare and I guess the people who make $8 an hour can run things for us all. We’ll make them the boss – I mean, they know about as much as our beloved president on how to run businesses. The government and The People tell businesses what they are to do and pay.
Businesses all over America have been BLED DRY. They held on hoping anyone but Obama would get into power and start turning things around. Now that they know its going to be 4 more years of the same, they can’t hold on anymore.
“You can do anything you want – absolutely anything- as long as you are willing to pay the price.” Bankruptcy, business closures, unemployment and layoffs are the price. Conservatives and businesses tried to tell you, but you…
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Bullshit
Pure unadulterated bullshit. Unsweetened
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
“Conservatives and businesses tried to tell you, gut you won’t listen”.
Oh? Which ones? You mean the ones that lied and told us that lower taxes and loopholes would create jobs, and then after they got the lower taxes and loopholes, they continued sending the jobs overseas?
Those “conservatives and businesses”?
What’s the old saying? “Fool me once; Shame on you. Fool me twice…..”
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UncaJoe
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
— G.W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
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Middle Molly
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:05 am
355,000 people were laid off and filed first time claims for unemployment compensation in the week ending November 3rd, the week before the election.
I would expect that to go up with tomorrow’s numbers due to the Hurricane.
The average number of first time claims over the past several months has been about 360,000 to 380,000 weekly.
This is much lower than it had been. A year ago, we had about 400,000 first time claims a week.
So someone is blathering on that there are 100,000 people who have been laid off because Obama has been re-elected. What proof, sources did they offer? How do they know that these 100,000 people laid off were not laid off due to storms, seasonal variations or anything else?
Remember: Even in the best of times, about 250,000 people are laid off and file for unemployment a week.
If you are indeed that person with two employees, ObamaCares does not impact you in anyway.
And don’t blame this recession on Obama… that is a sure sign of absolute stupidity.
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Sherry
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
The last sentence was: Conservatives and businesses tried to tell you, but you won’t listen.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
You need to catch up. We have seen what conservatives have done, and it cost businesses millions of jobs. And here you are thinking business wants to go right back to the Bush years.
BTW, your conservatives are now saying they need to not be the party of protecting millionaires.
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Sherry, I doubt that you are a business owner. You will find that most people that post on this site are overwhelmingly pro-private sector.
In order for the private sector and business to work there has to be checks and balances. What the so-called conservatives of today have done with their de-regulations and Bizarro world tax plans, is make the business climate like the wild wild west….all chaos and no order. In this climate, small business and the job market suffered greatly.
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Sherry
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Johnee, I’ve been a business owner for 25 years. I pay payroll taxes, sales tax, income tax, social security tax, property tax, and on and on and on. Oh, I’m a business owner all right.
Its the wild, wild west? Well, I happen to be out in the west and I have to pay a fee to the City to have an alarm, a fee if the police have to come out to check the store, a fee to have my business license, a fee to publish once every two years to have the business license, flood insurance ($325/mo) for a store that stands out in the middle of a dry field nowhere near any water, $1185 building insurance, $393/mo for my health insurance – thats just for me, because my husband gets VA as a veteran of a foreign war. The health insurance doesn’t pay for anything until I pay $5500 a year out of my pocket. I pay $10K a year property tax on top of the assessment tax I pay for having fixtures in my store. I am not allowed to have a sign outside of my retail business unless the City approves of the sign and it can’t have any moving features to it. Only governmental entities within the city limits are allowed to have signage with moving lights or parts. The City told us how many trees we had to plant and where they had to be, so there are trees blocking the view of our store, but we have to live with that. After harassing me the entire time we built our store and driving our costs up an additional 30%, the City closed down our building project because one section of a 120 yd long fence was blown over in a storm one weekend. Although we were harassed the entire building project, the City doesn’t care whether people drive by and throw garbage into the same spot and there has been a homeless drug addict living in the environmental feature huffing paint and defecating for the past 7 years. The insurance company just came by to inspect our building and business and discovered one of our fire extinguishers is out of date. Yep, we are really under regulated here, Johnee.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
A good indication of local corruption. Someone is making a nice handful of money off you
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
No doubt and somehow it’s the “liberals” and Obama’s fault.
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
OK then Sherry, as a small business owner, why on earth would you vote against your own interests?!! The GOP and “conservatives” don’t give a flying leap about you!!
I am not anti-business. As I said I am a small business owner. You are putting ALL business in the same category. Unfortunately, you seem to be under the impression that the republicans are good for you just because you are in business? Nothing could be further from the truth. You have been snowed.
