I don't think they should let the lotteries get that big. If they are getting that big, it means they have too many numbers to try and match. And if it is like most lotteries, only 50% of the take is fed back into the winning pool, the government cobs all the rest, and then taxes it when someone does win. So I would venture to guess, only 25% of the money ends up in the winners hands and the government gets all the rest. And then when you spend it they tax it again as sales tax, hi hi.
And when they government don't pay it out all at once, look at the interest they rake in on the money they are holding, and you hope the government keeps paying you and doesn't claim bankruptcy, hi hi.
My tidy little nest egg got cashed in to cover medical payments for my late wife. And because I had assets, we could not get help of any kind. Well, now I have no assets and still can't get help, because my 89 dollars a month puts me over the limit, hi hi.
Vertical Clouds
Forum rules
Post a new topic to begin a chat.
Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Post a new topic to begin a chat.
Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Vertical Clouds
The lotteries were invented to generate cash for running the government. It's serving the original intent very well. Anything you win over a few hundred dollars is a gift from the state. It's true that the calculated payout currently is $1.9 BILLION which most people would take in a lump sum that nets around a mere $500 million after all the taxes are applied. Do you really feel bitter about that? It's money you did not earn and in fact it was taken from other poor people who figured they too had a chance to win big. So, the winner is essentially stealing money from poor losers.
And, you are right about the quantity of numbers. There was a time when fewer numbers were required, but then too many people were winning and not enough people were buying tickets. So they recalculated the odds and these super big jackpots is the result of it being too easy to win in the past. By the way, the lottery money is kept in a pool that is separate from the general fund used to run the government. That pool of money does in fact earn interest, but it all goes back to the ticket buyers. Well, not all. The government is entitled to its share, which is why there is a pool of lotto money in the first place. It's kind of like the Social Security fund before it got raped.
I think of your situation all the time, especially when my wife turns ill. We can never know the future but your story is not unique. It happens all the time every day. It could very well happen to me. By the way, I think you might end up with a little over $90/mo starting next year after the COLA from Social Security is put into place. I don't know about my major medical premiums yet, but apparently my drug plan is reducing their premiums and moving a lot of tier 2 drugs down to tier 1. They also put a cap on insulin which I believe is $20/mo if I read it correctly. Then again, it's my insurance people telling me all this. It remains to be seen what actually happens.
And, you are right about the quantity of numbers. There was a time when fewer numbers were required, but then too many people were winning and not enough people were buying tickets. So they recalculated the odds and these super big jackpots is the result of it being too easy to win in the past. By the way, the lottery money is kept in a pool that is separate from the general fund used to run the government. That pool of money does in fact earn interest, but it all goes back to the ticket buyers. Well, not all. The government is entitled to its share, which is why there is a pool of lotto money in the first place. It's kind of like the Social Security fund before it got raped.
I think of your situation all the time, especially when my wife turns ill. We can never know the future but your story is not unique. It happens all the time every day. It could very well happen to me. By the way, I think you might end up with a little over $90/mo starting next year after the COLA from Social Security is put into place. I don't know about my major medical premiums yet, but apparently my drug plan is reducing their premiums and moving a lot of tier 2 drugs down to tier 1. They also put a cap on insulin which I believe is $20/mo if I read it correctly. Then again, it's my insurance people telling me all this. It remains to be seen what actually happens.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Gambling was not allowed in Missouri, except at the Indian Reservations. Then the casino owners found a loophole, they could have a gambling casino on the Rivers and states couldn't do anything about it, per se. Casino's bought land and dug it out so the water in the area like a Marina was flowing river water, and as long as the Boat in a Moat as we called them, was free floating, the state had no control, at least not yet. Many small boating companies popped up to take people from the shore out to the boat, a distance of only like 25 to 50 feet is all, but they were not owned by the Casinos, and of course they charged a fee for this service, of which they had to pay federal and state taxes on the income, plus boat taxes, etc.
Without them, for people to be able to get on the boat, they needed a ramp touching the shore. So the state found this to be a good way to make revenues, and very high revenues at that. So soon, all the Casinos got rid of the ferry boat providers and put in the ramp to the shore, about the same time, the floating casinos were made permanent, held in place by piers sunk into the bottom of the Moat, but the boats still had to be floating.
Of course new state laws came about concerning the riverboat casino's to the point it was on the ballots whether to allow another Boat in a Moat or not. But in the end, it turned out to be a wonderful tax resource for the state, all geared toward the school system, but very few dollars ever made it to the schools themselves. Bureaucrats pocketed most of it as expenses.
The Lotteries were handled in much the same way as the Boat in a Moat deals.
Each insurance company more or less hand-picks which drugs they will sell cheap, and which ones they will move up a Tier to a higher price.
My own insurance used to have 0 co-pay on Tier one and Tier two drugs. Then they changed it to a partial co-pay on Tier two drugs. All of the drugs I take that were on Tier one got moved up to Tier two, and those on Tier two got moved up to Tier three.
Now, not one single drug I'm on is on Tier one.
Unless I have some major medical expenses myself. Only about 5% of my monthly fee is going for anything, and then only after I've met my Medicare Annual Deductible FIRST. And Medicare actually pays for very little themselves too. But the things they do pay for I consider it being Price Gouging by the services who are billing them, which I've gone into in the past.
Without them, for people to be able to get on the boat, they needed a ramp touching the shore. So the state found this to be a good way to make revenues, and very high revenues at that. So soon, all the Casinos got rid of the ferry boat providers and put in the ramp to the shore, about the same time, the floating casinos were made permanent, held in place by piers sunk into the bottom of the Moat, but the boats still had to be floating.
Of course new state laws came about concerning the riverboat casino's to the point it was on the ballots whether to allow another Boat in a Moat or not. But in the end, it turned out to be a wonderful tax resource for the state, all geared toward the school system, but very few dollars ever made it to the schools themselves. Bureaucrats pocketed most of it as expenses.
The Lotteries were handled in much the same way as the Boat in a Moat deals.
Each insurance company more or less hand-picks which drugs they will sell cheap, and which ones they will move up a Tier to a higher price.
My own insurance used to have 0 co-pay on Tier one and Tier two drugs. Then they changed it to a partial co-pay on Tier two drugs. All of the drugs I take that were on Tier one got moved up to Tier two, and those on Tier two got moved up to Tier three.
Now, not one single drug I'm on is on Tier one.
