United States Heading towards a Depression?

Right. So if you fire someone for drinking on the job, their argument becomes, "Prove it!". If you can't prove it, you may been found to have wrongfully terminated that person. It is much, much easier for a small employer to simply provide an excuse like, "We merged two shifts, eliminating that position". "A company reorganization eliminated that job position". "The company is cost cutting and had to lay a few people off".

Bigger companies deal with the whole process of properly firing bad employees. First comes the verbal warning. Then comes the written warning. Then comes the second written warning and interview with your supervisor. Then comes administrative leave. Then comes termination. In that order, always with a chance to correct the undesirable behavior. And this is the private sector. A bad teacher working through one of the state employee unions can take over a decade to terminate.

You are hitting on one of the root causes of sluggish employment in this country. Derogatory comments of any kind in a reference for an ex-employee can be grounds for a defamation suit. It has gotten to the point where employers almost never give a poor job reference. Instead, they fall back on providing verification of employment. Essentially, the message is, "Yes, he/she worked here", even if "he/she" showed up to work an hour late every day, drunk off of his/her ass. Hiring managers are already aware of this politically correct, or more correctly stated "tort sensitive" kabuki dance when it comes to employee references. If your ex-employer doesn't have something glowing to say about you, that is generally interpreted as, "he/she was a bad employee".

You might want to have a look at Maj. Nadal Hassan's work reviews, which are speak well to this issue. Everyone knew he was a problem, but nobody could say so openly, even on a job review basis.

 

This is exactly right. Rebecca, the list that I gave you is what I was told when I was a manager. Notice that it is a list of things that are obvious and can be proven in a court of law. My list is of things one can deliberately and openly point at. Rebecca, the website you pointed to looks like it's a legal firm that is soliciting clients by using vague language.

True story: About 15 years back, I worked for a large billion-dollar company in a close-knit office of 25 people. We hired a man at a six-figure salary who claimed to be an Orthodox Jew who I'll call Ben. Ben seemed to be a qualified engineer who came to work in orthodox garb and yamaka. Now, I grew up on Long Island with many orthodox Jewish friends, and I enjoyed the conversations we had on the Torah. But when I talked to Ben, he seemed to be ignorant of the most basic tenets of the Torah.

I reported this to my manager, a V.P. who told me that while Ben initially had requested he be let out by 4:00pm Fridays so he could be home in time for Sabbath, he was now requesting being let out at 2:00pm. The company agreed, and asked Ben to sign a document showing that we agreed to let him out at 2:00pm Friday and we would pay him for the entire day. Ben refused to sigh the agreement. At that point, we notified Legal because we knew we had a con artist that was looking for a lawsuit.

After two months of Ben not completing any assignments and multiple documented complaints, Ben finally got his wish when he was fired for constantly sleeping on the job. The very next day he sued the company, claiming he was terminated for being Jewish. Immediately after that, the same day, an already-ready lawsuit from my company was sent to to Ben claiming falsifying his job application. Also he was not an Orthodox Jew and never attended Temple. By sending our lawsuit the same day Ben sent his, we were notifying his lawyer that we were ready for a bloody no-holds battle.

Ben did not want our lawsuit. Ours was the 3rd company Ben pulled this shit on, and because it was always settled out of court and never counter-sued, it didn't show up in a background check. Ben offered to drop his lawsuit if we dropped ours. We refused. Our lawyers wiped the floor with him.

But the reality is, I had worked for a good company that fought Ben. Even with all the evidence against Ben, 95% of all companies cave and settle out of court.

 

Progressive Tax Rates Linked To National Happiness: Study

According to this report the key to ending depression is more taxes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/08/progressive-tax-rates_n_953885.html

 

Back to common sense, I don't know how I missed that one Bushranger, from Huffington Post.

...of course the R's and everyone else against progressive Gov't are mainly concerned with only their own Happiness and do not concern themselves with the broader picture.

 

Did you just say "back to common sense" in the same sentence as "Huffington Post"?

Eeek..

 

Only in California[I hope] does the state pay for advertising on Digital Point to let you know you can file for your unemployment benefits online and save yourself a trip to the unemployment office. Our California food stamp program regularly takes out radio advertisements with the message,

"Think you don't qualify for food assistance? You might be surprised. Millions of Americans like yourself qualify for Cal-Fresh. One card does it all."

Just in case you thought you made too much to get the free gubment food money, or if you were concerned about the negative stigma of using food stamps to pay. Outbound advertising, rebranding to "Cal-Fresh" (sounds great, doesn't it?), just looking for people whose self esteem they have not yet taken.

 

"It may not be the case that a progressive tax system automatically leads to a happier population, however. The report emphasizes that what matters is what governments do with the tax dollars they collect."

 

I think that a depression is inevitable and fast approaching. We've been in a recession for some long I can't even remember when it started.

