I started this thread to relate a positive experience about a visiting server and it has been completely derailed to the point of venting about Medicare and Social Security. Nice job.

Surely you are not thinking medicare is free to everyone. If you have little income, it is, but our premiums are higher than we ever imagined, and drug costs are enormous. Many things are not covered. Not seeing a guarantee so far, but one can always hope.

mac

And medicare beneficiaries. A LOT. Why do you think it's a giveaway? If I were working, I'd be furious at that. We pay a high premium and an extra amount on top of that to support freeloaders and others who haven't bothered to save and are now wards of the state. It's not just working people who pay.

I had over 20K of unreimbursed medical expenses last year. I hardly see it as a windfall and I wish younger people understood it better.

You for got the employee who all have Medicare taxes taken out of their checks. Look at your FICA tax


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Bad example. If you look at Greece, and many of the other countries in that predicament, the issue is really their poor record of collecting taxes to pay for their benefits plus to low employment levels.


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I am always amused by the $15 min. wage proposal...
 

Why not go 10X better and make it $150?

Better yet, give everyone $1,000,000 at birth. Everyone is now rich. No one has to work. Everyone can afford a house of their own and a really nice car.

Good news? You're a millionaire!

Bad news? So is everyone else.

Economics works best in a free market. Attempts at Govt. control creates unsustainable results without ongoing support.

Sorry for the caffeine rant...It is that time of the day. Check The Laconia Daily Sun and then go on The Winni Forum to vent...

Whew! Time for a nap!

But we need the money for "space Force".:D

Laconia envisoned as regional hub for drug treatment and recovery
 

Great, now Laconia is going to invest in drug rehab facilities. That should really brighten things up in Laconia.

At least this approach solves the original problem posed by the OP. Summer help most certainly will be found in the Section 8 inhabitants and the drug rehab success stories. I can't wait to go out to eat!

Seriously, I regret building our dream home in Laconia. I wish I had an idea that the City so desperate for money would be pursuing Federal subsidies with wreckless abandon. On the bright side, the Section 8 people and the drug rehab folks will have the Colonial Theater and the WOW trail.

Um, never said it was free. Dont know where you got that.
What do you imagine your premiums would be if Medicare didnt exist? Medical costs are lower in Medicare, at the same age for same coverage, than outside of Medicare. Thats why the program exists. The average Medicare recipient will recieve reduced costs exceeding the amount of money they paid in, plus interest.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.for...r-seniors/amp/

“The Section 8 people”? Give me a break. There but for the grace of God go I.


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You are equating SS and Medicare, which makes no sense. An old person who lives awhile will certainly earn more in SS benefits than he ever paid in, but Medicare isn't an entitlement in the sense that the checks are set and then keep rolling in because one "paid for it." Medicare has premiums, subsidized by many people, now seniors, who paid medicare taxes when working and also by current workers. It's not a matter of "I paid, now I'm entitled," which one hears from some SS recipients.

It's really expensive if you have any income, but many people who are working think it's another giveaway to old people and resent it.

Not sure what the lifetime guarantee is about. If you don't apply within a certain window, you will be subjected to underwriting, which will inflate your premium beyond belief, forever. You are guaranteed to the extent you come on board right away and don't require anything beyond the norm. Other than that, it's out of pocket all the way, especially for drugs.

So tell me...why do you continue with Medicare if you think it has no benefit to you?

I didn't say it has no benefit; I said it isn't some giveaway one earns by being old and having paid into, like SS. It can be quite expensive and many older people join the workers in paying for those who get it for free.

Done being baited here. Find someone else.

Have you ever seen Section 8 apartments? A close relative owned 6 units in Laconia for over 30 years. (He took Federal money to rehab the buildings so he was obligated to rent to Section 8.) Four out of five tenants left the place uninhabitable. They lived like animals. Everything had to be replaced, flooring, countertops, appliances, etc. I had the privilege of cleaning them out.

Of course not all are bad. My grandparents were poor, but they had jobs, worked hard, and lived in a clean place. Unfortunately this is not the case with the people Laconia is attracting to live in these apartments. I agree with your statement, but that doesn’t solve the problem. Instead of feeling sorry for them, we shouldn’t tolerate the behavior.


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That doesn't surprise me. What a shame some people just don't know how to live any differently. You often hear about the slum landlords and I always think, who ruins the places. But the landlords get blamed.

Exactly! My relative sold the places in 2010 because someone called him a slumlord. He was incensed, because he knew first hand what he put up with. It wasn't worth the effort so he sold the on the cheap. Landlords get a bad rap.

That’s what I meant when I said “taxpayers”
Employees=taxpayers, no?

Lol...you reminded me of my cousin, many years ago, who worked for a construction company that had a contract with rehabbing the “projects” apartments in Lawrence, MA
You wouldn’t believe what the “tenants” of these apartments did to them while living there. One that comes to mind is removing kitchen cabinet doors and installing chicken wire over them for your own in-house chicken coop...you can only imagine what else they did...

