By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
As a father of three children this one really annoys me. It’s bad enough already at our schools, where aspiring young teachers who do a great job can’t get tenure, but the older ones can get lazy and be mean to the kids without fear of repercussions. Now democrats, in the infinite wisdom, want to basically outlaw private babysitting and turn it into another government controlled occupation.
AB 889, authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a democrat out of San Francisco, would require payment of minimum wage to all domestic workers (your babysitter), workers comp insurance, a substitute every two hours (so they can have a break), overtime pay, the works. So much for an easy night out for mom and dad. You’ll have to cut your date a few hours short so you can come home and do your payroll taxes now.
Democrats were put up to this by the CA Domestic Workers Coalition, obviously in hopes of one day recruiting a new source of union members, and therefore more dues. Unions have become notorious, in my mind, of seeking legislation like this that can grow their numbers while hurting our economy. And hurt it will. How many parents do you think will really go through with all of this? How many more will just decide not to go out, or to cut corners and take a chance on someone under the table? California already has so many rules and regulations that a new underground economy is taking hold, especially near our southern border. Is it the democrats’ strategy to force even more of an underground economy, thereby destroying the one we have?
This bill was also produced, in sneaky fashion, at the last minute and given very little time for debate. The democrats pushed it through the Assembly and may yet do it in the Senate as well. If that happens it will be up to Governor Jerry Brown to sign or veto this bill, and up to concerned citizens to call his office and let your voice be heard.
Q: “30 X 5 X 180 is 27,000 “kid hours” per year.
$100,000/27,000 is $3.70 an hour.”
By your standards it’s close to the perfect wage…VERY SMALL PROFIT!
So, when I hire the neighborhood kid — who just got his first vehicle and needs gas and date money — for a $10/hour to help me cut down weeds, errant limbs, trim bushes, rake up the detritus, and haul a couple loads off to the green waste facility, I’ll have to fill out a dozen forms, pay workers comp insurance, and provide for a substitute every two hours?
Sorry kid. Not gonna happen.
Welcome to the Democratic Party vision for California and America.
If I worked all day and earned a $100 for my service and I put that $100 my pocket and my employer spent the next day selling the products I just made at his shop, and after his costs, he put a $100 in his pocket. Now we both have a $100 in our possession, is it absolutely necessary to understand this article to declare mine was from wages and his was from profit? That $100 spends just the same at the grocery store, right? The grocer doesn’t care where it came from, he only wants me to buy his groceries with my $100.
Q: “Please take an accounting class. Wages are not profit.”
Please join us in the practical real world where book learnin actually takes shape and has meaning…workers profit from their labors in the form of wages….cash money…filthy lucre.
Work is not a nonprofit endeavor. Only volunteers labor for FREE!
Great point Tina, only volunteers labor for free!
That reminds me, I believe you deserve a raise. It’s been awhile hasn’t it? Yes, my bad. Consider your WAGES doubled, effective immediately and retroactive 6 months. It’s the least we can do! Steve, you too, double your wages as of today, but don’t tell the other blog writers, they might get jealous.
Hey, can I get a in this a doubling too?
OK, OK, I don’t carry much of the weight here. In fact, I am probably more of a hindrance than a help.
I’ll take a 1/2 cut of nothing instead. But only if I get to post silly preachy comments like your most prolific volunteer curmudgeon in the comments department.
Some people sell labor, some sell goods, some sell services. Many sell all three.
I was once a hired gun, so to speak, in the technology department. My employer sold my services, gave me a cut, provided benefits, and paid himself a “wage” with the profit. I made a profit from my labor, he made a profit from his labor of finding jobs, contracting my labor, selling my labor, and managing the business.
Stockholders made a profit from investment by providing the capital to get the operation up and running and help keep it running and growing. Many of the stockholders were also employees.
One thing is for sure, you can’t get a real world education on accounting and economics just from a single class on accounting and economics. It is a tad bit more complex than some Junior College students are used too.
Pie asks, “Hey, can I get a in this a doubling too?”
Answer; Pie, because you’re such a great poster I think we’re going to award you a one time cash payment equal to 25% of what we at PS make, just to spread the wealth around.
Jack before we double our pay we should do a comparative study of bloggers in really rich counties to show that we deserve a raise too.
Quentin you’re my favorite democrat, only a true liberal could suggest that someone making $100K a year off the taxpayers and getting summers off is underpaid.
OMG…back from a date with my honey only to find my pay has doubled!!! Wooo hooooo!!! Thanks Jack.
Geez it just occurs to me…Maybe liberals are right…the less you work, the more you should “get”.
OH WOW…and that more that you get? It isn’t profit…un unh, honey, it’s just your share…a fair share of the communal pie!
So that’s what they mean when they say…a living wage!
(too much popcorn and sugar for me today!)
You know, you might have to drop this “Nanny State” thing. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but everytime I hear it, I go: “the only people who object to nannies are fractious three-year-olds bent on anti-social conduct.”
Am I wrong?
Libby: “I don’t know about the rest of the world, but everytime I hear it, I go: ‘the only people who object to nannies are fractious three-year-olds bent on anti-social conduct.'”
That’s because you still think “the rest of the world” needs you to tell it how to live.
Give it up Libby, “Nanny State” describes the progressive vision for America perfectly!
But that’s just it, Tina. I am not at all cognizant of being nannied?
Are you?
If you are … well, just how flagrantly anti-social are you?
Libby from your most recent comments I infer that you now work in a law office. Did you receive health and safety training when you were hired? Does your office have a health and safety manual? Does it post health and safety posters? Were you informed that you would be re-trained on a quarterly basis with proper forms to fill out so that they may be kept on file? Do you know how to properly open a file drawer? What about the sharp objects you work with daily…letter openers, sissors, paper clips, tape dispensers…have you been schooled in the proper use of these items? If your job requires you to replace ink cartridges has your employer determined that they are nontoxic? Have you been trained so that you are unlikely to acquire a paper cut? Do you have at your disposal the proper ergonomic equipment when you use the computer?
If not your employer may be in violation of government regulation and could be subject to fines.
That is only one example of the Nanny State. There are many others.
Democrat ideas treat adults as if they were children, are a complete waste of time and energy, and are a pain in the a**! It’s as simple as that.
Tina, this kind of hyperbole gets you nowhere. No, in my law office we are all trusted to use the stapler without impaling ourselves.
But over at the Home Depot, they have got manuals, posters, repeated trainings, because if they don’t keep on their employees constantly, their employees drop heavy boxes on each others’ heads … and the lawsuits resulting from this are very, very costly.
Home Depot can see this for itself. And it gets regular reminders from its liability carriers. And then there is OSHA.
I have no problem with any of this, and I don’t understand why you do? Unless, of course, you are one of these thoughtless employers who do not exert yourself over the physical safety of your employees, run up ruinous social costs, comport your business in an anti-social fashion, and so, need a nanny.
Tee Hee.