Iowa viewpoint

[Guest]

At any given day you can hear the Iowan outrage at the corner restaurant at welfare handouts. Then they shuffle off to their post office box to pick up their Farm Subsidy check from the Department of Agriculture.

You see if you live in a city their checks are handouts but if you live on a 300 acre estate it's a subsidy.

[Guest]

Oh. And I suppose government welfare to Big 3 auto workers is nobler than subsidizing farm prices to producers.

[Guest]

Oh. And I suppose government welfare to Big 3 auto workers is nobler than subsidizing farm prices to producers.

What's the difference ???

[Guest]

stay on the subject. We are not talking auto-makers here,we are talking farmers and farm subsidies.

[Guest]

So, who is receiving the money paid out in the farm programs in Iowa? Can you provide data please.

[Guest]

Here is a link you can use. Hope it works.

http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=19000

[Guest]

Thank you for the link. What does, "Subtotal, Farming Subsidies" mean? I'm not clear what the subtotal in the title means when I look at the actual recepients.

[Guest]

I am not sure. However, if you look for a certain farmer by ZIP code or name or town name, it will tell you the total they received per year and scroll to the bottom of the page and it shows for which crops they received the subsidy. The columns there are for 1. not planting; 2. disaster payment; and 3. crop subsidy payment.

It comes to a whole lot of money for some of these farmers. I looked up one of my relatives in Kansas and he had averaged about $80,000 per year in farm subsidies.

[Guest]

I am not sure. However, if you look for a certain farmer by ZIP code or name or town name, it will tell you the total they received per year and scroll to the bottom of the page and it shows for which crops they received the subsidy. The columns there are for 1. not planting; 2. disaster payment; and 3. crop subsidy payment.

It comes to a whole lot of money for some of these farmers. I looked up one of my relatives in Kansas and he had averaged about $80,000 per year in farm subsidies.

So I assume you must agree. We NEED LESS government and way way less government employees. for example, question to those of you who work/worked in the private sector. Who in the private sector got a check at the end of each year for sick days they did not use? Or even better, how about a huge check prior to retirement for all the sick/personal/vacation days you "did not" use during your total years as federal, state and local goverment employees do and this is unfortunitly just one of many seriously sad but true examples of how we are headed for a Europeon type crisis.
PLEASE, someone in the gov tell me why you get a check for unused sick days when nobody in the private sector paying your salary does.
/




?

[Guest]

So I assume you must agree. We NEED LESS government and way way less government employees. for example, question to those of you who work/worked in the private sector. Who in the private sector got a check at the end of each year for sick days they did not use? Or even better, how about a huge check prior to retirement for all the sick/personal/vacation days you "did not" use during your total years as federal, state and local goverment employees do and this is unfortunitly just one of many seriously sad but true examples of how we are headed for a Europeon type crisis.
PLEASE, someone in the gov tell me why you get a check for unused sick days when nobody in the private sector paying your salary does.
/




?


Excellent question!

[Guest]

Can we all agree that the government should not be subsidizing anyone?
SS should be an annuity, that you collect when you get to retirement age.. if you die before that.. the money goes to your estate. If you get more in SS than you paid in (plus interest earned), the government took it from someone else to give it to you.
Welfare is reserved for those that CANNOT (not WILL NOT) support themselves... and if you can afford cable tv or a cell phone, you are NOT in poverty.

JJ

At any given day you can hear the Iowan outrage at the corner restaurant at welfare handouts. Then they shuffle off to their post office box to pick up their Farm Subsidy check from the Department of Agriculture.

You see if you live in a city their checks are handouts but if you live on a 300 acre estate it's a subsidy.

[Guest]

Can we all agree that the government should not be subsidizing anyone?
SS should be an annuity, that you collect when you get to retirement age.. if you die before that.. the money goes to your estate. If you get more in SS than you paid in (plus interest earned), the government took it from someone else to give it to you.
Welfare is reserved for those that CANNOT (not WILL NOT) support themselves... and if you can afford cable tv or a cell phone, you are NOT in poverty.

