[Byte1]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

What would "incentivize" people to go back to work is an INCREASE in pay. And an increased Federal minimum wage used by EVERY State.

Nope, that would result in inflation. The gov needs to stay out of business, since it fails at every endeavor.

[Aloha1]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

White-collar crime has always cost the country more than blue-collar crime. Bernie Madoff is an example - and 20 like him have NOT been caught. The average person MAY know a blue-collar individual that is corrupt. It is ONLY the multi-millionaires that know other multi-millionaires that are corrupt. You don't!

If you are going to post assumptions please back them up with vetted research. Sources please??

[chet2020]

266,000 new jobs is below expectations, but still better than every month in 2019. In addition to the expanded unemployment benefits, we have a lot of kids still not in school full-time. It is cheaper for one parent to stay home versus returning to a $9/hour job that doesn't cover child-care costs. A lot of this will resolve in the fall when unemployment benefits run out and most of the nation's kids, hopefully, return full-time to the classroom.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Swoop

Why work when you can get paid more to stay home?

Saying something does not make it true.

I was homeless for a while, and on the dole (in 2008). Eventually, I got a job driving a cash register at a convenience store. That cost me MOST of my free money and paid me about $800/mth - and that included a lot of overtime. After 3 years of driving a cash register, I retired at 62 and tripled my salary (Social Security based on a high-paying career as an IT consultant).

I can say from personal experience and from observing others in my situation that only a very few want to be on the dole. Most want better.

Our system sucks, and it does make it hard to pull yourself up when you are down. We should try designing a system that offers a hand-up and not a handout. But...

This past year is not normal. Right now is the time for the government to help as many people and businesses as possible. There is NO easy solution. Both Trump and Biden have provided "hand-outs" to help people feed their children and keep them safe while we try to recover.

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Saying something does not make it true.

I was homeless for a while, and on the dole (in 2008). Eventually, I got a job driving a cash register at a convenience store. That cost me MOST of my free money and paid me about $800/mth - and that included a lot of overtime. After 3 years of driving a cash register, I retired at 62 and tripled my salary (Social Security based on a high-paying career as an IT consultant).

I can say from personal experience and from observing others in my situation that only a very few want to be on the dole. Most want better.

Our system sucks, and it does make it hard to pull yourself up when you are down. We should try designing a system that offers a hand-up and not a handout. But...

This past year is not normal. Right now is the time for the government to help as many people and businesses as possible. There is NO easy solution. Both Trump and Biden have provided "hand-outs" to help people feed their children and keep them safe while we try to recover.

Your post is appreciated.

And you are correct. Those called various names on here (freeloader being the nicest) do not want UE money. Most, not all as usually portrayed on this forum, want to work and support their family. They are not, again as portrayed, trying to live off others.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Swoop

Wow! That has to be the most convoluted reasoning I have ever seen in a TOTV post. And that’s saying a lot...

I disagree, I do believe there is a lot of truth in that post.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Byte1

Nope, that would result in inflation. The gov needs to stay out of business since it fails at every endeavor.

Public schools were the best in the world and help make the US the largest strongest economy in the world.

The Post office was the model post office in the world. People came from countries all over the world to see how to do what we did.

The Interstate Highway system was a model for the rest of the world and succeeded in giving our economy and businesses a major lift with faster cheaper product and material transportation.

Our space program put a man on the moon in a decade and the spin-off products reverberated throughout the economy making life easier and better for everyone.

I could go on and on. The Government was not the problem.

