TresSugar

States Struggling: Budget Crises Lead to Desperate Measures

CitizenSugar — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:01:09 -0700

If you thought your wallet was feeling light, it's not just you - states are feeling the budget crunch just as hard - with unique ways to manage the money meltdown.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has just threatened to pay state employees federal minimum wage in an effort to push lawmakers to agree on a budget. Even though minimum wage hikes up today, it would still mean thousands of workers would only take home $6.55 an hour (which is still $1.45 an hour less than CA's minimum wage.)

The budget stall comes as Republicans and Democrats battle to bridge the $15.2 billion budget shortfall California is facing. Republicans want to deal with money crisis through cuts, Democrats are angling for more taxes. Schwarzenegger says he won't sign a budget unless it contains improvements like a rainy day fund to help the state through tough times. Hmm. Just like we're supposed to have at home!

Also in the category of, "Governments! They're just like us!" Gas! Though consumers have been concerned about the price of fuel for months, state budgets - especially for driving heavy departments, like the police - are way overdrawn on fuel bills. To see how cops have to carpool, read more.

In Montana, where the Highway Patrol sometimes has to drive up to 100 miles to answer a call in their fuel inefficient Crown Victorias (a big ol' 15 m.p.g) they've busted their budget by $340,000 in gas bills alone. Where's the money coming from? The personnel budget. No new cops 'til the tanks get filled.

Over in New Mexico, they're in similar straits, and are waiting for the governor to call a special legislative session to get their gas card paid off. They're trying to though! In addition to carpooling whenever they can, one Lieutenant says, "we have asked officers to shop around and know where the cheapest gas is to buy." Shopping for gas - that won't take time out of the "keeping us safe" part of the day or anything.

Nevada is $1 million dollars over budget on gas. Their solution is getting officers to drive less. So less patrolling, more speed-trapping. If you're headed through the Silver State, watch for smokies under the overpasses - they'll be sitting there, saving fuel.

Are any of these state measures to save, smart? What's the solution when states are as pinched as taxpayers - the same ones who give the states money to begin with?

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Jon Stewart: How Could Senators Vote Against Antirape Bill?

TresSugar — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Senator Al Franken recently sponsored the Franken Anti-Government-Contractor Rape Liability Bill. The legislative amendment states that the US government will not hire companies who make employees sign a contract saying that they will not sue if they are raped by other employees.

Franken was prompted by a female employee of a Halliburton subsidiary who was gang-raped by her co-workers in Iraq. She could not press criminal charges because it happened out of US jurisdiction, and she could not sue, because the fine print in her employment contract waived that right.

Franken's amendment should put an end to such atrocities, but not all members of the Senate were on board. The final vote was 68-30 in favor. Jon Stewart wants to know: how is anyone against this? Watch this clip from last night's Daily Show to find out how certain lawmakers justified their opposition.

What Is Stockholm Syndrome?

TresSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:05:37 -0700

News this week that Jaycee Lee Dugard, 11 years old when she was abducted in 1991, was discovered living in her abductor's backyard, prompts reactions both of happiness and horror. Happiness that this poor young woman, raped and twice-impregnated by her abductor, is finally free. Horror when you think of what her life must have been like these past 18 years. How is she going to fare now that she’s been reunited with her family and will finally be able to see a doctor, and hopefully, a therapist? Clues about her mental state were revealed by her stepfather Carl Probyn after talking to Jaycee’s mother: "She told me that Jaycee feels really guilty for bonding with this guy. She has a real guilt trip."

We hear this counterintuitive detail in many cases where kidnap victims and people in abusive relationships feel sympathy for their captors/abusers, identifying with them and even bonding with them. Natascha Kampusch, the young woman who only three years ago escaped from the man who abducted her at age 10 and kept her in a windowless cellar for eight and a half years, was distraught after hearing that he had committed suicide. Some psychologists say that this sympathy is, in part, what keeps abused women so psychologically attached to their abusers.

Although it's probably impossible for most of us who have never been in such extreme situations to imagine that someone would have any positive feelings toward a person who abused them or imprisoned them, psychologists have a term for why it happens: Stockholm syndrome. To find out what this fascinating and disturbing psychological term means, read more.

Coined by Swedish psychiatrist and criminologist Nils Bejerot to explain why, in 1972, Swedish bank employees sympathized with the bank robbers who held them hostage for six days, Stockholm Syndrome can arise if the captor - in between his or her abuse - occasionally shows gestures of affection or concern, or gives them something they need. Experts say that what the victim doesn't consciously acknowledge is that these gestures tend to be self-serving, rather than genuine tokens of kindness.

