[Coronita]

[quote=teaboy]Hey Coro,
I’m having a hard time reading thru all the small print, but are the furlough UI payments you’re getting only for employees of companies with 500 people or less, or can anyone claim?
😐

tb[/quote]

For the CA “worksharing program”: I don’t think there is a minimum company size requirement, but the requirement is

1. a minimum of two employees AND at least 10% of the regular workforce or a department of the workforce must have been affected.
2. hours AND wages must have been reduced by 10-60%
3. health and retirement benefits must stay the same as before

Company has a few additional reporting requirements, like the company has to estimate a number of layoffs that were avoided by participating in the worksharing program.

Details are here:
https://www.edd.ca.gov/unemployment/Work_Sharing_Program.htm

Requirements
To participate, an employer’s business must meet all of the following requirements:

Be a legally registered business in California.
Have an active California State Employer Account Number.
A minimum of two employees and at least 10 percent of your regular workforce, or a department of the workforce, must be affected by a reduction in hours and wages.
Hours and wages must be reduced by 10 to 60 percent.
Health and retirement benefits must stay the same as before, or they must meet the same standards as other employees who are not participating in Work Sharing.
The employees’ bargaining unit must agree to voluntarily participate and sign the application for Work Sharing.
Affected work units to be covered by the Work Sharing plan, and each participating employee, must be identified by their legal name and Social Security number.
Employees must know in advance that you plan to take part in the Work Sharing program.
Estimated amount of layoffs to be avoided by participating in the Work Sharing program.
All necessary reports and information are provided to the EDD.
Restrictions
Leased, intermittent, seasonal, or temporary service employees cannot participate.
Corporate officers or major stock holders with investment in the company cannot participate.
Work Sharing cannot be used as a transition to a layoff.

[Coronita]

Thanks to the covid pandemic, it looks like PG&E dodged a few big bullets…..

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pg-e-corporation-announces-preliminary-110000537.html

“PG&E Corporation Announces Preliminary Voting Results on Plan of Reorganization”

“PG&E Corporation announced today the preliminary voting results on PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s joint Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”), which indicate overwhelming acceptance of the Plan by the wildfire victims entitled to vote on the Plan. Based on the preliminary voting results, PG&E believes that it remains on track for Plan confirmation by June 30, 2020, the deadline under AB 1054.

The preliminary results also indicate that all but one of the impaired classes have voted to accept the Plan. The sole dissenting class consists of holders of prepetition securities law claims related to PG&E Corporation common stock; these claims are subordinated pursuant to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.”

[Coronita]

And someone making minimum wage who is now claiming they can’t afford the rent, they probably couldn’t afford the rent even before covid…And that’s not a problem with this Pandemic’s economic impact. It’s a problem with the shitty tenant pool a landlord’s properties are being rented too even before covid. Those landlords were bound to have problems for any reason that the economy contracted…. In fact, if anything, the coronavirus gave these landlords that operate in the shittiest tenant pool submarket a temporary lifeline for the next few months, something they would have long been screwed over if the economy had a natural recession with no bailout. Me thinks these landlords that rent to the shittiest submarket are the first to get screwed and should be thankful for all the government cheese that is temporarily holding them over. (with emphasis on temporarily)

In fact, this is probably one of the few times that it’s better to be an employee than a business owner…Government UI benefits and other cheese benefits seem to be a lot easier to get for individuals than businesses and people on these weird ass non-worker non-salaried employees. Like I said, welcome to United States of France. Interesting times.

[Coronita]

In CA, for many people who only made minimum wage, they are collecting UI benefits almost double of what they were making on top of their stimulus checks.

$450 from the state and $600 lump sum, or $1050/week in UI benefits is a lot more than working for $15/hr 40 hrs ($600) each week. And the $600 federal UI benefit virtually has no rules. If you can claim just 1 hr/$1 of loss of income from covid, you get the entire $600. So practically anyone who qualifies for state UI benefits (regardless of how much of that $450 state benefit they get) they automatically get the entire $600/week federal benefit. That’s $2400/month for doing virtually nothing.

