This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Economy

  • Motivated job applicant

    Poetrooper sends us a link to an article about a seriously motivated job applicant in Norfolk, VA. I’d hire him;

    It all began when [Tevin Kievelle] Monroe walked into the McDonald’s on St. Paul’s Boulevard and asked the store manager for an application. After the manager explained twice that the process is handled online, police said, Monroe lifted his shirt to reveal a gun tucked in his waistband.

    The quick-thinking manager then asked him to have a seat while she retrieved a paper application (and contacted police). Monroe was filling out the application at the table when officers arrested him.

    Out of all of the perspective applicants that manager has seen, Tevin is going to be the one he always remembers. Way to stand out from the pack, Tevin. But, unfortunately, even though he turned the tide of the interview, Tevin is still unemployed. Can you believe it?

  • Even More PPACA News

    Here ya go – another dose of stupidity jackassery foolishness entertainment news concerning that new law named the Patently Pathetic Abjectly Clueless Absurdity Patient Protection and “Affordable” Care Act, AKA “Obamacare”.

    No, folks – I ain’t making this stuff up.  I couldn’t.   No  one would believe it.

    As usual, hat-tip to the Drudge Report for pointing me to the links above.

     

     

  • Yet More “Good News” Regarding Social Security Disability

    According to data released by the Social Security Administration, the Social Security Disability “Insurance” Fund* operated at a deficit during FY2013 – again.  This marks the fifth consecutive year – FY2009 through FY2013 – that the Social Security Disability Fund has run a deficit.

    The previous record for consecutive deficit years for this fund was four – FY1962 through FY1965, during the JFK/LBJ Administrations.

    In fact, counting FY2013 the Fund has only operated at a current-year deficit for only seventeen years during its 57 year (1957-2013, inclusive) history.  Those years were 1962-1965 (4 yrs), 1975-1977 (3 yrs), 1980, 1984, 1987, 1992-1993 (2 yrs), and 2009-1013 (5 years).

    In fact, since the Social Security Disability Fund was created, only 3 Presidential Administrations have had zero deficits:  those of Eisenhower, Nixon . . . and Bush(43).  Every other Administration has had at least one year when the Social Security Disability Fund has operated at a deficit.

    However, the Obama Administration is one of only two administrations in US history to have a deficit for each Fiscal Year it has been in power.  The only other US Administration to manage that was the Ford Administration – and it only lasted a bit over 2 years, from Aug 1974 to Jan 1977.

    Prior to FY 2009, the Social Security Disability “Insurance” Fund operated at a net surplus for fifteen consecutive years – from 1994 through 2008, inclusive.  And since FY2008, the Social Security Disability Fund has lost in excess of 53% of its value – in 5 years.

    The number of persons receiving Social Security Disability has also skyrocketed in the last 5 years as well – from  7,442,377 at the beginning of FY2009 to 8,936,932 at the beginning of FY2014 (1 Oct 2013).  That’s an increase in the number of “disabled” of more than 20% in 5 years.

    People simply have not become 20% more susceptible to disability during  the last 5 years; neither has the US population grown by 20%.  So I submit that something else is happening to cause this massive increase in the number of persons in the US that are “disabled” for Social Security purposes.

    My guess is it’s due to something I’d call “jumping on the gravy train”, coupled with a hugely lax and compliant regulatory bureaucracy.   But I guess it’s possible I could be wrong.

     

    * – Yeah, the Social Security Administration calls this an “insurance” trust fund – just like it calls the rest of Social Security “insurance”.  Bull.  Everything they do are tax-supported legally mandatory income transfer programs that transfer money from workers to non-workers.  Insurance my . . . eye.  (smile)

    Don’t believe me?  Just keep working  but tell Uncle Sam you want to cancel your insurance – then refuse to pay your “premiums”. 

  • Don’t Like Contractor Labor? Well, How Much Would Using Federal Civilians Cost?

    Yesterday, I wrote an article showing fairly clearly that military labor ain’t exactly cheap these days.  It was kinda fun kicking the anthill – so to speak.  (smile)

    However, someone asked an obvious follow-up question:  rather than contractors, what would doing the same job with government civilian labor cost?  So yeah – I took a shot at that one, too.

    I used the same assumed location (Fort Bragg, NC, area); the same activity (2 shift warehouse operations) applies.  But now I’ll use the following grade structure (all GS employees – I don’t want to wade through Wage Grade regulations and policies to figure out what WG-level and pay rate is apropos).

    • Warehouse Manager:  GS-12, total:  1
    • Warehouse Foreman:  GS-11, total:  1
    • Shift Lead:  GS-9, total:  2
    • Team Lead:  GS-7, total:  6
    • Warehouse Workers:  GS-5, total:  36

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  • So, How Much Money Would Using Military Labor Really Save?

    I got asked a question the other day that intrigued me.  And as longtime readers probably guessed – I decided to play with some numbers and see where they led.

