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bearishgurl
Participant[quote=yamashi1][quote=Clifford][quote=moneymaker]I’ve noticed lately that Home Depot, Kohl’s, among others have a lot of young workers. Is it just me getting old or have others noticed the work force getting younger?[/quote]
That is because most millenials are having a hard time finding jobs with their degrees. So, they ended up taking retail jobs.[/quote]
Yes I agree, there are a glut of educated millenials who are unable to find jobs, or are stuck in middle manager positions with limited opportunities to move up. Unfortunately, with the last downturn, many boomers are unable to retire on their savings and are now working many more years than expected. This has led to the older millenials being stuck in entry to middle management jobs and the newer graduates not even being able to get anything other than retail/insurance/realtor jobs. The few that have been able to find something have done so through networking, being smarter than 95% of the rest of the population, or by starting their own businesses. It is a tough time right now to be entering the workplace.[/quote]yamashi, we boomers would have considered a “mid-mgmt” job a career and would have been happy to have it and retire as a “mid-mgr.” I don’t see why millenials think they are “stuck.” Those who obtained the “upper mgmt” rank were “hand picked” by someone they knew in another life. That’s been my experience. I guess many millenials must think they “deserve” the highest positions while they are still in their 30’s, lol. Upper mgmt positions are mostly occupied by individuals who are 50+ years old (Gen X and boomers). Millenials have way too lofty of “expectations” if they think they “deserve” these positions just a few years (or a decade) out of the gate, IMO. They have not yet had sufficient time in the workplace to “pay their dues.”
Yes, my kids are among those “few” that you mention above. They have been master networkers and “self-promotion specialists” since they were about 10 years old. It doesn’t hurt that they also know how to properly groom themselves and can walk it and talk it. It seems to have been a bit of a stretch for many millenials to be able to acquire the above traits but they are essential to success in business.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi] . . . BG, I don’t really want to make this personal, but you gave your dad’s example… so please be specific.
You say that your dad was successful and ran a medium size business. I would consider medium to be over $10 million in revenue in today’s dollar. He should have made a least $500,000 profit annually, in addition to his own executive salary, and left you kids with an inheritance, or gifted you a house in Lake Tahoe were you want to retire. 40 years ago, houses were cheap. What happened to the money?
I run a small business myself and the only “bullshit” thing that I deal with is the County Department of Environmental Health. We need to have a safety plan in case of fire, hazardous material spill, etc… It’s kinda of a pain, but I understand why employees should be trained for what to do in case of accident.
Workers comp is expensive, but that’s due to health care costs growing faster than inflation. Compliance is simple. The payroll service/software does the computation work.
I get my health coverage through my other work; but small business wise, Obamacare is great because our employees can now buy coverage through the exchange, and have their premiums reimbursed tax-free through payroll deduction. If there’re good profits, the employer can be more generous and pay the employees a bonus.
IRS wise, I don’t see what is onerous. The rules are what they are. Just follow them. Give me and example of something corrupt.
What is corrupt is BIG businesses being able to shift profits offshore to not pay taxes at all.[/quote]FIH, my dad’s biz is still running as a “scaled down version” of its former self. He had about 27 “employees” (a few were “independent contractors”) before he passed. Perhaps that size was technically a “small business” and not a medium-sized business.
I only stated that my dad wasn’t too happy with some IRS rules and policies. He did not deal with the IRS directly. He had a CPA who handled this stuff for the biz. I did state that he complained about his state taxing agency as being “corrupt.” He wasn’t referring to income taxes.
All your numbers are way off, FIH. And my dad has never been to Lake Tahoe, much less owned property there, lol …
My dad’s biz was much different than what you do as his biz operated in 7 states (only 3 now). Suffice to say, he was in the transportation business and subject to hundreds of regulations, some of which were different for each state. You don’t have to deal with the CA FTB in NV with its quarterly reporting requirements to EDD and thorny UI issues. Nor do you have to fight with CA cities and as a byproduct, their NIMBYs about signage and setback or have to keep active a “business license” for every single sub-biz you are presumably conducting. I know several people who just have a little “side gig” from home and ended up having to apply for a business license for it, even though they just work intermittently or occasionally.
