Artificially Low Unemployment Benefits another Walker Scheme!!!

No wonder we have a hard time attracting labor into Wisconsin:

In 2014 Wisconsin increased the maximum rate for unemployment benefits — calculated as a percentage of what an employee earned before losing a job, up to as much as $370 a week. Evers wants to raise that maximum to $406 a week.

Evers administration officials said Wisconsin’s jobless benefit rate currently is less than most other states.

Here's why Gov. Evers wants the change:

The department “believes that individuals who lose work through no fault of their own shouldn’t have to worry about paying their bills,” spokesman Ben Jedd said.

 But wait, Republicans don't like this one bit. They intend to make people who lose their jobs feel uncomfortable? Yes:

Critics, meanwhile, fear the state could make it too enticing to claim jobless benefits.“We don’t want to make it too comfortable to remain unemployed,” said Scott Manley, senior vice president of the state’s business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

You know, it's that old comfort level thing so many people have when they lose their job while still trying to feed themselves or their families and keep a roof over their heads. Lot of comfort there.

Again, Republicans are now openly saying the unemployed are lazy shiftless losers who have no value to society unless they're working, and Republicans need to "push people"..:

Rep. Mike Rohrkaste, R-Neenah, said increasing jobless benefits is unnecessary at a time when Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is just 3 percent. “We want people in the workforce now, particularly when jobs are plentiful. Let’s push people that can be working to be working.”

Walker/Republicans dipped their hands in Taxpayer Pockets to save Business Money: Check out the comment and the highlighted words below:

WMC's Manley, one of five management representatives on the state’s Unemployment Advisory Council said the council has helped keep Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program stable and mostly uncontroversial, but Evers’ proposal threatens that balance.

That's funny, because under Scott Walker, Republicans came up with a scheme to deceptively moved taxpayer money around to keep unemployment benefit rates artificially low in Wisconsin for employers, it's called market manipulation. I blogged about this way back in Nov. 2015:
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Scott Walker and the Republican legislature bailed out businesses in 2013, because they were on the hook for replenishing the unemployment fund.

From way back on July 11, 2013: Here’s what Walker put in place on our dime:

jsonline: Under changes to the state's unemployment insurance system adopted by the Legislature's budget committee Wednesday, taxpayers would spend $26 million over two years to prop up the unemployment fund, To avoid having employers face new assessments this year, the committee voted to use $26 million in general tax dollars to pay down interest on that loan.

Think that’s bad? Taxpayers will be used to scam the federal government. Republican will borrow our hard earned taxpayer dollars to shore up the unemployment fund so the fed won’t raise taxes on EMPLOYERS, the ones who actually fund the account.

Additionally, the committee proposal would allow the state Department of Administration to lend up to $50 million in taxpayer money to the unemployment insurance fund. That loan would help the state ensure that the unemployment fund has a positive balance in 2014, which in turn would keep the federal government from raising taxes on employers by $191 million in 2015.

But did taxpayers ever get the $50 million back? And then there's this Evers proposed change:

Eliminating a provision that makes people ineligible for benefits if fired for what the law defines as “substantial fault,” or failure to conform to a “reasonable” employer job policy. This standard has been the subject of recent court cases in which judges found it was improperly used to deny unemployment benefits to eligible applicants.

That was also part of the scheme mentioned above:

jsonline: Tighten the definition of workplace misconduct so that fewer people would qualify for benefits. Eliminate nine instances in which a worker can quit a job and still claim benefits.

But how about penalties for unintended unemployment application errors?

Bill targets unemployment fraud by prohibiting a person from receiving unemployment benefits for seven years if they have twice been found to have lied to the state to receive benefits passed the Republican Assembly 63-34.