• (cs) in reply to Matt
    Matt:
    That corridor policy is retarded. I would freely ignore it. We have a door that says "Do Not Exit the building through this door. Which is dumb because the parking lot is right outside the door. Instead they want us to walk out the front door and around. Well, if its raining, or snowing, or hot or cold, that's dumb. So I ignore it.
    I used to do that, but the klaxon hurt my ears too much.
  • emojedi (unregistered)

    Considering the fact that every doctor I see in a hospital has one or more cellular devices strapped to his waist, I doubt using your phone in the maternity ward is going to kill anybody. Now, if hospitals want to implement a policy from keeping patients from being tormented by polyphonic renditions of Fur Elise, that is more than okay with me.

  • George (unregistered) in reply to Frost
    Frost:
    Kazan:
    Basseq:
    Brett, the bigger WTF is that cell phones aren't allowed in hospitals, especially patient rooms.

    O'RLY?

    that's news to me an my father is a research patient and has had 37 operations

    YA RLY. That's not to say they physically enforce the policy, but pretty much every hospital has "no cell phone" signs.

    BS. Step into any nonrural hospital. Go on, I'll wait. I work in a 518 bed hosptial as the IT Administrator. We took down all of our no cell phone signs over two and a half years ago.

  • CosineKitty (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    I think you're right: it's just you! :)

  • no, you stfu (unregistered) in reply to stfu

    Oddly, the UK government spends a very similar amount per-capita as the US government on healthcare: the per-capita expenditure on healthcare is about double in the US than in the UK, and the US government itself pays for about half of that.

    But, in the US, you have to pay again before you can use the services you've already paid for.

    http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2007/09/12/WORLD_HEALTH_1209_graphic.pdf

  • MythBusted (unregistered) in reply to Frost
    Frost:
    Kazan:
    Basseq:
    Brett, the bigger WTF is that cell phones aren't allowed in hospitals, especially patient rooms.

    O'RLY?

    that's news to me an my father is a research patient and has had 37 operations

    YA RLY. That's not to say they physically enforce the policy, but pretty much every hospital has "no cell phone" signs.

    Who ya gonna call? Myth Busters! There was a time when analog phones might have interfered. Now the no cell phone ban seems as ludicrous as the no cell phone ban around gas pumps. But it's posted nonetheless.

  • macdaddy (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Easy on the red bull tiger!

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to YetAnotherDave
    YetAnotherDave:
    I'm crying foul if only because I'm pretty sure FMLA applies even to men when their wives have babies, certainly it's unpaid time off, but it's still legally required time off, which means demanding that he come in would set them up for a pretty nice lawsuit (unless they're claiming this is before FMLA)

    FSM knows that labor laws are never violated.

    From my perspective, the real WTF is that nowadays "I'm not getting my email" is getting equated with "a patient is having a heart attack". It's just email, people.

    I agree with you that it's "just email", but it never ceases to amaze me how bent out of shape people get when they can't have immediate access to it ("all my stuff's in there"). Where I work the solution to many a desktop issue is to reimage the machine... lord save us all if I don't save those pst files first and they get wiped out.

  • eighty-one (unregistered) in reply to Someone You Know

    Generally it's about half of what a US employer pays to an insurance company. So, about $2-3k per year vs. the $4-6k your employer would have to put towards your salary if they weren't paying for insurance.

    Large economies of scale = lower costs

    CAPTCHA: commoveo (I don't kow why I'm doing this - it just seems like all the cool kids do so I will to)

  • Mark (unregistered) in reply to stfu
    stfu:
    Anonymous:

    But hey, at least the treatment and drugs are completely free, eh? It's not so bad having a public health service (I know you yanks don't agree - after all, "socialised medicine" is the ultimate evil, right? Well, enjoy your health insurance...).

    what percentage of your income does the government take in taxes in order to pay for this "completely free" service?

    Ssssshhhhh!