JJ


:bigbow: I LOVE IT! :bigbow:

[Guest]

Who in the private sector got a check at the end of each year for sick days they did not use? Or even better, how about a huge check prior to retirement for all the sick/personal/vacation days you "did not" use during your total years as federal, state and local goverment employees do and this is unfortunitly just one of many seriously sad but true examples of how we are headed for a Europeon type crisis.
PLEASE, someone in the gov tell me why you get a check for unused sick days when nobody in the private sector paying your salary does.


I work for the Air Force. I don't "get a check" at the end of the year for unused sick time. I'm allowed to accrue it (I've yet to hear of a limit) and you're expected to use that in place of Short Term Disability (which isn't offered here but WAS offered at all my private sector employers). Locally, those kind of perks have been vanishing from town and state jobs (I live in NH).

The one perk I *can* get from sick time is when I retire. *If* I have enough sick time, I can "credit" it to my service time when it comes to calculating a pension. In other words, if I've put in 20.5 years and I have 6 months of sick time (which means not missing a day for 12 years), I could put that half year towards my service time and get a 21% pension instead of a 20% pension. This would approximately be an additional $16 per week at my pay grade.

[Guest]

Even though this has abolutely nothing to do with the Iowa viewpoint on farm subsidies, I will answer the question.


I do not know about state and local government employees receiving a lump sum payment for unused sick days at the end of their career. I can tell you about Federal government employees, though, since I am one of those.

Federal employees DO NOT receive a lump sum payment for unused sick days. This practice (for the Civil Service Retirement System) went out back in the 1970's. Currently, any unused sick leave for CSRS employees is added onto their service computation date in 30 day increments to give a little boost to the retirement. For example, a person with a total of 33 years, 5 months of Federal service would receive 2 extra months if he had 88 days of unused sick leave. The remaining 28 days would be lost because it is only counted in 30 day increments.

In 2009, this was added to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and will be phased in - as explained in the attached link. http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-retirement/2009/11/30/fers-sick-leave-credit/

The lump sum payment was a feature that did grant many thousands of dollars to retirees as sick leave carryover is unlimited. I know people that got paid for at least one full year of unused sick leave at their current salary. However, as I said, that went out due to a change in the law back in the late 1970's.

Hope this answers a few of your questions and was not too technical. I have given classes on this and other Federal government benefits many times.

[Guest]

Like buggyone said, Even though this has abolutely nothing to do with the Iowa viewpoint on farm subsidies,

I am a business owner and it has always gotten under my skin when I hear that people think that because they showed up for work, THAT THEY GOT PAID FOR, and did not take a sick day that they should somehow be credited or paid for it anyway.

I show up everyday and if I'm sick, I'm sick. No pay no credit no extra time at the end, nothing.
Why should you get credit for time you did not work? You did not work it, you were at work and got paid fot that day already.

And before someone throws the "SS you are getting more back than you paid in argument" in there. I have, for as long as I was old enough to know and cared, thought I should be able to put my money in my own account and opt out. And since I am not retired yet there is no guarantee that I will get my SS.

So how far do you go down the rabbit hole when talking about hand outs. If you were not sick you were not sick, no pay for it because you were well!

Just say'in.

[Guest]

Notlongnow, you are a business owner.

Do you, as a business owner, support E-Verify for all new employees?

[Guest]

buggyone,

The problem I see with the E-Verify is that the government already has a hard time doing a good job with the agencies they have now and this will just become another paperwork nightmare for the employee and the employer.

My wife is on the "watch list" for flying!! They said her name in simular to someone who is on a terrorist watch list. Now I am not going to give her name here but I can tell you it is a very common, non-terrorist type name.

She has spent years trying to get removed from it so she can get a pre-boarding pass with no luck.

This is what I see happening to people who would show some problem with their info not matching the federal governments info. It will take them forever to get it right with the government. To me it is just like TSA and everyone being a suspect to find the problem people. So the government decides that everybody has to prove they are a citizen to be able to work when it is not everybody that is the problem.
Plus I don't think that this admin. really cares about that problem, illegals.