Unless I have some major medical expenses myself. Only about 5% of my monthly fee is going for anything, and then only after I've met my Medicare Annual Deductible FIRST. And Medicare actually pays for very little themselves too. But the things they do pay for I consider it being Price Gouging by the services who are billing them, which I've gone into in the past.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Yes, all insurance companies have their own pricing which is why we are allowed to shop around for the best deal. It's so complicated, however, that most people don't know how to shop and compare. A few weeks ago we got the EOB for my wife's stay in the hospital. The hospital, doctors, and tests amounted to something like $32,000. Everything was itemized on that EOB and we could see what Medicare "allowed" for the payment. Then my supplemental paid 20% of that figure, which is what they are supposed to do. That all looked interesting because Medicare was raping the hospital. All in all of that $32,000 the hospital et all was reimbursed only $3,500. My wife pointed that out to me given we are spending three times that much on insurance premiums for the supplemental coverage. It would have been cheaper for us to pay that 20% than to give the insurance people all those premiums. On the other hand, the state of Missouri is giving me a tax credit for all those premiums. While that is nothing new to me, yet startling, the real big question is why do the doctors and hospitals agree to what Medicare says a procedure is worth? Wife was in there for three days plus the ER expense. I cannot believe a hospital can remain in business by being reimbursed only around $1,000/day/patient. It sure goes a long way to explain why a lot of doctors won't accept Medicare patients.
Illinois had the same arrangement as Missouri with floating casinos. In essence that was all private enterprise. The lottery is run by the states and operates under different rules. Apparently gambling was illegal in most of the states but that is no longer the case. In fact they pool their resources in order to get the jackpots up to the billion dollar mark. No single state would be able to come close to that number. It all was voted on by the citizens, of course. Which brings me to one of the highlights of today's activities. I went to vote, given it was election day. There were the usual suspects on the ballot, but there also were five legislative and constitutional referendums. One of them which I thought was interesting is that they are asking if we want to have a constitutional convention. I guess that is a mandated vote every twenty years and the last convention here in Missouri was back in the 40's. One other referendum was to legalize marijuana use and sale, along with releasing people currently serving time for possession. I'm not a big fan of recreational drugs, but I think those pot heads do not deserve jail time. Anyway, I can't believe marijuana is even an issue in this state. But, people are voting on it as I write this.
Illinois had the same arrangement as Missouri with floating casinos. In essence that was all private enterprise. The lottery is run by the states and operates under different rules. Apparently gambling was illegal in most of the states but that is no longer the case. In fact they pool their resources in order to get the jackpots up to the billion dollar mark. No single state would be able to come close to that number. It all was voted on by the citizens, of course. Which brings me to one of the highlights of today's activities. I went to vote, given it was election day. There were the usual suspects on the ballot, but there also were five legislative and constitutional referendums. One of them which I thought was interesting is that they are asking if we want to have a constitutional convention. I guess that is a mandated vote every twenty years and the last convention here in Missouri was back in the 40's. One other referendum was to legalize marijuana use and sale, along with releasing people currently serving time for possession. I'm not a big fan of recreational drugs, but I think those pot heads do not deserve jail time. Anyway, I can't believe marijuana is even an issue in this state. But, people are voting on it as I write this.
Re: Vertical Clouds
What my own doctor told me about buying supplemental plan F or G. He said don't waste your money, because they cannot charge for excess charges anyhow and get the full Medicare amount. I have Plan N which is fairly expensive as it is.
Hospitals get a LOT of money from Medicare that you don't see on the EOB's for your own personal services.
Plus most hospitals have money coming in from the state just for having an ER.
They also get money for each doctor on their staff as well. Plus the doctor gets some of that too!
And you are missing one major DEDUCTION they get by showing those high prices on your EOB.
If a doctors normal rate for seeing a patient is 250 dollars, and Medicare only allows 100 dollars, 80 of which is paid by Medicare and 20 by your supplemental insurance, they can DEDUCT the 150 they billed but didn't get as a LOSS in revenues. Unpaid service charges or under some other bracket.
We had a few crazy things on our ballots as well, and if you don't read them really close, they are written in such a way that you can get confused and vote the way THEY want you to vote, and NOT the way you would if you understood what it really said.
But at least down here, they have it worded three different ways, saying if you vote Yes, this this and this happens, if you vote No, then this this and this happens.
One of them was to allow prayers and bibles in schools again.
This is a two edge sword for sure. Christians want prayer and bibles in school, and they don't mind a Jewish Torah, but then the Muslims and all the Cults want theirs in there too. Voting Yes is opening Pandora's box so to speak. And pretty soon the Devil Worshipers will have their Wickan bibles in there also. That's one that although it has something we want, it is best to vote No on for the time being anyhow.
We also voted No to Drag Queens teaching children it's OK to want a sex change operation at age 6 or 7, hi hi.
Hospitals get a LOT of money from Medicare that you don't see on the EOB's for your own personal services.
Plus most hospitals have money coming in from the state just for having an ER.
They also get money for each doctor on their staff as well. Plus the doctor gets some of that too!
And you are missing one major DEDUCTION they get by showing those high prices on your EOB.
If a doctors normal rate for seeing a patient is 250 dollars, and Medicare only allows 100 dollars, 80 of which is paid by Medicare and 20 by your supplemental insurance, they can DEDUCT the 150 they billed but didn't get as a LOSS in revenues. Unpaid service charges or under some other bracket.
We had a few crazy things on our ballots as well, and if you don't read them really close, they are written in such a way that you can get confused and vote the way THEY want you to vote, and NOT the way you would if you understood what it really said.
But at least down here, they have it worded three different ways, saying if you vote Yes, this this and this happens, if you vote No, then this this and this happens.
One of them was to allow prayers and bibles in schools again.
This is a two edge sword for sure. Christians want prayer and bibles in school, and they don't mind a Jewish Torah, but then the Muslims and all the Cults want theirs in there too. Voting Yes is opening Pandora's box so to speak. And pretty soon the Devil Worshipers will have their Wickan bibles in there also. That's one that although it has something we want, it is best to vote No on for the time being anyhow.
We also voted No to Drag Queens teaching children it's OK to want a sex change operation at age 6 or 7, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I didn't mention it but I do understand the tax break caregivers get for services not fully reimbursed by Medicare/Medicaid. They run a business and the same rules for deductions apply to them as to anyone else. That's not the point I was getting at, but it is a valid observation.
The referendums as stated on the voting ballots are brief out of necessity. It's up to each state to decide how brief. I don't know what Missouri has on the books as far as Bibles in public schools are concerned, but allowing such things as a matter of law just opens up a massive can of worms. As you aptly point out they cannot favor one religion over another and only allow Christian Bibles. Although, most of the Christians I know and grew up with feel as if they are the only religion that matters. Bibles should be in schools that are run by whatever religion the kids are attending in that they provide part of the religious education experience. That kind of experience does not belong in public schools. But, as I said, Christian communities tend to feel they have some sort of exclusive rights.
Here in Missouri those referendums were explained in terms of costs where applicable. They pointed out how much money would be saved or spent if the proposal was passed. The box for approving a constitutional convention, or not, was clearly stated but I'd guess most people don't fully understand what happens at those conventions. They are run directly by the people, or their representatives, and not by legislatures or the governor. Thus the agenda and the format of the convention is decided by the people who in theory called for the convention to take place. The purpose is to rewrite the constitution of the state. Sounds reasonable until you think about what kind of people are in your state. The variety of wild and crazy idealist is sensational. There would be sane and well educated people there too, but everyone and their third cousin removed would have an opportunity to propose articles. It would be a chaotic convention in most states and I shudder to think what would come out of a place that supports the likes of Senator Josh Hawley. Scary to say the least. None of that was explained on the voting ballot, and nobody would read it if it was. You do have to think critically before you vote for any referendum.
