Re:I'm a micro-view of the job situation
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
Agreed on teachers.
As far as EMT's go, I'm not sure what the pro's make. Like I said, my wife and I volunteer (but I only drive - none of that nastiness for me!) and we do get paid a pittance each December - it helps for Christmas.
Re:Simple: make your own job.
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
I do that but don't need to be in that because I've got my own niche carved out quite nicely here.
On a side note, coops are a good idea. I'm from a rural area and we have a rich tradition in that form of business - elevators, power companies and the like. Of course, in those kinds of coops, the customers own the business.
I'm not sure how your "geography is not important" coop will do, but the telephone and power coops I've dealt with have been far easier (and more customer-centric) than your public companies (Alliant and US West).
Re:Neither candidate is dancing the hoochie coo
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
Given a bad enough recession, the housing bubble will burst and your $200K house will be worth $10K.
Problem solved.
By the way - it's the same for farmers. In Iowa, they're paying $3k/acre for good corn land and competing against equally good land in Argentina that's worth something along the lines of a nickle an acre. Makes things tough.
Re:I will say this...
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 0, Offtopic
Just out of curiosity, where are you at? I'm not in the market but have a few friends who might be.
Re:You've left out Litigation
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
And the Mexican legal system is for sale!
We've got a farmer around here with a Brazilian wife. In talking to them, it sounds like official bribery is cost of doing business in South America. Probably cheaper than litigation.
Re:some useful data--middle class "size" is fallin
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
Make $50K as a household and you're rich?
Re:"self-employment" doesn't mean income
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
If you've been self employed for most of your career, have you formed an S-Corporation? I do a little freelancing on the side and hate the self-employment taxes and understand creating an S-Corp can help lower your tax burden if you earn enough (I don't - like I said it's just an after hours kind of thing).
I think that after $15K, it would make sense to do that.
It's time to elect amatures to every office at every level. Look what the pros have done to us.
You mean get back to a citizen legislature - where people who are in office worked in the economy before going to office and will need to work in the economy again under the laws that they passed after they're done.
That sounds a lot like what the framers of the Constitution had in mind.
Re:Time to throw out our current tax system?
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
I would propose the following: tax %17 of all money paid out of a corporation to individuals; that is, 17% of dividends, distributed earnings, and payroll. The goal would be to collect enough money from the corporations directly, that we could avoid having personal income tax at all, and thus eliminate the need to have social security numbers and the government keeping files on everyone.
And you think you've seen layoffs now! Payroll is the largest single cost of doing business for most companies. And any tax on employment (both halves of FICA, unemployment insurance, benefits) is a form of payroll - you cost your company substantially more than what your paycheck says at the end of the week.
Of course, thinking about it a little more - 17% is a fairly small increase in the amount of taxes paid for employees by companies - FICA alone is 15.3%.
I agree that we need a better tax system. One of my duties at work is to do taxes each spring. It's terrible that people who have what should be fairly simple tax returns require help in filing them. Not because they're doing any "interesting" things - because the laws are so complicated that they need help to get the best deal.
Re:Let's not forget the underemployed...
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
What did you do, and did you think about freelancing a bit?
If you're working at a factory job, how many hours are you working? If it's less than 50, have you considered freelancing IT after hours?
I see that you do some carpentry - that's probably paying as well as freelancing on IT would. Are you also keeping good books and paying your 15% self employment tax off the top? (if so - keep good books and expense everything you can!)
The "IT audit" occupation appears to be related to accounting. How can I afford to take accounting courses and make payments on my existing student loans? And how can I be sure that the profession won't become full between when training begins and when training ends?
You're kind of right. "Audit" is a synonym for "rectal exam." In this case, he's talking about an "IT rectal exam."
Sarbanes-Oxley (and Gramm-Leach-Bliley for banks) has created a regulatory framework forcing companies to pay for outside and independent auditors to look over their IT infrastructure, policies, and procedures.