CA isn’t that business friendly. Even CA utility providers double the cost of elec, gas, telephone and trash pickup to a business as opposed to a residence which is larger in square feet.
Obamacare is fine for the under-55-years of-age W-2 wage earner who has little or no tax write-offs and thus takes the standard deduction. That is the only type of “situation” that CC workers (who make little more than min wage) understand when they do manual “tax-return reviews.” If the CC customer is at least 55 years old and their income is derived mostly from passive sources such as pensions, annuities, retirement accounts, et al, and they have legal writeoffs for a good chunk of it, then the CC personnel do not have the “expertise” to cull these tax returns. This “boomer” group of CC customers is required to “prove” the sources of their income to CC at 1-2 times per year and at times on short notice. I am currently compiling what will be a mountain of evidence that CC has been chiefly targeting nearly ALL of their customers over age 55 (who are receiving a subsidy to help them with their exorbitant premiums and are ALSO real property owners in any of CA’s 58 counties) for forced termination of their healthplans followed by forced Medi-Cal placement. If the customer does not comply with the exercise of “proving their income” to CC by their arbitrary deadlines, their healthplan will be terminated behind their back, their CC account will be frozen (so the customer can’t access it online) and their electronic file will be forwarded to their County Dept of Human Services (who share the CALHEERS data with CC) for forced Medi-Cal placement for the purposes of “Estate Recovery.” Yes, this has already happened to thousands of CC customers over the age of 55 all over the state.
http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/TPLRD_ER_cont.aspx
I have reliable information that the CA AG’s office is currently being “beefed up” for a massive collection effort to lien boomers’ homes and aggressively pursue MC-recipient’s decedent estates for monthly Medi-Cal “managed care fees” incurred beginning at the earliest the month they turn 55 until the day they turn 65. In SD County, these fees are currently about $617 mo plus a $10-$15 “administrative fee.” You do the math … but be sure to increase the fees at least 6% per year for every year. It doesn’t matter whether the customer even ever used healthcare … or not! They will be forced to “repay” their Medi-Cal “premiums” through the forced lien on their homes (or any other real property they own in any CA county), which will be collected upon their deaths if no surviving spouse is still residing in the home and if so, after the surviving spouse dies or moves out permanently. Once CC sends a customers account to their County Human Services Agency, that agency has to “release” the customer back to CC before they will be allowed to (re)purchase a marketplace plan. This procedure takes anywhere from four months to one year in CA, even if their account was transferred to Medi-Cal in error (most of them so far have been).
These actions by CC are overtly discriminatory and may very well be unconstitutional. However the Estate Recovery provisions are written into the ACA and CA law.
In past practice, Medi-Cal only placed liens for “long-term care” they paid for. It did not have very many customers who actually had assets unless they availed themselves of long-term care (usually over the age of 65 and while on Medicare). But with the advent of the ACA, the “asset test” has been removed for MC applicants residing in the in the states which agreed to “Expanded Medicaid,” such as CA. We boomers are a “cash cow” for the state and they want as many of us real property owners as possible on Medi-Cal as soon as possible so our tab will begin running on monthly “MC managed care fees.” To this effort, CC has been repeatedly flooding us with threatening letters (deadlines keep changing) demanding we manually download documents to their site to prove our incomes to them. ALL of the seven individuals over 55 whom I have assisted so far in “proving” their incomes to CC in response to letters they received (I have a scanner and office set up to do so) made $10-$20K OVER the MC threshold last year but were nonetheless told they must prove their incomes, anyway every single year (even if on a fixed income). In addition, they ALL authorized CC to review their tax return numbers for at least 3 tax years hence.
