Current Events > I'm making more on unemployment than my summer job

(+) Yeah! (+)

How does this make you feel?

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Part of me is a little jealous you're getting more money for less work, but mostly I think it's good the government is helping take care of people who need it

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Happy because i'm making more than my normal job.

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you go girl

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Balrog0 posted...

Part of me is a little jealous you're getting more money for less work, but mostly I think it's good the government is helping take care of people who need it

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Balrog0 posted...

Part of me is a little jealous you're getting more money for less work, but mostly I think it's good the government is helping take care of people who need it

Good point, this is EXTREMELY helpful to me as the future of my industry is very uncertain for the next year+

I always expected the government to only take from me my whole life so it feels wrong to be 100% supported

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In the midst of Republican officials trying to order people to put themselves in danger for scraps, I think the stimulus was a power play intended to keep people home.

I actually made the choice to stay on unemployment when my bar qualified for PPP and gave us the option to be employed again. It wasn't an easy decision and boiled down to quite a few factors:

1. Unemployment was more than double what they were offering me
2. It was more than double because my wages were based on a remarkably slow two week period during the slow season while everyone was also worried about COVID-19
3. Unemployment was closer to what I would normally be making this time of year, and hospitality is pretty seasonal even in large cities. We depend on that business or we don't make enough money for the rest of the year.
4. I didn't have health insurance and they couldn't offer it
5. I would be entering a contract with unknown parameters that could have changed at any moment
6. PPP dried up in two months while unemployment was more stable and over a longer period of time
7. PPP was not equipped for bars and restaurants. It turned them into less effective unemployment offices, because there wasn't anything for most employees to do. PPP was actually designed to put money in the hands of businesses that didn't really need the assistance.
8. To continue from that last point, the PPP was not designed to help or protect me. What it did for the bar was allow them to pay managers and kitchen staff their normal wages. They didn't expect many people to return and obviously didn't care enough to try.
9. Unemployment gave me more flexibility in protecting myself for the future in case NC decided to suddenly open up before it was safe. It means I have a buffer of a few months if I decide to stay at home.
10. Continuing the last point, if NC opened up tomorrow and I was kicked off unemployment, I'd still be doing a lot better than working at a job with barely any business and a lot of risk.

The sheer amount of unknowns involved meant discretion was the better choice. When half of the elected officials are actively pushing against science and safety and you know that the only way forward is universal healthcare, it's a scary thing to put yourself in a position of vulnerability.

So I think it's a good thing you're staying home. You don't owe your life to some wage gig that treats you like a replaceable asset.

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Colorahdo posted...

How does this make you feel?

If you were in Australia then Id be annoyed knowing my tax dollars were being misspent and we would have to pay for it for many years to come. Dont get me wrong I understand and support what transfer payments set out to achieve but theres also a lot of abuse from those ineligible and inefficiencies and wastage due to poor administration.

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gloBal enemy posted...

If you were in Australia then Id be annoyed knowing my tax dollars were being misspent and we would have to pay for it for many years to come. Dont get me wrong I understand and support what transfer payments set out to achieve but theres also a lot of abuse from those ineligible and inefficiencies and wastage due to poor administration.

Well America could do what a lot of the world is doing and freeze debt and rent payments for the time being, but instead throwing people money appears to be the desired solution.

Secretly posted...

Well America could do what a lot of the world is doing and freeze debt and rent payments for the time being, but instead throwing people money appears to be the desired solution.

A common misconception at least in Oz. Mortgage repayments were deferred but still accrued interest and rent was only delayed with a ban on evictions.

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Well that's one of the reasons why states are running out of money for unemployment and opening up early. I hope you're proud of yourself.

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Squall28 posted...

Well that's one of the reasons why states are running out of money for unemployment and opening up early. I hope you're proud of yourself.

The extra money is totally federal

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Squall28 posted...

Well that's one of the reasons why states are running out of money for unemployment and opening up early. I hope you're proud of yourself.

So you're going to blame the worker who lost his job due to a massive governmental fuck up and inadequate federal response rather than the people that put them in that position in the first place. Or the people who sacrificed social protections at the altar of Reaganomics. Our president has utterly failed at his job and made the situation worse. This is just our chickens coming home to roost.