No offense, but anyone using a yahoo, aol, hotmail, or any other free mail account for business should get their own domain and get e-mail service to go with it. Heck, just forward that e-mail to your free account.
What's the first thing you think when someone hands you a business card that says "brxs55@aol.com" - your estimation of them (and by proxy, their business) goes down.
I know why some people do that - AOL because of numerous access numbers around the country, the others because you can log in from any browser. I'm just saying that if you're doing business, act like it and get an e-mail address that doesn't scream newbie.
Could you forward them to your hotmail address easily enough to do a backup on them?
Re:I'm a micro-view of the job situation
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
The problem is that we don't have enought good teachers. If the unions don't suck the life out of them, then disorderly classrooms and disrespectful students will.
In college, my roommate was an elementary education major (he went on to become a teacher). I remember on class he was taking - a math class on teaching elementary math. Some of the students in that class, in college were having trouble with the concepts.
I'll agree with you on the medical field, but it does take a bit to be an EMT, and it's not for everybody. I live in a small town, and I volunteer to drive the ambulance and my wife's an EMT. I'd not ever be an EMT. As a driver, I can remove myself from situations where I'd be squeemish - you can't do that as an EMT. (Plus I get to drive a nice vehicle really fast with lights on)
The flat portion of our tax system (FICA) IS at 15.3%. Those on the very low end do qualify for an "earned income credit" to get some of their social security taxes back, though.
Re:Where is American Society going
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
You can argue this multiple ways. It may show the American spirit of individualism, there again it may be that the only respite of people who can't get a job is to start their own company.
And there's nothing wrong with that. The guy that started FedEx submitted that idea as his MBA thesis and flunked it - was told that it was a silly idea. How do you think he would have done had he tried to shop that idea to whatever existing shipping outfits there were at the time? No better
I've got great respect for those who will go out on their own and start their own company. That is a difficult thing to do, but the rewards can be great.
Re:Oh no neither party is helping
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The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
However good you think the US gov't is compared to the existing alternatives, democracy by proxy is flawed.
But can you imagine getting 250 million people to vote on the budget? With proper information sent out to everyone, it could be done. How about something like Sarbanes-Oxley (corporate governance) or Gramm-Leach-Bliley (banking privacy)? Could you inform enough people of the issues to get a good vote on it?
Part of our problem now is that the people that we elect as our represtatives do not do their homework and think about (or care about) the effects of a law awaiting passage. How much worse would it be if we had a direct democracy were 250 million people voted on an issue because "Dateline NBC" said something about it?
Re:Oh no neither party is helping
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 1
I'd not say that they have no power. Any time the minority in the Senat has more than 39 seats, they do have enough power to derail almost anything. At this time, the democrats have a 51-49 minority.
That's not one I've heard, but even a single instance anywhere is bad. If we're talking rates though, a single instance in a small town is a much higher rate than many instances in a city.
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As far as EMT's go, I'm not sure what the pro's make. Like I said, my wife and I volunteer (but I only drive - none of that nastiness for me!) and we do get paid a pittance each December - it helps for Christmas.
On a side note, coops are a good idea. I'm from a rural area and we have a rich tradition in that form of business - elevators, power companies and the like. Of course, in those kinds of coops, the customers own the business.
I'm not sure how your "geography is not important" coop will do, but the telephone and power coops I've dealt with have been far easier (and more customer-centric) than your public companies (Alliant and US West).
Problem solved.
By the way - it's the same for farmers. In Iowa, they're paying $3k/acre for good corn land and competing against equally good land in Argentina that's worth something along the lines of a nickle an acre. Makes things tough.
Just out of curiosity, where are you at? I'm not in the market but have a few friends who might be.
We've got a farmer around here with a Brazilian wife. In talking to them, it sounds like official bribery is cost of doing business in South America. Probably cheaper than litigation.
Make $50K as a household and you're rich?
I think that after $15K, it would make sense to do that.
You mean get back to a citizen legislature - where people who are in office worked in the economy before going to office and will need to work in the economy again under the laws that they passed after they're done.