    The particular question was in the context of a military logistics contract.  The question was, in effect, “How much money would DoD save by doing that with military labor”?

    Obviously, I don’t have the specifics of that contract. But I decided to make a couple of assumptions, then “run the numbers” for a contrived but IMO reasonably representative example to see where the numbers led.

    As that example, I chose a warehouse operation – two shifts, with 3 nominal 7-person teams (team lead plus 6 workers each) and a shift lead for each shift, plus a warehouse supervisor and his/her deputy.  (Let’s call the teams on each shift “receiving”, “warehousing”, and “shipping”.)  I then assumed military and civilian staffing and compared costs.

    Since costs vary by region and the logistical contract in question was in the “South”, I assumed the location was in the vicinity of Fort Bragg, NC.

    The military staffing for the operation I assumed was as follows:

    • OIC:  1 ea O-2, 3 yrs TIS
    • NCOIC:  1 ea E-7, 14 yrs TIS
    • Shift Supervisors:  2 ea E-6, 9 yrs TIS
    • Team Leaders:  6 ea E-5, 5 yrs TIS
    • Team Members:  18 ea E-4 (3 yrs TIS), 18 ea E-3 (2 yrs TIS)

    I further assumed the OIC, NCOIC, Shift Supervisors, and Team Leaders were all married; that the Team Members were 50/50 split married/single; and that all lived “on the economy” (e.g., received housing allowance and separate rations).  This was necessary because – unlike civilian industry – military personnel costs vary depending on whether or not an individual is married.

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  • And In the “Gee, What a Surprise” Department . . .

    Volt sales drop 32% in October

    GM blamed the drop in sales on “declining gas prices”.

    An underpowered, poorly-designed, poorly-built, short range “gas saving” $40,000 Adam Sandler Mobile (warning – link is DEFINITELY NSFW or around children) that wasn’t worth half what people paid to buy it and was overhyped from day one whose sales fall by 1/3 when gas prices fall 15% or so.  Gee – who could have predicted that?

    In contrast, sales of a well-designed and well-built competitor – Toyota’s trendy car for the smug and arrogant, the “Prickmobile” (AKA the Prius) – rose 7% in October.  And Toyota’s Prickmobile doesn’t have a huge government subsidy backing it, either.

    I’d say YGBSM – but I’m dead serious.

    Look, I’m OK with people driving a hybrid or other “energy efficient” vehicle if that’s their choice.  But I don’t think they deserve any “special reward” for doing so – they get their reward every time they get fuel.  And I really hate people trying to sell me a turd sandwich while telling me it’s a delicious hamburger.  The Volt was government-subsidized turd sandwich from day one.

    “Well done”, GM.  Next time, listen to the market instead of some community organizer with no clue about real-world business or economics.

  • In Case You’re Wondering Why the “Obamacare” Web Site Was So AFU* . . .

    . . .perhaps this article might help explain things:

    Feds reviewed only one bid for Obamacare website design

    Single-bid, no-bid, and sole-source contracts all have their place.  But I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a $670+ million dollar contract being awarded on that basis before – and certainly not to the US subsidiary of a foreign firm with a spotty track record.  Hell, even the Angel and Oxcart programs evaluated multiple proposals initially (though Angel was eventually pursued sole-source by another Agency after the USAF rejected it).

    However, I also found this:

    Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website

    Interesting.  Dunno if there’s a connection, but . . . .

     

    Note:  AFU = “All Fouled Up”.  But there may be other definitions for the acronym, too.  (smile)

  • If You’re Still Wondering Why Your Taxes Are So Ridiculiously High . . .

    . . . this article might explain it:

    Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov’t Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

    Here’s the summary:  in 2011, 108,592,000 persons in America were receiving some kind of means-tested benefit from Federal, state, or local governments.  That same year, only 101,716,000 people worked full-time year round.

    Unfortunately, that’s only part of the “good news”.  The total of nearly 108.6 million above does not include persons receiving non-means-tested government benefits – e.g., benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits*, or unemployment compensation.  Again according to the Census Bureau, the total number of persons receiving Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits, and unemployment compensation in 2011 was 104,617,000.

    There’s obviously some overlap between these categories.  There’s overlap as well as with means-tested government benefits.  Still – this is well past ridiculous, and fast approaching obscene.

    So, the next time you wonder why you pay all those damned taxes, just remember:  there are now more people drawing means-tested government benefits in America than are working full-time.  There are also more people drawing non-means-tested government benefits than are working full-time.  That just might have something to do with why the government seizes so much of your earnings.

    And it also might explain why we can’t seem to come up with enough dollars to defend the nation adequately, too.

     

    *Note:  most VA benefits are not means-tested.  However a few VA benefits – such as VA pensions for low-income vets and the VA Aid and Assistance allowance, to name two – are means-tested.