There is a whole lot more to this sad saga which I’ll start a separate thread on at a later date. The reality is that Obamacare was a big lie and is a farce. Covered CA is very, very poorly run, is a deep hole where nothing ever gets resolved and is a joke … the laughingstock of the state. Billions, perhaps trillions have been utterly wasted on “implementing” the ACA and it is nothing more than a power play by the gubment to gain control over the populace by creating a “requirement” (force people to buy a certain kind of health policy) and then making it impossible for them to fulfill that requirement without constantly jumping through hoops the gubment sets up which means opening up all their finances to them. There are millions out there like me who were happy paying our $358 month for an HDHP from a reputable carrier. Two years later, that $358 month has mushroomed into $1168 month for an “ACA-compliant” policy from a mediocre carrier with much less choice, which I can’t pay every month (nor can a LOT of people) without my lousy $390 subsidy. Even then, I had to bump my coverage down a metal level for 2016 to afford it. All the BS I had and have to go thru with CC and having lost my coverage twice (after paying my premium) for a total of 41 days in 2015 due to CC’s f-ups makes having an exchange plan not worth it to me anymore. I thought I was going to get to sign up for insurance, set my premiums to be paid automatically and forget it until it was time to renew and that renewing would be a simple mouse click and was I ever wrong! As a road traveler, I didn’t know I was going to have to worry constantly if my healthplan membership card is any good and am I actually covered right now? I’ve recently learned that the non-exchange plans aren’t marked up as much (the CC carriers pay CC $14 month for each customer), have more creative provisions in them and have more (even much more) choice of providers.
FIH, I’m happy that you’re happy with the status quo in this country but I see several issues which are dragging it down and absolutely perilous for the boomer generation. My advice to you is to stay far, far away from an exchange plan after you turn 55 and buy a plan on your own. (That’s what I intend to do this fall – I already have 2 plans picked out for 2017, which are NOT with exchange carriers.) More power to the candidate who is able to get elected and address this huge debacle and other pressing issues!
Participant[quote=phaster][quote=all][quote=bearishgurl]
There is a reason for everything. I’ll just leave it at that.[/quote]
No! Not another cliffhanger!
Let me guess, John Snow’s spirit lives through his pup?[/quote]its the weekend so just thought I’d drop in and see if there was any reply to the pension debate
http://piggington.com/how_will_unfunded_pensions_affect_economy?page=6#comment-263227
I see there is no-response so guess that cliffhanger is on hold for a while….[/quote]FYI, phaster, I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath but I just want you to know that I have that PERB Decision of 12/29/15 sitting right here on top of my desk printed out with stick-note tabs throughout. I had to leave it to take a couple of jobs and have been working on taxes this weekend as I have been preparing returns for other family members who need them done ASAP for other purposes. I DO HOPE to get my opinion of it posted here soon and I do sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. PERB is one of my very favoritist (is that a word?) gubment tribunals in the whole wide world and they serve an important purpose which no other entity can.
Thank you for your patience!
Participant[quote=XBoxBoy][quote=kcal09]I like Trump… I don’t agree with everything he says… he’s crude, rude and crass. But I believe him when he says he is going to make good deals for our country… because he will have the best business people in the world making those deals… that he will bring jobs back to the US. He is not beholding to anyone, and I like that too. Say what you want, he is not a moron.
Trump isn’t stupid.[/quote] You’re creating a strawman. No one I know or read is saying Trump is a moron or stupid. The issue is that he’s an arrogant, narcissistic, bully. And while that might be someone you can rally behind he will end up being an extremely ineffective leader. (And as others have already pointed out, his financial track record shows he hasn’t been a very successful leader of his own companies.)
First, he will alienate many of our allies. And as much as you might want to wave the flag and shout “America USA!” our country needs to engage and interact with foreign countries for the betterment of all people. (Including US citizens) Trump’s lack of diplomatic skills will be a significant detriment to US interests around the globe.