The referendums as stated on the voting ballots are brief out of necessity. It's up to each state to decide how brief. I don't know what Missouri has on the books as far as Bibles in public schools are concerned, but allowing such things as a matter of law just opens up a massive can of worms. As you aptly point out they cannot favor one religion over another and only allow Christian Bibles. Although, most of the Christians I know and grew up with feel as if they are the only religion that matters. Bibles should be in schools that are run by whatever religion the kids are attending in that they provide part of the religious education experience. That kind of experience does not belong in public schools. But, as I said, Christian communities tend to feel they have some sort of exclusive rights.
Here in Missouri those referendums were explained in terms of costs where applicable. They pointed out how much money would be saved or spent if the proposal was passed. The box for approving a constitutional convention, or not, was clearly stated but I'd guess most people don't fully understand what happens at those conventions. They are run directly by the people, or their representatives, and not by legislatures or the governor. Thus the agenda and the format of the convention is decided by the people who in theory called for the convention to take place. The purpose is to rewrite the constitution of the state. Sounds reasonable until you think about what kind of people are in your state. The variety of wild and crazy idealist is sensational. There would be sane and well educated people there too, but everyone and their third cousin removed would have an opportunity to propose articles. It would be a chaotic convention in most states and I shudder to think what would come out of a place that supports the likes of Senator Josh Hawley. Scary to say the least. None of that was explained on the voting ballot, and nobody would read it if it was. You do have to think critically before you vote for any referendum.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Hospitals get money from both the state and the federal government based on many factors. The number of patients they treat, the number of beds in the hospital, the ER, and they all got extra money during Covid. They also get money for areas within the hospitals one often does not think about. Health Protection for the buildings themselves, to ward off bacterial infections and diseases is a fairly high payment to hospitals.
A lot of folks do not know that the ER section of a Hospital is not actually owned by the hospital per se, it is a different business entity. It used to not be that way, but somewhere around the 1980s almost all ERs became independent businesses. And they are rated in such a way that the higher their rating, the more money they get from the governments.
Parochial schools were always self-funded, they used to never get any money from the state from school taxes or otherwise. I think that has changed slightly in some states though, since they do alleviate some of the burden of public schools.
Being privately owned schools, the Christian Schools teach their religions, and the Jewish or Hebrew Schools teach their religion, and of course there are Baptist Schools, and many schools owned by the cults.
Personally, I think Public Schools should remain Public, but I do think they should allow the kids to pray in school regardless of their religion, but NOT if it disrupts classes of course.
You have to read the stuff on the ballots very close, and sometimes two or three times. It is also better if you go and read the ENTIRE proposal, because nearly all of them have Riders you Don't WANT embedded in them. And the ballot itself only reads concerning the things folks want, and don't usually mention all the Bloat the folks don't want. This is why I say every proposition should have to stand or fail on its own merit without a hidden agenda under the covers.
A lot of folks do not know that the ER section of a Hospital is not actually owned by the hospital per se, it is a different business entity. It used to not be that way, but somewhere around the 1980s almost all ERs became independent businesses. And they are rated in such a way that the higher their rating, the more money they get from the governments.
Parochial schools were always self-funded, they used to never get any money from the state from school taxes or otherwise. I think that has changed slightly in some states though, since they do alleviate some of the burden of public schools.
Being privately owned schools, the Christian Schools teach their religions, and the Jewish or Hebrew Schools teach their religion, and of course there are Baptist Schools, and many schools owned by the cults.
Personally, I think Public Schools should remain Public, but I do think they should allow the kids to pray in school regardless of their religion, but NOT if it disrupts classes of course.
You have to read the stuff on the ballots very close, and sometimes two or three times. It is also better if you go and read the ENTIRE proposal, because nearly all of them have Riders you Don't WANT embedded in them. And the ballot itself only reads concerning the things folks want, and don't usually mention all the Bloat the folks don't want. This is why I say every proposition should have to stand or fail on its own merit without a hidden agenda under the covers.
Re: Vertical Clouds
It's pretty obvious that hospitals do not remain solvent as a result of insurance company reimbursements. My example from above shows why that is not possible. The reality of it all is that hospitals, and by extension healthcare in general, are a basic and fundamental need of all citizens in a prosperous society. The same is true for education being a function of society that is fundamental to its prosperity and its very existence. Both healthcare and education come in two flavors, i.e., public and private. Thus the funding for their operation comes from two sources, i.e., tax dollars and tuition. In the US of A the education and healthcare of it's citizens is left to be a matter for the individual states for the most part, but not entirely. There are laws prohibiting segregation in education, for example, and laws providing healthcare for nearly everyone. In theory all that is fair and good. In practice each state has an unique population of citizens which has widely diverse opinions regarding the local implementation of healthcare and education.
The idea of teaching religion in community schools originated back in the days of the Puritans. Kids not only had to learn the fundamentals but also were given instruction in morals and the Bible. It made sense back then to use the Bible because nobody else existed but those Puritans who all thought alike and had the same sense of ethics. You might have some suspicion about the composition of the world of 2022 being dissimilar to the world of 1630. You would be correct to assume there is very little similarity. We still have people who need to be educated, but that's where any similarities end. Teaching the Bible in the public schools of 2022 would work in some very isolated situations where the community is closed to anyone outside the social beliefs and status of the given community. There is hardly any place in America where that is true. Philosophy, morals, and ethics are fundamental concepts that would be well taught in schools, both public and private. But the scope of the teachings must needs be broad and not specifically aimed at any particular religious sect. The end results of that broad approach ideally would be to teach students enough to make intelligent choices of their own. Private schools sponsored by cults or religious sects must needs be more specific and focused on that group's agenda. The bottom line is that I as a tax payer do not mind having my children taught ethics and morals in school in a general sense. Specific religious training should be left to private tuition based schools. And, no, I don't think public funds should be used to supply vouchers for kids to attend private schools. When it comes to how my tax money is spent, the state and the church must remain separate entities.
I also think voting on referendums is a personal judgment call. It is up to the voter to educate themselves regarding what and who they are voting for. If you don't know what a referendum is all about, you should not vote on it one way or the other. Referendums and Citizens Initiatives bypass the legislative process and therefor do not have any pork barrel projects attached. Well, that's how it is in more than half the states anyway. These referendums and citizens are what is known as direct democracy wherein the citizens, not the legislators they elect, propose changes to the laws. Thus, every time you see a referendum or citizens initiative on your ballot, that is a means to bypass all those crooked politicians you keep telling me about.