Really, is everybody who gets on an airplane a possible terrorist?

I think the government needs to find a way to stop illegal entry into our country before all this busy work and paperwork that they have come up with.

So I guess, no I would not support it.

[Guest]

notlongnow - as a business owner - have you ever had the occasion to offer your employees some sort of incentive to improve their performance, a safety record, increased production - or do your employees just get paid every day for showing up?

[Guest]

Like buggyone said,

I am a business owner and it has always gotten under my skin when I hear that people think that because they showed up for work, THAT THEY GOT PAID FOR, and did not take a sick day that they should somehow be credited or paid for it anyway.

I show up everyday and if I'm sick, I'm sick. No pay no credit no extra time at the end, nothing.
Why should you get credit for time you did not work? You did not work it, you were at work and got paid fot that day already.


I take it, then, that you don't offer paid vacations.

[Guest]

njbchbum,

as a business owner - have you ever had the occasion to offer your employees some sort of incentive to improve their performance, a safety record, increased production - or do your employees just get paid every day for showing up?

Yes, I give a bonus twice a year. That has nothing to do with sick leave pay or saving it up to be cashed in at a later date.
Did you look at your job as just showing up, I hope not. The benefit to the employee is to be EMPLOYED, not what can I get out of it.

If they increase their production I will give them a bonus, take them to diner, give them a day off, my choice. Sick leave is used as leverage to get something from the employer without doing anything.
If your sick, then take the days, if you are not sick good for you, come to work and do good work and "I" will give you the bonus not you take it.

And no, I pay my employees for the work they do not for showing up. If they do not want to show up then there are others that do.

[Guest]

I take it, then, that you don't offer paid vacations.


Why would you think that. They are not connected. One is vacation and the other is IF YOU ARE SICK.
Thank you for making my point even though that is not what I think you meant to do.

And yes I do offer it.

I do not offer healthcare.

[Guest]

So, who is receiving the money paid out in the farm programs in Iowa? Can you provide data please.I don't know about Iowa, but a few years ago in Illinois, the person who got the largest amount of farm subsidies and payments, in several different forms and programs, was Scottie Pippen. At the time he was an all-NBA forward on the Chicago Bulls, earning a salary of close to $8 million a year. He was reported to have been "placed" in several investments which provided access to government subsidies, "price supports" and payments by his lawyer and financial advisor.

Yep, those farmers really do need the help.

[Guest]

njbchbum,

Yes, I give a bonus twice a year. That has nothing to do with sick leave pay or saving it up to be cashed in at a later date.
Did you look at your job as just showing up, I hope not. The benefit to the employee is to be EMPLOYED, not what can I get out of it.

If they increase their production I will give them a bonus, take them to diner, give them a day off, my choice. Sick leave is used as leverage to get something from the employer without doing anything.
If your sick, then take the days, if you are not sick good for you, come to work and do good work and "I" will give you the bonus not you take it.

And no, I pay my employees for the work they do not for showing up. If they do not want to show up then there are others that do.

as i see it, if your employees do not show up - they do not get paid. if they show up and do their job - they get paid. if they show up and do a better job by increasing their production - they get paid AND they get a BONUS - and they are eligible for that bonus 2x/yr! - not just once a year nor deferred until they retire. you are using your offer of a bonus as leverage to get your employees to increase their production.

thus there IS an incentive for your employees to show up AND to do a better job. you choose to use increased production as your requirement for that bonus. other employers choose other requirements for the incentives they offer their employees...and some choose to use the career deferred payment of unused sick days at retirement as their incentive for keeping employees on the job and producing every day.

simply being employed is not always seen as a benefit by employees. being employed by an employer who offers a better compensation package than another employer is a benefit. money was not always my incentive for selecting an employer...i sometimes sacrificed salary for the benefits and perks which were personally more important to me at the time.

[Guest]

Just kind of curious, Notlongnow. Do you or do you not give sick leave to your employees? If an employee has the flu, you do not want him to come to work and spread it to others, do you? That would be counter-productive to productivity. Does that employee stay home with pay or without pay?

