On Feb 21, 9:50*pm, "William Bruce" wrote:
Harry Krause wrote:
I can just hear -barely- the Republicans whining this fall that "we're not
in a recession, everything is fine, the rich are still rich, and the
barely employed and unemployed and homeless don't matter."

Harry, You haven't replied to my query and I'm very curious. *Since you
brought up the subject of employment, are you still able to furnish those
wonderful benefits for all your employees? *That's quite a feat, and I'm
wondering how in the world you can to it.

From a prior Harry Krause posting:

I'm doing my part to ease unemployment. I'm hiring another writer *for my
staff..
I need more staff because 2004 is a major election year and business

* booked to date indicates we'll be drowning in work. We need to hire a
* production coordinator, too. It has very little to do with the state of
* the economy, other than using it as reason to defeat Republicrap
* candidates.

* We have first-class benefits, including a top-of-the-line health
* insurance plan, a non-contributory defined-benefit pension plan, a 401k,
* and a life insurance policy equal to annual salary. We contribute a
* share of profits to the 401k on behalf of the employee. Our employees
* pay $4.50 for generic prescriptions and $8.00 for non-generics, but
* that's going up next year to $10 and $15. New employees get two weeks
* vacation the first year, and that goes to three weeks the third year.. In
* addition, we have 12 paid holidays and we shut down from noon on
* Christmas eve to the day after New Year's Day. We also provide 20 days
* of paid sick leave a year. And we have an outside company administering
* pre-tax flexible bennies for our employees.
* Our fringe benefit package follows the trade union model, except, of
* course, for the profit contributions to 401k's. Trade unions are
* not-for-profit enterprises.
* How do these compare to the bennies at your shop?
*
* The 20 paid sick days aren't part of the "paid" days off unless those
* days are used. None of our people abuses sick leave. In fact, no one as
* yet has even come close to using 20 sick days in one year. They're there
* in case they're needed.

* Oh, I forgot. We also provide everyone with LTD.
*
* The company provides an insurance plan that pays 50% of an employe's
* salary for Long Term Disability. *Employes have the option of purchasing
* an additional 16.66%, bringing their total to 66.66%. *The basic benefit
* maximum is $4,000 per month. *With the buy up, the limit is increased to
* $10,000 per month.

wow! that's a helluva list of benefits. I'll bet employee turnover
is low.