The idea of teaching religion in community schools originated back in the days of the Puritans. Kids not only had to learn the fundamentals but also were given instruction in morals and the Bible. It made sense back then to use the Bible because nobody else existed but those Puritans who all thought alike and had the same sense of ethics. You might have some suspicion about the composition of the world of 2022 being dissimilar to the world of 1630. You would be correct to assume there is very little similarity. We still have people who need to be educated, but that's where any similarities end. Teaching the Bible in the public schools of 2022 would work in some very isolated situations where the community is closed to anyone outside the social beliefs and status of the given community. There is hardly any place in America where that is true. Philosophy, morals, and ethics are fundamental concepts that would be well taught in schools, both public and private. But the scope of the teachings must needs be broad and not specifically aimed at any particular religious sect. The end results of that broad approach ideally would be to teach students enough to make intelligent choices of their own. Private schools sponsored by cults or religious sects must needs be more specific and focused on that group's agenda. The bottom line is that I as a tax payer do not mind having my children taught ethics and morals in school in a general sense. Specific religious training should be left to private tuition based schools. And, no, I don't think public funds should be used to supply vouchers for kids to attend private schools. When it comes to how my tax money is spent, the state and the church must remain separate entities.
I also think voting on referendums is a personal judgment call. It is up to the voter to educate themselves regarding what and who they are voting for. If you don't know what a referendum is all about, you should not vote on it one way or the other. Referendums and Citizens Initiatives bypass the legislative process and therefor do not have any pork barrel projects attached. Well, that's how it is in more than half the states anyway. These referendums and citizens are what is known as direct democracy wherein the citizens, not the legislators they elect, propose changes to the laws. Thus, every time you see a referendum or citizens initiative on your ballot, that is a means to bypass all those crooked politicians you keep telling me about.
Re: Vertical Clouds
My grandfather donated a whole wing to St. Joseph, and later St. John's hospital, back when they were still run by nuns. Most of the staff back then were nuns, and outside workers were paid for by the archdiocese, and by donations. Staff doctors were covered by income and donations, nothing from the state or county back then.
But like all things, as the community grew and the hospitals grew, more and more were needed to keep them afloat, and that is when the state finally stepped in. Taxes covered things like police, fire, ambulance, and part of the ER. But if you didn't have insurance, they would ship you down to a state run hospital after getting you stabilized. They did this to Ruth once too after our insurance capped out.
Public schools will never have religious affiliation training. Although I see a lot going on in public schools that should raise an alarm regarding same. Most parochial schools have always shown a small profit, up until the desegregation laws came into play. Then parochial schools had to take those who could not pay in order to keep the balance of black and white students in their school. And now Hispanics and others have been added to the list of those they must take, whether they can pay their tuition or not. SO, the STATE is ALREADY FORCING what the Private schools can and cannot do, and they should be reimbursed for these added costs.
It would be great IF those crooked poly-TICK-ians still didn't control the people.
An example is: We the people want term limits on Congress. The poly-TICK-ians will NEVER allow that to happen. They are lifelong poly-TICK-ians and vote themselves raises and benefits galore. Every poly-TICK-ian should be treated exactly the same way the general public is treated. Meaning the same benefits while working, no benefits when not working, etc.
But like all things, as the community grew and the hospitals grew, more and more were needed to keep them afloat, and that is when the state finally stepped in. Taxes covered things like police, fire, ambulance, and part of the ER. But if you didn't have insurance, they would ship you down to a state run hospital after getting you stabilized. They did this to Ruth once too after our insurance capped out.
Public schools will never have religious affiliation training. Although I see a lot going on in public schools that should raise an alarm regarding same. Most parochial schools have always shown a small profit, up until the desegregation laws came into play. Then parochial schools had to take those who could not pay in order to keep the balance of black and white students in their school. And now Hispanics and others have been added to the list of those they must take, whether they can pay their tuition or not. SO, the STATE is ALREADY FORCING what the Private schools can and cannot do, and they should be reimbursed for these added costs.
It would be great IF those crooked poly-TICK-ians still didn't control the people.
An example is: We the people want term limits on Congress. The poly-TICK-ians will NEVER allow that to happen. They are lifelong poly-TICK-ians and vote themselves raises and benefits galore. Every poly-TICK-ian should be treated exactly the same way the general public is treated. Meaning the same benefits while working, no benefits when not working, etc.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Our history as a country is interesting and dynamic. By that I mean the institutions of our society adapt to the needs of the era, originalists' interpretation of the constitution notwithstanding. It might be hard for some people to understand and accept, but public education and healthcare are institutions required to maintain prosperity and our standard of living in general. Given that those two things are critical, they should indeed receive public aid. I think every state in the union actually does that although it was not originally a mandate in anybody's constitution. Those laws you cite that seem to be dictating what private schools and healthcare institutions are allowed to do are federal laws that apply to every state of our republic. They are general and universal leaving much room for individual states to decide how to implement those things as they see fit. The federally mandated laws are the price each state must pay to be part of the union, like it or not.
As far as term limits go, let me begin with a quote from a Wall Street Journal article: "Democrat Maxwell Frost of Florida, 25 years old, is one of the youngest candidates to ever be elected to the House of Representatives." I think you might agree that a 25 year old person represents a fairly large percentage of the population. Why is it that it took 240 years to accomplish electing a representative of such a large group? I can think of an answer by asking you a rhetorical question. Would you want some 25 year old kid representing you in congress?
And so it goes with term limits in that there is reluctance to make changes, especially when the encumbrance is performing as expected. The young Turk brings new ideas and progress to the table while the old farts just know how to make things work. A well balanced representation needs both types of individuals, but it doesn't happen that way. Why? Well, those poly-TICK-ians whom you object to are elected to office by their peers. If you don't like them, that suggests you are in the minority. And, as we all know so well, the majority rules (unless the minority can filibuster, but that's a story for some other time).
As far as term limits go, let me begin with a quote from a Wall Street Journal article: "Democrat Maxwell Frost of Florida, 25 years old, is one of the youngest candidates to ever be elected to the House of Representatives." I think you might agree that a 25 year old person represents a fairly large percentage of the population. Why is it that it took 240 years to accomplish electing a representative of such a large group? I can think of an answer by asking you a rhetorical question. Would you want some 25 year old kid representing you in congress?
And so it goes with term limits in that there is reluctance to make changes, especially when the encumbrance is performing as expected. The young Turk brings new ideas and progress to the table while the old farts just know how to make things work. A well balanced representation needs both types of individuals, but it doesn't happen that way. Why? Well, those poly-TICK-ians whom you object to are elected to office by their peers. If you don't like them, that suggests you are in the minority. And, as we all know so well, the majority rules (unless the minority can filibuster, but that's a story for some other time).
Re: Vertical Clouds
Only major cities had public hospitals, and most of those started out as private hospitals when founded.
But when you get out in the rural areas, it was usually some religious group that built the hospitals. In my home area it was St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood, catholic nuns. St. John's Hospital in Town n Country, catholic nuns of a different order. And the late comer Missouri Baptist Hospital in Creve Coeur. There was also the German/Lutheran Orphan's home which had hospital facilities, but never turned into a hospital. And once all the orphans had grown up, the place was sold to city of Des Peres for their government building. There were no Public hospitals within a 30 mile radius.
