Tag: exceptions

Tonytown.com - Lots of political parties

The Real Problem In Politics

Tonytown.com - Lots of political partiesYou’ve all heard me say it repeatedly, I’m an equal opportunity hater when it comes to political parties. To date, I haven’t been convinced to re-evaluate this stance, and to be honest I am tired of questioning my own stance for the sake of social and economic concessions.

Let me explain my logic on this. It really all comes down to misrepresentation. In this, I mean the root of problems we all have an opinion on has been consistently compromised to achieve other agendas that happen to be promoted or supported by large(r) voting demographics.

By subscribing to the idea that we can only make a difference if we support the two major political parties here in the U.S., we effectively cripple our opinions and values. This isn’t about whether or not you’re a hardline conservative or liberal…its about your representing your individual values in our government.

At this time, the two major political parties have at one time or another supported or promoted diametrically opposing views, but the majority of the time, subscribing to the perception that these views are in fact the only two options available to voters is incredibly fallacious.

Example: PersonX is just another citizen that has values and opinions, said person feels that abortion needs more regulation, and also feels that the current level of gun control needs deregulation in accordance with their perception of both the bible and their understanding of their constitutional rights. Under the current system of representation, this person has only one ability to make that change directly, their vote.

Due to the current voting powers and the political parties integration into the voting system, PersonX is quite incapable of finding adequate representation in the government. Why? Because currently they are fed the perception that if they do not vote for either Republicans or Democrats, they will achieve neither.

This idea is why we’re essentially socially and economically upside down right now. Right now PersonX can use heir voice, and convince others that his or her opinions are right, but when it comes down to getting all those people PersonX has convinced to align accordingly…PersonX’s vote and that of his subscribers will only be capable of achieving a half win because the only people they are offered to vote for are either Republican or Democrat.

Resolving this issue is complex, because our government is now incredibly intertwined with large business organizations that would also lose their sway if they weren’t capable of influencing votes and legislation to a majority of voters by influencing the two political parties that hold. Thus Big Business will never support the idea that people shouldn’t concede their vote to achieve only a portion of their goals.

Another example: a vast majority of voters do not feel we should be pursuing military agendas all over the globe as if most of the world were at war with us. Yet here we are, constantly pushing our own military into other countries that are most often demanding we not get involved. I am the first person to subscribe to a national defense strategy that permits and promotes our freedoms. This is a very commonly held belief, I ask people, I ask my friends, and I talk with complete strangers…just to see where my own opinions stand against others. While a majority of people are ignorant of our current state of military affairs, those that did show an interest ALL expressed the same sentiment I did. Now if all these voters have expressed this sentiment, why on earth are we fighting all over the world??? I know I voted for a guy that favored trade-building over war and regime changes. But…nothing changed? Where is my representation?

The answer is simple, the two major political parties in the U.S. due to their party affiliation are in fact forced into making concessions that reflect the goals of the party, not the people they represent. By representing the party and not the citizen, the government representative is no longer capable (or willing) to adequately repesent the opinions and beliefs of their constituency. Simply put, the Republicans and Democrats are only capable of serving their own agenda, and not yours. There are rare exceptions to this, but these are exceptions to the norm and unfortunately regularly cause the nation to be completely misrepresented in almost every facet of government, military action, and diplomacy.

If this wasn’t enough for you to understand my point of view, your should then simply take my word for it and research who you’re voting for, you may find that the person you put on such a big pedestal rarely holds the values you thought you were voting for. IMO…the best politicians are the ones that have solutions for limiting government involvement and regulation.

-T




No More Overtime?! Really?!

tonytow tony hunt gets angsty

Some things just absolutely tick me off.

So today an interesting string of articles came up on my radar: an initiative to abolish overtime pay for hourly laborers. I know a lot of you are like “WHAAAT?!”

Initially, I was even like “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!”

Why? Because that money I like to have when I’ve been working for over 40 hours a week.

That was my initial line of thinking because as an individual, overtime pay has helped me through a lot of rough spots. It allowed me to avoid having to get a second job more often than not. But now that I am running my own company, I see immediately where the government (de)regulation here will remove an absolutely HUGE burden on many many employers here in the U.S. and allow a LOT of staffing opportunities to occur.

This type of legislation will definitely rock the boat, but not necessarily in a bad way. At first I was skeptical because of the impact it has on workers that rely on overtime. Then I realized that this only applied to employees who actually get to work over 40 hours a week (with a few exceptions). Those hit the worst on this type of legislation are union workers, whose inflated salaries are a HUGE drain on employers. Followed up by contractors used to gouging on time over 40. After that…well…it’s not actually that bad.

Here’s the kicker though. This potentially saves employers a TON of money. The reason companies dont like overtime in their service process is because it literally throws profitability in the shitter. Work-related accidents happen more often to employees working over 40 hours per week than those that dont. This affects disability, and workmans comp insurance. Immediate affects are seen in shared tax and compensation responsibilities. Essentially, businesses that dont have to pay overtime are far more likely to be able to employ their staff more, or allow for more staffers based on this (de)regulation.

Dont get me wrong, I love overtime, but to be honest it causes more pain to employers that it’s worth to the employees getting the extra pay, and allows companies to staff better.

Are there arenas where this may be a catalyst to working overworked people even more? Absolutely, but this tactic is already used and a TON of companies already dodge the overtime bullet by deliberately misrepresenting positions as exempt job types when they are nothing of the sort.

Anyhow, I am really curious if this is just another smokescreen platform to get us riled up while something else is pushed through or if it’s like SOPA/CISPA.

Article from the Daily KOS
Opposition Article from PoliticusUSA
HR 1119