Second, Trump will need to work with congress to actually implement anything. And if nothing else is clear, it should be clear Trump is not going to be able to function in that environment. Contrary to what his supporters seem to believe, the president of the country is not like the president of a company. He doesn’t get to just say, “You’re Fired!” and that’s that. Like it or not, the presidnet needs to lead through coalition building. And one thing Trump definitely is not is a coalition builder![/quote]I actually agree with you here, Xboxboy. And I agree with kcal that Trump is not stupid. Quite the contrary, he is very shrewd. I just don’t see him “alienating” other world leaders or even Congress. He is going to have a passel of “yes-men and women” to do his dirty work for him. Remember that he has had two Eastern European spouses who were both raised conservatively and are not afraid of work themselves. His current spouse has a lot of influence over him. He will surround himself with individuals who will “show him the lay of the land” (so to speak) around Washington. That’s what Reagan and Schwarzenegger did in Sacramento after they were elected governor of CA and they had no business or management experience whatsoever. He’s a “quick study” and will pick up fast on what to do and what not to do.
Honestly, I think if elected, Trump will play his “implementation plans” very close to his chest. He’ll be the “frontman,” of course, as he should, but he’ll have speechwriters and all the knowledgeable staff at the Capitol at his disposal. I think he does understand parliamentary procedure and also knows the mechanisms of how govm’t works.
I think he’s just having fun right now, letting us know who he is. If he doesn’t get the nomination or win the election, so be it. He is still having a very interesting effect on this election. I’m glad he’s running.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=outtamojo][quote=FlyerInHi]If those Republicans in TX, AK, Ok… are so wealthy, then WTF are they angry about? Go spend some of that money and enjoy.[/quote]
Republicans I know are most angry when they see someone receiving something “undeserved” or they didn’t “work” for.[/quote]
Ok, I can accept that. But do their children and relatives deserve anything that they didn’t “work” for? And, also, if we can create growth and wealth for our citizens, then why not give them a hand so we can all be better off? . . . [/quote]CA gives the biggest and most widespread “welfare benefit” of any state in the union in the form of Props 13, 58 and 193. NONE of its residents who have most benefited from these sections did anything at all to “deserve” this special treatment except hold real property bought long ago (for very little money) or was born into a family that did and “inherited” said real property.
How is the 66-year old only child whose “inherited” home has been in gross disrepair since a few months after he “inherited” it (replete with constant trash and junk all over the property) more deserving than his neighbors who have pride of ownership? Is it fair that he has a $400 annual property tax bill versus my $4000+ annual tax bill? He’s been leeching off mom and dad (and then just dad after mom passed) his entire life and is nothing but a “loser.”
If his taxes were set from a “market-rate assessment” making them now ~$4000 (as mine are), his property would have already been auctioned off several years ago for back taxes and penalties and the new owner would have come in and cleaned it up. This “loser homeowner” has a nice monthly disability pension for life but just blows his money, buying two more vehicles (he has four now) in the past two years. These sections still on CA’s books today have the effect of “loser-heirs” deciding to attempt to keep a deceased parent’s property as a principal residence when they have no business whatsoever in being a “homeowner” with all that goes along with that.
No, he (and millions more Californians) don’t deserve this gubment largesse and of course, I’m angry about it! It’s grossly inequitable and unjust enrichment to mostly residents who have done absolutely nothing with their lives but there is nothing that will be done about this in my lifetime. My only recourse is to focus on “getting mine,” however small that may be (Prop 60 or 90) :=0
Participant[quote=outtamojo][quote=FlyerInHi]If those Republicans in TX, AK, Ok… are so wealthy, then WTF are they angry about? Go spend some of that money and enjoy.[/quote]
Republicans I know are most angry when they see someone receiving something “undeserved” or they didn’t “work” for.[/quote]This is somewhat true, but “bible belt dwellers” have compassion and many biz owners there are heavily into local philanthropy. If you remember, Houston took in tens of thousands of Katrina victims with hardly anything more than the clothes on their backs. Social services in TX are nowhere near as generous as they are in CA (except for maybe food aid, which is run by the Dept of Agriculture). Their “culture” is that you give a person a fishing pole and teach them how to fish. This refugee group bussed in from the state of LA was given all the basics (with Federal funds but the TX govm’t still had to properly administer all the programs it paid for), given vocational training and placed in jobs. These opportunities never existed for them back in New Orleans and they were used to being “on the dole” back home … for generations. Now, over 10 years later, this group is, of course, spread out and far more self-sufficient than they ever would have been been had Hurricane Katrina never happened. A lot of the kids ended up graduating from college which never, ever would have happened had they stayed back home.