And states aren't opening up early because of unemployment, they're doing it because they're run by tea party psychopaths who treat human lives as fungible units to operate the corporate world. The pressure is coming from businesses and shareholders.

So much more of our tax money has gone to bailing out businesses than it has to simply helping people. Jfc

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Squall28 posted...

Well that's one of the reasons why states are running out of money for unemployment and opening up early. I hope you're proud of yourself.

hmm pretty sure 10x as much money has been spent to bail out corporations

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EnragedSlith posted...

So much more of our tax money has gone to bailing out businesses than it has to simply helping people. Jfc

Don't quite remember the exact numbers, but the business bailouts would have broken down to something like $5000 per person. They could have then used to money to buy stuff. Instead, they gave it directly to the companies with no regulation or oversight at all.

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Squall28 posted...

Well that's one of the reasons why states are running out of money for unemployment and opening up early. I hope you're proud of yourself.

Lol wrong on so many levels. You probably think we shouldnt get fairness priced healthcare because the federal government cant afford it or taxes would need to be raised right?

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loafy013 posted...

Don't quite remember the exact numbers, but the business bailouts would have broken down to something like $5000 per person. They could have then used to money to buy stuff. Instead, they gave it directly to the companies with no regulation or oversight at all.

loafy013 posted...

Don't quite remember the exact numbers, but the business bailouts would have broken down to something like $5000 per person. They could have then used to money to buy stuff. Instead, they gave it directly to the companies with no regulation or oversight at all.

In fact, Trump fired the guy responsible for the oversight so he and his cronies could have a slush fund to disburse as they please. I guarantee that businesses that donate to GOP campaigns received more favorable handouts than ones who donated to democrats

Colorahdo posted...

hmm pretty sure 10x as much money has been spent to bail out corporations

State UI trust funds have basically nothing to do with anything

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TC I thought you said you were a doctor

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loafy013 posted...

Don't quite remember the exact numbers, but the business bailouts would have broken down to something like $5000 per person. They could have then used to money to buy stuff. Instead, they gave it directly to the companies with no regulation or oversight at all.

But people cant spend that money at a lot of places that were closed. Not keeping businesses afloat would be incredibly shortsighted. Individuals and businesses both needed support

Anyways, tc making more doesnt bother me. We had to act quickly and i would rather we overshot the amounts. If the extra $600 pushes him over his regular paycheck then he probably wasnt making a lot to begin with anyways, hopefully this helps.


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gloBal enemy posted...

Colorahdo posted...

How does this make you feel?

If you were in Australia then Id be annoyed knowing my tax dollars were being misspent and we would have to pay for it for many years to come. Dont get me wrong I understand and support what transfer payments set out to achieve but theres also a lot of abuse from those ineligible and inefficiencies and wastage due to poor administration.

Misspent because he's getting more than what he normally would? Or with the idea of unemployment insurance in general?
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Well the idea of UI is different than it's being used.

UI is a wage insurance, employers pay into it per employee at a rate determined by (among other things) how much turnover they have. The maximum payouts are based on how much you make and your work history.

It's been used in covid this way in order to help stimulate the economy and help people stay at home because it's a relatively efficient way to do so. At least imo


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REMercsChamp posted...

TC I thought you said you were a doctor

I used work in medicine under doctors, I'm not even close to a doctor. I'm a mountain guide

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Balrog0 posted...

Well the idea of UI is different than it's being used.

UI is a wage insurance, employers pay into it per employee at a rate determined by (among other things) how much turnover they have. The maximum payouts are based on how much you make and your work history.

It's been used in covid this way in order to help stimulate the economy and help people stay at home because it's a relatively efficient way to do so. At least imo

Efficient because the system is already setup for it?
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emblem boy posted...

Misspent because he's getting more than what he normally would? Or with the idea of unemployment insurance in general?

The former. The inefficiency arises both from the beuracracy of it all, as well as trying to beat those out to defraud the system. In both cases, it frustrates me that I have to pay nearly 50% tax on my income as a result.

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