That sounds a lot like what the framers of the Constitution had in mind.
And you think you've seen layoffs now! Payroll is the largest single cost of doing business for most companies. And any tax on employment (both halves of FICA, unemployment insurance, benefits) is a form of payroll - you cost your company substantially more than what your paycheck says at the end of the week.
Of course, thinking about it a little more - 17% is a fairly small increase in the amount of taxes paid for employees by companies - FICA alone is 15.3%.
I agree that we need a better tax system. One of my duties at work is to do taxes each spring. It's terrible that people who have what should be fairly simple tax returns require help in filing them. Not because they're doing any "interesting" things - because the laws are so complicated that they need help to get the best deal.
If you're working at a factory job, how many hours are you working? If it's less than 50, have you considered freelancing IT after hours?
I see that you do some carpentry - that's probably paying as well as freelancing on IT would. Are you also keeping good books and paying your 15% self employment tax off the top? (if so - keep good books and expense everything you can!)
You're kind of right. "Audit" is a synonym for "rectal exam." In this case, he's talking about an "IT rectal exam."
Sarbanes-Oxley (and Gramm-Leach-Bliley for banks) has created a regulatory framework forcing companies to pay for outside and independent auditors to look over their IT infrastructure, policies, and procedures.
Yes - it's survival of the fittest. Those bugs that could hide the best (until they show up to bite you in the ass) will do so.
Remember Y2K when all of those millions of lines of COBOL code had to be fixed (or at least fudged).
COBOL does what it does and does it well enough that it's not been unseated, but it sure as heck isn't cool.
What's the first thing you think when someone hands you a business card that says "brxs55@aol.com" - your estimation of them (and by proxy, their business) goes down.
I know why some people do that - AOL because of numerous access numbers around the country, the others because you can log in from any browser. I'm just saying that if you're doing business, act like it and get an e-mail address that doesn't scream newbie.
Didn't some employee of AOL get busted this summer for selling 1 million (insert Dr Evil laugh here) e-mail addresses to spammers?
Got one of them - thanks!
Could you forward them to your hotmail address easily enough to do a backup on them?
In college, my roommate was an elementary education major (he went on to become a teacher). I remember on class he was taking - a math class on teaching elementary math. Some of the students in that class, in college were having trouble with the concepts.
I'll agree with you on the medical field, but it does take a bit to be an EMT, and it's not for everybody. I live in a small town, and I volunteer to drive the ambulance and my wife's an EMT. I'd not ever be an EMT. As a driver, I can remove myself from situations where I'd be squeemish - you can't do that as an EMT. (Plus I get to drive a nice vehicle really fast with lights on)
The flat portion of our tax system (FICA) IS at 15.3%. Those on the very low end do qualify for an "earned income credit" to get some of their social security taxes back, though.
And there's nothing wrong with that. The guy that started FedEx submitted that idea as his MBA thesis and flunked it - was told that it was a silly idea. How do you think he would have done had he tried to shop that idea to whatever existing shipping outfits there were at the time? No better
I've got great respect for those who will go out on their own and start their own company. That is a difficult thing to do, but the rewards can be great.
But can you imagine getting 250 million people to vote on the budget? With proper information sent out to everyone, it could be done. How about something like Sarbanes-Oxley (corporate governance) or Gramm-Leach-Bliley (banking privacy)? Could you inform enough people of the issues to get a good vote on it?
Part of our problem now is that the people that we elect as our represtatives do not do their homework and think about (or care about) the effects of a law awaiting passage. How much worse would it be if we had a direct democracy were 250 million people voted on an issue because "Dateline NBC" said something about it?
I'd not say that they have no power. Any time the minority in the Senat has more than 39 seats, they do have enough power to derail almost anything. At this time, the democrats have a 51-49 minority.
Agreed. I'd also add Iowa to the mix:)
I'd agree, but I'd just as soon not use integrated video if possible.
That's not one I've heard, but even a single instance anywhere is bad. If we're talking rates though, a single instance in a small town is a much higher rate than many instances in a city.