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Obama pushes for paid family leave

bobknightfan said:
Just pointing out...based upon 20 years of actual experience as a business owner.... that a straight 7 day paid sick pay policy is subject to abuse. I thought that's what this thread was about....paid sick pay days.

ETA: Sorry, Townie. I saw a headline earlier that Obama was pushing for 7 days of paid sick leave & when I saw this thread, I assumed it was about the sick days pay....and that's what my post was in response to, not a more comprehensive family leave policy. My apology for the confusion.

(Are these two completely separate things, or is the 7 days paid sick pay part of this new policy by Obama?)
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Completely separate, but being talked about at the same time. He wants larger private employers to be forced to allow employees to accrue up to 7 days of paid sick leave. I don't know of any larger employers who don't already do that anyway (maybe some just do 5 I guess) or have a PTO policy that encompasses everything, so I think this is more political BS to look like he is actually doing something than actually doing anything.
 
Or just to put into concrete a normal practice so that it isn't taken away in the future, thus preserving workers' rights? Maybe we could put aside all the partisan bickering for a little bit and use common sense.
 
Does the bottomless well of money these ideas keep coming from have no end?
 
I'm in favor of funding this and vastly decreasing defense spending. Paid leave in these circumstances seems to make a lot of sense. America is the only high income country to not offer some sort of paid family leave (private side, not public as far as I can discern).
 
Liquid Karma said:
Does the bottomless well of money these ideas keep coming from have no end?
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Eventually we have to announce something that saves money right? I mean everyone likes free college, free 6 weeks maternity leave, free healthcare, free, free....and all of these are good things as sole issues. But the mountain of free is beginning to pile. I kind of feel like Obama is trolling Congress right now with all of this to see if they will make a misstep. Seems to me Obama is starting to shore up the Democratic base for 2016.

College Students Gift - check
Government Employees - check
Hispanic Population - check

At some point someone has to wear some adult pants and say no. Bush did the same thing, he just gave away money to different people. Hopefully we will one day have someone in the white house with some sense. Clinton and H Bush was a pretty solid run IMO.
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
No it's for child birth.
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Isn't the policy to advance sick pay that already exists? That makes sick leave pretty relevant. Maybe I'm missing something. I don't get the big deal. It's already funded...right?

On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Jarrett explained that Obama would extend maternity and paternity leave to federal workers by directing agency chiefs to advance them the sick leave they already accrue. Such a policy, she added, would lead to "greater employee loyalty and lower turnover."
 
Wrangor said:
Eventually we have to announce something that saves money right? I mean everyone likes free college, free 6 weeks maternity leave, free healthcare, free, free....and all of these are good things as sole issues. But the mountain of free is beginning to pile. I kind of feel like Obama is trolling Congress right now with all of this to see if they will make a misstep. Seems to me Obama is starting to shore up the Democratic base for 2016.

College Students Gift - check
Government Employees - check
Hispanic Population - check

At some point someone has to wear some adult pants and say no. Bush did the same thing, he just gave away money to different people. Hopefully we will one day have someone in the white house with some sense. Clinton and H Bush was a pretty solid run IMO.
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The Citizens United act has guaranteed that this will never happen again.
 
Have we really arrived as a society at fuck you. I got mine, money is the only thing that matters?
 
is this just maternal leave or paternal as well?
 
ONW said:
Have we really arrived as a society at fuck you. I got mine, money is the only thing that matters?
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You could literally trot this rebuttal out after complaints about the first dollar spent, the 1 trillionth dollar spent, the 100 trillionth dollar spent, etc...

Eventually it's OK to say no to additional spending. I don't know where that line is, but it seems like each additional expenditure brings out the same arguments.
 
Karma, your argument seems to ignore the many things we're currently spending money on that we should go without.
 
Excessive spending and excessive tax cuts both leave the country in a hole when trying to pay for stuff. I'd argue a bill like this for family leave or a bill like the Community College bill helps a lot more people across a wider socioeconomic spectrum than stuff like estate tax reform and deregulation and Reaganomics.

In spite of both tax cuts and spending both taking away from the national bottom line, it's kind of a false fulcrum to put them on opposite sides of a balance beam, and making each individual issue a referendum with a cost-benefit analysis isn't really the way the government works or at least ever has worked. It also distracts from each individual issue at hand.
 
Liquid Karma said:
You could literally trot this rebuttal out after complaints about the first dollar spent, the 1 trillionth dollar spent, the 100 trillionth dollar spent, etc...

Eventually it's OK to say no to additional spending. I don't know where that line is, but it seems like each additional expenditure brings out the same arguments.
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Absolutely, but for a tremendously religious country, we sure don't practice what we preach. We're so willing to accept "U.S. Air Force Blows $1 Billion on Failed ERP Project" and demonize the idea that a couple might want a few more days off.
 
ONW said:
Absolutely, but for a tremendously religious country, we sure don't practice what we preach. We're so willing to accept "U.S. Air Force Blows $1 Billion on Failed ERP Project" and demonize the idea that a couple might want a few more days off.
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It's also OK to think their us military are the biggest wasters of federal tax dollars, while at the same time thinking we don't need to subsidize a few more days off.
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
Or just to put into concrete a normal practice so that it isn't taken away in the future, thus preserving workers' rights? Maybe we could put aside all the partisan bickering for a little bit and use common sense.
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To be clear, this is a purported "right" to be paid not to work. We already protect the job itself. This is just the right to a paid vacation. I guess I missed that in the ol Constitution.
 
Liquid Karma said:
It's also OK to think their us military are the biggest wasters of federal tax dollars, while at the same time thinking we don't need to subsidize a few more days off.
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I didn't claim that.
 
A right which is recognized in literally every single other high income country in the world. Of course I wouldn't really expect a nation which doesn't recognize health care as a universal right to recognize this either. America is remaining stagnant while others progress. It's sad to see a nation built on new ideas and innovation be content to ignore progress.

I missed the added part about the Constitution. Shockingly enough, we've recognized rights that weren't in the Constitution since our society has changed since the late 18th century.
 
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2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
To be clear, this is a purported "right" to be paid not to work. We already protect the job itself. This is just the right to a paid vacation. I guess I missed that in the ol Constitution.
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We have made certain rights since the Constitution was written that aren't in the Constitution.
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
A right which is recognized in literally every single other high income country in the world. Of course I wouldn't really expect a nation which doesn't recognize health care as a universal right to recognize this either. America is remaining stagnant while others progress. It's sad to see a nation built on new ideas and innovation be content to ignore progress.
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Are you seriously suggesting that paid vacation should be a universal right?
 
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