    We don't ask those kinds of questions. When the Nanny State says it's free, it's free. Now bend over, the IRS is coming.

    Captcha: ideo - I've got an ideo, and it involves a revolution.

  • Mark (unregistered) in reply to IT Girl
    IT Girl:
    YetAnotherDave:
    I'm crying foul if only because I'm pretty sure FMLA applies even to men when their wives have babies, certainly it's unpaid time off, but it's still legally required time off, which means demanding that he come in would set them up for a pretty nice lawsuit (unless they're claiming this is before FMLA)

    FSM knows that labor laws are never violated.

    From my perspective, the real WTF is that nowadays "I'm not getting my email" is getting equated with "a patient is having a heart attack". It's just email, people.

    I agree with you that it's "just email", but it never ceases to amaze me how bent out of shape people get when they can't have immediate access to it ("all my stuff's in there"). Where I work the solution to many a desktop issue is to reimage the machine... lord save us all if I don't save those pst files first and they get wiped out.

    That's your mistake right there. At a friend's company, they declare as policy that there are to be no local files. Everything is on the network. So if you are using .PST files stored locally on the machine, that's your fault for not backing them up. Works to IT's advantage.

  • NASAPlaneGuy (unregistered) in reply to Jamie

    no idea about the issues with mobile phones in hosptials, but the one that really bugs is me is having to turn your phone off on a plane

    It's mostly a matter of being extremely cautious in the case of aviation. Cell phones certainly can cause interference with other equipment - I work in a research environment where we've had instruments that end up showing large spikes in the data when you have a cell phone around (Only CDMA, and only specific cell companies...whee). It ends up happening annoyingly frequently because everyone is convinced that it's some kind of wives tale and thus ignore the signs telling them to turn off their phones...

  • foo (unregistered) in reply to stfu
    stfu:
    Anonymous:

    But hey, at least the treatment and drugs are completely free, eh? It's not so bad having a public health service (I know you yanks don't agree - after all, "socialised medicine" is the ultimate evil, right? Well, enjoy your health insurance...).

    what percentage of your income does the government take in taxes in order to pay for this "completely free" service?

    Probably a lot less than you have to spend in insurance. See:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care#Economics

  • spectro (unregistered)

    Changing employers weeks before having a baby... WTF where you thinking?

    Taking new employment KNOWING you will need time off and NOT having somebody to back you up? ... double WTF

    Not checking their server infrastructure before accepting the job?... triple WTF

    If i mention in interview I would start after taking some time off and the boss gives me even the minor of twitches, I say "thank your for you time" and walk away.

  • Michael (unregistered)

    TRWTF: He accepted a new job knowing full well he'd be busy looking after a new baby.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:

    THANKS! The mental image of his boss was bad enough. Now I'm going to be looking at every kid I see and wondering what he's Really thinking!!

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    So it may just be me, but does anyone else find that stock "cute baby" photo scary as hell? He's all cute and clean and happy, not even remotely like a real baby. And the look on his face, damn, that smacks of purest evil - almost as though he can sense the exact moment that I'm going to die... and he's revelling in it!!! He's picturing my last breath and he loves it, replaying it over and over again in his mind, getting more and more joy from the final anguished look of horror on my twisted, bloodied face. [image]
    For this troll you shall die a terrible death! ALALALALLALALALALALLALALA
  • (cs)

    Finally, a story where the IT worker isn't a total pushover -- and actually has the balls to quit his lousy job.

    Also, TRWTF is people who misuse the word "literally".

  • MindChild (unregistered) in reply to Tyler
    Tyler:
    The sad thing is, the part about coming into work while your wife is in labor happened to me.

    When my first kid was born she had a hard labor - over 20 hours. After my daughter was finally delivered, I went out into the hallway to start calling people and noticed I had voicemail. Thinking it was some family member calling to check on things I checked it out and found it was my boss asking me to call him.