All the conservative republicans cared about is WEALTHY businesses and corporations…not you. The president wants you to keep your benefits and keep your taxes low.
Did you read where I said small business suffered greatly? Again, the state fees that you pay have absolutely nothing to do with the deregulation of all the fat cats on wall street that ran wild. It is a huge mistake to even attempt to put yourself in the same category and assume that you are going to receive some kind of benefit because big business does.
The health care? Sherry everything that you wrote about your health care and your costs is every reason in the world to NOT support the Republicans. You do realize that their solution to the health care problem is to not do anything and leave it the way it is don’t you?
Honestly, Sherry, instead of the “you liberals” Rush Limbaugh talk what on this earth do you you as an elderly, middle class, struggling business owner think the “conservatives” are going to do for you?
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Middle Molly
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:15 am
Sherry, your gripe should be with your local authorities. We had a small mom and pop business once upon a time, about 15 years ago, and we had some of the same expenses that you mentioned. Ultimately, we closed down the store. It wasn’t worth it… but it had nothing to do with regulations; it had to do with competition from the Internet and with some bad business decisions.
I’m not sure about the fixture assessment or the flood insurance, we didn’t have either of those, but Mom and Pop businesses are tough, particularly if you are under capitalized.
As I said, with two employees, ObamaCares should be meaningless to you. In fact, you might be eligible for cheaper insurance for yourself when the exchanges are in place. Unless you make a good income from your business or have other sources of income, which it doesn’t sound as if you do.
Have you found and tried the health insurance calculator?
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cyd
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Note: Do not go to Applebees, Papa Johns and try to stop using coal. Oh… and Westgate… Glad I don’t own any of their vacation homes. I used to like Westgate too.
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Heidi A Wilkinson
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
As always, Jon tells the truth and does it with humor
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Sherry
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Hey, like I said, you liberals are leading the way and I’m sure things are going to be just peachy. No reason to be all pissed off at me about it, just because I have a conservative nature and am a Libertarian. Its okay for me to have an opinion, as long as it is YOUR opinion, right? So I have no right, as a business owner in this country, to make a remark?
Business owners are painted with your brush as selfish, greedy and caring only for themselves. Now, be careful with your criticism of me. You might be blasting a woman who moved out of her home of 20 years just to keep her two employees in a job. You might be blasting someone who has bent over backwards and practically gone to hell and back to stay in business, meet responsibilities and hand out a paycheck once a week to two people. Two people who are convinced there is no way they could have gotten another job, because they had looked for so long before getting hired by me.
I’m just an old woman who owns a mom and pop business and I sit out in front of my store at 6am pulling weeds because we can’t afford to hire it out this last four years.
Like I said, I’m absolutely positive that Obama knows exactly what he is doing and will lead our country right down the same path we’ve been on for four years and everything is going to turn out great! Why are you so angry when you have gotten your way? You have won! America has won! We have Obama again!
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Centered
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Go Sherry! I too am a business owner.
Bottom line: It is no longer worth the risk to create more jobs. I’ve created dozens over the years for good, hard-working people — Americans, blue, red, black, white, hispanic, great people. Obamacare is a jobs killer. A major restaurant owner I know said they have calculated the cost of Obamacare to be many millions of dollars. It’s not that he doesn’t want his employees covered, it’s just that patrons won’t pay enough to cover all of the expenses. It’s called REALITY. R E A L I T Y.
Obama’s idea of economics and business isn’t REALITY. I believe that’s what Bill and Hillary called it in 2008. Clinton also said, “I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending until we get this economy off the ground,” — 12 months ago. BTW: I think Hillary would make a fine President. I’m not anti-dem, I’m anti -Socialist.
I wish I wanted to continue expanding. Under Romney I would have thought -finally, someone that gets it. OBAMA DOESN’T GET IT!!! He’s never met payroll – well, not without borrowing a Trillion$$ anyway. So, instead of growing, we will stay the same or shrink because by the time I pay the government it will not be worth the risk.
This is the feeling across the country. The European model doesn’t work but that’s where we are headed. Illinois is a disaster due to similar policies and yet it seems to be Obama’s model for hte country.
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Middle Molly
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:23 am
Papa John’s, a huge outfit, estimated that ObamaCares will cost him about 8 million. So unless the restaurant owner you know if as big as Papa John’s, there is no way it’s going to cost him millions of dollars.
I’m sure that all business owners whined and complained when they had to pay unemployment tax, when they had to give their employees overtime after 40 hours, when they had to pay minimum wages, when they had to abide by health and safety regulations.
Too bad we don’t have enough stuff on the Internet from the advent of all of those laws.. We’d find the same complaints.
