I am all for fair pay. But some of the club med countries have truly earned their road to ruin. Take this example:
The Spanish government recently introduced legislation to cut compensation for workers fired without cause from 45 days salary per year of service, up to a maximum of 42 months salary. The new rules would cut that to 33 days salary per year of service, capping the payout at 24 months salary. Even if companies can prove the firings were because of economic conditions, they still have to pay the departing workers 20 days of salary per year of service.
Meanwhile, back in my home province of Ontario, Canada:
In Ontario, workers fired without cause can only dream of getting two years salary in compensation. Here, the most you’re legally entitled to is either eight weeks notice, or eight weeks salary. And you can only get to that exalted status after having worked at the same job for (you guessed it), eight years. Until then, it’s one week’s notice or salary for each year you’ve worked. See: Three reasons Europe is in crisis and Canada is not
It is rather like the investment bankers who sold risk and levered up the financial system to insane levels. You can try to take too much and you may get away with it for a while, but at some point you take so much you kill the host. Then you are out of work.
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Wanting to kill an afternoon before plopping in front of the tube to watch the Oscars I decided to go to the local orchid greenhouse for their annual show (sale) and walked around in a wonderfully colorful, fragrant and cool-humid environment. I noticed an awful lot of visitors were 1.) middle-age to older and 2.) a bit on the obese side. In the refreshment area (free coffee and snacks) I sat and started conversations with quite a bunch of different folks, all of them middle-aged to older. When the economy cropped up, as it always seems to these days, its amazing at the bifurcation between the pensioned-haves with their Soc Sec checks religiously coming in and the lovely Medicare, and the have-nots. By those I mean the people who still are slugging away at bills and paychecks and often with not much in the bank I kind of took away with a little prodding and great smirkery. And when I spoke to the oldsters who ‘had it made’ there weren’t spending much at all. Small ticket items, like $3.99 orchids (they will die–the orchids that is) and a bit of moss and foil….that kind of stuff. Not much, but a token of their afternoon. Some bought cartloads of various plants (they will probably do well–the plants that is).
I splurged on a Staghorn Fern (17.99) and sphagnum moss (9.50) which I know will live a long, joyous life and get much bigger and floppier. But the point is, a lot of visitors, some buying and a lot of oldsters sucking up an awful lot of medical government juice. And you know what? They don’t care….they feel its theirs, they earned it and NOTHING IS GOING TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM THEM UNTIL THEY DIE attitude prevailed. It was simply eye-opening. And amazing!
Who really cares about the Oscars anyway? I’m gonna go pot up my fern and call it a night. Trading time begins tomorrow, and I need to make some money!
Three reasons Europe is in crisis and Canada is not….
Danielle, please! Canada is still in trouble! Bankers lending to one income families, purchasing multiple properties! Mortgage debt at all time highs! Out of control unions demanding more as jobs leave Ontario for the U.S. (Electro-Motive,Siemens turbines) Out of control Government spending at ALL levels. Don’t you worry Canadians are the next Greeks, they just don’t know it yet.
Canada is Greece? Debt to GDP ratio for the former is 33% and for the latter 150%! Now, not sure what to do with the provincial debt #s or deficits, but … Question is: “Are those numbers close or should we indeed add provincial debt #s?” Does Greece have also “hidden” #s like those? Does “the “debt include ALL debts?
Here in the USA, if you get “fired” because of lack of work you get a grin and a handshake and a box to pack up your personal items. If you are “fired” for cause, you are escorted to the door immediately.
If you worked long enough before being fired and were not fired for cause and you have been paying into unemployment insurance then you are normally eligible for 26 weeks of unemployment. Your weekly unemployment check is based on your earnings – the more you made, the more your check will be up to the maximum that varies in each state. Typically the maximum amount is about $500 per week for highly paid workers. That amount is taxable, so your take-home is less.
Typically your family health insurance is provided through your employer so when you get fired, you lose your health insurance. You are eligible to continue to purchase insurance through your employer in a plan called COBRA, but you have to pay the entire premium which is typically about $1,000 per month for an employee and spouse.
Most people cannot pay all their bills with their unemployment check, so although it sounds like a good deal, it really isn’t good, but it is far better than nothing.
In the USA, the ruling class, consisting of congress and almost all government employees (local, state, and federal) receive very generous benefits – and for most that includes a pension that in many cases is nearly equal to the salary they received while working. Not only that, but their salary is usually greater than most people get doing similar work in private industry. And they have unions so they usually cannot be fired for any reason, and they never take pay cuts – if they do, they reduce their work hours or work overtime to make up the difference. The ruling class is paving the road to ruin in the USA.
In the USA, in private industry, very few workers will get a company-paid pension for retirement. Those were eliminated in the late 70s, early 80s for most people and replaced with 401K plans. Those are private investment accounts to which most employers will contribute up to about 3% of your salary, so if you make $90,000 per year they will contribute a maximum of $2,700 per year. YOU can contribute up to about $15,000 per year. The money in the account is from your gross pay, not your net, it has not been taxed, but it WILL be taxed when you take it out. If you take it out before you reach age 59.5, then you also have to give 10% of it to the government in addition to the normal income tax.
Private employees have Social Security as a safety net in case their investments don’t earn enough or in case they don’t invest at all. Each person pays about 6.2% of their pay to support this plan. It does not pay much, but will provide enough that you MAY be able to pay rent for a cheap apartment, or a trailer in a trailer park, if you don’t spend too much money on other things and don’t have large medical bills, and if you can get some help from your children, etc. Social Security is in trouble because of fraud and crime committed by the US congresses both past and present. So what do they do? They cut the amount workers are paying into the system by about 33% in order to give a tax break so the politicians can say how they are helping the US workers. Few people in the USA will ever be able to retire because of the criminally insane politicians past, present, and no doubt future. Not only that, but young people in the USA, having no concept of reality, have been duped into believing they can save enough for their retirement and thus do not need Social Security. Good luck with that plan. And people wonder why the government can’t increase consumer confidence and get the economy started.