New laws and regulations concerning the running of a hospital virtually pushed the nuns out of the hospital business. A few were still their as figureheads, and given some authority, but hospitals were now big business and run like one.
Let me tell you about my mom's dad, my grandpa. Although he had no schooling or training for the job, he was the top expert at the Kirkwood Sewer Plant. He is who personally added which chemicals were needed to keep the place operating properly and efficiently. He didn't know a lick about chemistry, but he knew exactly which chemicals did what to his large pools of wastewater and sewage. All the years he was there, that plant never had odor issues, and the outflow was always well within government specs, that of course kept getting a bit harder each year.
Then came the government, they were there to help, hi hi. They passed all kinds of laws of what a worker had to learn, and what degrees they had to hold to work at doing what my grandfather did for decades. He had no degrees, not even a high school diploma, so to stay in line with the new laws, they had to fire him, and let the degreed brainiacs take over.
Within only a week or two, the entire disposal plant was a royal mess. Odors filled the air for miles around, and the effluent was so far out of government specs the city was poised to be fined heavily for every day they didn't meet the specs.
They came crawling to my grandpa to come fix the mess those degreed brainiacs made of the place.
For an entire week, grandpa told them, "I am not qualified to come help you out anymore."
Finally, some big shot from Washington DC came out and presented him with a Certificate, based on his decades of experience and superior performance in workmanship, a healthy paycheck and a new car, if he would come in and fix the mess. It would only be temporary until he could teach the degreed brainiacs how it is supposed to be done.
Despite the fact the brainiacs had taken hundreds of water samples and had all kinds of things to say about them. Grandpa just told them to sit down and shut up while he cleans up their mess, THEN he would teach them how to keep it that way.
All grandpa did was take a sample of the water in a quart jar and look at it with a light bulb under the jar. Then he proceeded to add certain types of chemicals. After an hour or so he would go back and get another quart jar full and do the same thing, only this time he would sniff the jar also. A few more bags of other chemicals and suddenly the odors dissipated. Now he could get the water concentrations back down to safety levels by taking samples of water and pouring it through a glass tube of cotton balls. Then he released oxygen into the water and it cleared up and dropped down well below the safety levels for it to be discharged.
He spent the next month there just trying to teach the brainiacs how to do it properly, the know-how smart way.
He simply told them, you are testing for the wrong things at the wrong time, you have to do things in steps, and handle the major problem first, then everything else is much easier to deal with.
Once he had like four of the kids able to do what he did, and the way he did it, he left and told them never to call him again.
But when you get out in the rural areas, it was usually some religious group that built the hospitals. In my home area it was St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood, catholic nuns. St. John's Hospital in Town n Country, catholic nuns of a different order. And the late comer Missouri Baptist Hospital in Creve Coeur. There was also the German/Lutheran Orphan's home which had hospital facilities, but never turned into a hospital. And once all the orphans had grown up, the place was sold to city of Des Peres for their government building. There were no Public hospitals within a 30 mile radius.
New laws and regulations concerning the running of a hospital virtually pushed the nuns out of the hospital business. A few were still their as figureheads, and given some authority, but hospitals were now big business and run like one.
Let me tell you about my mom's dad, my grandpa. Although he had no schooling or training for the job, he was the top expert at the Kirkwood Sewer Plant. He is who personally added which chemicals were needed to keep the place operating properly and efficiently. He didn't know a lick about chemistry, but he knew exactly which chemicals did what to his large pools of wastewater and sewage. All the years he was there, that plant never had odor issues, and the outflow was always well within government specs, that of course kept getting a bit harder each year.
Then came the government, they were there to help, hi hi. They passed all kinds of laws of what a worker had to learn, and what degrees they had to hold to work at doing what my grandfather did for decades. He had no degrees, not even a high school diploma, so to stay in line with the new laws, they had to fire him, and let the degreed brainiacs take over.
Within only a week or two, the entire disposal plant was a royal mess. Odors filled the air for miles around, and the effluent was so far out of government specs the city was poised to be fined heavily for every day they didn't meet the specs.
They came crawling to my grandpa to come fix the mess those degreed brainiacs made of the place.
For an entire week, grandpa told them, "I am not qualified to come help you out anymore."
Finally, some big shot from Washington DC came out and presented him with a Certificate, based on his decades of experience and superior performance in workmanship, a healthy paycheck and a new car, if he would come in and fix the mess. It would only be temporary until he could teach the degreed brainiacs how it is supposed to be done.
Despite the fact the brainiacs had taken hundreds of water samples and had all kinds of things to say about them. Grandpa just told them to sit down and shut up while he cleans up their mess, THEN he would teach them how to keep it that way.
All grandpa did was take a sample of the water in a quart jar and look at it with a light bulb under the jar. Then he proceeded to add certain types of chemicals. After an hour or so he would go back and get another quart jar full and do the same thing, only this time he would sniff the jar also. A few more bags of other chemicals and suddenly the odors dissipated. Now he could get the water concentrations back down to safety levels by taking samples of water and pouring it through a glass tube of cotton balls. Then he released oxygen into the water and it cleared up and dropped down well below the safety levels for it to be discharged.
He spent the next month there just trying to teach the brainiacs how to do it properly, the know-how smart way.
He simply told them, you are testing for the wrong things at the wrong time, you have to do things in steps, and handle the major problem first, then everything else is much easier to deal with.
Once he had like four of the kids able to do what he did, and the way he did it, he left and told them never to call him again.
Re: Vertical Clouds
The story you tell about your grandpa and the waste treatment job he had reminds me of something similar at Motorola. When we got into the cell phone business we did a lot of business with Japan. There were meetings in both countries involving engineers and manufacturing experts. The most impressive story I heard about that era had to do with people who earned engineering degrees in Japan. The fresh out of school engineers were not allowed to work in the engineering labs or offices. They had to put in something like two years of hands on work in the factory building the products they would be designing. Only after that two years of experience were they allowed to assist seasoned engineers and not do any actual design work. They had to assist for a couple years before they could actually design. The Japanese people understood the value of hands on experience vs education. At least they did when it came to electronics.
There are colleges today which will give credit to adults for their lifetime experience. This can cut off as much as a full year's work towards a bachelor's degree, but they did have to pay a token fee for that credit. I've seen it done in liberal arts but don't know if it's offered in other disciplines. I also don't know what you need to do in order to prove you actually have the experience. It seems like a good idea, but obviously it can't be applied to every degree universities offer. The whole notion of placing value on experience is bugus to me personally. I was 57 with 36 years of experience when Motorola asked me to leave voluntarily. I had to look for work in order to get the unemployment compensation and therefore contacted over 300 companies over a six month period. I got three interview offers out of that and one was for selling insurance. My resume wasn't the most brilliant document every written, but you would think somebody would take an interest in all that experience. Well, they didn't. Still a bit bitter about it too.