Actually, I have always considered Hillary to the left of Obama. And we shouldn’t be raising taxes on 98% of the people. But people who are pulling down 250K AFTER business expenses, deductions, and exemptions.. They’ll survive.
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Nobody
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 9:36 pm
25 years in business; how were the 90′s?
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Centered
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Johnee,
Maybe, as you said, the conservatives would do nothing for us business owners. That would be great! It’s better than driving us out of business.
Romney wanted to make America the place to do business. Romney is doing quite the opposite. Hear that sucking sound? That’s the job market.
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Centered
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Obama is doing quite the opposite.
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Johnee
Nov. 14th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I know you are frustrated Centered, but tell me how the hell Romney would have helped. As I see it the economy is on the mend due in large part to regulating Wall street, saving the auto industry, and a job stimulus package (that still didn’t go far enough).
Plus, I am extremely skeptical of the ooga booga horror story of the ACA driving folks out of business. I have heard just as many enthusiastic prognosis’ about the health care act from business owners as I have naysayers.
Plus, as I have said before the European model is a stunning success in Northern Europe where the quality of life, rate of pay, and individual freedom is very high.
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Centered
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 12:13 am
Do you really know that much about Northern Europe and how they manipulate data? You should dig deeper because the surface data doesn’t begin to tell the truth. I’m not frustrated. I’ll be fine. I’m probably concerned about the lack of opportunities and challenges of what will be $20 trillion in debt our kids will all face. I don’t put all of this on one guy. I believe the whole of DC needs a makeover. Perhaps with some fundamental changes like term limits we would get more people interested in doing the work of the people than getting re-elected. My hope is that both sides can get back to work and serve the needs of all.
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Middle Molly
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:26 am
Where is your reputable source on how “Northern Europe manipulates data”?
In what way do they manipulate it? Are you trying to say that their student test scores, their health records, their unemployment rates, etc., are not what they tell us they are?
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Johnee
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:38 am
Yes, I am not an arm chair observer. I have family and friends that live throughout Europe. I have been to northern Europe, particularly Norway, several times, and while not perfect, it pretty much lives up to the hype. We have friends that moved there from Las Vegas several years ago. They have great jobs working for a profitable company, live in a beautiful city with low crime, and low stress. If there is some kind of hidden under current of misery ready to boil to the surface, I couldn’t see it.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we should become an exact clone of the European model. There are a lot of things that are unique to the U.S. that I wouldn’t change. However, I do believe that we can assimilate and adapt certain things that are just damn good and enlightened ideas.
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Centered
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
I agree Johnee, we should be able to take the best ideas from around the world and make us a better country. Now if we can get the politicians to agree on something that can work for 80% of us that would be great!
I’m married to a Brit so spend a lot of time there. There is good and bad with every system.
I just hope we don’t end up with 70% taxation as is the case if you add up all of the taxes Europeans pay.
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Centered
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
You can make your own decision about social vs self reliance I guess. Here is some info on Norway. If you like beers that cost $12 and such it is probably OK. Or a tiny apartment (800 sf) for $1500. The unemployment rate is skewed because they reclassify unemployed as students. Plan on 60% tax rate if you are middle income.
http://www.aneki.com/expensive.html
http://www.taxrates.cc/html/norway-tax-rates.html
http://mylittlenorway.com/2010/04/do-you-really-want-to-live-in-norway/
Cradle to grave government care sounds great on the surface.
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Johnee
Nov. 15th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
“$12 beers”.
Hence my comment that it isn’t perfect. However, regardless of the tax rates, the combination of significantly higher salaries and low unemployment make up for quite a bit of the cost of living expenses. My friends are doing quite well and are very happy.
Plus, it’s public programs in a capitalistic framework; a hybrid so to speak. Cradle to grave government care is a huge oversimplification. You still have to be a self sufficient, responsible, and hard working individual there if you want any kind of a decent life there. A few helping hand programs ain’t gonna do it for you.
But hey! I like a lot of what you are saying in your last post. I think we can agree on a lot of the important stuff.
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Garm
Nov. 16th, 2012 at 5:27 am
Well, the average income is 80 000 $, and a lot of the expenses you got in the US are already taken care of. Like health care, college for the kids, etc.
And my experience is, that gets you a lot of freedom. You can have kids when its right for you, go for your dream job without considering whether it has health care or not, adjust your work time and pay down if you need more time for you life, study the stuff you got the brains for…most of you life, you simply got much, much more freedom.
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Centered
Nov. 16th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Hey Johnee: Thanks for the note. I keep hoping that we can find common ground in this country. I would need a big raise for those $12 beers! :-)
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