Idaho Speaks

At least, not if we live in Utah and we’ve made it through 11th grade.  Cost savings for our strapped state budget?  Let’s dump the senior year in high school, it never did me no good, and look, I’m a state legislator now!!!

Senator Chris Buttars (R)  West Jordan, said, “You’re spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren’t getting anything out of that grade.  It comes down to the best use of money.”  

His buddy Francis Gibson (R) Mapleton, said “Dramatic times deserve drastic measures“. 

 Save $102 million by dumbing down your populace,  all the makings of the future good little dipshit boys and girls who don’t have enough brains to figure out all the lies they’re hearing on AM talk radio, so they vote Republican.

Long range planning for a devoted voter base.   Another brick in the wall.

It’s a terrible time for our states out there.  Many of them have a July-June fiscal year, and without tax revenues due to the crashing economy, they have new budgets coming into play that are slashed and / or unable to be set due to conflicting priorities.

CNN Money reports that Pennsylvania state workers (69,000 of them…and our legislators in Idaho think WE have a bloated bureaucratic labor force?) have gone without pay for any work done in July.  They got a partial check for work performed in June…then nothing…just an IOU.  And they won’t get interest on the lost pay when they finally DO get it. 

California paid its workers (after making them take mandatory Fridays off without pay) but then blew off the contractors and vendors. 

It’s just bad news all over.  And with the talk of the 2nd stimulus package, I’m starting to get worried about whether the first one did enough to merit yet another. 

Are you worried about your job?  Your future?

Tags: state budge cuts

General Growth Properties has filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws, which allows it to keep creditors at bay while it figures out how it needs to reorganize to become financially sound.   It’s the nation’s second-largest mall owner, after Simon Property Group.  Apparently, the reorganization they underwent last fall, and the extension they got on $4 billion in loans in February didn’t help enough to keep them out of this situation. 

General Growth owns the Boise Towne Square Mall, the Idaho Falls Grand Teton Mall, the Coeur d’Alene Silver Lake Mall, and the Pocatello Pineridge Mall.

So there’s a teenager on this site who inadvertantly gave us a good picture of why the concept of malls is going downhill…they are great places for young, relatively poor people to ‘hang out’ but not such great places to make big-ticket, high volume profitable purchases.

Tags: General Growth Properties, GGP bankruptcy, Grand Teton Mall

Things are tough all over (that was a GREAT Cheech and Chong film). 

The State of Idaho is giving employees an across-the-board 3% paycut, and may use mandatory furlough time (employee must take time off without pay) to make up at least another 2%, for the next fiscal year.   The Post Office was considering dropping a day or two of delivery.  The Post Register did the same, we now have no Monday edition. 

The State of Utah has moved to a 4 day workweek (10 hr days) and closes its offices on all Fridays.  That saves building and maintenance and utility costs, but they’re still paying employees for 40 hrs.  Customers lose out instead.  Canyon County (Nampa/Caldwell) is considering not paying staff for the three holidays they will take off  this summer (Memorial, July 4th, and Labor Day).

Private industries are using layoffs and mandatory furloughs to get by.  A local TV station is mandating 40 hours off without pay for its staff, and zero raises.  A local spud company laid people off in two stages.  Unemployment benefits claims hit record highs in Idaho this year.

I think as an employee I’d prefer the furlough or holiday w/o pay option.  The reason for that is I have the time off to do things if I wanted, or find another way to work for pay those days.  Whereas, if I have to take a cut in pay, I’m still working 40 hours but now it’s for less money, and it’s a long term option (unless they specify it’s for one year only…) that will take me several prosperous (and therefore raise-yielding) years to recover from, if that’s even possible.

Is your employer downsizing, or cutting back in other ways?  Which type of cost-cutting measure works better for you?

Tags: economic hard times, Employees impacted by cutbacks, Post Office cutbacks

CNN says the next bailout ($750 million possible in the next budget) would be a tough sale, due to public anger. 

The gall of AIG to hand out bonuses, after being bailed out…ostensibly because they needed to retain qualified individuals…and then to have some of those “qualified individuals” take the money and run…created an outpouring of righteous indignation. 

There’s even talk of applying a special tax to those bonuses.  I am against that notion.  Either bonuses for executives (I am not an executive, nor do I even KNOW any) are a good sound business practice, or they are not.  Granted, giving bonuses in a recession, after accepting public welfare money, is the heighth of folly or indifference…but creating a special tax is unnecessarily punitive in this situation.

We shouldn’t try to govern and make laws by public reaction.  We have too many of those kinds of knee-jerk lousy laws on the books already.

Step back, thoughtfully observe, and learn from the mistakes.  Try another avenue rather than bailout next budget period, something less likely to foment rebellion in the masses who are struggling to pay their own bills.

Tags: AIG, AIG bailout, special taxes for AIG bonuses

We knew this was coming, the second wave.  It still feels shocking and the mood in the Treasure Valley is glum. 