There are colleges today which will give credit to adults for their lifetime experience. This can cut off as much as a full year's work towards a bachelor's degree, but they did have to pay a token fee for that credit. I've seen it done in liberal arts but don't know if it's offered in other disciplines. I also don't know what you need to do in order to prove you actually have the experience. It seems like a good idea, but obviously it can't be applied to every degree universities offer. The whole notion of placing value on experience is bugus to me personally. I was 57 with 36 years of experience when Motorola asked me to leave voluntarily. I had to look for work in order to get the unemployment compensation and therefore contacted over 300 companies over a six month period. I got three interview offers out of that and one was for selling insurance. My resume wasn't the most brilliant document every written, but you would think somebody would take an interest in all that experience. Well, they didn't. Still a bit bitter about it too.
Re: Vertical Clouds
All of grandpa's children, including the girls, had to work in every aspect of the farm, and in the greenhouses working with flowers and plants. So by the same token, each kid of my generation had to do the same thing. Work one year in each department of the business. This had to come before you could end up in the department you would like to be in after five or six years. But how it usually worked was you ended up in the department your father managed. It was also the very last department where you worked in during the chain of departments. Naturally, each of us started in the outdoor farming areas, then moved to the indoor cut flower growing area, then the outdoor plants area, and indoor plants area. Both in Wholesale and Retail divisions. Only after all of that did I finally get into the Cut Flower Shop my dad managed, and after a year of that, although I would remain there, I had to work in billing and accounting before I could move on to be a designer. And it was expected that the oldest child of each family would take over the department of their parents.
But all the kids under the eldest usually got out of the business and moved on to other things. Except for uncle Clarence's kids, he needed four of them to stay on, and one to take over my uncle Leonard's department as grower, since his kids were in the service, permanent like, hi hi. So there was no one to take over his department from his family. But Clarence with 14 kids had no problem getting a few of them to take over departments, hi hi.
Not having a degree is why I was shunned while doing engineering work. They still let me do it of course at both places I worked as an engineer, because I was usually better at it than those degreed brainiacs, hi hi. But they still stifled me way too much.
At the last place I worked, MRTC, I was next in line to become the department head. Worked hand-in-hand with the department head so I would be ready to take over when he retired. But then the big bosses did something they never ever did before, and against the longstanding company policy of never hiring a job-shopper as a permanent employee. That they did, they called back in a job-shopper and had my boss and I train him, and he would be taking over. Needless to say, not only I and my boss, but many of the employee's were disgruntled over this change. Meant they no longer had a reason to stay there. I'm one of those who left also, but for a different reason. My dad had a heart attack and needed me to take over his job at the florist.
But all the kids under the eldest usually got out of the business and moved on to other things. Except for uncle Clarence's kids, he needed four of them to stay on, and one to take over my uncle Leonard's department as grower, since his kids were in the service, permanent like, hi hi. So there was no one to take over his department from his family. But Clarence with 14 kids had no problem getting a few of them to take over departments, hi hi.
Not having a degree is why I was shunned while doing engineering work. They still let me do it of course at both places I worked as an engineer, because I was usually better at it than those degreed brainiacs, hi hi. But they still stifled me way too much.
At the last place I worked, MRTC, I was next in line to become the department head. Worked hand-in-hand with the department head so I would be ready to take over when he retired. But then the big bosses did something they never ever did before, and against the longstanding company policy of never hiring a job-shopper as a permanent employee. That they did, they called back in a job-shopper and had my boss and I train him, and he would be taking over. Needless to say, not only I and my boss, but many of the employee's were disgruntled over this change. Meant they no longer had a reason to stay there. I'm one of those who left also, but for a different reason. My dad had a heart attack and needed me to take over his job at the florist.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Truth be told I was not a very good engineer and only a mediocre technician. To make up for that I developed a wonderful personality. LOL Well, a lot of people liked me and did things for and with me that usually weren't done. About half way through my career as a technician one of the managers assigned me to a special task. It had something to do with preparing for the Y2K audit and involved accounting for every, and I do mean every, piece of equipment owned by the department. The idea was to evaluate the equipment for its potential impact on the Y2K turnover. It was a laborious task just finding everything listed on the asset books but I did it. And I compiled a detailed report explaining what had to be validated and what could be ignored. The manager was very impressed and asked me where I got my degree from. Well, like you, I didn't have a degree. Apparently he entertained the thought of promoting me to a supervisory position but could not do it unless I had a degree. All the people I would be supervising had degrees and would not take kindly to a smart ass guy that didn't have a sheepskin. That, plus company policy had something to do with his decision too. I was disappointed but understood very well why it happened the way it did. I worked there long enough to know about the mind set in the engineering and technical areas and anybody less than perfect would not fit into the organization.
While Motorola was run like a family operation when I hired in, eventually that philosophy did them in. My mom got a job with Motorola simply because I recommended her. Part of the family, you know? Several years after that Motorola was sued by the NAACP, or some such group, because of their unfair hiring practices. Well yes, outsiders didn't have a chance at working there if all they did was hire internal referrals. So as was customary, Motorola admitted no wrong but entered a consent agreement to change they way they hire people. I can see why that happened, but it makes me wonder at which point in its history does a company change from a family operation to a more traditional business plan. Motorola was publicly owned for many years prior to the lawsuit and nobody was unhappy. The feds never looked into it even though they had big contracts with us as suppliers. Your floral business was big too, but I'm pretty sure it never was publicly owned. You could do things there that places like Motorola could not.
While Motorola was run like a family operation when I hired in, eventually that philosophy did them in. My mom got a job with Motorola simply because I recommended her. Part of the family, you know? Several years after that Motorola was sued by the NAACP, or some such group, because of their unfair hiring practices. Well yes, outsiders didn't have a chance at working there if all they did was hire internal referrals. So as was customary, Motorola admitted no wrong but entered a consent agreement to change they way they hire people. I can see why that happened, but it makes me wonder at which point in its history does a company change from a family operation to a more traditional business plan. Motorola was publicly owned for many years prior to the lawsuit and nobody was unhappy. The feds never looked into it even though they had big contracts with us as suppliers. Your floral business was big too, but I'm pretty sure it never was publicly owned. You could do things there that places like Motorola could not.
Re: Vertical Clouds
When I worked at Sverdrup & Parcel, although most of the employee's there had degrees, they know I didn't due to my young age starting there. After all, I was only a Draftsman on their books, but they stuck me in their Systems Engineering Department as an engineer, based on my ideas for the Alton Lock n Dam project, where I came up with the Eddy Current Brake concept for the doors of the Lock. Since it was my idea, they let me design the working part of the system, while others designed the actual doors. But my biggest job there was in the Highways and Planning Department, where I started as a Draftsman, but got inched up into their engineering department also. But I got tired of the long drive downtown and paying to park six blocks away from the building and walking down the 9th street wind tunnel to work. Left and went to MRTC.
