Random Thought On the USPS and Other Ramblings; Eighteen Pages to Define "Employee"

"Twenty (20) percent of the teachers on strike in Chicago send their children to private schools." -- no link yet. But this link suggests it may be worse: 40 percent of Chicago's public school teachers send their children to private schools. They obviously know best.

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Full-Time: Now Defined as 30 Hours

From: ObamaCare's 2,700 Pages of Regulations -- It took eighteen (18) pages to define an "employee."

In the latest indication of how complicated putting the Affordable Care Act into action will be, the Department of Health and Human Services and Internal Revenue Service issued 18-pages of regulations just to describe what a "full-time employee" is.  

Of note, to the Feds a full-time employee works an average of just 30 hours a week, not the normally accepted 40 hours. The IRS rule is key because companies with more than 50 full-time employees must provide health insurance under Obamacare, or be fined. Business groups have been warning that small companies might try to replace full-time workers with part-time help to avoid being forced to offer health insurance in 2014, but the 30-hour full-time definition is likely to undermine those plans. 

The lengthy 18-page definition caught some in the business world by surprise. "It's scary," said Randy Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice president for labor, immigration, and employee benefits. "It's just a small example of two words under our healthcare law of 2,700-pages," he said, adding: "It says to me things are awfully complicated."

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Thinking of Steve Jobs/Apple and Wayne Gretzky (skating to where the puck will be), it's too late now, but one wonders why USPS didn't establish two divisions, or possibly even three. Certainly, these two: the traditional first class and junk mail; and, a package delivery system to compete directly with FedEx and UPS. The package delivery system could have competed internationally.

See WSJ, google FedEx, UPS Get a Toehold in China's Express Delivery.

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Speaking of Steve Jobs: it's interesting to watch the CEO leadership style of CEO Zuckerberg and then compare it to Jobs. Okay: no comparison.

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Earlier this week I posted a story about Plains Exploration and Production buying off-shore gulf assets from BP and Shell (actually the story posted just concerned Shell; but later the BP story came out). I posted it because "anon 1" sent it to me, and his links have a way of leading to bigger stories that folks like me miss. That's one of the problems with the internet: stories all seem to carry the same weight. When one clicks on a link, one gets the headline and the story, pretty much in the same font as any other story. It's not easy to see how it fits into the general news of the day: relevant, important, irrelevant, junk, really important, filler, etc. [Maybe I didn't post it and thought I did; if I didn't post it, it was an oversight; maybe I just left it as a comment; if so, my bad. I apologize.]

That's why I enjoy the print edition of the WSJ and don't read the on-line edition except for specific "research" -- a term used very loosely at this stage in my life.  The Plains E&P story is a huge story based on the context in which it is is published/sited in the WSJ and how it is presented:

• section B, Marketplace; specifically for investors
• page B5; not the front page, but not demoted to the back page either
• takes up a full half page of news on the page it is placed (though the accompanying ad is also big)
• it is only one of two stories on that page
• headline in large font; not as big as the story above it, but still jumps out at you
• two graphics

And then this lede:

Plains Exploration & Production Co. plunged into oil drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, committing to a $6 billion purchase of holdings from two energy giants, in a move that surprised investors and sent the Houston-based company's shares tumbling 11%.

This was a much bigger story than how it appeared on the internet.

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Speaking of "placement" of stories in the WSJ: it is said that A3 is the most important page of the Journal, after the front page. Today's story on A3 takes up the full page: ROTC Returns to Harvard, along with photos of ROTC cadets from Harvard, MIT, and Tufts taking part in exercises at Harvard yesterday. Pretty incredible story, and it's placement on page A3 says how big a story it is.

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On the other hand, buried on A5, is the story that the US Navy wins ruling in suit over endangered whales. The US Navy has been allowed to proceed with plans to build a $100 million offshore range for submarine warfare training, despite risks to cetaceans as argues by faux environmentalists.

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File under: Vote Early, Vote Often

Wendy Rosen.