So Far, 25 States Have Emptied Their Unemployment Funds
You have to love how utterly shameless these Republican oligarchs are. In the middle of a massive recession, a Republican governor is complaining about "Rolls Royce" unemployment benefits in Indiana. By "Rolls Royce," I assume he means anyone who's getting enough money to pay for heat is living too damned high on the hog.
Maximum weekly unemployment benefit in Indiana: $360.
But that's not even news, is it? That the party that so happily poured billions of untracked dollars down the memory hole in Iraq is suddenly so thrifty when it comes to us cannot be a shock to any sentient being:
The recession's jobless toll is draining unemployment-compensation funds so fast that according to federal projections, 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks.
The shortfalls are putting pressure on governments to either raise taxes or shrink the aid payments.
Debates over the state benefit programs have erupted in South Carolina, Nevada, Kansas, Vermont and Indiana. And the budget gaps are expected to spread and become more acute in the coming year, compelling legislators in many states to reconsider their operations.
Currently, 25 states have run out of unemployment money and have borrowed $24 billion from the federal government to cover the gaps. By 2011, according to Department of Labor estimates, 40 state funds will have been emptied by the jobless tsunami.
"There's immense pressure, and it's got to be faced," said Indiana state Rep. David Niezgodski (D), a sponsor of a bill that addressed the gaps in Indiana's unemployment program. "Our system was absolutely broke."
The Indiana legislation protected the aid checks, Niezgodski said, but it came after a give-and-take this spring in which Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. (R) said the state had been providing "Rolls-Royce benefits" and several thousand union workers countered by protesting proposed cuts at the state capitol. In January, the legislature is slated to consider a bill to delay the proposed tax increases intended to refill the fund.
has been paying the same piddling $250/week MAXIMUM unemployment benefit for about 12 years! Only recently with Federal $ did they (temporarily) raise it to $275. I know in other states, such as NY and CT, the weekly stipend is over $400.
$1000 a month in Florida? Gods, you could live like a king with that kind of dough.
No worries...Ben will just print mo' money.
Problem solved (or mo' precisely...pushed down the road).
Yea!!!!
"I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
workers get to take a vacation on UI. Is it me or, how in the world do these people get anyone to listen to them when they spew their nonsense.
and the guv of IN, as well.
Like people just want to collect UI and not work.
I was laid off this year, and if not for my UI, even with my wife's salary and my severance, we could have been in deep shit.
These fucks don't know what it's like for working people right now with REAL unemployment close to 20 percent.
Bloated motherfuckers like Hannity or any of them have no clue what it means to be living within ones means on a middle class salary only to have the rug pulled out from underneath your feet.
Rot, fuckers.
They'll probably raise taxes on unemployment benefits.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
is seventy-one percent (71%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry.
I mean, this is good news!!!
We certainly can't engage in deficit spending nor have the federal government interfere in your state's business.
Keep on electin' those GOPers!!
your numbers for Indiana are off a bit. The max is $390. Add the $25 bonus option to the sticker on my Indiana Rolls-Royce and $415 a week is how I roll.
Don't forget - that $415 is only if I choose to not pay the taxes until April 15.
Frickin' champagne, caviar and truffles for everyone!
My UI vacation now hits 18 states and over 500 applications with 3 little nibbles and no job.
But damn these seats are comfy...and the ride...ooohhh....a little slice of economic heaven.
Why would I ever want to leave? /snark
Last spring Indiana reduced the max amount to $360, and your extra $25 goes away Dec 31st. Unless Congress extends it before they go home for Christmas break.
I get the max. $390. Maybe $360 for new claims or something and you're right - that magic $25 might be just a dream in a few weeks.
Where is there to go in the US these days? Almost every single state is struggling.
So, when do states start claiming bankruptcy? What happens then..a Federal bailout of epic proportions? Damn, this is gonna get brutal folks!
Clarity of vision about what we're facing is the first step past denial. Girding our loins and figuring out how to survive is the essential next step.
I hope the vast majority of us can get past the 'blame and shame' game we humans tend to play with a vengeance...
Those of us living in urban areas need to be clear that food and water supplies will disappear rapidly if citizens go into panic mode (likely).
