EvilMonkey

So I heard this morning that Rahm plans to pay for his gifts to the teachers by taxing smokers and raising the amusement tax. Way to go Rahm, f*** over as many people as you can to pay for your inability to fix the situation to your benefit. Sox tickets are high enough. Museum prices? Forget it, never going there again, especially since you already screw non city residents on pricing there. Any why any smoker would ever by cigs in the city is beyond me. The tax difference alone makes it worthwhile to take a trip to Indiana and buy in bulk.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 04:23 PM) How long could you afford your reasonably priced house if you lost your job for 2-4 years starting today? Would you just be another "dumbass?" Should we keep subsidizing your mortgage with the tax credit? I don't want my tax dollars to pay for YOUR mortgage! Well, you are obviously a dumbass since you didn't read my part about having a program for people just like you mentioned. edit: if you are asking me personally I can go about 2 years, maybe a little more. I planned ahead. In fact, I was out of work for almost 18 months and never missed a payment, because I planned ahead.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 03:45 PM) Exactly. Instead of giving the banks more money by buying mortgage-backed securities, just go out and cover some damn mortgages directly. I have zero desire for my tax dollars to be used to help some dumbass that bought 4x the house they could afford just because times were 'good'. And simply being underwater doesn't mean you need any 'adjustments'. If you can still make the payments, then just too damn bad that your house isn't worth what it was. If you lost your job and need help, sure, come up with a program for that. Otherwise I don't want to pay YOUR mortgage, just like I don't want to pay your student loans either.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 19, 2012 -> 12:10 AM) Flags that release poison when burned, that is clever. I guess Chinese made flags are good for something, eh?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 04:05 PM) People will vote for policies and programs they like and may personally benefit from? The nerve! Clearly this whole democracy thing is a failure. So why then was anything Romney said so bad? He told the truth! Oh my God, never do that!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 03:54 PM) I've never seen anything like the current situation in our country regarding the medical profession. I've never had my insurance company OK all the costs regarding a trip to the doctor or dentist. They always dispute something that I have to pay. And as far as getting in to see the doctor? It's ridiculous. You can't get in and basically the attitude is they could give a s*** about the patient. I guess I have to keep looking to find a doctor who actually cares. Do any?? Maybe some of you are having good luck with doctors and your insurance companies. I'm not. I have never had a problem getting in to see my regular doc, or the ortho guy for my knee. Only time I had issues was when I went to see the podiatrist. That was like a month wait! And while the policy itself isn't the best, I have Aetna and have not had any issues with them disputing or not paying.

The Sox have always had one team every year that was bad but would still spank them every time. When Detroit was bad it used to be them we couldn't beat. Just throw strikes (n0 o-2 walks), catch the ball, the rest will come.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 02:34 PM) Will someone turn around and ask Rahm how they're going to improve the schools if they close schools, increase class sizes, and can't afford air conditioning? How about keeping them open first. What good is improvement if they close down the next month.

Had the stache back in the late 80's/early 90's because my wife liked it. Thought I looked like a 70's porn reject.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 12:11 PM) i'm sorry, Obama allowed me to be covered by my parents insurance till i turn 26. I apologize for taking advantage of that. i know it's so wrong of me as a small business owner and job creator. Always semantics with you, unless it comes from the mouth of a Republican. Face it, what he said was true, and you helped provide an example. People are gonna vote to keep their free stuff coming from Uncle Sugar. And people who pay no taxes don't really care about lowering the tax rate since it doesn't effect them (that they can see).

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 11:59 AM) h. Doctors/hospitals and pharma is still able to do whatever they want in regard to cost. People continue to blame insurance for being so expensive...when they're not the ones that send the bills. The ones that send the bills, however, weren't touched. I find that annoying. The medical center bill for my knee surgery last month was almost $6k for an hour long procedure. And that doesn't include the actual DOCTOR bill, which I haven't got yet. Each office visit, which literally was less than 2 minutes, cost $220. Can't WAIT to see that one.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 18, 2012 -> 11:55 AM) *sigh* do we really have to go through this again? I think Obama has done some f***ed up s***. I think he's a p****. I think he's got no backbone. I think his first term showed how unprepared he was for the office. however, he's given me healthcare, made my student loans manageable, and for that alone he's worth re-electing in my book. So Mitt was right, the people feeding at the government teat will just vote to stay at the teat.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 16, 2012 -> 10:19 PM) Sounds like the CTU board took the agreement to the delegates, and they balked at some aspects, particularly leeway for school closings. They want to take it to the full membership, then vote. That will take multiple days. Rahm in response wants to take legal action to stop the strike. Thing is, I'm surprised that if they are indeed close, they couldn't come to a one-week temporary agreement using last contract's tenets, to get the teachers teaching while the details are hammered out. I don't see either side suggesting it, though I'd imagine it would be easy enough to do. "Our members are not happy," Lewis said. "They want to know if there is anything more they can get. Yeah, that sounds about right. They feel that they won something and might have Rahm bent over a barrel and want to try and screw him, and the taxpayers, some more.

