Side bet: How long do you figure it will be before UC starts replacing single full-time positions with two or three part timers (assuming they can get around the union)?
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com)
at October 6, 2015 2:29 PM
Great article on ACLU site about China's citizenship scores - basically credit scores, but the scores include political compliance factors:
Everybody is measured by a score between 350 and 950, which is linked to their national identity card. While currently supposedly voluntary, the government has announced that it will be mandatory by 2020.
The system is run by two companies, Alibaba and Tencent, which run all the social networks in China and therefore have access to a vast amount of data about people’s social ties and activities and what they say.
In addition to measuring your ability to pay, as in the United States, the scores serve as a measure of political compliance. Among the things that will hurt a citizen’s score are posting political opinions without prior permission, or posting information that the regime does not like, such as about the Tienanmen Square massacre that the government carried out to hold on to power, or the Shanghai stock market collapse.
It will hurt your score not only if you do these things, but if any of your friends do them. Imagine the social pressure against disobedience or dissent that this will create.
Anybody can check anyone else’s score online. Among other things, this lets people find out which of their friends may be hurting their scores.
Also used to calculate scores is information about hobbies, lifestyle, and shopping. Buying certain goods will improve your score, while others (such as video games) will lower it.
Those with higher scores are rewarded with concrete benefits. Those who reach 700, for example, get easy access to a Singapore travel permit, while those who hit 750 get an even more valued visa.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers
at October 6, 2015 9:07 PM
Old RPM Daddy; "work-study" student positions have usually been exempt from labor laws anyway.
At least it was when I was a student decades ago. The "work-study" was really just a designation assigned by the school so that they didn't have to pay as much, provide benefits. etc.
I did it for a couple of semesters my freshmen year. It was okay for spending money, the jobs were on campus, and the best was that our manager allowed us to do some school work on the clock! She knew we weren't getting the best deal pay-wise, so she said: "just be discrete about it."
But, unfortunately, both semesters we had to work our tails off during finals week! That was the reason I only did the "work-study" job for my freshman year.
After that I found jobs near campus, with private companies, that paid more and the managers that I had were very understanding that school came first - especially during finals week.
The free market is grand, isn't it? I was okay with the "work-study" for a while until I realized that I could do better. And, so, I found better.
This is one of the arguments I keep having with those who keep claiming that we need laws to protect workers. NO, I keep insisting we need a more robust job market so that employers are competing for staff!
When you force an employer to do X they will find a way around X. When employers find that they cannot find anyone to take the job unless they do X; then they will do X. That's the free market.
So, nope, I'm not betting against your side bet!
charles
at October 6, 2015 9:18 PM
"what do you expect from a country that uses the metric system."
No confusion regarding the word "quartz", for starters.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers
at October 7, 2015 5:43 PM
The UK government is paying doctors to withhold care from patients. This is where Western civilization is headed.
Cousin Dave at October 5, 2015 10:57 PM
Well Cousin Dave, what do you expect from a country that uses the metric system.
Bob in Texas at October 6, 2015 6:01 AM
Surprise!
http://www.themarketbusiness.com/2015-10-06-palliative-care-in-uk-best-in-the-world-says-study
Bob in Texas at October 6, 2015 6:29 AM
This is what real income inequality looks like.
(And "corporatism" is just a euphamism for "facism".)
Cousin Dave at October 6, 2015 10:20 AM
Fans of Nordic noir will be saddened to learn that Henning Mankel, author of the Kurt Wallander series, has died at 67.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at October 6, 2015 2:21 PM
The University of California system is raising it's minimum wage to $15 per hour, which no doubt pleases its hourly employees.
However, this raise does not apply to people working less than 20 hours per week, a population which includes many student workers, which no doubt displeases the work-study students.
Side bet: How long do you figure it will be before UC starts replacing single full-time positions with two or three part timers (assuming they can get around the union)?
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at October 6, 2015 2:29 PM
Great article on ACLU site about China's citizenship scores - basically credit scores, but the scores include political compliance factors:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans
Everybody is measured by a score between 350 and 950, which is linked to their national identity card. While currently supposedly voluntary, the government has announced that it will be mandatory by 2020.
The system is run by two companies, Alibaba and Tencent, which run all the social networks in China and therefore have access to a vast amount of data about people’s social ties and activities and what they say.
In addition to measuring your ability to pay, as in the United States, the scores serve as a measure of political compliance. Among the things that will hurt a citizen’s score are posting political opinions without prior permission, or posting information that the regime does not like, such as about the Tienanmen Square massacre that the government carried out to hold on to power, or the Shanghai stock market collapse.
It will hurt your score not only if you do these things, but if any of your friends do them. Imagine the social pressure against disobedience or dissent that this will create.
Anybody can check anyone else’s score online. Among other things, this lets people find out which of their friends may be hurting their scores.
Also used to calculate scores is information about hobbies, lifestyle, and shopping. Buying certain goods will improve your score, while others (such as video games) will lower it.
Those with higher scores are rewarded with concrete benefits. Those who reach 700, for example, get easy access to a Singapore travel permit, while those who hit 750 get an even more valued visa.
Snoopy at October 6, 2015 5:47 PM
Obama Returns From Trade Summit With 5 Stout Ships Full Of Cardamom, Silk, And Indigo
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 6, 2015 9:07 PM
Old RPM Daddy; "work-study" student positions have usually been exempt from labor laws anyway.
At least it was when I was a student decades ago. The "work-study" was really just a designation assigned by the school so that they didn't have to pay as much, provide benefits. etc.
I did it for a couple of semesters my freshmen year. It was okay for spending money, the jobs were on campus, and the best was that our manager allowed us to do some school work on the clock! She knew we weren't getting the best deal pay-wise, so she said: "just be discrete about it."
But, unfortunately, both semesters we had to work our tails off during finals week! That was the reason I only did the "work-study" job for my freshman year.
After that I found jobs near campus, with private companies, that paid more and the managers that I had were very understanding that school came first - especially during finals week.
The free market is grand, isn't it? I was okay with the "work-study" for a while until I realized that I could do better. And, so, I found better.
This is one of the arguments I keep having with those who keep claiming that we need laws to protect workers. NO, I keep insisting we need a more robust job market so that employers are competing for staff!
When you force an employer to do X they will find a way around X. When employers find that they cannot find anyone to take the job unless they do X; then they will do X. That's the free market.
So, nope, I'm not betting against your side bet!
charles at October 6, 2015 9:18 PM
"what do you expect from a country that uses the metric system."
No confusion regarding the word "quartz", for starters.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 7, 2015 5:43 PM
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