We had a similar thing happen at our Florist in the mid-1970's. From 1913 to around 1940, everyone who worked for us was related to us, or an original town resident, so were like family. 90% of our employees were of German descent also. It was during the WWII years that we hired almost anyone who could come to work, as most of the family was fighting the war. And this is how some outsiders managed to get managerial positions in our company, and they were allowed to maintain those positions even after the family members who should have got them returned from the service.
But then some serious changes had to be made in the late-1970s when it became required that we hire X number of Blacks. At the time, this was an almost impossible task, because the closest black families to us were clear past Kirkwood in Meacham Park, and most didn't have transportation to get to our place from there. Plus, no one used to working in stores or area factories in or around Kirkwood wanted to go work in greenhouses or our outdoor fields. My uncle Clarence made sure we had something like 30 job openings earmarked for the blacks, but none ever applied, until some organization made the Kirkwood Bus Lines add a route that went from Meacham Park to our place of business. Unfortunately, that same bus also would make the trip to the new shopping mall and that is where most of the blacks went to work. But we were able to meet the quota required by the new laws, even though it was hard to maintain and caused a very high turnover. But by the early 1980s we had several blacks working for us, some as drivers too, two flower designers in our shop, and about eight in the retail side of the greenhouse sales houses. We did have two blacks in the boiler operations during the winter. But as you know, 1984 is when we pulled the plug and shut down completely. Sold the place to a shopping center developer.
We had a similar thing happen at our Florist in the mid-1970's. From 1913 to around 1940, everyone who worked for us was related to us, or an original town resident, so were like family. 90% of our employees were of German descent also. It was during the WWII years that we hired almost anyone who could come to work, as most of the family was fighting the war. And this is how some outsiders managed to get managerial positions in our company, and they were allowed to maintain those positions even after the family members who should have got them returned from the service.
But then some serious changes had to be made in the late-1970s when it became required that we hire X number of Blacks. At the time, this was an almost impossible task, because the closest black families to us were clear past Kirkwood in Meacham Park, and most didn't have transportation to get to our place from there. Plus, no one used to working in stores or area factories in or around Kirkwood wanted to go work in greenhouses or our outdoor fields. My uncle Clarence made sure we had something like 30 job openings earmarked for the blacks, but none ever applied, until some organization made the Kirkwood Bus Lines add a route that went from Meacham Park to our place of business. Unfortunately, that same bus also would make the trip to the new shopping mall and that is where most of the blacks went to work. But we were able to meet the quota required by the new laws, even though it was hard to maintain and caused a very high turnover. But by the early 1980s we had several blacks working for us, some as drivers too, two flower designers in our shop, and about eight in the retail side of the greenhouse sales houses. We did have two blacks in the boiler operations during the winter. But as you know, 1984 is when we pulled the plug and shut down completely. Sold the place to a shopping center developer.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Part of the consent agreement by Motorola included changing how things were managed internally. Not only was hiring perceived as being discriminatory but also promotions and high paying technical jobs didn't fit the ideal numbers. Specifically it meant that there were very few women in management and just about zero female electronic technicians. It's not Motorola's fault if women didn't want to get an engineering degree in college or rather solder PC boards than manage a bunch of snarky technicians. Regardless, to remedy the situation the company offered classes for females to learn electronics. We had something lie 5000 employees on that campus and if I recall correctly three ladies signed up for the course. One dropped out after a few weeks. The other two were placed after they graduated, and were happy with what they were doing. There weren't enough female techs to promote even after several years of offering the training. They simply were not interested. The engineering staff did see an increase in females, which is how Motorola complied with the court mandate. But the bulk of the workers were in the factory and it was exceptionally difficult finding qualified females even when offered to be trained.
The original NAACP lawsuit involved one black guy suing the company. I don't recall the basis for the suit because he was working for the company at the time. Obviously he was just being used by the larger organization to make a point. Nobody liked this guy, and nobody would go near him. It was just as well because he didn't like the rest of the people he worked with anyway. I got transferred into the department in which he was working and had to sit next to him on a production line. I knew nothing about who he was but I did know about the law suit. Well, he seemed nice enough and I helped him with a few things. We got along pretty well in fact. Then one fine day I was approached by one of the other workers in that department warning me to stay away from that black guy. He is trouble and he will take me down. Really? The long and the short of it is I got along fabulously with the guy nobody liked. I left the department and he was still there, but not for long. After that lawsuit I didn't see many more black people, but there were a lot of others of various ethnicity all over the place. Lots of Asian women, for example, in engineering and administrative roles. By the time I left it was a very diverse population and most interesting to work in that kind of environment. I don't know what all those people did outside the company, but we all got along well while working.
The original NAACP lawsuit involved one black guy suing the company. I don't recall the basis for the suit because he was working for the company at the time. Obviously he was just being used by the larger organization to make a point. Nobody liked this guy, and nobody would go near him. It was just as well because he didn't like the rest of the people he worked with anyway. I got transferred into the department in which he was working and had to sit next to him on a production line. I knew nothing about who he was but I did know about the law suit. Well, he seemed nice enough and I helped him with a few things. We got along pretty well in fact. Then one fine day I was approached by one of the other workers in that department warning me to stay away from that black guy. He is trouble and he will take me down. Really? The long and the short of it is I got along fabulously with the guy nobody liked. I left the department and he was still there, but not for long. After that lawsuit I didn't see many more black people, but there were a lot of others of various ethnicity all over the place. Lots of Asian women, for example, in engineering and administrative roles. By the time I left it was a very diverse population and most interesting to work in that kind of environment. I don't know what all those people did outside the company, but we all got along well while working.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I don't know if I ever mentioned this or not, but when I started Wonder Plants, I hired ALL Handicapped folks to do the work of watering, planting, and all kinds of things, packaging nutrient bottles, etc. I hired one who was technically not handicapped to the point they were in a wheelchair, to be the manager over the crew.
Along comes the government and makes us install special bathrooms for them, even though none of them used the special bathroom, they used the regular area of the bathroom by choice.
The government made us install ramps in the sidewalk to roadway area, even though they all parked in our parking lot, which was level with the employee entrance. Had to make that door an automatic door.
Shortly after we decided to move all the planting and growing up one floor, to install Tilapia tanks on the first floor, along comes the government again and made us add a special fire escape for handicapped on the back side of the building. It had to accommodate wheelchairs of course, and work by a controlled gravity feed system which was sorta like a friction fan that once they were on the lift and hit the button, it would drop on it's own at a fixed rate of speed. But it couldn't go back up again, no power for that. It also had to handle six wheelchairs one right after the other.
They got up to the working floor via one of two elevators, one was huge, since this was at one time a car dealership, the other was almost not big enough for a wheelchair, but still passed inspection for them to use.
It took a lot of money to accommodate all the things the government wanted. But then too there was a huge tax break by hiring all handicapped folks.