I know a few people keep saying that it isn't about the money, but here is the union prez out protesting with the Occutards. She sure sounds like it is about the money, and she spouts off all the usual class warfare line about income redistribution and so on, while conveniently ignoring the fact that she makes more than just about everyone there. (i don't know how to inbed the players, sorry)

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 09:02 PM) Let's stop being crabs in a bucket and fight for better employment protections for everyone instead of no protections for anyone. Yeah, let's fix it so that you can't fire the kid you hired to mow your lawn, despite the crappy job he does, until you go thur an appeal process. And during that appeal he gets 'suspended with pay'. And while you wait for the appeal you can hire someone else to do the job that the first guy you are trying to fire couldn't do right. Then have the union-packed appeal board rule against you, forcing you to rehire him, pay him back wages and a fine. Protection for all! As a former business owner I was glad for the ability to hire and fire who I damn well felt like. It allowed me to get quality people working for me that stayed withme for a long time. In the 19 years I was hiring/firing, I had one employee for 17 of those years, 3 that stayed for 8+ years and several with 5 year or more stints. I also had several that lasted less than a year, one making it less than a month.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 09:02 PM) Let's stop being crabs in a bucket and fight for better employment protections for everyone instead of no protections for anyone. But they are already better paid, benefited and protected than most in the area. Why should they get even more?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 04:38 PM) What "responsibility to the system" does a public employee have that precludes them from demanding better wages and working conditions? So which is it. A noble deed that they do for the children or are they in it for a buck? You keep switching their motivations.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 04:27 PM) When did public sector employees start taking vows of poverty? Poverty? OMFG!!! They make as much, if not more, than the parents of the kids they teach. When you add in benefits they make LOTS MORE! Just stop with the sob story attempt.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 03:21 PM) Which election? Chicago Mayoral election (2010-2011)? Illinois Governor election? (2010)? And at what point in the near future do you expect the Republicans to stop trying to kill all unions? I'll be happy when the public sector unions are gone.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 12:38 PM) Most teachers to even make a little more money need to go get a Master's degree as well. Or get another year experience for that automatic increase.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 12:34 PM) The pension is a point of contention. It should be publicly funded as our entire job is to benefit the public. Our job isn't to make money or profit as it is for most people. With your pension you have options as well as social security. Teachers do not get the social security. We do not get lifetime health and dental benefits. We currently get it to 65 and go to medicare like many other retirees. The benfits are self insured meaning we pay a large portion of all of our medical and dental benfits as the state contrbution has decreased to almost nothing. Also there is a member of the administration who decides on what our medical and dental contrbution is without input from any other sources. The teachers benefits including retirement currently ranks in the bottom 1/4 of states in the US. Currently our retirement doesn't include a death benefit for spouses. If you die does your spouse get anything from your retirement plan? You should get SS like everyone else. The pension thing was originally because you were paid less. Since that isn't the case, if it is good enough for the general population, it is good enough for teachers as well.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 10:50 AM) Rahm is anti-union and Obama's done nothing for labor. Tight budgets didn't stop administration from giving themselves raises. Except suck on the SEIU cock as he buddies around with the boss and has him over for WHite House visits more than anyone else.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 02:25 AM) that'll get them arrested. idiots. No it won't, because one Union will support the other.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 10, 2012 -> 04:27 PM) I will say that the district where I'm from pays much less than CPS apparently. It is probably also much easier to each where I'm from than CPS, and living costs are way lower. That said, starting salary for a teacher with a BA where I am from is 30k. A 20 year tenured teacher with a masters make roughly 75k. Administrators make about 100 (principal, superintendent). you say those as if they are bad. Maybe bad for inner city Chicago, but not in other areas. Those numbers look similar to the pay scale in the town I grew up in.

The Teachers contract that I posted a link to earlier had that info on it as well towards the end. It worked out to a little over $20 an hour to coach any of the teams and $16 if the teachers did 'crowd control' at events.