Labor Day year-round, a $3.5T social safety net, Peyton calling plays, obit observation

There are multiple job openings across our area right now.

But it’s nothing compared to the situation in Quincy, Illinois, where town leaders are offering to pay people $5,000 to move there and fill an open vacancy.

There are 700 full-time openings, and Mayor Mike Trout told Business Insider that “virtually every segment” of the workforce has openings that need to be filled.

Not surprisingly, Illinois had the third-largest population decline, according to the 2020 Census, behind only Puerto Rico and West Virginia.

CHECKS FOR EVERYONE

Wow, a $3.5 trillion “social safety net” bill? Someone tell me it’s April 1 and not early

September? Please?

Looks like they left the ‘ism’ off the first word in the monster expansion of the social policy plan.

I understand a lot of the big-picture intent of the proposal, but there are two ends of the human condition that no matter the intent of the legislation, cannot be regulated or governed.

The extremely greedy will not be legislated into sharing their wealth, and the lazy will not pop up and go to work, no matter what you spend, tax or offer.

To gut the economy for generations in an effort to change either is chasing windmills.

HIGH FIVE

OK, the first part of this story was trying to imagine coaching a 10-year-old youth flag football game and seeing Peyton Manning as the coach of the other team.

That’d be like seeing Bobby Flay at the neighborhood cook-off.

But the Yahoo.com report on Manning serving as the play-caller for 10-year-old Marshall — Manning was known as the sheriff, so his son’s name is perfect — and his buddies mentions Peyton’s plan to avoid parental criticism over playing time.

The league is 5-on-5, so Team Manning will only have five players.

And, secondly, what parent in their right mind would criticize Peyton Manning’s football decision?

OBIT OBSERVATION

Bill McMahan died earlier this week. The lifelong Chattanooga

resident was 73.

He painted houses. He was a detective with the Chattanooga Police Department. In 1975, according to his obituary, he rescued a woman who jumped from the Market Street Bridge. He also was a sportsman, a sports fan and a survivor. He survived a brain aneurysm, multiple surgeries and became a spokesman for the American Cancer Society after having a laryngectomy.

But it was the final chapter of Bill’s life that hit close to home. From the obit, “The Vols won their last game that he watched, and his beloved daughter was the last person he saw, so he couldn’t have asked for a better sendoff.”

Sounds perfect.