Minimum wage

[rivalarrival]

Originally Posted by YelloJeep

I must ask... How many people in here think that everyone should make about the same amount of money? Regardless of their ability or work?

No. No damn way. I could not support the "right" of a shiftless layabout to earn the same amount as a talented workaholic. I have no problem paying a pittance for certain jobs if people are willing to accept a pittance. I would support a minimum wage that is significantly below the poverty line even for a single person, let alone a family. BUT, I think that employers should be expected to be a net benefit to society, not a drain, and I don't see anything wrong with requiring them to do so. I think that if the average employee at a company is eligible for public assistance, that employer needs to fix the problem.

I have no problem with supporting people who can't work - I've got three of them running around my house, jumping on me, calling me "daddy". Like I really need THAT after a hard day's work?

I have no problem supporting disabled neighbors and the like. I really don't even have a problem supporting workers between jobs (although I would say from the short time I was on unemployment between my military service and subsequent civilian job that unemployment laws are inadequately enforced)

I would support efforts to help the homeless become gainfully employed - providing food, clothing, shelters, mailing addresses, public transportation to and from work, etc.

I would support efforts to protect those living paycheck-to-paycheck from banking exploitation. Payday lending and check cashing businesses scrape tons of money solely from people who can least afford their "services". It was only very recently that overdraft fees were reformed enough that banks were forced to stop re-ordering deposits and withdrawals to generate overdrafts where none actually existed.

I would generally support, but I have a few qualms about socialized health care, in that a person's life choices and basic hygiene play a big part of their need for health care, and I have no intention of either regulating or supporting risky behavior or fining someone for refusing to wash their hands in a filthy gas station restroom.

These are all things that people deserve to have, whether they can pay for them or not. We're social creatures. Just because someone can never be anything be an economic drain doesn't mean that we should drop them in a blender and use them to fertilize our crops.

[YelloJeep]

Fair enough. (Rivalarrival, the question wasn't directed exclusively toward you, if you thought that)
Just based on some of the comments from others, it led me to the question.
Anyway, for the most part I agree with you. As far as bank/lending exploiting some folks, I simply believe that there needs to be more education in personal finance. I started another thread about that (http://www.cityprofile.com/forum/nat...rsonal+finance). Surprisingly, there are some who seemed a little lukewarm as to the effects of such education. Generally, I do not believe in helping people out of the hole that they dug for themselves. Now, I do not so much have a problem helping get someone out of a hole that they were put into.

[blucher]

I would support efforts to protect those living paycheck-to-paycheck from banking exploitation. Payday lending and check cashing businesses scrape tons of money solely from people who can least afford their "services". It was only very recently that overdraft fees were reformed enough that banks were forced to stop re-ordering deposits and withdrawals to generate overdrafts where none actually existed.

I think the savings possible by reforming these parasites could defer some of the costs of Healthcare.
I'd add in any lawyer recruiting personal injury suits via TV ads. We never used to allow such blatant ambulance chasing and free speech doesn't mean tolerating the misuse of our courts.

[YelloJeep]

Originally Posted by blucher

I'd add in any lawyer recruiting personal injury suits via TV ads. We never used to allow such blatant ambulance chasing and free speech doesn't mean tolerating the misuse of our courts.

I definitely agree with this..

[rivalarrival]

Originally Posted by YelloJeep

I definitely agree with this..

As would I. Amputating the wrong foot is malpractice - sue that doctor into oblivion. Leaving a noticeable scar isn't malpractice.

[blucher]

Originally Posted by rivalarrival

As would I. Amputating the wrong foot is malpractice - sue that doctor into oblivion. Leaving a noticeable scar isn't malpractice.

Like so many other problems this one is complex. I grew up in a world that forbade ambulance chasing. The law probably failed a Supreme Court challenge sometime when my attention was elsewhere. I blame lawyers for 75% of this.

Meanwhile the old boy's club of physicians was wrist slapping the incompetents in their ranks. Locally (Portland) and later Australia stood mute as an Indian physician known as "Dr. Death" was killing a crapload of patients. He wasn't the only butcher sanctioned by the AMA as a doctor in good standing.

I think we need state medical panels staffed with non-physicians including a retired nurse or two. Let's borrow "due diligence" from another theater and make physicians accountable when they're incompetent or worse but if they act within the accepted practices indicated there should be no legal windfall for patient or lawyer.

"Recruiting" via TV or radio should be greatly restricted and limited to listing the attorney's practice and specialty. Medical injuries should have realistic limits on awards with the attorney receiving only their normal hourly fees.

This works best if there is close oversight of pharmaceuticals which is way over due. The Free Market sorts out many things but greed isn't among them.