Originally Posted by djplong

I'll take these in order.

1) Well, considering that we have 90% employment, one could to a rough guesstimate that we could have 11% more income tax revenue (I don't know how that correlates for differences in wages - like what kind of workers are most likely to be unemployed - or how that cascades into other taxes like sales and meals taxes).

2) The latest proposal is $9B additional for the latest Unemployment 'bailout' proposal. I don't know offhand how long it's supposed to be good for.

3) Most of the unemployment checks are paid for by the local state's Unemployment Insurance agency. It's a separate tax that employers pay into a fund out of which unemployment benefits are paid. Most of the time, it "pays it's own way". Employers who constantly fire more workers have to pay higher premiums (for presumably making bad hiring decisions). Employers are NOT penalized for workers who quit (and are, therefore, ineligible for benefits).

4) They're trying to promote green jobs - but not doing a good job of that. They're trying to ramp up infrastructure construction and maintenance spending - but that's slow going due to the lack of 'shovel ready' projects (with obstructionist planning rules probably getting in the way). But apparently lots of teachers and beaureaucrats are being hired.