And that’s just the UI benefits for 1 person. Two people in a household out of work is $2100/week in UI benefits, or $8400/month. They can afford to live in carmel valley with that, lol. And if there’s a 3-4 person roommate situation, their combined UI benefits is $3150-4300/week…

So don’t tell me that people can’t afford to pay their rent. Maybe a few people, but come on now. It’s not that bad. UI benefits alone is paying for people’s rent. The government cheese right now beats working for many people. Why do you think the state UI office is swamped with millions of calls each day. If anyone wanted to work less and get paid more, this is probably a once in a lifetime event for many people to do that. It literally is a $2400/month free cheese from the federal government, at least until end of July….unless folks like Harris is successful in getting it renewed.

Come on now. Look at these numbers…. $600 extra/week, $2400/month => $14,400 extra money per person for 6 months, or $28,800 extra per couple…. That’s a lot of money for many people in this country who only make min wage. How could people NOT afford their rents, unless they totally mismanage their money??

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Coronita][quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Coronita][quote=scaredyclassic]10k meditation retreat?

Jeez.

Deerpark in escondido charges 400, including food. No place in the world could be a better Buddhist meditation retreat than deerpark, at any price

I dont think I could meditate if I’d paid 10k. I’d be distracted by the cost.

I’d be thinking how much each minute of meditation came out to.[/quote]

the guy spent several tend or thousands doing a van conversion too.[/quote]

How do people live like this???!!! I can barely spend a dime.[/quote]

He bought a Dodge cargo van for like $5000, and spent a good $35k on converting it into one of those fancy conversion vans… He financed it of course.

What really surprises me is that despite that they have their credit cards maxxed out, and everything they own is financed… How the hell the can still get new credit to spend more money. It’s as if the credit card companies looks for these people who are already financially messed up and give them even more credit, knowing they will make even more money off of them….Dude, if you walk into their rental, their furniture is like 10x nicer than mine..[/quote]

When we bought our sofa at macys, I used 450$ worth of gift cards I’d accumulated over several years of returned xmas gifts from relatives, and a 20 perc. Coupon, and I waited for a sale.

It was just a couple hundred out of pockets and it still pained me to buy it. Somethings wrong with me[/quote]

I use to do the same thing with the spare change I empty from my pockets into a large jar.

[Coronita]

Add this one to the list of freebies… heh heh.

So I bought a car battery from Costco for my old Audi awhile ago. I beat the crap out of that car. It sometimes sits idle for a long time, there’s a parasitic battery drain, that often drains the battery to 0 and I have to recharge it. But every single time I recharge the battery, it seems like it holds the charge ok.

Well, last week the AGM battery finally died. Could not be recharged, and could not hold a charge…So I looked on line for a replacement, which is around $158 for a 3 year battery… Wow… So I searched on Costco, and found a compatible battery for $77… Score! So I went to costco today, and the guy at the tire center pulls up my record and prints out my old receipt. And guess what? My old Costco battery has a 4 year full replacement warranty, and my battery is 47month old. So costco ended up replacing the battery for free, and the new battery is guaranteed for 3 years for a full refund. I think when this battery is on it’s 34month, I’l find a way to drain it so it can’t be recharged again so that it will get replaced free again…. ha ha. It almost pays for the Costco Executive Membership itself. lol

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Coronita][quote=scaredyclassic]10k meditation retreat?

Jeez.

Deerpark in escondido charges 400, including food. No place in the world could be a better Buddhist meditation retreat than deerpark, at any price

I dont think I could meditate if I’d paid 10k. I’d be distracted by the cost.

I’d be thinking how much each minute of meditation came out to.[/quote]

the guy spent several tend or thousands doing a van conversion too.[/quote]

How do people live like this???!!! I can barely spend a dime.[/quote]

He bought a Dodge cargo van for like $5000, and spent a good $35k on converting it into one of those fancy conversion vans… He financed it of course.

