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Is my advice too mercenary?
251–260 of 390 posts
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#252It truly is shocking that health insurance is tied to employment status. I really think this is a large part of the trend towards overt ruthlessness in the USA, no one has their back so they have no ones back, as people age and experience medical bankruptcy (or narrowly avoid it at great cost) they are realizing this ruthlessness in our system.
Health insurance is not tied to employment status. Anyone can go to healthcare.gov and buy an equivalent BCBS or Kaiser or whatever gold/silver/bronze insurance. Unless you are in a particularly shitty state. What employers do have is the ability to sell you health insurance with pre tax dollars, which is also available to self employed individuals. But the people who are screwed are those who are employed by employe…
It is still a headache to have to register for a plan after losing your job and possibly transfer/link your information to a new account. COBRA is better than nothing, but it is often more expensive than makes sense.
Furthermore you cannot use the exchanges if your employer offers plans IIRC. So your employer can control which plans you have access to.
The subsidies should just be given directly to the person who needs healthcare. There is no need to involve a third party. It just complicates the situation for no gain.
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#253Any company that says "we are a family" or talk about loyalty is immediately not to be trusted. Was on linkedIn today and say some director stating that the one thing she looks for on a resume is loyalty, if someone has jumped ship every couple of years she is not interested. Looked at her CV and she had been with the current company 5 years. Prior to that, not a single job longer than 17 months. She essentially reached leadership and then decided that its insulting for the plebs to quit on her. She also made a statement along the lines of 'you spend 12 hours a day at work...'. Any leader that thinks you should be spending 12 hours a day at work is not a leader you want. It was the clearest red flag I have ever seen a people leader post.
I will work for a company and try my best as long as they provide me with good yearly raises and benefits and don't require insane hours. Fail on any of those points and I am gone. There are plenty of opportunities for a 20% raise somewhere else. I know that as soon as times get tough they will cut whatever heads are required while being sure to give the execs or in-crowd a golden parachute and the rest nothing.
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…
The two main differences: 1) Nobody pretends that business skills are especially hereditary. It is common for people to enter and exit the 'class' of business owner. 2) Success as as a business owner requires steady economic activity where people get what they want. Success as a noble ruling a fiefdom requires kneecapping anyone who challenges your god-given right to rule. One big observations: This is what US govern…
> 2) Success as as a business owner requires steady economic activity where people get what they want. Success as a noble ruling a fiefdom requires kneecapping anyone who challenges your god-given right to rule.
take out lobbying and id agree
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…
The two main differences: 1) Nobody pretends that business skills are especially hereditary. It is common for people to enter and exit the 'class' of business owner. 2) Success as as a business owner requires steady economic activity where people get what they want. Success as a noble ruling a fiefdom requires kneecapping anyone who challenges your god-given right to rule. One big observations: This is what US govern…
>It is common for people to enter and exit the 'class' of business owner.
Not particularly common. Social mobility is low even in developed countries, and getting lower.
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#256There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…
" ...you could give your all to a company. " I believe the phrasing should be "had to give your all to a company." This is the time period when you would retire from the same company you started at, right? And if you had more than a few jobs on your resume (or the infamous missing time), you would have a hard time being hired because you were unreliable. You have a very rose-tinted view of the historical business wor…
> You have a very rose-tinted view of the historical business world.
Indeed. We're only a few generations removed from a time when we had companies enlisting private armed security forces and militias to violently break strikes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-union_violence_in_the_Uni...
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Health insurance is not tied to employment status. Anyone can go to healthcare.gov and buy an equivalent BCBS or Kaiser or whatever gold/silver/bronze insurance. Unless you are in a particularly shitty state. What employers do have is the ability to sell you health insurance with pre tax dollars, which is also available to self employed individuals. But the people who are screwed are those who are employed by employe…
It is still a headache to have to register for a plan after losing your job and possibly transfer/link your information to a new account. COBRA is better than nothing, but it is often more expensive than makes sense. Furthermore you cannot use the exchanges if your employer offers plans IIRC. So your employer can control which plans you have access to. The subsidies should just be given directly to the person who nee…
> Furthermore you cannot use the exchanges if your employer offers plans IIRC. So your employer can control which plans you have access to.
I do not think this is true. Everyone can sign up on healthcare.gov. Employers will want you to opt into the subsidized plans they offer, especially if you are a lower compensated employee, in order to pass their non discrimination testing requirements, but they have to make the portion they are paying for high enough to make it enticing enough, they cannot force you.
> The subsidies should just be given directly to the person who needs healthcare. There is no need to involve a third party. It just complicates the situation for no gain.
Absolutely. The whole employer tax benefit situation should be abolished, and all individuals dumped on healthcare.gov. Same with retirement benefits. Employers should not receive any beneficial tax treatment for providing benefits, and it would make compensation much more transparent and easier for employees to compare from one employer to another.
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm assuming this is by design to keep the US population "on their toes" and at work doing productive things. Otherwise why would it be tied to employment?
Because previously all social services, including police and fire safety, were privatized, and were only taken over by the state when it became clear there wasn't enough economic incentive to keep such services running without the operators doing stuff like roughing people up, burning down buildings, etc. But everyone decomposes as they age, and people fear illness and death enough that you can charge them however mu…
uh i cant edit this anymore but i wanted to clarify to all the ppl spazzing out over the police thing that i was speaking in a broader historical sense and only got specific to america in the transition to the second paragraph
Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#259There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…
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Re: Is my advice too mercenary?
#260There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…
It's been happening for much longer than NAFTA has been around. My hometown was known for building tires earlier in the 20th century and all that left in the early 80s and it never recovered. That said, before that happened the place was kind of a "company town" and the big manufacturers with all the money essentially ran the place. Only good news if you were in their favor. Lots of stories about being harassed by po…
>It's been happening for much longer than NAFTA has been around. My hometown was known for building tires earlier in the 20th century and all that left in the early 80s and it never recovered.
Also, the products they made were kind of crappy and expensive. It's very easy for a company like the one the GP described to stagnate and rot. Especially when unions get thrown into the mix.