Robert Reich..."Four Weeks Vacation!"

He is on "Marketplace" advocating a four weeks paid vacation, by law, for US workers...like they have in Europe.

Hes' suggesting this be part of the Democratic platform.

And, you know, why NOT have this on the platform?!?

That would be a good way of showing we are different from the Republicans.

:shrug:

What about da bidnessess???!!!!

Free Rights, er, Right Frees, dammit, I wanna do what I wanna do and setting up a Communist State is what you're all about.

Remember the Alamo!

It is time for it.
Pull away from the WTO and NAFTA.

We would have near full employment and serious expansion of the tax base.

I remember 20 years ago in Sociology I that my prof told everyone we would have the 32-hour week!

"Pull away from the WTO and NAFTA"? Just resign and do it now!

:bounce: :kick:

spinning it is too easy.

dems embrace lazy socialist euro work ethic! they want to make america weak! the red chinese will eat us alive! what's next, a paid siesta?

i think an american siesta is an excellent idea, by the way. the american siesta, copywright 2003! don't use it without paying me!

to do with either the WTO or NAFTA

We need to frame this as good for families as well as catching up with the rest of the world. I think that's the best point candidates like Dean make, why are US citizens second class citizens when it comes to health care as compared to our EU counterparts and Canada. Same thing on vacations, why is the supposedly most productive economy in the world not able to give its labor force comparable vacations to other leading nations?

Go Robert Reich Go!! I always liked him as Clinton's Labor Sec. he's a great man.

Sonia

far too progressive to really be heard in the Clinton Admin.

I wonder if he'd consider the job if he was promised he'd be heard this time ...

The Work of Nations was written in 1990 and is still relevant today. Perhaps even more so.

Europeans do.

That is a crime ...

is moving toward a more "market based (read US like)" economy thanks to Benyamin Netanyahu (who spent part of his youth in the US when his father was working as a professor). There is growing income inequality in Israel between the Ashkenazic (White European) Jews and their Sephardic (Middle Eastern) Jewish brethren.

I mean, between Wal Mart and Levis pushing all manufacturing off shore, and Dow and Exxon arguing for no environmental regulations, we are becoming more like the 3rd world anyway.

vacation? I think I remember hearing on Marketplace another time that surveys reveal that Americans would prefer to have the money to the time off. It's also good to remember that most Europeans have more disposable income to pay for vacations, since the don't have to shell out so much for health care or education. Then there's the bigger question - what would people do for four weeks? Shop?

live

.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Hell, my boss started working at the company two years after I did. I started with zip vacation; she started with four weeks.

This country's so-called vacation policy is part of the class war. There is a double standard between the haves and the have-nots on this, too.

Work all the time and will beat us if we don't work harder.


Wait... That was 1985. What's our excuse now?

And any kind of entertainment-related business.

It is healthy as well. Perhaps, it could save on health care costs. Who wouldn't want four weeks. There are fairly low cost options like camping or just doing things like shopping in the middle of the week during the day to avoid the crowds. An extra day off every couple weeks to relax might be beneficial for those who don't really want to go out and do anything. Four weeks is a lot though for some companies to pay everyone's vacation and many companies use vacation time which increases with years of service, to encourage people to stay who otherwise might want to leave.

Bush take 48 weeks of vacation a year.

I would have to close my doors. I can't afford four weeks paid vacation so I would put twelve more people on the unemployment roles.

http://www.juneauwholesale.com/
I also sell a lot of beverages like 7-Up, A&W Root Beer, FUZE, Jones Soda, Vitamin Water,plus numerous others.

if people were given more vacation time. I,along with many others I know, would love to travel to Alaska. I just can't get 2 weeks off in a row to do it -- I live in Mississippi. While in Alaska, I'd be dining at restaurants, staying in lodges or hotels, and shopping at stores. I would likely be patronizing the businesses of some of your clients. Your sales would increase so, therefore, you'd be able to hire more workers to cover for the ones you already have so that they can take their vacations. I realize that your increase in income would be seasonal, but you could give most of your employees their vacations during the winter. Then they could come down here and spend their money on their vacations.

every time we raise the minimum wage or lengthen holidays or shorten the work week.

Never happens though.

Respectfully. Let me make my point here: If every other food wholesaler was also forced to pay 4 weeks vacation at the same time -- i.e., the rules of the game are changed for all in this socially beneficient manner -- then every one of you can adjust to the same equilibrium you had before the rule change. Perhaps you would have to increase your headcount slightly and pass that cost along; perhaps you would have to find a way to get more done with slightly less FTE/year; perhaps you would have to take less profit. But so would your competition. So what's your beef?

Why should we, as a democratic body, deny ourselves 4 weeks vacation (or, for that matter, mandatory healthcare benefits, a 32-hour work week, etc.) just so you can stay in business at x profit to yourself?

If you can't conceive of a way to continue in business, then go out of business. Perhaps a couple of those laborers you employ but deny reasonable paid time-off can convince a bank that they can fill the void you leave behind and they will take your place. I don't think we'll find no one willing to wholesale food and drink after implementation of such a rule change. Make room for those that will find a way. Meanwhile, don't begrudge the rest of us the opportunity to democratically influence our quality of life.

So don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Respectfully.

(Quoting Jefferson is dangerous in this context, but...)

"Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there
government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and
life and property are his who can take them."
---Thomas Jefferson, to Annapolis Citizens, 1809.

is not on the Dem platform is because the Dems, like the Repukes, accept money from the same corporate interests who support changing overtime rules governing who gets paid overtime and how overtime is paid.

When Dems stop listening to the same corporate masters that the Repukes listen to and begin listening to working people then maybe things will change.

Oh yeah!