Dodd: Comrade Dufus Strikes Again

I am busy and hadn't expected to write. I am also of the mind that reporting on the insanity is no longer of interest or use. I am insanity weary. These days, I think of my exit plan.

Nonetheless, here is some more money, regulation, and deterioration of our small businesses.  Thanks to Senator Doddhorn.

Dodd offers 'emergency' bill on paid leave for flu 

By Holly Rosenkrantz | Bloomberg News

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., introduced "emergency" legislation requiring companies to pay employees who miss work because of the swine or seasonal flus.

"If paid sick leave had been a reality when this pandemic began, we would be in better shape," Dodd, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at a hearing Tuesday. "This isn't just a workers' rights issue, it's a public-health emergency."

Democrats in Congress have already introduced legislation that would mandate paid leave for illnesses generally, though lawmakers haven't acted on it as they concentrate on an overhaul of the health-care system. Some Republicans and business groups said that requiring paid sick leave may force companies to cut other benefits or fire employees.

"At a time when employers are facing unprecedented challenges, imposing a costly paid leave mandate on employers could easily result in additional job loss or cuts in other employee benefits," Elissa O'Brien, testifying on behalf of the of the Society for Human Resource Management, told the Senate panel at the hearing. "We caution against rushing to impose new mandates that will do more harm than good."

About half of private-sector workers, and three-fourths of low-wage American workers, such as school bus drivers and food- service employees, don't receive paid sick leave, Dodd said. About 80,000 school cafeteria workers aren't paid if they stay home when they're sick, and they serve about 10 million schoolchildren each day, according to Dodd.

The swine flu, or H1N1 virus, has reached 48 states, and infected as many as 5.7 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 672 Americans have died, including at least 129 children, according to a statement from Dodd....

Oh, in case you think it is a great idea that a marginal business will be forced to offer paid flu leave, remember, businesses don't pay taxes, they pass them along. This truism is lost on our minority of morons, but they seem to vote along party lines.

Eventually, as inflation heats up, money vanishes, taxes increase along with regulation, the employees can have a nice long vacation on unemployment.  One this starts to happen and the tax base shrinks, I will send you a postcard from somewhere far away.