I remember years ago seeing the deserted public housing in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They had stripped the buildings of everything and I mean everything to sell. All that was left was the brick. I was young and couldn't believe it. Now i can.

Sorry to hear you built in Laconia. It used to be a working-class town....these days not so much:(

Over the last several years I've slowly sold off all my rental units & recently the condo I've lived in as my main residence was sold. I'm out.

Fortunately, I broke even on the properties, but I have a very dim view of the future of Laconia.

Whither Laconia?
 

Things got so bad in St. Louis, MO, the city dynamited 33 "iconic" public housing units that had been started only 25 years earlier. :eek:

The same architect also designed the WTC twin towers. :eek2:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile...St-Louis-5.png

And that's what so frustrating. The government waste of our tax money. I am sorry to hear that Laconia is disappointing so many people. I always thought as cities go, Laconia isn't bad.

Like assistance to the poor, some government assistance to corporations makes sense, and some we might all agree is "corporate welfare" Some examples:

It probably made sense for the feds to bail out the car companies in 2008/9--they were crucial employers and as another poster noted, the government made a tidy profit.

But the feds probably went overboard with their (at the time necessary) assistance to the big banks, as witnessed by the banks' extraordinary profits over the past few years with few apparent trickle down effects or return to the Treasury (are there enough retail bank offices in your neighborhood?).

A great recent example of corporate welfare is the Energy Dept proposal (still under discussion) to force electric utilities to buy coal to hold in reserve.

Most of the banks also paid off their bailouts with interest, but I agree re: their profits. Also amazes me that regulators have weakened or removed the restrictions that were put in place to prevent the problem in the future. A friend in banking told me you can get no down payment loans again.


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Right, The banks got a big gift recently in the form of deregulation while they continue to dick the public, see Wells fagro and many others, Also just like people on the public dole some company's are dirty criminals that are an over all - for the country even if they employ people, and others deserve a break for there excellent work/products/community leadership that benefits society. I've voted libertarian most of my life but even I understand we have to build roads and bridges sooner rather than later, Theses company's have to foot the bill fairly along with the people.

Back to summer help...
 

Back to summer help...

This weekend will be the last weekend for The Sandy Point Restaurant in Alton Bay to be open. Most of the help has gone back to school.

Pop's Clam Shell will be closed Mon through Thurs this coming week, due to most of the staff back to school. They will open on Fri for Labor Day Weekend, and then closed for the season.

Dave

Now that we're back on summer help I'll relate another positive experience. We were at the Weathervane at the Weirs last week and we had another excellent visiting server. She spoke English perfectly but with an accent. When asked where she is from she answered Transylvania. How cool is that! I had to google it but that's in Romania. That's two excellent servers from Romania. And their school year starts in October so they'll be here after all of our locals have gone back to school.

Glad you posted that. We were going this week to beat the crowd of Labor Day Weekend. Guess not.

Still beat the crowds
 

Beat the crowds and come over next Friday. Pop's opens at 1130. Have a great lunch, them maybe a nice round of mini -golf followed by ice cream at Stillwell's.

It's an Alton Bay kind of day. 😉

Dave

We might do that. Friday might not be too busy. WE never go out on weekends any more. It's too busy. We like both Shibley's too. Have never tried Dockside, but I hear it's good. We went once and they weren't open and never got back. Alton Bay kind of day huh? :laugh::laugh:

Dockside
 

Believe hours are still Thurs- Sunday. We always go before 5 pm when open to beat the crowds (we shoot for 430-445 pm).
Yet to be disappointed.

GB

Up said they are closed through Thurs next week, gravy.

I think Dockside
 

Tis, I think he/ she was talking about the Dockside restaurant. Dockside was in the post subject.

Dave

Unemployment and welfare...
 

I guess there is no one on unemployment comp. or welfare that is able to work in NH?

Filling a job should be mandatory, before getting on tax payer subsidies.

I agree. It is next to impossible to get help in NH. There should be no one on the dole unless they are sick or disabled. We had three open positions and have had the hardest time filling them. I think we are finally there but it took a LONG time! Some wonder why they should work when they can get freebies. But back on topic, I certainly sympathize with the restaurants.

You mean gravy boat was talking about Dockside? So Pops IS closed until Fri.?

Yes. Pop's closed until Friday.

Dave

Ok, thanks for the clarification. Sorry if I was a little numb.

Governor Sununu is in the news proposing that NH schools start after Labor Day. There would be a potential for economic boost to the hospitality industry by having students available to work. While I'm sure some businesses would benefit from having high school students available to work I have to think the majority of the jobs are for college age students and I don't think there's a chance of changing college start dates. School officials have already dismissed that idea as that would create problems with snow days. Its a good thought but I don't think Sununu spent enough time to understand the issues before making his comments.

I see a mix of college and high school age employees.

When I owned a business that mix was also part of my crew.

While it is true that the college kids will still be going back to school before Labor Day, having some high school kids avilable should help many businesses.

If there was a choice of getting them earlier in the season or having them stay up until Labor Day I would choose the latter.