    Stupidly thinking he wanted to know how things are, I called him and he asked where I was. I told him I was still at the hospital and that my daughter had just been born. His reply, "Since you're done, aren't you coming to the corporate meeting?"

    I think my stunned silence gave him my answer. I left that company 2 months later for a much higher paying job.

    If you are in the United States, you have what is called "Family and Medical Leave Act" to protect you. Rather than explain it, here is a snippet from the page at the Department of Labor website (http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/):

    Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons: 
    * for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
* for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
* to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
* to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

    Sure, they don't have to pay you, but they can't tell you that you HAVE to come in. The "Covered Employer" and "Eligible Employee" are scary words that a lot of places like to use to scare you out of thinking you can't claim Family and Medical Leave. Fact of the matter is, if you don't already know that you aren't covered, you almost certainly are.

  • (cs) in reply to Someone You Know
    Your sidebar post doesn't mention the boss's undesirable choice of weekend attire, so I'm curious: did you just omit that from the original version, or was it something Alex made up?

    It was something that actually happened. When I submitted it Alex had a few questions, so I worked on the story some more. Alex embellished, but not so much that the story doesn't represent what happened.

  • (cs)

    FMLA FTW, if you're not working for an enlightened place of work.

    It's scary to me how many employers take advantage of workers ignorance of the law. You would think all employers actually wanted to nurture their workers to create a healthy, sustained, creative workplace for knowledge workers. If that were the case, we wouldn't need unions at all...

    Also the dichotomy between "exempt" and "overtime" is interesting: EITHER they have to pay you time-and-a-half for anything over 40 hours a week, 8 hours a day, OR they cannot affect your salary based on hours worked nor dictate specific working hours. A lot of employers believe they can /order/ exempt employees to work overtime, and a lot of exempt employees (or employees that are treated as exempt) fall for it.

    Don't they teach these things in high school? You'd think they should...

  • Michael (unregistered) in reply to operagost
    stfu:
    what percentage of your income does the government take in taxes in order to pay for this "completely free" service?
    operagost:
    I think it's so awesome how your Parliament pays for the subjects' health care out of their own pockets. I wonder where they get all the money! Oh wait... maybe it's really your money!

    In our system, the minority of rich people pay the majority of the taxes. The theory is that the privileged have a responsibility towards those who are not as fortunate as themselves. I know this belief is not predominant in the US (where supposedly you can achieve anything if you really want it enough) but that's the belief that our welfare state is founded on.

    As such, a lot of people really do get their welfare for free. Yes, they do contribute towards the system, but they get more out of the system that they put in (the more fortunate people pay the extra).

    So if you're unfortunate enough to suffer from cancer, you don't have to worry about your health insurance running out and you not being able to afford drugs. Those that are more fortunate than yourself will foot the bill.

    The UK is very different to the US, we do have very different beliefs that found our respective societies. The UK has for its most part been a fairly socialist society whereas raw capitalism has always fuelled the US. In the US people are expected to provide for themselves, in the UK we're expected to look out for each other.

    I think to say that you pay for your own healthcare is naive as in truth some people pay in more than they get, others get more than they pay.

    It's like one giant socialist insurance system, except it's fairer because it's not for profit and you don't get shareholders syphoning off money.

    It's not perfect of course, there are many people who defraud the system at both ends. However I'd much prefer it to the US system which, frankly, I believe to be barbaric.

    When I'm on my deathbed, I know I'm not going to spend my last living days worrying about the burden I've placed on my family. They're not ever going to feel compelled to sell all their belongings in order to fund the drugs to support my life for longer.

  • Duke of New York (unregistered) in reply to AnonymooseCanuck
    AnonymooseCanuck:
    I don't think I would change jobs before having a baby that's for darn sure.
    Someone who's having a baby had best look for a way to increase his income.
  • (cs)

    Here were my circumstances when I switched jobs. I was 19 at the time (20 when the baby was born). I got married early, obviously. We figured we didn't really need health care at that point, so that employer had a cool program where they'd add the extra money they would have paid the insurance program to your paycheck (it got taxed though). We hadn't planned on having a baby (long story about stopping depoprovera) and the next enrollment wasn't for a while yet. We were in Arizona at the time, and they had a program under SCHIP that we had qualified for.

