"Can't afford to work"

[Lohman446]

Michigan unemployment is capped at 362 weekly. On a 40 hour week that works out to 9.05 an hour. So either they were full of crap and using that for negotiation or you don't pay as well as you think. Especially if you offer any kind of benefits at all. When I got laid off my cobra payments would have been 120ish a month for a single guy with a cheapy plan.

I'm buying the child support theory brought up earlier :). If you start lopping 30% off the top + back owed suddenly working becomes less desirable. Even then it works out noticeably better than the $320 brought up, but as Punkcat noted theres a certain amount that makes it worth working. To those on public assistance (not talking legitimate SS claims here) who feel its not "worth" working there is a problem. Those not leeching from the system its a choice that is your choice to be respected.

[Lohman446]

I dunno about your state but in my state we directly elect our congressmembers. Straight up popular vote.

Yes, and they vote on bills. I do not have a direct vote on how things are run, "my" representative does - hence the term representative democracy.

[teufelhunden]

Not all insurers are publicly traded, and it's not cheaper than your voting share in government healthcare, which is free. You can of course increase your voting influence as well, via being political active, donating, lobbying, etc.

Most are, I've yet to come across one that isn't. However, I'm sure they exist... somewhere.

$165 + my health insurance is absolutely cheaper than insuring myself and 4 of my closest friends. And the $165 is an investment, not an expense.

I can also call customer service for regular health insurance, which probably works better (and keeps you feeling less dirty) than dealing with the pols.

[Lohman446]

I could acquire a voting stake if I was interested, and it would be larger than my voting stake in a government plan (for arguments sake, say 54% of the population voted [source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7144152AAxw6n2 2nd answer who quotes sources which I checked out, seemed reasonable] - 300,000,000x.54=162,000,000 people voted) - I'd have a voting stake roughly equal to .0000000061728395061728395%. Wellpoint Inc. has the most members of US health insurers (src http://www.medibix.com/company.jsp?company_id=10012588). WLP has 484,640,000 shares outstanding and costs $54.38/share as of close today (src: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=WLP). That means I would have to buy three shares of common stock to equal my voting influence on the federal government, at a cost of less than $165. A lot cheaper than government healthcare. Plus, I could increase my voting stake if I so choose. Oh, and that voting stake has the potential to earn me money.

Or, if you did not like how Wellpoint did something you could simply chose another provider and do the same thing to obtain voting rights.

[maniacmechanic]

Yes, and they vote on bills. I do not have a direct vote on how things are run, "my" representative does - hence the term representative democracy.

DING DING DING , POST # 7

[maniacmechanic]

Yes, and they vote on bills. I do not have a direct vote on how things are run, "my" representative does - hence the term representative democracy.

Augh come on , you got enough money to line thier deeeeep pockets so they will vote your way ,,,,, Don't ya ????

[Mechanic79]

after taxes and fees, it's pretty tough!

[jojo_gun_2000]

Must have taken you a while to check to make sure that each car belonged to a person collecting unemployment and to verify that those people were in fact using unemployment unfairly to own said cars. Because you did that, right?

He is right dude!!!

[Lohman446]

He is right dude!!!

Yeh, but when you don't have an answer in a discussion its easier to throw questions.

[CaptainMorgan13]

He is right dude!!!

Once again, I was too busy getting to work... some of us actually have to make the money to have it taken away so others can have nice things

[Lohman446]

Once again, I was too busy getting to work... some of us actually have to make the money to have it taken away so others can have nice things

I took that to be in agreement with you, not in agreement with DRGs question.

[blake20]

Not all insurers are publicly traded, and it's not cheaper than your voting share in government healthcare, which is free. You can of course increase your voting influence as well, via being political active, donating, lobbying, etc.

"Government health care Which is free" Is that what you belive??? You think it's Free?? I hate to be the one to tell you Nothing is free, Didn't your parents teach you that when you were a kid??
I mean come on, this will be paid for by Taxes. My taxes, Your taxes, any one who works taxes. Now if you think this will be cheaper than what I'm purchasing now, I have a bunch lake front property to sell.
The reason is:
I currently pay for myself and my family. Now I will be paying for myself and Joe the non-worker who doesn't pay taxes because he doesn't work, I will also pay for (just to use a name) Bob the Illegal, and his family, who works here in the US and doesn't pay taxes. So now I'm paying a premium for 3 familys. And that's just a guess I'll probably have to pay for more.

If you think that the people making $1 million a year or better are going to pay for it, you have another thing coming. I work at a small company. I am just a worker, I make a good living (pay based on my sales, which sucks right now), but the owners of the company do make a decent money, And I have heard it said already, Well I'll just have to pay myself less and cut back here at the company, so the company doesn't have to pay such high taxes also. They have also talked about our healthcare, if govt comes in and takes it over then we will all be on the govt plan since that's the only plan that will be left.

Sorry for the Rant, But I have heard "it's free" so many times it makes me sick.

[Lohman446]

Its free if you know how to work the system rather then being a productive member of society.

I'll say it again: Get paid what you are worth and pay what it is worth for the goods and services you receive and things work. Try to get more for less and you screw everything up.

[blake20]

I'm not smart enought I guess!!!

Its free if you know how to work the system rather then being a productive member of society.

I'll say it again: Get paid what you are worth and pay what it is worth for the goods and services you receive and things work. Try to get more for less and you screw everything up.

Yea, it's free for them. But I'm tired of paying!!!! And when people like me get smart and stop working and live off the govt. tit then where will we be!!

[Lohman446]

Yea, it's free for them. But I'm tired of paying!!!! And when people like me get smart and stop working and live of the govt. tit then where will we be!!

I don't think people understand that you have to have money to pay for things. Debt financing does have an end point, both individually and as a country.