What really surprises me is that despite that they have their credit cards maxxed out, and everything they own is financed… How the hell the can still get new credit to spend more money. It’s as if the credit card companies looks for these people who are already financially messed up and give them even more credit, knowing they will make even more money off of them….Dude, if you walk into their rental, their furniture is like 10x nicer than mine..

[Coronita]

[quote=The-Shoveler][quote=The-Shoveler][quote=Coronita]Moderna closed at $80, below pre pre market levels, but still up 20% on one day. Crazy!

If there is any setback to their vaccine trials, this thing will fall like a brick.

Markets finished ok today too[/quote]
The timing was really really good.

They are issuing 2 billion in new shares.[/quote]
Seems Moderna could now be focus of SEC investigation.[/quote]

Not my problem. It’s the bagholders that bought my shares at $86/share premarket.

[Coronita]

Well, that was fast…

[img_assist|nid=27097|title=|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=400|height=300]

I guess I’m old school. I was expecting a check, not a debit card…

Yay! I’m rich, I’m rich….Maybe I’ll use it to pay for some of the property tax bills I deferred due to a a “coronavirus economic hardship”…Hmmm, money from part of CA’s budget , right into another part of CA’s budget…. lol….

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic]10k meditation retreat?

Jeez.

Deerpark in escondido charges 400, including food. No place in the world could be a better Buddhist meditation retreat than deerpark, at any price

I dont think I could meditate if I’d paid 10k. I’d be distracted by the cost.

I’d be thinking how much each minute of meditation came out to.[/quote]

the guy spent several tend or thousands doing a van conversion too.

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Coronita]Nah, you were just trying to be financially responsible, unlike most americans. Me? I’m trying to go through the hand motions of trying to do what a typical financially irresponsible american would be ,since it seems to have worked out well for them most of the time. So far, it seems to be working out ok, because while I could cover all these bills, if someone gives me freebies along the way, why not? Other people are doing the exact same thing…

“Covid impacted” seems to be the code word for unlocking financial benefits.

Like I said, don’t hate the player, hate the game.[/quote]

Maybe the proper trump like never pay your creditors maneuver is to never willingly pay any credit card debt. Dispute every single purchase.

Groceries? Cereal was stale.

Gas? Octane deficient.

Clothing? Pesticide covered irtitants.

Movie? Too loud. Damaged hearing.

Fast food? Clogged my arteries.

Let the credit card co. Figure it out w the merchants. If you even got 10% to give in itd be great.

It’s kind of evil, but everything does kind of suck in some way…maybe trump was right to never pay any of his Bills. Fuck everyone…they are here only to serve me. Although they believe they are my equal, the truth is, they are slaves. My slaves.

They should give me everything free.

I can take the extra cash and split it with my Buddhist monastery.[/quote]

This is the decision a lot of americans make all the time. Here’s a good example. There is this couple I know who is an acquaintance of a friend who. are example of everything wrong with america. He is a a salesman, she is a clerical worker, and combined, they probably make $80k/year (and that’s generous). They filed bankruptcy 2 times already (and it will be a third time very soon). Sounds sad, because they talk about how the financially struggle all the time, having no money left over for anything in SD… But if you peel back the onions, here’s their situation…

1. They have 4 cars, making payments on all of them. There’s only 2 of them +1 toddler.
2. They recently sold a late model reliable car for $5000 to trade in for a newer car with a larger and longer loan.
3. Every single time they move to a new rental, they throw all their old furniture (that is maybe 1-2 years old) away and buy new furniture on credit
4. They order huge portions of food for everything, and eat a little bit, and then throws every leftover away (because eattng leftover for them is too low class)
5. They told their landlord they can’t pay for rent in April and May, but the guy buys a brand new Peleton exercise bike via financing ($5000-6000)
6. They can’t pay rent, but they go to home depot buy new tile and cabinets and plan on replacing the kitchen cabinets and tile of the RENTAL house to something they want, and hope that the landlord will credit them for the home improvement, without first asking the landlord if that’s ok to do.
7. They can’t pay rent but the dude goes on a $10,000 meditation vacation to boost his “work morale”.
8. They can’t pay rent but the dude likes to act like a bigshot, says he’s a founder of a tech company, and buys everyone he doesn’t really know expensive gifts and wine drink etc (I looked him up. He never started a company. He was an employee at a company, wasn’t a co-founder, and was laidoff from that position years ago….
9. They can’t pay their tax bill, but they continue to pay $1500 for child care at a pre-k school even though all 3 of them are home, because only the best for their kid (that $1500 child care consists of 15 minute Zoom video conference with a child…Really????)