So what will they do, these displaced workers?  What any of them usually do.  File for unemployment benefits, and those who keep their jobs for a little while are looking for other work (because they’re trying to try to be prepared). 

Some of them will file for Food Stamps, cash assistance, and Idaho Medicaid.  However, many of that group will be in for a rude surprise.  The unemployment amount will be over the limit for the tiny amount of the Idaho TANF grant.  Their kids may qualify for the Medicaid but the adults will not.  And having had good jobs, they likely have a little more money in the bank than most people right now.  Plus, they’ve likely acquired a few “toys” such as snowmobiles or an ATV or a small boat.  Therefore the combined asset value of their cash and those “toys” will likely put them over the limit to receive Food Stamps, no matter how small their actual monthly income. 

Yet no one is buying these “toys” these days, the rest of us are all strapped for cash even if we have a job.   So the households will use their savings to continue to feed their families and pay their bills, until they’ve totally run dry.  And then the bankruptcies and foreclosures will begin.

This isn’t the end of it.  Not even close.  These families and many others are on the wrong end of the stimulus plan, and the wrong end of these hard times.

Tags: economic hard times, Micron layoffs Boise

Per a story on Local News 8…

Folks are going to the hair salons less often these days.  They aren’t having dye jobs, or streaks or perms as often as they used to.  And per the salon staff, they are also not tipping as much as they once did. 

I Miss My Stylist!

It stands to reason, the salons are a luxury expense.  But it bothers me, if you’re still getting the work done, the person should still deserve a tip.  Especially these days.

Do you use salons?  Have you cut back?  And most importantly….with all the cutbacks, do you still tip?

Tags: economic hard times, hair salons, Local News 8

These days, it’s tough for workers all over.  If you aren’t being laid off, you’re being furloughed.  (You have to take time off, without pay).  Or your pay is being involuntarily cut.  Or your position is in danger of being eliminated, to save money for the company.

California’s state offices closed on Friday and workers aren’t being paid for that day (no vacation pay, sick leave, etc).  Utah has gone to a permanent 4 day work week for some state functions (maybe all of them? they’re in a terrible bind, already laid off 3000 workers and have more on the chopping block).

In Idaho, some state agencies had a mandatory 24 hour furlough, without pay.  And that was mandated during the good old days before the latest projections came in.  Now teachers may lose out on their contracts, with at least 3 fewer contracted pay days in the next year.

A teacher I know belongs to the teachers’ union and says he will strike.  I asked, over a 3 day cut?  It’s a contract, which means it’s renegotiable after the contract expires.  Which means, that 3 day cut is temporary.  It’s not like some of us, who have been permanently cut or cut down, or took a permanent pay decrease.  I know people have been unhappy with the teachers’ union for some time, but I’ve always felt, teachers were underpaid for what they do.  However, if they strike over having to take same economic lumps that the rest of us have already had to take, I’m probably going to be on the opposite end of that fight.  Everyone needs to give a little out there.

Which brings me to the cap for the bailout funded company executives.  You’re getting taxpayer money because your company couldn’t sustain all the economy issues with your current level of exorbitant spending and executive benefits and perks.  You want help?  Make your operations a little leaner and meaner, and we don’t mean the line workers out there slaving away to bring in the biweekly paychecks.  We mean the fat cats who get retreats to exotic locations, who have the lavish company lifestyle they may have fought many years to achieve…because now is a different time. 

It’s a tough world out there.  And we ALL need to do our part to get through these hard times.

Tags: economic downturn, state budget cuts, stimulus budget cuts, stimulus executive cap

Actually, the provisions of this seem to be pretty reasonable, with the focus on tax cuts and spending that actually stimulates the creation of jobs.  Details are a little sketchy still, but it’s close in amount to the original Senate version and drops a lot of the suspect spending (honeybee insurance, sod on the National Mall, anti smoking programs, and other things that may be nice to have but aren’t emergency-stimulus pkg worthy).

I’m open to the best package available, and if the Democrats want increased credibility they’d better wake up and smell the brave new world’s version of coffee…and it ain’t made with pork.

Tags: Alternative stimulus proposal, Economic stimulus, Republican stimulus pkg

The rhythm of that title reminds me of  “The Empire Strikes Back”.  My local smokin’ cacklin’ earflap cap wearin’ postman (who retired twice already in the last year) isn’t quite Vader, but hey…

Since we’re all online, and with the growing coarseness of American Society (we don’t write thank-you notes or send Christmas cards like we used to) the Post Office is suffering, as they are still operating under the same rules as always.

So, they’re thinking of cutting back to 5 days per week.  Maybe Saturday (my preference) or maybe Tuesday (a light mail day).  It will save them a few billion dollars.

Since all I get from them is paper spam and bills, I won’t mind.

Tags: Post Office cutbacks