Europe’s Financial Crisis Leads to Suicide Surge
The harsh spending cuts introduced by European governments to tackle their crippling debt problems have not only pitched the region into recession — they are also being partly blamed for outbreaks of diseases not normally seen in Europe and a spike in suicides according to the AP.
The report goes on to say that the “worsening health was driven not just by unemployment, but by the lack of a social welfare system to fall back on. People need to have hope that the government will help them through this difficult time”.
I think that it is “nice” to have public assistance programs available for the truly needy. There is however something inherently wrong with these social programs. I believe these programs promote government dependency.
A growing dependency of government is what got us into so many of our problems, and what is our own government doing? They are promoting that very dependency. Instead of raising people up, we are keeping them down. We are creating a generational dependency on social programs.
According to the 2012 Index of Dependence on Government more people than ever before—67.3 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries—depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance.
Once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions, Americans are looking to the government to take care of them.
The ethic of self-reliance joined with a promise to the brotherly care of those in need appears threatened, well nearly absent in today’s society. There was a time, before all of the social programs, when people took care of each other. If you were having trouble the first thing you did was —anything you could — to get back on your feet.
There was no sitting around waiting for the government to come to the rescue. Your church, or family or friends helped out, and you helped others when they were in need. We took care of ourselves without a dependency on the government.
Our social programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are unsustainable in their current form.
Over the next 25 years, more than 77 million baby boomers will begin collecting Social Security checks, drawing Medicare benefits, and relying on long-term care under Medicaid. There will be no event so financially challenging to these programs over the next two decades than this shift of boomers into retirement.
More than 70% of Federal spending goes to dependency programs.
With so many Americans on or soon to be on the government dole and nearly half of all Americans not paying income taxes, there is no way we can pay for all of this and our spending will spiral out of control (it’s almost there now). With an increase in recipients and a decrease in the number of workers left paying for these programs, we will soon reach our fiscal tipping point much as other countries have already, and this will put us in a certain domestic debt crisis of our own.
In doing research for this article I have found no evidence that Americans are suffering a rise in medical ailments and suicides. But we have not quite reached the same crippling financial problems as our friends across the pond.
…but trust me when I tell you, it’s coming.
Obamacare’s Employer Mandate
Will Your Hours Get Cut? Will Your Job?
With the reelection of President Barack Hussein Obama, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is ensured to be around for a while. But there are b
usiness owners that are recoiling at the extra cost it will bring. Beginning in 2014, Obamacare requires businesses or franchises with more than 50 workers to offer healthcare coverage to their employees or pay a penalty of up to $3,000 for each full-time worker over 30 workers. This is what is called the Employer Mandate and it is all over the news. One method businesses are considering in order to avoid this crippling mandate is to cut the size of their staff and switch full-time employees to part-time, which means less than 30 hours a week said CNNMoney.
One of the big names in the list of businesses that are already preparing for the mandate to kick in is Darden Restaurants Inc., operator of chains such as Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse. They are experimenting with limiting their employees to 28 hours a week, thus exempting them from the mandate and the associated fines. Papa John’s, Applebee’s and Denny’s publically stated that they were considering taking a similar approach to dealing with the devastating effects of the impending mandate, But then rolled back on their position due to a flurry of negative media coverage.
These proposed cuts to employee’s hours are not inclusive to just the food service industry; this mandate will affect every business that employs 50 people or more. Cedar Falls, IA city government, in a KWWL report, states: “It means 59 permanent part-time employees who now work 32 hours a week will be scheduled for 29 hours per week starting Dec. 1.” “Those workers have jobs in the public works and parks departments as well as at the public library.” “Most of those workers are seasonal workers.” City officials say they were advised by their health care provider to make the changes now because there will be a look-back period once the law goes into effect. In an Inside Higher Ed article by Colleen Flaherty, the Community College of Allegheny County will cut course loads and hours for some 200 adjunct faculty members and 200 additional employees to avoid paying $6 million in Affordable Care Act-related fees in January 2014.