 

Isn't that funny? lol. I can't believe it. I'm not sure if they buy advertisements in my state, but I will tell you a story. First off, I would like to say that I have never accepted any welfare prior to my recent unemployment. I've always been extremely independent, and I don't ask for anything from anyone. Well, after being let go in the later part of April, I started getting scared. After I qualified for unemployment, I decide to apply for food stamps as well. It was easy to qualify with no income at all, and I was approved for $200 a month. I did it all at their office. I ended up being on food stamps for almost 3 months. Of course, after getting a job, I wanted to cancel. So, I look at the paperwork they gave me, no return address anywhere to report my income by mail. Then, I go to their website. I can't find anything about canceling my benefits, but on the website, I do remember it saying something about if you know of anyone struggling to afford food, tell them about the food stamp program. Then I decide to call. I'm on hold for 45 minutes. Finally, someone answers, and I say, "I'm calling to cancel my benefits!" then I hear a click. Lost connection. I'm like, oh no! So, I call back. It's like a maze. On hold again. I don't know, maybe another 30-40 minutes. They answer. I say, "I'm calling to cancel my benefits!" Click. dial tone. "If you would like to make a call.." Oh no! LOL. I call back. All the while, on every hold, I'm hearing about different programs as if they're advertising, "Hey, make sure you ask about program blah, blah, blah" as if they're selling something. Finally someone answers. "I'm calling to cancel my benefits!" A nice lady on the other end with a voice of concern says, "For what reason are you wanting us to cancel?" I say, "I got a job!!!" She pauses, and then wants to know how much I make to see if I qualify to not qualify anymore. No, I make too much now. She thanks me for calling. I guess they're just like that, and with the advertising, because they don't want people going hungry. It does just seem kind of funny with the advertising though.

That's crazy. At least there was a happy ending...


Btw, here's Obama's job plan speech...

[video=youtube;fvmUOqCWu64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvmUOqCWu64[/video]

Oooh 16:20-18:00. wow.

 

As if Obama had the power to change anything.

 

Any company will think of itself if ford is earning more, then it will give chance to India only or any other nation.

Ford doesn't matter in giving job to American but the cost of production would be higher if it plans to hire American Labor...

 

2010's Top American Manufactured Cars*:

1.Toyota - Camry

2. Honda - Accord

3. Ford - Escape




http://abcnews.go.com/Business/american-cars/story?id=13801165


But why are we even discussing this? The answer is simple: Less government! (Works for Belgium)


[video=youtube;v3Qz5WFakKE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Qz5WFakKE&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

'Job plan', what a joke. It's governments and fat cats 'planning' things that is the problem. When will they stop?

 

Too funny. Do you really believe the part of your quote I bolded? Does that really explain how a government "aid" program which hands out our taxpayer dollars makes it difficult for you to get off of that program, while at the same time paying for advertising to try and get more people on the program?

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say the government, and more specifically the Democratic party, was trying to create a nation dependent on government money as a means to get more voters and bring about socialism by quiet coup. Not to say that isn't happening, but there is a less nefarious explanation of what you are seeing.

Organizations are very much like organisms. They all want to continue living and they all want to grow. It is observable in any private company, and even at the organizational unit level. Middle managers are sure to always spend every last dime they are budgeted, ensuring their budgets are not cut the following year. Bigger budgets mean more employees under them, which means a higher position for themselves and more power.

Each organizational unit in our government is no different. They are constantly in the business of justifying their existence. More people on food stamps means the program really must be necessary which means that particular branch of government is vital which means promotions are in the future of those gubment employees. While I'd like to believe they are busily drumming up "business"(the business of giving away taxpayer dollars) with outbound advertising, do you really think people who could use food assistance hanging out on DP can't find the food assistance website themselves? The paid radio spots are over the top.

 

As someone whose into advertising, do you know how much cheaper it is to advertise online?

Would you prefer they did it the old way and spend 20 times more, even though noone reads those papers anymore?

A progressive government, whoulda thunk it!

BTW: There's an ad for Aussie defence force on my screen now.

 

I'd prefer they not advertise at all.

Apparently we are far more progressive than your government, which would explain why we are still in recession and decline like Greece and Ireland, while less progressive governments like yours and China are going along just fine. Maybe if we started enforcing our immigration laws, starting at the hospitals where anchor babies are born, we wouldn't be down to #5.

 

I believe we're run by America so would be the same. The difference is we're being paid shitloads from China. However the miners (and happy stockmarketeers) are the only ones to benefit. The average bloke is just as broke as ever. In fact he's probably worse off because the price of everything has skyrocketed.

 

The president's masterfully delivered speech, was a piece of art! A $450 billion dollars proposal to create jobs, 60% of which was tax low-overhead tax cuts, which congress could possibly pass, the other 40% of which was payments to State and Local employee unions, as well as unemployment rewards/incentives, which congress would never pass.

I say it was a peice of art because, by hammering on the "Pass this bill" phrase while delivering no details on how it would all be paid for, the president immediately created a wonderful campaign talking point which might help keep him in office. Confusion works great that way with an electorate!

Of course our economy absolutely loathes uncertainty and confusion, so Obama's newest campaign tactic went over like a fart in church, causing stock indexes to plummet by 325 points(so far) today, or nearly 3%.

Oh Bummer!

Oh Well, at least Obama got his licks in.

 

How on earth a guy who's never held a job can be expected to know how to create a job is beyond my comprehension... Oh, and I own a business that created jobs...

 

I absolutely believe that. It was further confirmed by my recent experience. So many government workers I've come in contact with are just so kind and caring. Here's an example, when I first started looking for a job, I didn't have a very good resume. I revised it twice, and tried to learn from example resumes online. But, I don't know. I just wasn't very good at resume writing. I decided to go down to the Department of Economic Security to see if they could help. The lady at the desk was saying sometimes they will help with that, but the one that normally does it was retiring that day, besides I didn't even have an appointment. So, he overhears our conversation, comes out of his office, and says, "Hey, I still have 2 more hours before retirement!" He was so incredibly nice, took me in his office, and completely reconstructed my resume. With my new awesome "government written" resume, I started getting a lot more calls for interviews. But, yeah, I do think they care...