Anticipated Attacks w/ Responses

Anticipated attacks against:

Costs jobs

Response: It will add jobs by enhancing technological advancement. It will return us to where we were in 1994. And it we aren’t forcing this on business. They can choose not to participate, but we won’t reward them for that choice.

Open to abuse (or, whose gonna determine which religions qualify for the holiday?)

Response: I don’t think the federal government should be involved in determining which religions are ok to practice freely and which ones aren’t. Do you?

Too expensive

Response: I think its too expensive to force a working father to choose between his job and seeing the birth of his first born son.

Big Government taking over your faith

Response: On the contrary, this is putting the choice to practice freely back in the hands of the people and out of the hands of corporate HR departments.

Back to main Time Relief page.

VI. National Emergency Day

VI. National floating, emergency day.

a. 1 day, non-accruing, per year that any worker working over 20 hours a week at any job in America can take in case of an emergency or personal reasons. No penalty may be charged by the employer to workers who use the day, and no employer reducing overall holidays to compensate will be allowed to participate in tax-incentive programs discussed below.

b. Talking point: “It’s the least we can do in a time of war.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

V. National Religious Observance Days

V. National religious, worship holidays.

a. 3 days per year to be taken by any full-time, 40 hr per week employee (or greater) at their discretion for religious observance. Again, no penalty for its use and no employer may take tax incentives if they reduce overall number of holidays from their current schedule.

b. Talking point: “When I was growing up, my granddaddy let his workers off on Good Friday cause they were all Christian and that is one of the most sacred days in all of Christianity. That was a powerful lesson to me as we sat and learned from him the lessons of the Passion on those Fridays. But today, few workers are so privileged and Good Friday is hardly different from any other Friday, you get home late, worn-out, just glad the week is over. Worse still, many workers who practice different faiths cannot find the time to worship the way their God commands them. We cannot honor our religious traditions if we don’t honor all religious traditions. America is strong because her people are faithful and they are free to practice. It’s time for America to give us the time we need to practice our faith.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

IV. Tax Incentives for Technology Investment

IV. Business and corporate tax incentives for flextime technology spending.

a. For businesses seeking to begin or expand existing flextime programs, the costs of technological upgrades and networking infrastructure will be a tax write-off.

b. Talking point: “By encouraging corporate America to once again invest in productivity enhancing high-tech, the great engine of the American economy will burn ever bright.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

III. Health Care Credits for Business

III. Business health care credits for flextime programs.

a. For businesses participating in flextime programs (the home-based worker program being one of them) instead of trying to make all flextime jobs 40 hours per week to qualify for health care plans, these businesses will be able to use every hour they give to their workers on flextime towards a health care credit which the Federal government will then use to buy, in bulk, a national, flextime health care plan. Workers may choose to participate in the program or opt-out.

b. Talking point: “There is no reason why good businesses who invest in the families working for them should be required to shoulder the full burden of soaring health care costs. We’re gonna help them, because these businesses are helping us.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

II. Maternity & Pregnancy Discrimination

II. Maternity and Paternity leave reform.

a. Current paternity and maternity-leave and pregnancy discrimination laws apply to mid-sized to large businesses, leaving uncovered the vast majority of workers who work in small business. For any worker working 40 hours a week or more, the existing laws will now apply regardless of business size. Any worker working 20 hours a week in the currently covered mid-large businesses will now get half the amount of time off that their current, full-time co-workers get under the existing laws.

b. Talking point: “Bringing a child into this world is the most sacred of all events. Our families deserve the right to have a family and a job, so they can raise a family and do their work.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

I. Home-based Worker Program

I. Part-time, home-based worker programs.

a. Federally coordinated program run by the private job-placement sector charged with harnessing 500 million extra man-hours per year from stay-at-home parents who otherwise are not working.

b. Talking point: "Instead of outsourcing call-center jobs to India, why not outsource those jobs to the kitchens and living rooms of American families?"

Back to main Time Relief page.

National Commercial Rollout: “It’s about time.”

[Man in flannel shirt walking through autumn park. ]

“9/11 changed all of us. Those firefighters in the south tower where I worked saved my life, and by giving me that greatest gift, I’m a changed man." [Wife hugs man, pan to kids playing ahead.] “Ever since I escaped the World Trade Center, less than an hour before that tower collapsed, I’ve done everything I can to make sure I have the time I need for my family.”

“Time to watch them play ball.
“Time to help them with school.
“Time to take care of them and watch them grow.
“I love my family, and I know that every moment with them is precious.
“As a son, a husband, and a father, my time with my family is worth more to me than any job, any salary, or any price…

[Narrator reads below while man and family walk to church]

“America’s families make America strong. Our soldiers, our leaders, those that serve us, and those whom we serve, they all come from our families. Isn’t it time we gave back to those who give us everything? Call your Congressman, and tell him or her, it’s about time.”

Then the below is read, quickly – with a title on the screen:

Time for America Worker Rights Bill

“The Time for America worker rights bill helps our families ensure they have the time they need to take care of their loved ones, raise their kids, and continue to do the good they already perform in their community, their places of worship and their homes. And since it rewards companies who participate in the program, it makes good sense. It isn’t about taxes, it isn’t about spending, it is about time. Isn’t it Time for America, again?”
“Paid for by the Democratic Party.”

Back to main Time Relief page.

Quick Economic Rationale

We take it as given that our economy is in a slow but progressing move away from work and towards recreation. We’re getting older. To be productive at retirement-age means a less work (less labor) but more productivity (doing more for less). Notice that our economy is getting lighter. We formerly produced cars, trains, planes. Now we produce software, microchips, and business method patents. The move began after the Vietnam War and it is now in its second generation. Fighting the move will only cause more economic pain than the move naturally brings with it. Japan is a good example. The split-level economies already appearing in aging states like Connecticut and Rhode Island are also good examples. Therefore, enhancing the move from work-based to recreation-based, and ensuring widespread economic opportunity in the economy of the future, is the only sensible alternative. However, enhancing the move without realizing the implications this will have on our social network would be foolish and counterproductive. Civil unrest and unnecessary expense would likely result without planning for, and attending to, the needs of our communities. As a result, the impact that the new, recreation based economy causes on our daily lives must be addressed. That impact is real, and is already being felt by the professional class of workers. The time relief proposals contained herein are an effort to honor the American tradition, uplift the American worker, and enhance the valuable economic role families play in the world’s largest and most dynamic economy.

Back to Time for America page.