    I switched jobs to try and get more into a programming position, and the new job was some programming with the admin work. I shouldn't have taken the job knowing what the servers were, but I was 20 and very naive. I learned my lesson pretty quick. Over the vacation I did have a backup, but not when my wife was in labor.

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to Mark
    Mark:
    IT Girl:
    YetAnotherDave:
    I'm crying foul if only because I'm pretty sure FMLA applies even to men when their wives have babies, certainly it's unpaid time off, but it's still legally required time off, which means demanding that he come in would set them up for a pretty nice lawsuit (unless they're claiming this is before FMLA)

    FSM knows that labor laws are never violated.

    From my perspective, the real WTF is that nowadays "I'm not getting my email" is getting equated with "a patient is having a heart attack". It's just email, people.

    I agree with you that it's "just email", but it never ceases to amaze me how bent out of shape people get when they can't have immediate access to it ("all my stuff's in there"). Where I work the solution to many a desktop issue is to reimage the machine... lord save us all if I don't save those pst files first and they get wiped out.

    That's your mistake right there. At a friend's company, they declare as policy that there are to be no local files. Everything is on the network. So if you are using .PST files stored locally on the machine, that's your fault for not backing them up. Works to IT's advantage.

    We have the same policy with regards to storing files, with the exception of pst files. The admins don't want them clogging up the servers. When we allowed roaming profiles it used to store the pst's for them and I would get contacted by the admins to tell people to clean up their files because they were overloading the storage. Most of them here never, ever delete an email.

  • (cs) in reply to MindChild

    Oh man, thank $deity I left the US for the EU before getting a job.

    And BTW, when you go to a hospital in the EU, you don't have to worry about medical bills.

    In some countries, after labor, the parents receive a 2.500€ bonus from the government (yes, they pay you to have kids) 15 paid days for the father and 4 months for the mother, which they can exchange as suited.

    Some EU countries give even more days, so you don't worry about a jackass calling you on those days.

    Even thought, I would sue their ass.

  • Baby (unregistered)

    REPEAT!

  • Duke of New York (unregistered) in reply to Mark
    Mark:
    Ssssshhhhh!

    We don't ask those kinds of questions. When the Nanny State says it's free, it's free. Now bend over, the IRS is coming

    I too have many fascinating political opinions. For inst

  • hymie! (unregistered) in reply to Fister
    Fister:
    A lot of employers believe they can /order/ exempt employees to work overtime, and a lot of exempt employees (or employees that are treated as exempt) work in at-will states

    FTFY.

  • Richard W. (unregistered)

    That special rules for corridors thing reminds me of something that happened to me a few months ago.

    I was working on site at a client's place of business (as an employee of the company I work for). They had some event thing on at the night where some guests were coming to get drunk and schmooze and whatnot.

    I finished work there for the day and headed down to the lobby, noticing a bunch of name tags for the guests laid out on a few (wooden) tables.

    I attempted to leave through the front door but was stopped by a lady. She told me that I wasn't allowed to leave through the front door and had to exit through the back door of the building due to the event. The front door was literally 15 feet from where she stopped me. No-one else was around (not that that should have made any difference).

    I was thinking, WTF?! I'm good enough to help you guys make money so you can throw stupid events like this and impress your oh-so-important customers, but I'm not good enough to leave through the front door? I have to leave through the back like some leper peasant? Could you be more disrespectful?

    It was a client's building so I, as a representative of my company, did what they asked, though all manner of nasty retorts popped into my head.

    To me, those special corridor rules sound exactly the same - a way for the higher-ups to let you know that You Are Beneath Them, and They Own You.