Stockholm Syndrome became a household word in the '70s with the infamous Patty Hearst case. The millionaire heiress granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, Hearst was abducted at age 19 from her apartment in Berkeley, CA, by a fringe left-wing guerilla group that called themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. During her captivity, according to Hearst, she was blindfolded and kept in a closet, occasionally taken out to be beaten or sexually assaulted. After a time, the brainwashed Hearst succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome, according to psychologists who examined her, and began to sympathize with the SLA's agenda of creating a fairer society. She helped them rob a bank and later even said positive things about them to the press.

After Hearst's arrest and trial, her lawyer told the jury that she should not be charged in the case as a person who was operating in a normal capacity, of her own free will. They didn't buy the diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome, however, and Hearst served two years in prison until Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence in 1979.

It's terrifying to think about the convolutions our minds are capable of when survival is the goal. What do you think about Stockholm Syndrome - do you buy it as a diagnosis?

Oh Snap! Hillary Clinton's Back on the Scene in a Sling

TresSugar — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:30:00 -0700

She's baaaack! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been out of the spotlight after breaking her elbow in June, but she came back to the stage on Friday to hold a town hall for State Department employees - and she didn't take the weekend off from diplomacy either, appealing to North Korea for the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Hillary said the two reporters expressed great remorse and that "everyone is very sorry that it happened." North Korea has signaled that it would release the women if the US government made a formal apology.

Woman Wins Legal Fight to Harvest Dead Fiance's Sperm

TresSugar — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

By turns poignant and thought-provoking, Gisela Marrero's legal battle to harvest her dead fiance's sperm tested the limits of medical ethics.

In the end, four hours before the deceased's semen would no longer be viable (it remains so for only 36 hours after someone dies), the Bronx State Supreme Court approved her request and sperm bank employees rushed to his body.

What led everyone to this legal tangle began as a tragedy. 31-year-old Johnny Quintana, Marrero's partner with whom she already had a baby, died suddenly of a suspected heart attack. Marrero claims that hours before his death, she and Quintana had talked about having another baby. "This was his wish," she said. "It's the last thing I can do for him." Click here to read more about Marrero and a similar case that preceded hers.

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Front Page: New Mexico Repeals the Death Penalty

CitizenSugar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:38:23 -0700

New Mexico has become the 15th US state to ban the death penalty. Gov. Richardson said signing the bill was the toughest decision he's made in public life. - New Mexico Independent
Natasha Richardson's peers in the entertainment world offer words of tribute for the actress, who has died at the age of 45 after a skiing accident. - BBC News
President Obama is in California discussing the stimulus plan. He will appear on Jay Leno's show tonight. - LA Times
AIG's top executives are asking employees to return half of their bonuses. - New York Times
Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life by an Austrian court. - Guardian

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Health Care: The Low Down on the Candidates' Differences

CitizenSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:45:18 -0700

Rounding into the final stretch of the campaign, what has been a long year plus of promises on both sides now stand to become reality very soon - and for new plans like Obama's health-care proposal, business owners are thinking long and hard about what it will really mean for their bottom line. One small business owner is already considering not adding any workers to his four pet-supply stores in anticipation of the contribution he'll have to make.

Though there aren't hard numbers yet, economists believe Obama's plan might make large and medium companies pay as much as 6 percent of their payrolls toward the health-care plan. It's a number that has the small-business owner nervous - he currently has 90 employees, 29 of them full-time workers who are offered health benefits.“To all of a sudden whack 6 to 7 percent of payroll costs, forget it. If they do that, prices go up and employment goes down because nobody can absorb that.” Much of the concern comes from the fact that Obama's campaign has decided not to decide on details like penalties and cost to business.

While those details are vague, both candidates have released specifics. To see the specific differences between the two plans, read more.

Barack Obama:

Big Plan: Obama wants universal coverage accomplished by establishing a new federal health plan that provides benefits like those offered to federal employees. Premiums would be subsidized for low earners.
Access: He would prohibit insurance companies from withholding coverage to people with health problems or charging them higher rates.
Medicial Costs: He plans to control costs in part with a $50 billion investment in health information technology over five years.
How to Pay For It: “To help pay for all this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don’t make a meaningful contribution today to the health-care coverage of their employees to do so by supporting this new plan. And we’ll also allow the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire.”

