Fast Food Employees Have Lousy Health Insurance. But They’ll Get To Keep It For Now. | The New Republic

Fast Food Employees Have Lousy Health Insurance. But They’ll Get To Keep It For Now. | The New Republic.

As all companies try to figure out to continue to save money AND follow new regulations this is an interesting article.

My own personal belief is that like what happened systematically after the Enron and WorldCom scandals of 2001-2002 that resulted in the Sarbaines-Oxley Act (SOX) that now all companies MUST follow and business schools teach, there are loopholes.

The same will apply here.

Live Or Let Die?

Interesting and poignant article in Bloomberg Businessweek on the expiring George W. Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003.

The Democrats want to keep all except those for the super rich. The Republicans want to keep them all.

The difference in savings is only a trillion. A trillion you might say, is that not a lot? Well, for the United States whose budget for 2010 is 3.5 trillion not really. Also, former Fed Chairman Greenspan is not in favor of either idea.

A nice graph is given with the article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/tax-cuts/

Where is your surgery?

In the past two months the coalition goverment in Slovakia has been busy. An ambitious election program now trying to be implemented. Tacit support for one partner party referendum though it ultimately was invalidated due to low turnout. Preparing for local elections too have been in the headlines. But also still are the gossip and rumor about the nation’s first female prime minister.

When the opposition is able to define you there is trouble. An American politician once said that all politics is local. Je was right and in a country of over 5 million people this is very true.

So, to borrow the term from British politics, where is your surgery Madame Prime Minister? Put another way, where are your office hours? This may be too much to ask, so may I recommend that you go on tour instead?

Select cities in the country and go there offering a Q&A session would be very good for the citizens to get to know you as a person and as their leader.

Is This The Real Turkey?

At the United Nations, the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, as stated in the NYTimes, “defended his country’s close ties to Iran, proclaimed Turkey’s intention to become a leader in the Muslim world, and spurned an attempt to mend fences with Israel over its deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza.”

This is not surprising as recent years have shown the UN as the venue for up-and-coming nations to make a statement announcing their arrival on the world stage i.e. Iran or seeking support for domestic policy initiatives.

Yes, the United States is weary and Europe with its sizable Turkish populations wobble between alarm and apathy. The second decade of the 21st Century seems to present more challenges and potential trouble more than the first.

Obstruction in democracy disguise

Would love to write on the new coalition in Slovakia, but sadly can not due to outright cronyism!

Historic moment

On Saturday, Slovaks went to the polls and chose, well as is typical here, the result was not reality.

Those other Europeans who wish to pause in their preoccupation with the Belgian and Dutch elections, French austerity policy, and least not we forget the World Cup; a interesting and historical significant thing happened in Central Europe.

A post Communist country elected a party that cannot form a government leaving the opposition parties actually in power. And surprises of surprises, the main opposition party’s leader is a woman! Making her the next prime minister.

Yes, Slovakia, that other half of the nation still confusingly referred to by older people as Czechoslovakia, independent since 1993, member of the EU since 2004 and the eurozone since 2009; first post communist nation to do so, is also the first to have a female prime minister.

The cynics and detractors will have much to say about the circumstances of her elevation to the office, but the historical significance should not be overlooked.

As a foreigner I am quite proud of my adopted home and would like to offer some suggestions to consider for the next four years.

1. Be the PM and by extension coalition government for ALL Slovakia. The biggest complaint by Slovaks living outside of Bratislava is that money and resources stay in the Western part of the country and in particular the capital. With recent flooding and regional development lacking in the Central and Eastern parts of the nation now is the time to “grow Slovakia”.

2. Open Government. Slovaks are cynics on the issue of trust in government and apathic towards politicians. Partly this is due to forty years of communism and no democratic tradition, but also it is due to the corruption and scandals of the nations’ first 16 years. As the new government, but with prior experience, now is the time for transparency. As the first female leader of your party and Prime Minister be bold in this regard.

3. It was this government coalition, minus newbie SaS (though it’s leader was a member of a coalition party) that is recognized for bringing economic growth to the country. Bring the same intelligence and strong policies now in the time of economic crisis.

Finally, good luck! I am most interested in seeing what shall happen.

End of an era

The Meciet era has ended.

The party that he founded and renamed and led to victory in four general elections failed the required 5% to get into parliament on Saturday. That means that HZDS will not be a party in the Slovak parliament though by Slovak law Mr. Mecier and other individual HZDS members may have a seat. We shall see.

The political pundits have appropriately said it is the end of the Mercier era and they are true. But his influence has roots in other politicians, notable being out-going PM Robert Fico.

I’ll write another post on him soon, but suffice to say a historic moment has happened. Whether the country is smart enough to take note is another question entirely.

Amusing election

In the past few weeks the campaign for parliament has happened in Slovakia.

Tomorrow the citizens will vote and what at one time seemed inevitable is now not so certain. What, as a foreigner, I have been fascinated at is the various campaign posters and Party slogans.

Take popular Smer, party of Prime Minister Fico. Overall, very little actual policy proposals or for that matter explanation as to why they should deserve a second term, however ‘we’ the public know that the Party and by extension Mr. Fico is “For the people, For Slovakia”. Mr. Fico’s personality in this campaign is the most interesting and the subject of a separate paper I wrote a while back.

The same applies to the major opposition parties, little on substance, big on catchy phrases and slogans, one that is very similar to Smer’s. However, as all the parties claim to be “for the peope”, i find the whole phrase war, so to speak, highly suspect.

The new party that has made the most ‘news’ is SaS partly for it’s outreach to younger voters via Facebook and other social media outlets as well as it’s own highly original slogans and poster pics. Personally, have to laugh at the ingenious use of cartoon sperm and the phrase “For the next generation”.

The traditional parties of post-89, HZDS and SNS have struggled for a good slogan and relevance, abeit personally seeing the various and at times provocative SNS ads were more amusing than shocking.

What all of this means for a rather apathic nation, is not entirely clear, but as people vote on Saturday, it should make for rather amusing theater.

Where’s the hype?

With less than a week to go before the Slovak parliamentary elections and the polls showing the ruling coalition not strong enough to be re-elected I wonder as to where is the hype about to prospective future?

Truth be told, Slovaks are not a speculative people by nature. They are however one for a good gossip. Moreover, with coalition partners SNS and HZDS polling below the threshold necessary to get into parliament and Prime Minister Robert Fico seeking new partners now, before the national vote, the belief that he will not be able to form a new government is almost certain.

It has been a campaign full of colorful and contoversal ads, but little in substance. Another blog post will talk more in detail about this.

What most political observers agree inks the likihood that Fico’s party, Smer, will get the most votes, but will be unable to form a coalition. Thus the next real possibility that the government of four years ago will return plus or minus an original partner.

What no one has mentioned or dare speak about, maybe because of its fantastic reality, is the fact that Slovakia could have it’s first female PM.