Maybe CalPERs has cadillac plans, but regular family plans aren’t much different.
On a hourly rate, those CalPERS plans run $9.65/hr.
That’s our real problem. Obviously, minimum wage isn’t going to cut it. That’s the hard truth we need to address. $25/hr isn’t going to cut it. Not just in Detroit, everywhere.
Anything less is in reality, a starvation diet. People need sustainable wages. Jobs that can be done profitably with a sustainable wage need to go away.
The sooner we get there the better.[/quote]
Yep, and many public employers will tell you that medical benefits (for current employees, not just retirees…again, retiree healthcare has been getting phased out for decades) are a greater burden than the much-maligned pension benefits.
On the bolded part of your post, do you mean, “Jobs that cannot be done profitably with a sustainable wage need to go away”? If so, we largely agree on this issue. I would also argue that too many (very profitable) companies are receiving indirect subsidies from taxpayers via publicly-funded healthcare for their employees who do not receive benefits, or are under-insured, at work. Think Walmart.
Additionally, this healthcare debacle is why many of us are staunchly opposed to a for-profit healthcare system. There are far too many conflicts of interest in such a system, and we are NOT getting better care as a result.