Also, the denizens of Richistan would love to see a significant number of us disappear. Race riots, food riots, and similar catastrophic events would suit them just fine...
they will make those for the rich only tax cuts permanent and keep funding the military industrial complex and more than likely repeal much of the health care reform now in front of them. which none of them voted for, except Rep Cao. and they care so much about the people. please its all about power.
shit filled mouths is the fact that the worker pays into unemployment, through taxes on their income, while they were working.
any business owner, and anyone who is even the slightest bit curious about their paychecks, knows this.
you put in, and in the event you lose your job, you get some emergency relief.
If, as an employer, you agree to an unemployment claim, then your tax rate increases for x amount of time.
this isn't welfare.
it's not a gift.
it's something you pay into - and so far, with thirty years paying into this myself, I have never (had to) take anything out...
not being a dickhead repuke, I have absolutely no problem with people collecting unemployment.
the impression that employers pay into unemployment funds through a tax on payroll based on their past history of using the system.
Can you cite something that shows employees earnings are taxed for unemployment?
That's the way I thought it worked too. My husband is a small business owner and I wish he was home now so I could ask him.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
your husband?
Ha!
Really juvenile and dumb...but I had a moment.
That's okay. You are just probably full of Christmas spirit. I understand 'cause I'm feeling a little of that too.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I'm full of something...
Oh wait, see below, it's HOPE and POSITIVE OUTLOOK!
Woo-Hooooo!
Well, I'm not on political suicide watch as some seem to be. I'm just rolling with the punches and enjoying the things life has given me over the years. I refuse to be angry over every single political step in DC. I don't want to waste my life being angry all the time.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I'm not angry.
I like the cynical side of things at times.
I have great people around me and there is nothing that can keep me down.
As usual, I have plans and things to do.
I continue to do them.
Despite the reality of the era in which we're living, I continue to count my blessings.
BUT, I remain aware of certain decisions I'll make when the economic indices merit them. I have land in a VERY remote part of rural Arkansas where there's running water year round and space to grow food. I have a cache of seeds ready, and the resources I'll need to can and process what I grow.
I just hope things hold together until spring...
and ever thought about selling some to a fellow wilderness homesteader if the need arises?
Good for you! Can't let this political stuff consume all your time and emotions.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
but I'm more a Happy Solstice guy.
are you guys serious?
duh, yes, the employer pays this based on past history.
past history of workers.
workers who are taxed, for working, but the employer pays it and it doesn't "come out" of your paycheck, per se.
no matter how you slice it, it's a tax on the employee, but I'm glad that you felt the need to nit pick this to the point of inanity.
a minute.
I'm not nitpicking.
I truly do not understand how this is a tax on the employee.
Are you saying that because the employer pays this tax, they will then pay less to the employee as a wage?
Perhaps you could be more clear in your initial statements for the unemployed morons on the board.
it is all passed on to the employee. Just like health insurance costs.
buy that explanation.
Hows the Afghanistan surge going to be successful if we pay people to stay home? Let's get down to the facts.
I'm surprised they haven't said let them shine shoes, or get a paper route or something for a livin' we can't afford this.
is the Super Rich Corporate State is hording all the money and the rest of the country has little to next to nothing to continue to run on other then "hope".
(Depression)
Good luck with that.
is a great base for Change Stew and when mixed with Positive Outlook is a nice dressing for The Future Is Bright Salad.
farmer that cares about what he's doing then GM modified "technology corn" from the Super Corporate State sitting on the Supermarket Shelves.
as long as they have nice, fresh Hope. The shit that's brown around the edges is just gross and if you don't use it almost immediately it spoils.
Because Turkeys have been bred (genetically engineered) to grow larger then their wild cousins beginning in the 1800's. The term genetically engineered is just a scare tactic by the ultra crazy left wing nuts. They use fear mongering just like the ultra crazy right wing nuts.
turkey. I got Hope and Positive Outlook!
Breeding is not selectively exposing cells to radiation.
borrowing genes from other species to make a better product, sounds all well and 'good' until the unforeseen nightmares happen.
You've been paying for mules, AKA genetically modified corn, wheat, &c, for your life time. (Mule, as in the offspring are not fertile.) That's why farmers have to buy new seed every year instead of holding back part of their crop to plant the next year.
After WWII is when it started because the chemical companies needed another outlet.