May I ask what kind of business you own, how many employees, and average pay for the employees? Not being over-inquiring, I hope.

[Guest]

Hey, back on track with VK. Yep, Scotty Pippen is not alone in the ranks of rich dudes who just put their money in investments and are able to collect government subsidies.

I am in favor of eliminating all government farm subsidies.

[Guest]

Hey, back on track with VK. Yep, Scotty Pippen is not alone in the ranks of rich dudes who just put their money in investments and are able to collect government subsidies.

I am in favor of eliminating all government farm subsidies.

buggyone - what does the nation risk by eliminating farm subsidies - a further dimunition of the farming industry? would the nation not be better served by better oversight and program administration? how many farm subsidy programs do we have? could we benefit by some sort of consolidation which might improve the oversight and program administration?

eliminating farm subsidies reminds me of the old adage - be careful what you wish for. in 'looking before we leap', perhaps we should first examine the impact of the action, :icon_wink:

[Guest]

stay on the subject. We are not talking auto-makers here,we are talking farmers and farm subsidies.

A subsidy by any other names is tax obligation absorbed by taxpayers. Set aside those who are truly are disabled. What right do our representative have to be free with our tax money? And what right did they have to the SS Trust Fund? If you look closer you will also see that the US is assiting the bailout ofEurope via payments to ECB.

[Guest]

Do you or do you not give sick leave to your employees? If an employee has the flu, you do not want him to come to work and spread it to others, do you? That would be counter-productive to productivity. Does that employee stay home with pay or without pay?

Boy, I am sorry buggyone for taking your thread so far off subject, my fault.

I do have sick leave but that is off of my point. I am all FOR using sick leave if you are SICK. No I don't want anybody to come to work sick. Funny that I have not needed a sick day in years, lucky I guess.
I think people should come to work and work for their pay and not for their sick leave.
I don't like the practice of a business using sick leave as a vacation/retirement benefit. If it is vacation you want, earn it, if it is sick leave you need, use it but one is not the other. If you need more time than that then take leave without pay.

I pay my employees market wages for my business which is a architectural home design firm which I started 30 years ago.
I employ anywhere from 4 to 6 people, plus my wife who is my partner and office manager. Hardly a large business but never laid anybody off and always made payroll for thirty years.
If I got paid for my sick days not used over the last thirty years I could quit today. Maybe I am the one who lost out! :ohdear:

[Guest]

njbchbum,



Yes, I give a bonus twice a year. That has nothing to do with sick leave pay or saving it up to be cashed in at a later date.Did you look at your job as just showing up, I hope not. The benefit to the employee is to be EMPLOYED, not what can I get out of it.

If they increase their production I will give them a bonus, take them to diner, give them a day off, my choice. Sick leave is used as leverage to get something from the employer without doing anything.
If your sick, then take the days, if you are not sick good for you, come to work and do good work and "I" will give you the bonus not you take it.

And no, I pay my employees for the work they do not for showing up. If they do not want to show up then there are others that do.

notlongnow: You are spot on concerning E-verify and employees attitudes.

E-verify is in the news now but the I-9 programs has been around for a long time. employers were required to secure two types of ID's from prospective employees, their social security number and other information to establish that they were citizens or in this country legally. Based on news reports over the years it failed miserably...Guess why? Because it was all about political spin...something pols are good at .

As to employees many are really good but you do run across more than your share of employees who act as if they are doing you a favor for showing up.

On the other hand I have had employees whom single-handedly have outperformed production and quality wise several of their peers. give me a few people like that and I can rule the world...well almost;)

notlongnow good luck to you and your endeavors to retire here.

[Guest]

rubicon

On the other hand I have had employees whom single-handedly have outperformed production and quality wise several of their peers. give me a few people like that and I can rule the world...well almost

That is so true. I have a couple right now that I make sure are happy. They make my life much easier.

notlongnow good luck to you and your endeavors to retire here.

The world will have to end or worse for me not to make that happen.
Thanks
EB