Biz owners in this region have the same concerns as biz owners in CA, and yes, some ARE angry about certain issues and rightly so. My dad had a medium sized business which operated in 7 states and the bureaucracy he had to deal with was mind-numbing. His biggest concerns were liability for injury, being gouged by insurance companies, bureaucratic red tape to get from point A to point B and back and his state taxing entity with their hands constantly outstretched, whom he called, “corrupt.” Sound familiar? He also was less than pleased with IRS rules and policies and felt some of them made no sense. And the list goes on. It isn’t any different than how a small/med-sized biz owner feels in SD.
Joe and Jane 6p in the bible belt are angry about Obamacare …. as I am. They’re forced to pay money for premiums every month where no nearby providers exist for a large portion of the population. Especially those small town and rural dwellers who have no providers within 50 miles of where they live. And a few carriers who signed up with their exchange(s) in 2013 have already gone bankrupt, thus, there are even less insurance companies today for that populace to sign up with. In addition, TX and OK did not agree to Medicaid expansion, which left a lot of moderate-income families feeling too poor to be able to pay (even a portion of) a health insurance premium every month and too “rich” for Medicaid.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]If those Republicans in TX, AK, Ok… are so wealthy, then WTF are they angry about? Go spend some of that money and enjoy.[/quote]They do. The fav winter vacation spots for families in that region are the Mexican Riveria and the Caribbean. Transportation is cheap from major TX airports. In the summers, they haul their cigarette boats, cabin cruisers and Ski Nautiques (loaded with water toys) into Lake Texoma and OK and northern Arkansas’ lakes to the same family cabins every year. Once unpacked and settled in, they slalom with the sunrise and continue to ski, explore and fish the rest of the day. Before dinner, they swim next to the boathouses, jumping off the decks, have a BBQ dinner with homemade ice cream cranked with rock salt, turn in and start all over at 5:00 am most mornings. It’s not uncommon for them to shoot off piles of fireworks on the weekends (it’s still legal there, AFAIK).
I spent 15 summers of my childhood doing this for 1-3 weeks every summer, where my uncle put on a fireworks show at least once per week and provided us kids lesser fireworks. We had a blast and the lake water feels like bath water!
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi] . . . Trump’s personality very is compatible with the brash, “cowboy” American lower-class mentality. It doesn’t matter that he’s not a policy expert, that he flip flops. All that matters is that he’s saying: “don’t fvck with America, because we will destroy you; and we will win, and win big!” . . . [/quote]
brian, I’ve suggested to you before here that you really need to get out more. I-8, I-10 and I-40 beckon. Have you actually been to the some of these spreads that the typical “brash, “cowboy” American (of supposed) lower-class mentality” owns and lives on? It’s not what you think. Real “cowboys” don’t live in run-down trailer parks full of meth labs. They have to be able to store their many (large and expensive) “toys,” equipment and animals. They make more off leasing their land for ranching per year than you would off owning and (laboriously) managing a fleet of short-term rentals in LV. As let’s not forget their gas and oil lease income which a good portion of their fathers and grandfathers negotiated with Big Oil back in the day.