    You know those shitty policies are going to be everywhere. I'd be out of there the day I found out such a policy existed (and no extreme circumstances such as pregnancy prevented swift departure). These people do not deserve our help in becoming rich - they deserve to fall on their faces and be stepped on. Repeatedly. Just so they know what it's like.

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to mrmunkey
    mrmunkey:
    Here were my circumstances when I switched jobs. I was 19 at the time (20 when the baby was born). I got married early, obviously. We figured we didn't really need health care at that point, so that employer had a cool program where they'd add the extra money they would have paid the insurance program to your paycheck (it got taxed though). We hadn't planned on having a baby (long story about stopping depoprovera) and the next enrollment wasn't for a while yet. We were in Arizona at the time, and they had a program under SCHIP that we had qualified for.

    I switched jobs to try and get more into a programming position, and the new job was some programming with the admin work. I shouldn't have taken the job knowing what the servers were, but I was 20 and very naive. I learned my lesson pretty quick. Over the vacation I did have a backup, but not when my wife was in labor.

    Well that explains your former empoyer's "money grubbing kid" comment. I can't help but note how many employers are more likely to abuse younger employees. I'm sure it stems from a belief that they might not fully understand their rights. Good for you, for taking a stand. I watch a lot of younger employees get screwed because they're not sure of their own rights.

  • GSM/UMTS/CDMA2000 (unregistered) in reply to Jamie

    The best reason to turn off the phone on flights above land, is to avoid overloading the network. Every time you get into the reach of a base station, your phone will start communicating at maximum signal strength, force the base station to answer with maximum signal strength, start the authentication and then be out of reach because of the plane's high speed. That's not a very nice thing to do to a base station.

    Save the base stations, turn of your mobile phones at flights above land!

  • Naugrim (unregistered)

    This thing happened to me, not while my wife was in labour, but the day after my father died. I was arranging the funeral, but my boss wanted me to finish some software. 3 months later, i left that company

  • Bob (unregistered) in reply to operagost
    operagost:
    I think it's so awesome how your Parliament pays for the subjects' health care out of their own pockets. I wonder where they get all the money! Oh wait... maybe it's really your money!
    What evil bastards!

    Why can't they learn to be good capitalists? Then they'ld only need to take taxpayer's money and hand it over to CEOs as a reward for successfully running their business to the point where a noble and beautiful capitalist bailout is, apparantly, necessary.

    I <3 capitalisim! Down with evil socialists!

  • (cs) in reply to Richard W.
    Richard W.:
    I finished work there for the day and headed down to the lobby, noticing a bunch of name tags for the guests laid out on a few (wooden) tables.

    I attempted to leave through the front door but was stopped by a lady. She told me that I wasn't allowed to leave through the front door and had to exit through the back door of the building due to the event.

    At that point I would have said, "Oh, sorry, I forgot to take my name tag," grabbed a random one off the table and headed back into the party.

  • Steve (unregistered)

    At a company I worked at as a contract employee, I was not allowed to make eye contact with regular employees unless I was speaking to them, and I was not allowed to speak to them unless spoken to.

    When I went to get a cup of coffee or go to the bathroom, I had to look at the floor on my way there.

    Fortunately, this policy did not apply to the employee break room.

  • bunbun (unregistered) in reply to Michael

    Or, you know, family members would be helping out like the post says.

  • YourName (unregistered)

    I too changed jobs just weeks before my wife having a baby. Not a WTF if you are going to a decent company and have made arrangements before hand.

    I let them know at the interview that I would require time off and it wasn't a problem. They gave me 2 weeks special (not counted as Annual) leave and 2 weeks Annual leave in advance (to be accrued back).

    Before leaving the old company, I was on holiday with my family and my daughter became sick and so we took her to the doctor (I worked for a company writing medical software) I happened to bump into my boss at the doctors trying to fix a problem. He immediately asked me to leave my sick daughter and come help him fix the computers as this was much more important. I of course said hell no, and was extremely unpopular with my boss for it but would do the same thing every time.