John McCain:

Big Plan: McCain wants to give all consumers the same advantages, whether insurance comes through employers or not. He'll give $5,000 in tax breaks per family, and allow insurance to be purchased over state lines.
Access: For hard-to-insure, he's offering federal assistance for states to create high-risk pools that would contract with insurers cover those who've been rejected.
Medical Costs: He plans to control costs by limiting malpractice damages, investing in prevention and chronic-disease management, and encouraging the faster introduction of generic drugs.
How to Pay For It: “I’m certainly not interested in raising people’s taxes, as many of the Democrats are interested in doing. I’m absolutely opposed to that.”

For detailed side-by-side comparisons on every issue, and more specifics on health care, the NYT has a great break down.

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Should Unemployment Rates Impact Immigration Policy?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:30:59 -0800

As the unemployment rate rises, so does the call for stricter immigration rules. Many Americans resent that they have lost their income while visaed foreigners bring home dollars, or even worse, while corporations illegally hire undocumented workers.

The issue showed up last week on CNN's Cafferty File. Jack asked whether a 7.6 percent unemployment rate meant it was time to change the immigration policy in America to keep jobs from going to millions of legal, and illegal, immigrants. One viewer said:

Halt all immigration until the unemployment rate is below 3 percent. Plus impose a 50 percent tax on all money sent back to home countries by noncitizens.

Columnist Thomas Friedman has a different take on it. He was wants an "open-door bailout." To see what that means, read more.

Friedman summed up the message immigrant business people want to send America:

Dear America, please remember how you got to be the wealthiest country in history. It wasn’t through protectionism, or state-owned banks or fearing free trade. No, the formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart, and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat.

Last year Bill Gates argued to Congress that allowing more foreigners to work in the US would not steal jobs away from Americans, but rather create more jobs for them. He said for each H-1B visa hire, four support employees are hired.

Do you think open immigration will help solve the economic crisis, or is it just part of the problem?

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Front Page: CA Passes State Budget After All-Nighter

CitizenSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:00:39 -0800

After deliberating through the night and securing a breakthrough Republican vote, California state lawmakers have passed a budget deal. The $42 billion budget deficit will be closed with new taxes and severe spending cuts. - SF Chronicle
Nearly 5 million US workers are receiving unemployment benefits, an all-time high. - AP
President Obama is headed to Canada for his first foreign trip as President. - BBC News
US drug companies are outsourcing clinical trials, human studies that determine drug's safety, to other countries, raising ethical and scientific concerns. - New York Times

UBS, the largest Swiss bank, has agreed to reveal names of Americans whom US authorities suspect of using Swiss accounts to evade taxes. The US thinks $20 billion has been hidden, and UBS admitted that some employees participated in a scheme to defraud the US. - Huffington Post
Some Republican governors may turn down federal stimulus money. Critics say that move puts conservative ideology before the needs of the people, but governors say they are wary of the strings attached to the money. - CBS News

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You Asked: I Need Help With Tipping Etiquette

DearSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:00:00 -0700

Dear Sugar,

Outside of restaurants, I just never know when to tip, and I'm always left feeling awkward and embarrassed. The other day I had a facial done at a privately operated salon. When I went to pay, I didn't tip the owner, assuming that since I had tipped the employee who gave me the facial, that would be fine. I immediately sensed a strange vibe from the woman and assumed I must have made a mistake. But when it comes to employee-performed services like haircuts, taxi drivers, bellhops, and delivery services, I just never know how much I should be giving. Can you please help me out? I'm tired of feeling foolish and cheap!

- Tip Time Tamara

To see DearSugar's answer, read more.

Dear Tip Time Tamara,

Tipping is tricky business! On the one hand, it's supposed to be about the quality of the service, but on the other, there's a certain amount that most people expect no matter what. In regards to tipping the owner versus the employee, your assumption is correct. There is no reason to tip the owner in addition to the employee performing the service, as the owner already receives the full payment for the facial.

As far as the other services you mentioned, Tipping.org's United States Tipping Guide offers some very helpful percentages and ranges:

Hairstylist: 15 to 20 percent plus an extra few dollars to whomever washes your hair.
Bellhop: 10 dollars for just dropping your luggage in your room.
Food Delivery: For pizza, anywhere between one and five dollars depending on the distance and size of the order. For other cuisines, no tip is necessary unless the order is under 30 dollars. Of course, if you feel the speed of delivery or quality of service was exceptional, it's always nice to offer a few dollars.
Taxi Driver: 15 percent of the fare, but an extra dollar for each bag the driver assists you with is always a nice gesture.

When in doubt, follow your instincts! If the service was great, praise accordingly. If it wasn't so good, compensate as you see fit.

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