Predatory capitalism that purchased our government is the problem. Once people and businesses became so rich they were above the law and could purchase politician's souls, our country began the spiral down.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Alot of the employment assumptions is that people only go back to their prior job. But good service employees might just have gotten another service job with benefits. Restaurants don't have benefits, and most want medical benefits which is discounted with employment. Restaurant management is notoriously poorly skilled, and service jobs are not a career position, so the workforce is very transient. The pandemic enabled the good employers to turn over their workforce with quality motivated employees, able to get rid of the less productive, without any legal consequences. . . This turnover changed the available employees for the lowest skilled employees . . . . to a lower quality . .

yes, my daughter worked two jobs throughout the pandemic when she could, and quit her restaurant job for a lower paying jobs with benefits. . . so no sympathy for employers who think that their former employees are going to come back just because they should when they run a crappy business with no benefits. . .

the world is a bit more complex than just the simple "they don't want to work due to unemployment." The inability to evict dead beats is more of the reason why people aren't paying rent so they don't need to work, and are putting off the inevitable, living in the moment. . .

economics guy

[stanley]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Predatory capitalism that purchased our government is the problem. Once people and businesses became so rich they were above the law and could purchase politician's souls, our country began the spiral down.

So who is really the problem? The capitalist, or the politicians that are bought by said capitalists?

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by stanley

So who is really the problem? The capitalist, or the politicians that are bought by said capitalists?

My opinion, a little bit of both.

Mostly, I blame the politicians who spend very little time worrying or being concerned about what is best for the country.

Actually, it appears that "what is best for the country" is far down the list of priorities.

The capitalist role is easy . "On Jan. 21, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the longstanding prohibition on independent expenditures by corporations violated the First Amendment. With its decision, the court allowed corporations, including nonprofits, and labor unions to spend unlimited sums to support or oppose political candidates. The majority made the case that political spending from independent actors, even from powerful corporations, was not a corrupting influence on those in office."

More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United • OpenSecrets

[stanley]

Originally Posted by Bucco

My opinion, a little bit of both.

Mostly, I blame the politicians who spend very little time worrying or being concerned about what is best for the country.

Actually, it appears that "what is best for the country" is far down the list of priorities.

More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United • OpenSecrets

On this we agree........

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by stanley

So who is really the problem? The capitalist, or the politicians that are bought by said capitalists?

Yes

[GrumpyOldMan]

I would like to suggest, again, that Sortition is the solution. It won't happen, since the politicians would have to vote themselves out of a job... but, I believe it would solve the problem of money in politics.

[Swoop]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Saying something does not make it true.

I was homeless for a while, and on the dole (in 2008). Eventually, I got a job driving a cash register at a convenience store. That cost me MOST of my free money and paid me about $800/mth - and that included a lot of overtime. After 3 years of driving a cash register, I retired at 62 and tripled my salary (Social Security based on a high-paying career as an IT consultant).

I can say from personal experience and from observing others in my situation that only a very few want to be on the dole. Most want better.

Our system sucks, and it does make it hard to pull yourself up when you are down. We should try designing a system that offers a hand-up and not a handout. But...

This past year is not normal. Right now is the time for the government to help as many people and businesses as possible. There is NO easy solution. Both Trump and Biden have provided "hand-outs" to help people feed their children and keep them safe while we try to recover.

Going back to work cost you most of your “free” money? Seriously, free money?!? Someone had to earn that money & have it taken from them in the form of taxes and redistribute it to you. It’s not “free”...

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Swoop

Going back to work cost you most of your “free” money? Seriously, free money?!? Someone had to earn that money & have it taken from them in the form of taxes and redistribute it to you. It’s not “free”...

If they're going "back" to work, that means they were working prior to all this. And so some of their own taxes paid for this. It wasn't free to them - they paid for it. Now they're getting some of it back.

That's not justifying staying home when you can be productive. It's just explaining that no one is getting unemployment money for "free." That is propaganda. You can't get unemployment money if you haven't worked and contributed to the federal tax base in the first place, for at least 18 months prior to your first claim.

In the state of Florida, the most recent 6 months of that 18 months is thrown aside, and your benefit rate is based on the remaining 12 month period. They look at your total income, and you can receive up to 75% of it OR $275/week, which ever is LESS. Plus $300/week for 26 weeks (currently, that's the PEUC add-on).

So if you were earning $700/week in an actual job, you'll earn more if you continue working. If you were earning $550/week in an actual job, you'll earn more if you continue working, just barely. If you were earning under $450/week in your job, you will definitely get a better unemployment check than paycheck. For 26 weeks. At the end of the 26th week you'll have no income, and no job. But if you continue working, you'll still have a job and income.