Sunday, January 17, 2010

good old days

In the 30's it was popular for the "goons" to  start a protection racket.  They wuld shake down business owners by offering "protection" insurance for their businesses from the "bad guys".  Of course the bad guy were the ones offering protection and if you did not pay for it, someone would drop in and wreck the business and sometimes beat up the business owners.  If the owners called the police, they could be killed and sometimes they were killed.  Then our glorious government police stepped in and "cleaned out" the "goons" and all America was greatful.  The small "business people", the "mom and pop" stores, the "local gas station' owners could all run their businesses and make an honest living.  America grew and thrived.  It was the "land of milk and honey".

Fast forward to the 21st Century in the year of 2010 and the land of "no longer milk and honey".  The "goons" have figured out a better protection racket.  They ran for political office, got elected and created a "protection racket"  that  is run by the sorry State of California.  In order to run a business in "California" you must adhere to all of the State
"Protection Regulations".  The number of laws and regulations that a business owner must be aware of and obey and pay for are too numerous to list here.  I have been in business in California for 30 years and I am sure I do not know them all.

A lot of these "regulations" were put in place to "help" the California labor force.  No one is more in favor of laws to help the worker than I am but the enforcement is left to government workers who have been directed  to fine every business for every infraction they can discover and due to the vast volumn of legislation on every law, they can fine a different infraction every time they come in.

These fines for the infractions do not help the employees.  They fined my businees $20,000 in 2009.   I have been open since 1982 and have never had an injury of more than a pinched finger or a small cut.  No employee complained or called CALOSHA but they came anyway.  Great I said, Come on in. (as if I had a choice).  I was happey to have them.  If I could do any more to have a safer work place I would do it.
They found several minor violations and like I said , they fined me.

Now I had to figure out how to pay for the fines.  I was giving my employees 7 paid holidays, 1 week paid vacation, 3 paid sick days and we paid 50% of their medical insurance.  All of these benefits were given by me to the employees.  They were not negotiated or government mandated.

Last year the economy took a dump and our bottom line decreased by 35%. 
In order to stay in business, I had to take most of what I given to the employees back. I decreased their holidays to 3, and did not pay vacation or sick time but continued the medical insurance.

Also, I had to borrow from my retirement account to pay for the fines.

The only winner was the state of California.  I cannot see where I should have been fined and I am sure my employees are not happy about what happened to them.
We are still open and they do have a job but the govermenment came in again last week and fined me another $2000 for not posting a report that states that I have had no injuries.
The Government "goon squad" is going to get a little more "protection money" so I can remain open for business.
I would rather go back to the good old days and pay the racketeers.  It would be one hell of lot cheaper for me and my employees.

7 comments:

Old Egg said...

Hey Old Grizz, you have even made angry about the injustice of officialdom. I am glad you are shouting out from the tallest tree. Let's hope sanity will out, but don't hold your breath. Good Luck!

anthonynorth said...

The west has a sickness at the moment, I'm sure. The little bureaucrats are winning, legislating on every area of life. It's madness.

George S Batty said...

anthony..thanks for stopping in..I alwayus appreciate your words

George S Batty said...

old egg...I think we grew up in a parallel universe in different parts of the globe with our souls dancing together in the atmosphere

Americanising Desi said...

wondeful take on SS!!

good ol days surely!

Good Ol' Days'

but we were times apart wernt we!

linda may said...

Yes the govt has a tendency to go over board, greedy buggers, they have to make their money some how.I don't know that here the fines are so easy to enforce but OH&S laws are certainly over the top.In the hospital where I worked before, you just about had to fill out a report to cover your bum if you so much as sneezed, 15 mins, and attend lots of educational talks, 1 hr, that were always taking you away from your work, then we would all have to rush madly to catch up, which as you would expect, makes for a risky work environment too, so defeating the purpose. Clever blokes those Govt people. But I should shut up due to where I live which is govt. heaven. Haha.

George S Batty said...

Desi..thanks for dropping in

Good Ol days ...maybe, it is hard to tell. we are all apart in many ways and yet our egos inner selves seem to float together in one timeless universe

Linda...strange that in this time we need to be concerned about government retribution of those that disagree. The era of great freedom from government intervention is coming to a crashing halt. I thought America was leading the world into an era of peace and understaning of one another. Now it seems that we are leading the world in taking away freedoms especially if you do not believe as we do.