  • Richard W. (unregistered) in reply to cconroy
    cconroy:
    Richard W.:
    I finished work there for the day and headed down to the lobby, noticing a bunch of name tags for the guests laid out on a few (wooden) tables.

    I attempted to leave through the front door but was stopped by a lady. She told me that I wasn't allowed to leave through the front door and had to exit through the back door of the building due to the event.

    At that point I would have said, "Oh, sorry, I forgot to take my name tag," grabbed a random one off the table and headed back into the party.

    This is what my goatee-sporting alter-ego who is super-confident, thinks quickly on his feet, has no trouble doing something against the rules, and generally has a much more kickass existance than me would do. Oh, how I wish I could do that.

  • Dirk Diggler (unregistered) in reply to Steve
    Steve:
    At a company I worked at as a contract employee, I was not allowed to make eye contact with regular employees unless I was speaking to them, and I was not allowed to speak to them unless spoken to.

    When I went to get a cup of coffee or go to the bathroom, I had to look at the floor on my way there.

    Fortunately, this policy did not apply to the employee break room.

    You're also not allowed to post stuff on the internet. Get back to work slacker! :)
  • WhosYourDaddy (unregistered)

    In the US, Ray's boss MUST give him the time off. "Paid" is not required, but FMLA requires the time off, and his job intact when he gets back.

  • captcha: iusto (unregistered) in reply to IT Girl
    IT Girl:
    YetAnotherDave:
    I'm crying foul if only because I'm pretty sure FMLA applies even to men when their wives have babies, certainly it's unpaid time off, but it's still legally required time off, which means demanding that he come in would set them up for a pretty nice lawsuit (unless they're claiming this is before FMLA)

    FSM knows that labor laws are never violated.

    From my perspective, the real WTF is that nowadays "I'm not getting my email" is getting equated with "a patient is having a heart attack". It's just email, people.

    I agree with you that it's "just email", but it never ceases to amaze me how bent out of shape people get when they can't have immediate access to it ("all my stuff's in there"). Where I work the solution to many a desktop issue is to reimage the machine... lord save us all if I don't save those pst files first and they get wiped out.

    Is it "just POP/IMAP" or is it "just SMTP"? In other words, is anyone able to send mail to the company? That would certainly make it a pretty high priority.

  • (cs) in reply to tsr

    Sadly, FMLA only takes full effect if you have worked for a company for > 1 year. Otherwise, you're left juggling vacation days and time-without-pay to get by. ... at least in CA, that is.

  • Dan (unregistered) in reply to Bob
    Bob:
    operagost:
    I think it's so awesome how your Parliament pays for the subjects' health care out of their own pockets. I wonder where they get all the money! Oh wait... maybe it's really your money!
    What evil bastards!

    Why can't they learn to be good capitalists? Then they'ld only need to take taxpayer's money and hand it over to CEOs as a reward for successfully running their business to the point where a noble and beautiful capitalist bailout is, apparantly, necessary.

    I <3 capitalisim! Down with evil socialists!

    Way to stick it to those capitalists!

    Oh wait... Having the government pull the money you earned out of your pocket to give to someone they deem more deserving, ie CEOs or the "less fortunate", is socialism, not capitalism. Oops, looks like we're not capitalists after all!

    Oh, and maybe UK's lower spending accounts for infestations and maternity trouble...

    Socialized medicine: Health care with postal efficiency and IRS compassion

  • A Gould (unregistered) in reply to WhosYourDaddy
    WhosYourDaddy:
    In the US, Ray's boss MUST give him the time off. "Paid" is not required, but FMLA requires the time off, and his job intact when he gets back.

    Of course, if your boss is the sort to ask you to work during time off (and especially during family emergencies), then they're probably the sort to invent a reason to dismiss you after you get back.

