For years unemployment has worked wonderfully. That was until the Great Recession, where deregulation and Wall Street excesses tanked the U.S. and global economies.
The economic shock saw U.S. employers shed nearly 8 million American workers. A horrified uncertain public panicked, first voting in Democrats who didn’t act fast enough, and later the repentant Republicans who caused this mess.
Big mistake. Republicans have always thought of the unemployed as something akin to the welfare queens of the past, sitting on fat weekly checks, talking on cell phones and buying plasma TV’s. You’ve heard the clichés too?
Despite these extraordinary bad times following the Great Recession, and 8 million suddenly unemployed workers, Republicans are grabbing at the chance to show these lazy loafers whose boss.
NYT: The Florida House of Representatives approved a bill … that would establish the deepest and most far-reaching cuts in unemployment benefits in the nation. Like the law signed in Michigan , the measure would reduce the number of weeks the unemployed could collect benefits from the standard 26 weeks to 20 … takes it one step further by tying benefits to the unemployment rate. If the rate falls, so do the number of weeks of benefits. If the rate dips below 5 percent, the jobless would collect only 12 weeks of benefits, the lowest level.
We are coming off the great recession, right? So resentful are Republicans of the painfully unemployed workers scraping to get by, they are willing to cut benefits without ever tackling the real problem of joblessness in their state.
This has workers worried in Florida, where the unemployment rate, while continuing to inch down, is 11.5 percent, considerably higher than the nation’s rate of 8.9 percent. Michigan’s rate is 10.4 percent.
One Republican Florida lawmaker is basically blaming those lazy, bottom feeding, society draining unemployed workers FOR THE LACK OF JOB CREATION. Would I kid you?
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Doug Holder said creating jobs is pivotal to keeping Floridians off the unemployment rolls.
See, kicking people off unemployment CREATES JOBS!!! But Holder goes one step further trying to hold down those fund draining pesky jobless loafers:
(It) also make(s) it easier for businesses to fire employees, who would then not be eligible for unemployment benefits. “Florida is positioning itself to be the most business-friendly state in the country,” said Representative Holder.
“People-friendly” state doesn’t cut it for Holder. Conservatives like Holder refuse to believe that businesses must share in the pain and responsibility of maintaining a strong workforce:
The Florida Chamber of Commerce … contending that businesses would benefit greatly from relief from the escalating tax to pay for jobless compensation.
Oh, that's the problem! Businesses don't even want to pay into the unemployment fund either. So kick the unemployed off early. Problem solved, right...
But to some in Flagler County, the idea of creating jobs by taking away meager benefits from people whose lives have been upended does not seem just. Leslie Stultz, a trim 62-year-old man said politicians were too quick to dismiss how difficult it was for some people to find jobs, particularly for workers in their 50s and 60s. Relocating is out of the question when there is no money in the bank, Mr. Stultz said. “People aren’t sitting back relaxing and collecting $275 a week.
Mr. Dudenhoeffer, retells his journey from small-business owner to perpetual job seeker … despite his grim situation, there are occasional moments of happiness. On his birthday recently, friends collected money to buy him a gift card for Red Lobster. Still, watching his online job applications simply fall into a void again and again, Mr. Dudenhoeffer said he could not help growing despondent.
“When the benefits run out,” he said, “I’ll just give up.”
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