You can be assured that you will continue to hear about business making cuts in hours and restructuring employee schedules in an attempt to avoid these business killing mandates. How will you be affected if you are all of a sudden told by your employer that your hours have been reduced to 29 hours a week? Will you have to go find another part-time job to make up the loss income?
If you work for a company that has more than 50 employees, you would be well served to talk to your manager, or someone in the know, and try to find out what if any changes have been discussed concerning the looming Obamacare Employee Mandates. Companies will have to make decisions on what course of action to take, there is no choice, they have to comply.
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The American Dream Moves to Asia??
With the U.S, job rate at 9.5 percent, Britain at almost 8 percent and Spain at a discouraging 19.9 percent, a growing number of people from Europe and the U.S. are moving to Asia in pursuit of a job and a more prosperous life.
Asian unemployment rates are not only at remarkable lows, Hong Kong is at 4.6 percent and Singapore is at 2.2 percent, there seems to be a continuous stream of jobs for Westerners.
The array of white collar positions range from areas in architecture and engineering to marketing and sales. In addition, there seems to be an always expanding market for hospitality and luxury goods.
Though there is an absence of previously offered perks, such as housing allowances and financial assistance to pay for child care, that doesn’t look like it is stopping applicants. According to a recruiting firm in Hong Kong named Ambition, resumes from the U.S. and Europe have jumped 20-30 percent, making up 2/3 of every 600 resumes they receive!
Making a new life halfway around the world may not be easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. One woman, Shahrzad Moaven, lived in London and had a public relations job, but jumped at the opportunity to move to Hong Kong. She now has a job as the communications director at the jeweler Carnet.
Moaven said of the experience, “Back in London, there were fewer resources for P.R. events or advertising. Here, everyone is expanding and spending on marketing activities. That makes my job here a lot more interesting.”
Getting a job in an area where the population and competition is growing can be difficult, however. Business owners are looking for employees that stand out from their fellow applicants. In addition, supervisors want an employee that is already familiar with the culture and language, and most importantly want to hire someone with contacts to bring to their business.
Overall, moving to Asia may be a risk but it could pay off big. Keep in mind however that many caution against using this move as a quick get rich plan. A change this drastic requires sufficient consideration and needs to be viewed as a long term commitment.
Source:
NY Times
“The Great Recession”: Not As Bad As You Think
Although the current recession presents obvious financial problems for many Americans and is affecting other markets worldwide, the comparisons between this economic crisis and the Great Depression tend to be more misleading and perhaps dramatic, than accurate.
A few examples of this would be the unemployment rate. During the Great Depression the unemployment rate was 25%. Today, during the “Great Recession,” as it is being called, the unemployment rate is about 9.5%.
Another example would be the percentage of bank failures. Between January 1930 to March 1933, a massive 50% of banks failed, compared to 0.6% that occurred between December 2007 and May 2009.
Though both of these economic downfalls are unfortunate in their own ways, there are several notable differences between the two collapses.
First, one reason for the Great Depression is that banks failed. Deposits were not insured then and this caused the banks to collapse and people to lose their savings. Also, any banks that did survive failure didn’t give out loans, which prevented them from losing more money, but made life difficult for people desperate for financial assistance.
Though bank failure isn’t impossible today, there are agencies such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which insure a customer’s money in banks for at least $250,000.
Next, because people simply couldn’t afford to buy anything but the necessary items, purchases went down significantly and so did the need to manufacture goods. This slowed production which caused the great amount of layoffs that made the unemployment rate soar to 25%.
Today, people may not be purchasing an excessive amount of unnecessary items, but people haven’t stopped buying altogether.
In addition, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment in a variety of areas has actually increased recently. Employment in mining, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing have all increased. Additionally increases in retail, professional and business services and healthcare have also been recorded. In general, in the month of June alone, over 206,000 jobs were added to these various areas.
Overall, though this economic crisis is difficult and may require a more rigorous way of handling your finances, it certainly isn’t the downfall that was the Great Depression.
What do you think of the comparisons of this recession to the Great Depression? Share your thoughts and comments below!
Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Current Employment Stats
FDIC Website
CNN Money
merinews
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