Another opportunity for improvement, why not?

othershoe1030 wrote:It is no secret that when it comes to paid parental leave, the United States is among the least generous in the world, ranking down with the handful of countries that don’t offer any paid leave at all, among them Liberia, Suriname and Papua New Guinea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/your-money/us-trails-much-of-the-world-in-providing-paid-family-leave.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Americans are fond of saying we are number one but what criteria are we using? If we are ideally supposed to be a country of family values why do we fall short in this area? I think it is basically ignorance of what goes on in the rest of the world that leads us to think we are in such good shape. If most other countries can provide paid family leave, why can't we?

SheWrites wrote:Paid parental leave cost the company and that cost is passed on to the consumer.  Working and raising a family is a sacrifice.  The sacrifice either comes in loss of wages and buckling down to a smaller home budget or a sacrifice of spending time with the kids.  Whether it's a father or mother,I don't see why an employer should pay someone to have family leave.

Thanks, Mom, for making the choice to stay home.  The budget was tight (I see that as an adult) and I know sacrifices were made.  

People today want it all with no sacrifice.  Let the employer pay is the mentality.

It's led us down a path of destruction.

JMHO...dated as it may be.  

SheWrites wrote:Paid parental leave cost the company and that cost is passed on to the consumer. Working and raising a family is a sacrifice. The sacrifice either comes in loss of wages and buckling down to a smaller home budget or a sacrifice of spending time with the kids. Whether it's a father or mother,I don't see why an employer should pay someone to have family leave.

Thanks, Mom, for making the choice to stay home. The budget was tight (I see that as an adult) and I know sacrifices were made.

People today want it all with no sacrifice. Let the employer pay is the mentality.

It's led us down a path of destruction.

JMHO...dated as it may be.

othershoe1030 wrote:My, my, my, what interesting reactions to discovering that we are among three nations that do not provide paid family leave.

Why is there no curiosity re how other countries (except two others and us) have set this up? Why do we not see this benefit single-handedly causing the destruction of the global economy? Obviously all the other countries have figured out how to do this and find value in it.


As for claiming that we are not number one because we are comparing ourselves
to "lower grade countries", I presume that means less developed? So if other countries have lower infant mortality and longer life expectancy rates they are really inferior to the United States because...why? This defies all reason.

I guess I shouldn't have been shocked (and really wasn't) by the knee jerk, gut reactions of the folks posting here. But I think this is part of our problem of being able to evaluate and improve our country in a less emotional way than that shown here.

If we can not even acknowledge the existence of actual facts and a basic reality about our performance as a nation in various fields such as health care, infant mortality, life expectancy, efficiency of the health care system, rate of unwanted pregnancies, housing, income gaps, educational levels, etc. then we will never be able to improve and make life better for our citizens.


I know, I know, it is each person's individual responsibility to climb the ladder of success for him/her self. We all know this and have heard this expressed loud and clear over and over on this forum, and I totally agree with this outlook to a great extent, however, there seems to be a significant difference between the ladder we have set up for our citizens to climb and those created by other countries for their people.

In our passion to love this country we should not exclude the option of looking at it with a clear eye to the disregard of reality. How can we improve by keeping the blinders of non-rational pseudo patriotism on?

othershoe1030 wrote:It is no secret that when it comes to paid parental leave, the United States is among the least generous in the world, ranking down with the handful of countries that don’t offer any paid leave at all, among them Liberia, Suriname and Papua New Guinea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/your-money/us-trails-much-of-the-world-in-providing-paid-family-leave.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Americans are fond of saying we are number one but what criteria are we using? If we are ideally supposed to be a country of family values why do we fall short in this area? I think it is basically ignorance of what goes on in the rest of the world that leads us to think we are in such good shape. If most other countries can provide paid family leave, why can't we?

othershoe1030 wrote:My, my, my, what interesting reactions to discovering that we are among three nations that do not provide paid family leave.

Why is there no curiosity re how other countries (except two others and us) have set this up? Why do we not see this benefit single-handedly causing the destruction of the global economy? Obviously all the other countries have figured out how to do this and find value in it.