Now I agree, Monsanto & Co have taken it to a new degree, and successfully sued people who got cross contaminated with their polygenic hybrids of human genetically engineered mutated crop seeds, but don't pretend that what you're buying hasn't been GMd.
Til I lose my 50,000 dollar a year job to get on unemployment. Mitch Daniels should give up his job and go on unemployment if he thinks its such a good deal.
WTF are you doing that work thing for? It's so cool and hip to fall behind on paying for basic necessities.
because he has his campagin motor home to live in.
That's not his. I OWN my car and can sleep in it if necessary.
Ha! Beat his ass on that one!
Drive a caddy, have a cell phone and get food stamps what a life we be waiting for you in the hood govenor
U may mac in my absence.
OMFG, republicans have nothing left but the 'welfare cadillac'!?
Why does it not surprise me that people who have those items, and healthcare and retirement bennies still bring on the old canards?
BTW, Bit(h Daniels was GW's budget director.
And look how that turned out.
This POS is going to be running in 2012 for President. Keep a close eye on him. Hes the worst possible combination of a cross between George W Bush and Dan Quayle. Bought and paid for by big pharma.
As for Indiana, take a look at their "Democrat" Bayh. There is no hope.
is more like it.
they get tax breaks so they'll create jobs. That's what they tell us, anyway.
me-oww!
I would think that no matter how many tax cuts a business gets, if there is not enough demand for your product you aren't going to be adding workers.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
tax the rich? they aren't holding up their end of the deal.
me-oww!
70% max tax rate.
All other attempts to share the burden and make things better for the majority have failed.
it's only business.
me-oww!
...we have the aptly named Chris DUDley, the former NBA back-up center (and Yale graduate...hmmm....Yale...see any connections there?), running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination on a "platform" (if you can call it that) of "taxes choking off new business," whatever that's supposed to mean--likely he isn't sure, either, but he's been told to say it. And it will play well to the Know-Knothings in this state, as will his fame.
Take a look at that Hawaii article on C&L the other day, Oregon. Don't let this happen to our state. We have beaches, but we don't have the sun; we won't be able to use tourism to compensate for cutting off the tax revenue if this long-time non-voter (his own admission) gets elected.
That toll road income could come in handy. Oh wait! We sold it.
We didn't sell it, Bitch Co sold us out. Just like 'outsourcing' welfare to IBM. How's that working Bitch Daniels?
I can't believe those lazy unemployed people are collecting the benefits for which they contributed while they were working!!!
Republicans always do better when people suffer. Why do you think that suffering was the key to their plan for single party rule in America. I'm just glad enough of us woke up and faught back (8 years late but at least we finally faught)
So when I hear that republicans want people to suffer with no unemployment benefits. Is no different then when I hear a religous figure tell people it's OK to steal. It's in their nature, so it's just not suprising.
Are all of these "empty fund states" republican run? Unemployment insurance is an insurance, isn't it? Paid for by the recipient first only to collect if necessary? So what's the "rolls royce" comment mean if the Unemployment Insurance isn't honored?
This is an INSURANCE ISSUE! NOT A HAND OUT! INSURANCE, BOUGHT AND PAID FOR FIRST! PAY UP! NOW! Or the insured shall sue the insurance companies for breach of contract? Basic insurance law 101.
What is pathetic is the republicans caused one-half of America to have to use their unemployment insurance. Pathetic! Pitiful!
They're actually Republican oligarhs.
And the people will elect them again; even as they urinate on the unemployed and dying working classes, laughing at their tragic circumstances as they go about their fascist business.
I really, really, really, cannot fathom how anyone who is not a millionaire, could even consider voting for these cruel, evil, sociopathic GOPers?
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
...to be an idiot. He's already sacrificed northern Indiana to the toll road, now, he's willing to send Indiana's unemployed down the river without an option. To call him a moron is to insult legitimate morons everywhere.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
Hunter S. Thompson
My wife lost her $1,500/week job two weeks ago and we will receive $275/week unemployment courtsey of the State of Florida. I guess that's...what??? "Porsche unemployment benefits"???
Good luck to us and millions of others.
"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life."....Muhammad Ali
Gov. Daniels is the same jackass that's touted cutting property taxes while, in order to raise emergency funds, privatized a toll road. He's a genius!
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