No, I don’t mean a “thought for the day” that’s worth being paid the minimum wage.  In fact, this though is probably worth less than the minimum wage as it’s more of a question than a thought. The supporters of an increase in the minimum wage are always complaining that it’s not possible to support a family on minimum wage — and point to a more idyllic past when it was possible, the proverbial leaving high school and getting a job... Read more

So I finally got around to looking at the “Fight for 15” website and was surprised by a couple things: First of all, the news reporting made this appear to be a national campaign, but it’s really Chicago-centered.  Here’s the main text on their website:  Chicago’s fast food and retail workers, mostly adults with families, and those who support us are fighting for the just compensation and dignified treatment that all hardworking Americans deserve. As the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago,... Read more

I’m guessing that my readers also take a look at the Drudge Report links, so that this is no suprise, but here it is, anyway: CNBC reports that small employers with comparatively lower-income employees are discovering that they can get a better deal for themselves and their employees by dropping health insurance, sending the employees to the exchanges, and sharing the money saved with their employees as an increase in their paychecks. A win-win scenario, eh? But, of course, not... Read more

Every now and again there’s an article or a blog post or an opinion piece on the minimum wage that I intend to link to and comment on, but time gets away from me. In any case, I wanted to work out some of my thoughts on the minimum wage while I have some time. There is no simple answer for what the “right” minimum wage should be. The difficulty is that the minimum wage really would (if it were... Read more

I haven’t really read much about the late-breaking budget deal yet; here’s a Bloomberg article on the deal, though with scant details. But here’s the key paragraph as far as pensions go: The main components of the deal include raising contributions that federal employees make to their retirement plans and increasing premiums for pensions backed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Not much there, eh? Kind of a throw-away statement. But it’s actually a big deal — to use PBGC... Read more

OK, so I finally finished a big project at work and am a bit more relaxed today.  Via thegatewaypundit.com, here’s an article on Nelson Mandela’s past:  “Nelson Mandela: A Terrorist? – Inconvenient Truths from a Christian Scholar“, which makes the point that, unlike the nonviolence of Gandhi, Mendala’s ANC was a terrorist organization.  And, while the decision to promote reconciliation rather than take revenge against whites after taking power is praiseworthy, South Africa is a very troubled country now, with... Read more

This is just a 5-minute gripe. This is that time of year when we’re all encouraged to donate toys so that poor unfortunate children can “have a Christmas,” and when various organizations “sponsor” families to provide them with gifts for the children, grocery money for Christmas day, etc. My sister, who’s quite involved in this sort of thing, spent part of Thanksgiving studying the sale ads to see what the best toy sales were for the foster children whose wish... Read more

It can’t have escaped the notice of my readers that there are topics about which I’m not writing, even though I am rather interested in them.  And, for the most part, these are topics where I don’t think, at this point, I have anything to contribute to the conversation other than just a “what she said.”  (It also doesn’t help that this is the busy season at work. . . ) But, just to establish my bona fides as a... Read more

The headline of the day at the Tribune: “Could sluggish Illinois lottery aim higher? Private firm falling short in sales; poorer neighborhoods bring in most revenue” (* this may be behind a paywall, but should be accessible by googling the title) Apparently, Illinois hired a private firm to run the lottery based on optimistic projections of revenue growth, and, in particular, revenue growth among the affluent. Lottery Control Board member Geoffrey Richards is quoted as saying, “Has there been an... Read more

A while back, I was involved in benefits benchmarking studies, and worked with people who provided executive “total compensation” studies to our clients. The norm was this: Our clients wanted to be at the 50th percentile for broad employee benefits, and would look at increasing where they fell behind or decreasing, say, health insurance contributions, where they came out as more generous than average. At the same time, our clients targeted the 75th percentile for executive compensation.  You can see... Read more