Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kimberley who wrote (9211)	4/15/2020 2:34:34 PM
From: Kirk ©	1 Recommendation Recommended By kimberley Respond to of 26662

I'm pretty careful but I have kicked it by accident... ouch!

To: kimberley who wrote (9211)	4/16/2020 12:09:53 PM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26662

Shocking to see a "conservative" Palo Alto writer (in Palo Alto, Conservative means somewhere between Sanders and Biden) suggest the government there is too generous AND too bloated... I used to work for the Mayor's husband when he ran our division at HP. When we had a very critical product sent back to R&D to fix a problem that kept it from shipping, he'd time is restroom visits to mine so he could get status updates from me about how my team was doing on solving the problem without slowing us down with stupid, official status meetings. I've exchanged emails with her a few times recently when I thought she was wrong and she admitted she hadn't thought about the issue as I had and that I was probably right. Refreshing from a politician to at least appear to be open minded. I think she's so wealthy that she doesn't understand the hardship the high taxes to pay high salaries and huge pensions in Palo Alto are for many in her community. The comments in the article are probably more interesting than the article, Is Palo Alto too generous in paying its staff?Uploaded: Apr 14, 2020 Palo Alto spends $6 million a month on employee salaries plus health benefits. Just a little over a week ago, the Palo City Council decided, somewhat abruptly, to continue paying full salary to its 1,100 or so city employees full salary until the end of June. The city’s staff had been working at home so far for a month. The council was told that Monday evening that because the Cal Ave and University Ave shopping areas are literally closing down due to the coronavirus, the city would lose $15 to $20 million before the end of this fiscal year. That sounds bad, but the city’s general fund is about $220 million. What follows is uncomfortable for me to write, since I understand the problems of declining incomes and/or being laid off, having gone through that experience myself. But to continue “salaries as usual” to the end of June because, as Councilmember Liz Kniss said, “Kindness starts at home,” is a bit unusual, because most companies are giving two-week severance pay, at best. Some service employees, like waitresses and bartenders, gardeners and household cleaning people, get nothing at all. “Home” is all of us, not just city employees, who are among the best paid public employees in the country, with full health care and hefty lifetime pensions. Now they are getting a 3-1/2 month paid “transition period.” That’s unheard of in private industry, especially during this health crisis. Hotels are empty, their staffs are gone, Lyft and Uber drivers have no business, restaurants have closed – many residents and workers in this town are in big financial trouble. Without calculating the cost, our city council keeps its multitude of employees fully paid until the end of June. My guestimate: $21 million (@ $6m/month (plus that $15 to $20M loss of revenues). Most city staffers (except police and fire) are working from home. About 100 have had their hours reduced, some down to zero. Yet this could be a great time to do some project research and planning. But I haven’t heard or seen of any new reports this past month. And what will these employees be working on until June 30? Do they have assignments? Nobody is building, business is lacking, traffic, thankfully has diminished. The city isn’t hiring. So what is happening? I have a few ideas: • Of course we shouldn’t keep employees at full salary, but perhaps a partial salary. I first thought of a 50 percent cut, but that’s unfair to the lower-paid staff members. How about $10,000 to each employee for each of the next three months or so – then see how things are going. That will cost considerably less. More at paloaltoonline.com