Matt Bors for November 21, 2012

All this is to distract you from what’s causing all this chronic illness in the first place.

Single payer was actually Obama’s preference. He didn’t even try it, since his SECOND choice was hammered by the GOP and even his third, Republican-designed plan to feed MORE money to the insurance companies who got us into this mess ran into GOP intransigence.We pay absurdly more than any other country in the world — 50% more than #2 — and not only do we not cover everyone, we rank only about 27th in the world.

onguard, if you didn’t have such an astonishing consistency, I would suspect you of being a parody of the worst of right-wingers.

onguard, your idea of what’s destroying the private sector is as silly and amusing as your understanding of climatology and economics. Where do you get these ideas? Do you ever listen to anyone who actually KNOWS stuff?

I have no problem boycotting certain companies that will penalize their employees to avoid the new affordable care act.

Being mean to employees doesn’t make me want to patronize any of these douchebag companies.

Is anyone stupid enough to think this is new? It’s not uncommon for service oriented companies to keep their employees under 30 hours per week to avoid paying for insurance and other benefits. Some companies have been doing it for for decades. Other companies keep people designated as “temporary employees” so they can do the same with 40 hour per week employees. Welcome to the world of corporate malfeasance.

Employers faced a lot of higher and extra costs when they were forced to give workers weekends off, limit working hours, and offer health plans to full-time employees in the first place. There are times that protecting employees has to come first, and businesses have to adapt. It would be nice if they could do it without throwing temper tantrums and trying to hurt people on purpose, which to be honest, given the profit that many businesses have been feeding their CEOs, seems to be the case.

In the long term, having a workforce with consistent access to healthcare makes a workforce and an economy more stable and competitive. Most of the developed world has already figured that out. It’s time for the US to try to catch up.

Yes, business does keep employees “part time” to avoid paying benefits. Business exist to make profit and are responsible to shareholders. This system could be improved.

So, you think that those companies aren’t making a profit? Hostess management paid themselves huge rewards while demanding more from their employees. Why should those employees work for slave wages (or be corporate slaves), when the owners really don’t give a damn.

I outgrew Hostess at 12, we had a Papa John’s and a Denny’s near my college, so I haven’t been able to stomach either since 1994, and why would anyone in Maine eat at Red Lobster? I feel sorry for those who may lose their jobs, but perhaps improving the product may be the key to making up any supposed lost money? It would take a Hell of a turnaround to get me back as a consumer/customer to any of those companies.

Dreadful cartoon.

Socialism has failed in every single country that has dispensed with a pricing system, but for a few "naturally endowed " countries like Saudia Arabia, Canada & Norway.

America isn’t that rich. It simply cannot afford it. Especially now, when it is competing against the ‘enslaved’ Chinese worker.

This could not come at a worse time.

You too can now stand in the long queues of “pee burners” who go to their ‘free’ doctors, when they can break themselves away from their couches for their national dose of a pat on the back.

If free love is what these grubs want, get them a puppy., but please uphold the price system.

We understand how it works.

“Freebies” endow the slothful, and take away from those who have work to do.

So endenth the sermon!

The CEO of Red Lobster and Olive Garden is Clarence Otis Jr. and is he’s African American. I think Bors needs to do a little bit more research in the future

a few "naturally endowed "No, it’s true, America isn’t naturally endowed which is why it over-compensates by having the biggest military in the world and pops viagra like candy.Think about it, those moonshots? Nuclear missiles? Massive phallic symbols, masking an inferiority complex.Should have just bought a Porsche like everyone else. (which would also make Morty very happy)

The restaurant industry has always been pretty bad about not providing such benefits, long before Obama. They could cut back a tiny bit on ads and be able to come up with the $ for Obamacare. Or, support single payer and not have to pay for any of the healthcare benefits.

I’m confused, is charging 14¢ more on pizza supposed to be a scare tactic? If that’s all it costs to provide his probably low paid staff insurance, I’ll gladly pay the extra 14¢. Hell, charge an extra $1 a pizza! If 14¢ a pie is all it costs, then why didn’t he provide them with insurance sooner?

So it’s better to say nothing and not hold the companies to a higher standard? It’s better to be afraid to ask that they pay their employees a living wage in exchange for helping keep the company going? Not that being a CEO isn’t work, because it is. But without the workers there is no company.