Bernie’s World

[LDAHL]

My county did this last year, promising us no reduction in services….

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...our-work-week/

Wouldn’t this require hiring more essential services employees to maintain the same coverage? Personnel costs are usually the biggest driver of local government budgets, so it’s hard for me to see how they aren’t asking taxpayers to contribute more to their employees’ leisure.

[LDAHL]

I agree it's crazy to see Bernie channeling his inner Richard Nixon.

Dumb, dishonest economic policies know no party affiliation. Price controls, trillion dollar coins, rent controls, modern monetary theory, old New Deals and new New Deals are all stupid in their own way. This detracts nothing from the stupidity of Bernie’s proposal.

[Rogar]

In my corporate life, salaried people were pretty much expected to work a more than 40 hour work week and have some corresponding productivity to meet their objectives in job reviews. It was common for people to forfeit allocated vacations. Some seemed to get by with less but were likely targets for routine work force reductions and unlikely candidates for promotions. My supervisor for a time had this posted in his office. I don't think anything Bernie could do would change that. Real or perceived, I always had the impression my friends in government work did not share the same perspective.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

[catherine]

In my corporate life, salaried people were pretty much expected to work a more than 40 hour work week and have some corresponding productivity to meet their objectives in job reviews. It was common for people to forfeit allocated vacations. Some seemed to get by with less but were likely targets for routine work force reductions and unlikely candidates for promotions. My supervisor for a time had this posted in his office. I don't think anything Bernie could do would change that. Real or perceived, I always had the impression my friends in government work did not share the same perspective.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

Yes, that scenario is true, in the US at least. In the EU, people have a better work-life balance. I quit my job to go freelance because I was working 70 hours a week. But now, with people working remotely and the ubiquity of technology, you are still "on" 24/7. DH has been out of the corporate workforce for decades, and he can't wrap his head around the fact that I'll be emailing a client on Saturday morning.

I believe that this is a uniquely American phenomenon. I remember one time a big pharma client wanted to do research in France between Christmas and New Year's. We told them that it would not be possible. No one there would agree to do an interview. The client said, "Just pay them more." We couldn't make them understand that in some places money won't always get you exactly what you want.

I'm not exactly sure how Bernie's plan would work either, but like all of his aspirational proposals, you have to start somewhere. Maybe when the Millenials get into Congress things will change. They seem to have less of the "live to work" mentality.

[Rogar]

I'm not exactly sure how Bernie's plan would work either, but like all of his aspirational proposals, you have to start somewhere. Maybe when the Millenials get into Congress things will change. They seem to have less of the "live to work" mentality.

I also had excellent benefits with a small fixed pension and medical insurance partially paid when took early retirement at 56. My work was challenging and interesting in glass is half full side of things. I sometimes wonder if the modern millennial "live to work" ethics includes a much longer time in the workforce and different terms of corporate loyalty.

[bae]

Wouldn’t this require hiring more essential services employees to maintain the same coverage? Personnel costs are usually the biggest driver of local government budgets, so it’s hard for me to see how they aren’t asking taxpayers to contribute more to their employees’ leisure.

Indeed, there seem to be some serious structural problems with the plan....

[iris lilies]

Yes, that scenario is true, in the US at least. In the EU, people have a better work-life balance. I quit my job to go freelance because I was working 70 hours a week. But now, with people working remotely and the ubiquity of technology, you are still "on" 24/7. DH has been out of the corporate workforce for decades, and he can't wrap his head around the fact that I'll be emailing a client on Saturday morning.

I believe that this is a uniquely American phenomenon. I remember one time a big pharma client wanted to do research in France between Christmas and New Year's. We told them that it would not be possible. No one there would agree to do an interview. The client said, "Just pay them more." We couldn't make them understand that in some places money won't always get you exactly what you want.

I'm not exactly sure how Bernie's plan would work either, but like all of his aspirational proposals, you have to start somewhere. Maybe when the Millenials get into Congress things will cchange. They seem to have less of the "live to work" mentality.

yes! And let the “somewhere” be not in my state. I am completely on board in carrying out the social experiments in states other than mine.

[LDAHL]

Indeed, there seem to be some serious structural problems with the plan....

To maintain the same level of coverage, you would need to increase head count by 25%. It’s hard to imagine you could offset the increase in wages and associated benefits by decreasing the hours the public could access sevices at the courts, register of deeds, parks, etc. Even if the taxpayers were willing to pay more for what would probably be decremented services, the credit rating agencies might well look askance at a structural increase in the annual budget.

[LDAHL]

yes! And let the “somewhere” be not in my state. I am completely on board in carrying out the social experiments in states other than mine.

Sometimes the laboratories of democracy create monsters.

[iris lilies]

Sometimes the laboratories of democracy create monsters.

Hunh…unintended consequences of do-gooding. Who knew there could be such a thing?