First, why is an old rug sucker discussing entitlements and the
"recovery?" I started my professional career as a social worker for
Sacramento County and I learned about entitlements firsthand: the
entitlement of the receiver and, to a lesser extent, the entitlement of the provider - we
were both dependent on the public dole for our sustenance.
I awake these days angry on a semi-regular basis. I will try to relate this quickly and easily: we cannot maintain a steady workforce with the downturn in business and the loss of our staff to payment for not working versus payment in exchange for labor.
My business and personal life cycle
is posted on the sidebar left - open it up and take a look (click on it once open for a closer and clearer look). I have
been around other rug suckers for the better part of my professional
life and this is my take on the normal business and personal life cycle
for me and most of my colleagues. Since 2006, we have been regressing
backwards
from Cycle #8, currently moving through Cycle #5 and settling on Cycle
#4 for the time being. Thankfully, we have established a healthy
equity in our business and that has allowed us to sustain massive
financial losses and not end up in bankruptcy (yet) like many of our newer
competitors.
Here's the problem: The majority of our hourly work force cannot afford to work less than 30 hours per week and when there is no business coming in, they must turn to Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) funded by Federal, State and Employer contributions. There is a great synopsis of the UIB concept at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1466. A primary qualification for UIB is "the person must be ready, willing and able to take a 'suitable' new job." The hourly worker's plight is heartfelt and I agree with the basic intentions of the program for the sake of the workers, their families and our economic stability. However, like the entitlements I worked with early in my professional career, human nature dictates that most will take the easier path of collecting money for not working versus money for working.
We are in such an extended economic funk that many of our good employees request layoffs for the sake of unemployment insurance benefits versus working with our limited and unknown work schedule, furthering our inability to respond to our normal 24/7/365 emergency services demands. The salaried employees in the administrative, sales, marketing and ownership positions must revert to providing the basic production services limiting the company's ability to expand or even meet the overhead of years past, even when reduced by understanding landlords and other providers. We end up with a vicious downward spiral that is very difficult to stop - like a stalled aircraft dropping to earth instead of flying to a safe landing.
Soon, unemployment benefits must be reduced or curtailed or paid in concert with working wages if we are to stop the downward spiral. Only then will the economy begin to expand incrementally. I believe wholeheartedly in the free enterprise system and I sometimes grow very suspicious of our current emphasis on federal, state and local entitlements that force employers to reduce staff and benefits concurrently with the effort to enact a national health care program and other programs that emphasize dependence on government entities. Simply, the government will never be as efficient and creative as the private sector in providing meaningful, gainful employment and economic progress and stability.
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