We too did have a small lawsuit that got tossed out. It was by a blind person who said they could do the job, so we gave them a shot at it. Turned out they couldn't do the job, so we let them go at the end of their trial period. The sad thing was, the job was so simple, anyone could do it with their eyes closed. It only comprised scooping one small scoop of growing stones and pouring them into the inner pot liner, then passing it down the assembly line. The scoop was sized to hold the right amount for each pots starter fill, but the guy messed up way too many times. He either put two scoops in a liner instead of one, or pushed a liner down the line with nothing in it. His excuse, his arms got tired, so he rested. Even the inspector who came and checked on the workers said he was slacking off way to much. And his testimony is why the suit was dropped.
Along comes the government and makes us install special bathrooms for them, even though none of them used the special bathroom, they used the regular area of the bathroom by choice.
The government made us install ramps in the sidewalk to roadway area, even though they all parked in our parking lot, which was level with the employee entrance. Had to make that door an automatic door.
Shortly after we decided to move all the planting and growing up one floor, to install Tilapia tanks on the first floor, along comes the government again and made us add a special fire escape for handicapped on the back side of the building. It had to accommodate wheelchairs of course, and work by a controlled gravity feed system which was sorta like a friction fan that once they were on the lift and hit the button, it would drop on it's own at a fixed rate of speed. But it couldn't go back up again, no power for that. It also had to handle six wheelchairs one right after the other.
They got up to the working floor via one of two elevators, one was huge, since this was at one time a car dealership, the other was almost not big enough for a wheelchair, but still passed inspection for them to use.
It took a lot of money to accommodate all the things the government wanted. But then too there was a huge tax break by hiring all handicapped folks.
We too did have a small lawsuit that got tossed out. It was by a blind person who said they could do the job, so we gave them a shot at it. Turned out they couldn't do the job, so we let them go at the end of their trial period. The sad thing was, the job was so simple, anyone could do it with their eyes closed. It only comprised scooping one small scoop of growing stones and pouring them into the inner pot liner, then passing it down the assembly line. The scoop was sized to hold the right amount for each pots starter fill, but the guy messed up way too many times. He either put two scoops in a liner instead of one, or pushed a liner down the line with nothing in it. His excuse, his arms got tired, so he rested. Even the inspector who came and checked on the workers said he was slacking off way to much. And his testimony is why the suit was dropped.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Discrimination takes many forms and there are government regulations addressing all of them. If not, there will be soon. Right now there is talk about codifying a law that allows same sex and interracial marriages. Being enacted at the federal level means any state not already allowing such things will have to change their ways. Being liberal minded as I am I have no problems with people marrying anybody, or any animal for that matter, they so choose. What business is it of the government, state or federal, to decide who can marry who? It will be argued that the law is for the general good of the country, which is the argument for enforcing those handicap and anti-discrimination laws. I realize that not everybody thinks alike and certainly not everyone in this country is liberal minded. Yet I don't see what general good comes from forcing all the citizens to act the same way. Discrimination is one thing, but enacting laws prohibiting or encouraging who you feel morally comfortable marrying is something entirely different.
I hear stories all the time where business people complain about the rules and regulations they must follow. I'd have to side with the businesses when it comes to enforcing stupid regulations, but that is what courts are for. However, a business where employment is open to the public should meet the minimum standards of fairness. I think that is what those anti-discrimination laws are trying to do, i.e., give everybody an equal chance to be safe make a living. Giving consideration to all the special cases is just one of those costs of doing business.
I hear stories all the time where business people complain about the rules and regulations they must follow. I'd have to side with the businesses when it comes to enforcing stupid regulations, but that is what courts are for. However, a business where employment is open to the public should meet the minimum standards of fairness. I think that is what those anti-discrimination laws are trying to do, i.e., give everybody an equal chance to be safe make a living. Giving consideration to all the special cases is just one of those costs of doing business.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Most Federal Laws are only saying what the government cannot do, not what they can do.
Most of the laws regarding we the people are actually conceived by the states themselves.
That being said, the Federal Government CAN enact Administrations to handle things at state level.
One that is handy is, a drivers license issued by one state is good in all states.
And then there is OSHA, hi hi.
The government can also establish committees to bribe states into standardizing certain laws acceptable by all the states.
Such as, we drive on the right side of the road, and have uniform traffic signs, almost, but not completely. There are many traffic signs out there that do not follow even their states own laws regarding them or what their laws states.
And all the bogus lane markings out there is why I said autonomous cars will never work. Do they follow the Law or do they follow the improper markings on the road. How does a computer know which one to follow, go by the markings and disobey the law, or follow the law and end up in a crash.
Most of the laws regarding we the people are actually conceived by the states themselves.
That being said, the Federal Government CAN enact Administrations to handle things at state level.
One that is handy is, a drivers license issued by one state is good in all states.
And then there is OSHA, hi hi.
The government can also establish committees to bribe states into standardizing certain laws acceptable by all the states.
Such as, we drive on the right side of the road, and have uniform traffic signs, almost, but not completely. There are many traffic signs out there that do not follow even their states own laws regarding them or what their laws states.
And all the bogus lane markings out there is why I said autonomous cars will never work. Do they follow the Law or do they follow the improper markings on the road. How does a computer know which one to follow, go by the markings and disobey the law, or follow the law and end up in a crash.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Federal laws are designed to regulate the federation. DUH! Enforcing the regulations, however, is something of a gray area. You can't just send in the troops and arrest a state that chooses not to comply with federal laws. Thus the best enforcement tool they have is money. The federal government will withhold funds due to a given state that does not comply with their laws. Oh, they can sue and take things to court, but again there is no way to actually force a state to comply. Fortunately, up until recently anyway, all the states of our union took their role as united members of the republic seriously. There is a lot of grumbling about big government interference, but historically there has not been much refusal to comply with laws. Presidential executive orders are not laws and lots of states ignore those things. The federal employees cannot ignore such orders, but a sovereign state can. I think the purpose of the union and the concept of doing things democratically has been corrupted and we now see a lot of civil discontent as a result. Things could change, but a lot depends on the leadership.
It is my impression that autonomous cars attempt to navigate exactly as would a human driver. That's the problem. Not all humans drive by the same rules. Self driving cars are not smart enough to determine what is legal or not. That's not how they are programmed. The basic idea is to get from point A to point B without crashing into anything or anybody. Truth be told all road markings could be eliminated once the system is perfected. It's just a matter of geopositioning. And, you can be sure that the laws, and insurance coverage, will drastically change once automated cars dominate the roads.
It is my impression that autonomous cars attempt to navigate exactly as would a human driver. That's the problem. Not all humans drive by the same rules. Self driving cars are not smart enough to determine what is legal or not. That's not how they are programmed. The basic idea is to get from point A to point B without crashing into anything or anybody. Truth be told all road markings could be eliminated once the system is perfected. It's just a matter of geopositioning. And, you can be sure that the laws, and insurance coverage, will drastically change once automated cars dominate the roads.