As for claiming that we are not number one because we are comparing ourselves
to "lower grade countries", I presume that means less developed? So if other countries have lower infant mortality and longer life expectancy rates they are really inferior to the United States because...why? This defies all reason.

I guess I shouldn't have been shocked (and really wasn't) by the knee jerk, gut reactions of the folks posting here. But I think this is part of our problem of being able to evaluate and improve our country in a less emotional way than that shown here.

If we can not even acknowledge the existence of actual facts and a basic reality about our performance as a nation in various fields such as health care, infant mortality, life expectancy, efficiency of the health care system, rate of unwanted pregnancies, housing, income gaps, educational levels, etc. then we will never be able to improve and make life better for our citizens.


I know, I know, it is each person's individual responsibility to climb the ladder of success for him/her self. We all know this and have heard this expressed loud and clear over and over on this forum, and I totally agree with this outlook to a great extent, however, there seems to be a significant difference between the ladder we have set up for our citizens to climb and those created by other countries for their people.

In our passion to love this country we should not exclude the option of looking at it with a clear eye to the disregard of reality. How can we improve by keeping the blinders of non-rational pseudo patriotism on?

PACEDOG#1 wrote:by othershoe1030 Today at 9:33 am
I wonder why all those generations before could raise their children without this being in play and every kid turn out OK? My dad raised my sister and myself because my mom ran off and partied his money away.

All those generations and perfect kids??? Talk about using an air brush on history! Oh, so life was perfect in the U.S. back in the day? Really?
--------
Considering what I see in my day job out of kids today, yes on average kids were more respectful

Damaged Eagle wrote:

othershoe1030 wrote:My, my, my, what interesting reactions to discovering that we are among three nations that do not provide paid family leave.

Why is there no curiosity re how other countries (except two others and us) have set this up? Why do we not see this benefit single-handedly causing the destruction of the global economy? Obviously all the other countries have figured out how to do this and find value in it.


As for claiming that we are not number one because we are comparing ourselves
to "lower grade countries", I presume that means less developed? So if other countries have lower infant mortality and longer life expectancy rates they are really inferior to the United States because...why? This defies all reason.

I guess I shouldn't have been shocked (and really wasn't) by the knee jerk, gut reactions of the folks posting here. But I think this is part of our problem of being able to evaluate and improve our country in a less emotional way than that shown here.

If we can not even acknowledge the existence of actual facts and a basic reality about our performance as a nation in various fields such as health care, infant mortality, life expectancy, efficiency of the health care system, rate of unwanted pregnancies, housing, income gaps, educational levels, etc. then we will never be able to improve and make life better for our citizens.


I know, I know, it is each person's individual responsibility to climb the ladder of success for him/her self. We all know this and have heard this expressed loud and clear over and over on this forum, and I totally agree with this outlook to a great extent, however, there seems to be a significant difference between the ladder we have set up for our citizens to climb and those created by other countries for their people.

In our passion to love this country we should not exclude the option of looking at it with a clear eye to the disregard of reality. How can we improve by keeping the blinders of non-rational pseudo patriotism on?

Does China, India, and all the other countries that use child labor offer this incentive to the laborers?

 

SheWrites wrote:Paid parental leave cost the company and that cost is passed on to the consumer.  Working and raising a family is a sacrifice.  The sacrifice either comes in loss of wages and buckling down to a smaller home budget or a sacrifice of spending time with the kids.  Whether it's a father or mother,I don't see why an employer should pay someone to have family leave.

Thanks, Mom, for making the choice to stay home.  The budget was tight (I see that as an adult) and I know sacrifices were made.  

People today want it all with no sacrifice.  Let the employer pay is the mentality.

It's led us down a path of destruction.

JMHO...dated as it may be.  

othershoe1030 wrote:It is no secret that when it comes to paid parental leave, the United States is among the least generous in the world, ranking down with the handful of countries that don’t offer any paid leave at all, among them Liberia, Suriname and Papua New Guinea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/your-money/us-trails-much-of-the-world-in-providing-paid-family-leave.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Americans are fond of saying we are number one but what criteria are we using? If we are ideally supposed to be a country of family values why do we fall short in this area? I think it is basically ignorance of what goes on in the rest of the world that leads us to think we are in such good shape. If most other countries can provide paid family leave, why can't we?