Author Archive: joe

That is the reason many members of Congress give for not adding "e-verify" to any bills they have under consideration. Just in case you have not heard, e-verify is how a business can check that an employee applicant is a U.S. citizen, or in the country legally.

Just a question – how many business people do you know that don't have some kind of internet connectivity? They pay their bills, order supplies and check their credit/debit card accounts – online! From what I have seen, most have it either at work or at home, or on their cell phones (Hey, Mr. President you have one, called a "BlackBerry")! So why was this going to be a hardship? On top of that, no businesses or business groups had complained to Congress about the hardship. So what's with Congress?[more]

When businesses do complain about new regulations that will create a hardship on them, Congress in their grand way says " We've listened to this group or that group, and feel it's for the public good that we require" whatever thing it is they are debating. On top of that, over the cost objections of businesses, the regulations are put in place because it "is for the common good", and will take some more (read new) government employees to make sure you/we are doing what will be good…

Congress did not call it a hardship based on cost, but rather the "time and inconvenience" to businesses. Now really? How many people get hired on the spot with their first interview? Usually employers want to check out their prospective employees in some way – call former work locations, references, etc. On top of that, they want to interview other candidates and decide which one is better for the available job. So, if business have not complained, and businesses are looking for ways to meet the requirements of Homeland Security to verify applicants, why does Congress call it a hardship?

Your guess is as good as mine, but then look who is leading the charge to not have e-verify. The same people who want everybody to depend on the government for everything. And you thought all those stimulus jobs were going to help your fellow citizens. Laugh, 'cause you've been had.

Again!

Not in my view. Doesn't look that way to a lot of people, but the way Congress acted it was "the people be damned."

In case you couldn't follow the news, most of what they passed were dollars for regular programs that have not gotten through Congress in the past. Some of those programs won't be creating jobs for at least five years – they will need designs, committees, environmental reviews (followed by lawsuits), contracts, bids, more lawsuits and then you know how government projects go. What businesses can accomplish in a year take years in government's hands.[more]

One of my memories is of the construction of the downtown campus (a building) for City College of San Francisco. The old building at that location had already been demolished, so all they had to do was start construction. But right next to where I worked, a business destroyed an old building, replaced it with a skyscraper and had people moving in, and the College building was still under construction.

So…if you expect anything out of the bailout, get ready for a long wait.