So, like I said, nothing you are doing in trying to get something for nothing isn’t already what most other americans are already doing. Given their chance to weasel out of paying something or getting something for free, even when they shouldn’t get it, they will totally abuse the fck out of it. And some of our politicians continue to enable this behavior. So for practical considerations, it’s a free for all for everyone. Go get yours….

Remember, just a few weeks ago, I posed the question about ethical and morale dilemma in the context of whether people who don’t really need it should get a mortgage forbearance, because they could. (even if they don’t need it) get one, given the inefficiencies of how the system is working to determine someone’s eligibility. And almost unanimously, everyone said “go for it”. It’s the same thing here. If you can (legally) benefit from EDD (which BTW you already paid the insurance premiums for every year for the past few years) or get a medical bill forbearance (considering your insurance already paid $15k when many people don’t pay anything for the ER visit, particularly uninsured undocumented people that clog up the ER), or if you want to skip paying some utility bills because they allow that, or take advantage of free unlimited data on a mobile phone… why not? Everyone else is doing it. Perfectly legal. In fact the money I’m going to milk from EDD and from medical co-pay waivers probably will be larger than the financial benefit of those mortgage forbearance that eventually still has to be paid….ha ha…. And when UI runs out…. People can go on paid family leave to take care of their shelter at home kid that can no longer go attend school. And drag that out of many more weeks…….ha ha….. In fact, I’m probably better at playing these games than most other people, if I really wanted to… And right now, I really want to….lol…So should you….

People return dead plants to Home Depot all the time. People return half eatten chickens to Costco all the time. People ask for full refund all the time from Legoland when the pizza only contains 4 pepperonis instead of 5 or more, like the previous lady in front of me did. Customer is always right in America!

Regarding credit card disputes. Disputes always get investigated, and depending on the card company some get resolved to your liking, others do not. IF you do try to dispute many times, you could get dropped. But during the disputes, it’s pretty much an interest free loan.

[Coronita]

[quote=ltsddd]I am motivated. I am going to try to tether my phone to my wireless router. This may save me about $100/mo.[/quote]

You’re welcome 🙂

[Coronita]

[quote=ltsddd][quote=Coronita]Total bill for 1 night was $16,000. [/quote]

Isn’t this here is what’s rotten about our health care system?[/quote]

Yup.

[Coronita]

Here’s another tip. Downgrade your mobile phone’s data plan. I was on an unlimited data plan with my carrier but now for $20/month cheaper, I’m on a 2GB data plan, where they are suppose to slow you down if you go over 2GB/month.

The thing is, however, all the mobile carriers are offering unlimited data during the covid lockdown and probably until the end of the year. so even though I’m on a 2GB/month plan, I’m really getting unlimited data, as I was getting when I was officially paying $20/month more….

In fact, if you are a low data user, you can even get rid of your home internet and just tether into your mobile phone since your mobile phone is unlimited data right now.

That’s got save about an additional $40/month for home ISP service.

[Coronita]

Nah, you were just trying to be financially responsible, unlike most americans. Me? I’m trying to go through the hand motions of trying to do what a typical financially irresponsible american would be ,since it seems to have worked out well for them most of the time. So far, it seems to be working out ok, because while I could cover all these bills, if someone gives me freebies along the way, why not? Other people are doing the exact same thing…

“Covid impacted” seems to be the code word for unlocking financial benefits.

Like I said, don’t hate the player, hate the game.

[Author]

Posts