If you actually met any of these guys, you might discover that they are clean, well groomed, both well-spoken and soft-spoken, well mannered, possibly college-educated and their boots and hat alone are worth more than the total of everything in your closet! TX is CHOCK FULL of these families, and to a lesser extent, OK and AR. Not everyone in the bible belt is a “right-wing, uneducated, nut job.” It is full of very sharp businessmen and women sans the flash and brash of Trump.
And Trump doesn’t need to be a “policy expert.” Trump has a good understanding of the issues this country is facing between his ears (esp foreign policy and military issues). He doesn’t even need cliff notes or a teleprompter. He most certainly knows enough people to find the best “policy experts” and “negotiators” in the country for his cabinet should be be elected.
Trump’s personality doesn’t bother me at all. He reminds me a little bit of my dad (who was very successful in his own right, I might add).
And no, I’m not a registered Republican and haven’t been since the Reagan era. I’m making up my mind on how I might re-register (if necessary) and who to vote for this year based upon how the candidates state they will deal with issues that I am most concerned about and whether I think what they are proposing is actually doable.
Participant[quote=flu]. . . I’m guessing the reason why is because, in order to be able to run a short term rental/AirBNB business for a home that doesn’t belong to, he probably needed to provide proof from the landlord that it was ok to do this. I’m guessing that’s one of the conditions of AirBNB rentals. And I’m guessing that in order to get a mandatory permit in the city to have a short term rental, part of the application for that license requires the person to provide proof that the landlord approves.[/quote]Yes, my kid and their partner ran an AirBnB bedroom and adjacent bath (with kitchen privileges) for about 3 years in their rent-controlled 4 bdrm SF flat. Their LL lives in the bldg and agreed to it.
I’m pretty sure that AirBnB requires LL approval from a tenant to conduct this biz in their rented dwelling.
ParticipantWOW, it looks like all the fun has moved over to FIH’s neck of the woods.
Will you be finding the time to caucus or attend an event, brian? I wouldn’t mind attending one should this train end up in SD (late May?).
As a registered Independent, I’m really paying close attention to the issues this year. First and foremost, I would like to see and hear the plans of candidates on how they intend to repeal the ACA and what they propose to replace it with. As flyer commented on another thread, it is going to decimate the finances of the 55-64 year-old set within another 2-3 years if left unchecked. No doubt about it. The “boomer captive audience” is being gouged by highway robbery. As far as everyone else who has an exchange plan (incl boomers), by 2018, I predict our choice of providers is going to be cratered to such as extent that there will be absolutely no benefit to having a nationwide PPO over a small regional EPO or even a locked HMO, such as Kaiser.
It’s going to be an interesting year ….
ParticipantNot so much here, but in my travels (specifically CO) a large portion of Gen Y men seem to be sporting pony tails with groomed facial hair. And it looks great with a full head of thick hair! Of course, that’s what I was “attracted to” when I was that age (except mens’ facial hair wasn’t that “well-groomed” back in the day), lol ….
And no, I’m no cougar :=0
Participant[quote=njtosd]For a while there were the pony tail men. Now there are the shaved head men. What’s on the horizon, in terms of man coifs?[/quote]In my demographic, there seems to be quite a few of the Trump comb-overs combined with the Willie Nelson braid, lol ….
Participantflyer, I believe that providers (incl ancillary providers such as lab and xray) will continue to drop like flies out of CC plans due to ultra-low reimbursements. For instance, a lab bill which for years was covered by my pre-ACA carrier (Aetna), who paid $38 to $43 for this service. Now, the reimbursement for the same service is just $19 with BSoC. And the list goes on.
I have a PPO and thus get all my bills and EOBs and can see for myself the difference of what my providers used to be paid and what they are paid now.
BSoC is the ONLY PPO on the SD area exchange (Region 19).
Participant[quote=flyer]BG, may I ask who your healthcare provider is–Scripps, Kaiser, etc.? Could it be they are contributing to the problems vs. just CC?[/quote]It’s just CC. My carrier is Blue Shield of CA and they have no say in CC accounts, whatsoever.
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