    I've found that for companies with an HR department, filing a complaint (or even an informal "just wanted you to know" talk) can go a long way. HR departments tend to be sensitive to issues regarding liability...

  • (cs) in reply to Frost
    Frost:
    Kazan:
    Basseq:
    Brett, the bigger WTF is that cell phones aren't allowed in hospitals, especially patient rooms.

    O'RLY?

    that's news to me an my father is a research patient and has had 37 operations

    YA RLY. That's not to say they physically enforce the policy, but pretty much every hospital has "no cell phone" signs.

    Those are probably left-overs from an era past.

    My wife works in the OR (PN/RN) and nearly all surgeons have and iphone. Those who don't have an iphone have a blackberry.

    I really don't think there is any fear of them interfering with equipment in this day and era. It is most likely that wards don't want visitors walking around talking loudly. It's bad enough the patients do that.

    I do think some sensitive electrical sensing equipment can be affected (ecg possibly?).. but it has to be pretty close and it isn't limited to cell phones.

  • blunder (unregistered) in reply to Fister

    OTOH (and not that I don't sympathize with the author here), using FMLA to essentially go on a family vacation seems dishonest. Seems like he did the right thing by notifying the new boss in advance that he'd need the time off, even the boss was too much of an ass to appreciate that.

  • Chris (unregistered) in reply to Basseq
    Basseq:
    Brett, the bigger WTF is that cell phones aren't allowed in hospitals, especially patient rooms.
    Whether most hospitals actually prohibit this or not, I have taken my cell phone into numerous hospitals and used it in at least one patient room and no one said anything to me.
  • merl (unregistered) in reply to Dan
    Dan:
    Bob:
    operagost:
    I think it's so awesome how your Parliament pays for the subjects' health care out of their own pockets. I wonder where they get all the money! Oh wait... maybe it's really your money!
    What evil bastards!

    Why can't they learn to be good capitalists? Then they'ld only need to take taxpayer's money and hand it over to CEOs as a reward for successfully running their business to the point where a noble and beautiful capitalist bailout is, apparantly, necessary.

    I <3 capitalisim! Down with evil socialists!

    Way to stick it to those capitalists!

    Oh wait... Having the government pull the money you earned out of your pocket to give to someone they deem more deserving, ie CEOs or the "less fortunate", is socialism, not capitalism. Oops, looks like we're not capitalists after all!

    That's exactly right.

    But at least the US gets it right and bails out deserving corporate types rather than masses of the unwashed poor they way othe r'socialist' nations do. Taxing from the rich minority to support the poor majority is sending people the wrong message.

  • Richard W. (unregistered) in reply to merl
    merl:
    That's exactly right.

    But at least the US gets it right and bails out deserving corporate types rather than masses of the unwashed poor they way othe r'socialist' nations do. Taxing from the rich minority to support the poor majority is sending people the wrong message.

    So what should governments do? Make the people who can barely make ends meet pay more (or a higher proportion of their incomes) in tax?

    The whole point of tax is to raise revenue. To raise revenue, you don't ask people with no more money for more money. Just the same as Tiffany don't market their diamonds to homeless people. It makes no sense.

    Of course, even the most basic understanding of economics would make this argument crystal clear, and your post obviously un-necessary.

    The corporate bailouts are a necessary evil, simply because every other industry fails if the financial industry fails. It has absolutely nothing to do with the US getting it 'right', in fact it exemplifies how they've gotten it so horribly wrong.

    The bailout is simply better than the alternative of the entire United States of America collapsing into anarchy. Hardly a shining compliment of policy.

    The 'deserving' corporate types are the types who engineered this entire fiasco. What they deserve is to forfeit everything they have to help pay for the mess they created, not carte blanche to do the same again in the future, knowing that if the worst happens... hey, someone else will clean up the mess again, just like this time. No worries.

Leave a comment on “Bringing Up Baby”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article