And what does the “virtues of American people” have to do with American companies? You don’t make any sense here at all.

Did you give blood or money after 9-11? Would you help a little old lady getting mugged in the street or try to save a child from a fire? Would you let your neighbor die of cancer, if you knew you had the means to help him?

And I don’t agree…the “no benefits” idea WOULD penalize those who make little money because company would most likely NOT pay the insurance money directly to the employee…it would go into their pockets as profit.

Where did you get the “this is America and we should take care of one another”? The Constitution guarantees “life, liberty and the pursue of happiness” and says nothing about one person giving to another under compulsion.

The “no benefits” idea does not penalize those who do not make as much money. The company would simply pay the money to the employees which they now donate to the insurance company and their internal coordinators. It would be a cost savings to them as they would not have to deal with the claims, personnel and other headaches which arise from providing the plans. And it would give everyone a chance to choose their own insurance or whatever they wanted to do with the money. It is a win-win situation. Cutting out the middle man (the company), in and of itself, would save money. Insurance companies would then have to compete for everyone’s business resulting in lower prices. Free choice and capitalism at its best.

So you are saying that the company offer no benefits and let the employees purchase it themselves. So you would have the executives/management making enough money to do so but the poor file clerk who gets paid minimum wage wouldn’t be able to afford them. Oh, yeah,,,sounds right to me. So only the people who make more money can afford to stay healthy or even live? I can anticipate your next remark…”We’ll they should better themselves then and get a better paying job.” THey can’t even afford health insurance but they can afford an education? Please…be realistic. What happened to “this is America and we should help take care of one another.” I guess that’s true only if it doesn’t come our of YOUR pocket.

Let’s get back to basics…the purpose of a company is to make money. If they decide not to provide benefits, then that is their right as a business. Have you considered the other side of the coin? Maybe the government should require all businesses not to provide any benefits, then everyone is on an equal standing and can decide on what insurance they want to carry.

A company hires people to do the work of the company and in exchange for their work the people receive compensation. The company is not a person and thus should remain impartial as to the benefits question. All it wants to know is if the employee is present or absent. If the employee works, he gets paid and if he is not there contributing, then he gets nothing. This idea of benefits was added many years ago to attract workers, it is not an employee’s right. If employee does not like the compensation package then they have the perfect right to go to another place of employment.

You are getting onto a slippery slope advocating these government requirements. The next step could well be the government will be telling companies what they have to pay each person…oh, this will work out well for the person who actually accomplishes their work only to get paid the same as the sluffer at the next workstation as they have the same job title. Sounds to me like we are drifting into the scenario of “1984″.

It was a non-profit agency and I have no clue on how they are doing….I don’t work there any longer.
And don’t ask me why I left if it was so great. I have never said that all companies should be offer that much time off. I am only saying that they should offer SOMETHING.

Also Cindy, what line of work was the business in that gave all of the vacation time, holidays and sick days? Was it a corporation, private business or working for the government? Also, how have they done during this economic downturn, have they laid off people?