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DOES UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PAY A LITTLE TOO WELL?
In some States unemployment benefits pay quite well. (In others, like Arizona- not so well)
My cousin making about $50K as an Office Manager for a high technology company in Seattle and was actively involved in the rat race. Long hours, lots of office politics, impossible demands, lots of stress. Well her job was eliminated in the recession and she was laid off. First she panicked but after applying for Washington State Unemployment and discovering she would make $560 a week in benefits, she smiled.
This was a perfect opportunity for her to move back to Spokane where life is less stressful and she could rent a brand new apartment for $800 a month. She moved in with her sister and only had to pay $400 for her half. She did some odd jobs for cash income (off the books) and took a part time job at the Barnes and Noble Book Store two days a week.
After carefully looking at her budget she determined that she had more disposable income in low cost Spokane on unemployment benefits than she had in Seattle working.
Because she had some income this allowed her to draw the traditional 26 weeks of benefits for almost a year. Then she got a number of Federal and State Extensions and two years after her job loss she is working part time and has a higher standard of living in Spokane as a part time book store worker than she did in high priced high stress Seattle.
Well the gravy train is ending as her benefits are about to end in 2012. But after going through a halfXXX job search for two years she has finally found another Office Manager job in Spokane, and she will start a just a week before her last unemployment benefit check. Funny how that worked out!
My cousin has never looked better and is so relaxed. All from milking the unemployment benefits for every dollar possible and moving to a low cost community.
Will the liberals in Congress admit many of the long term unemployed collecting jobless benefits are just like my Cousin?
Was she genius or a thief?
Last edited by Workaholic?; 01-03-2012 at 05:41 AM..
Will the liberals in Congress admit many of the long term unemployed collecting jobless benefits are just like my Cousin?
Of course some people will always milk a system and/or even commit fraud with a social safety net. The question is should innocent people who are really looking for work have to suffer just because some fraud and abuse does exist? Are innocent people just collateral damage in punishing abusers? It is not a black and white simplistic issue, a personal anecdote and the existence of other people just like that does not invalidate anything. No one should be naive enough to actually believe that no one like your cousin exists, I don't care if they are liberal or conservative. I say find innovative ways to reform the system from waste, fraud and abuse rather than just making an arbitrarily shorter cutoff in a deep recession just to punish a few people abusing the system.
I know some family members that milk the system in all sorts of ways. I think between their "off-the-books" jobs and their welfare benefits, they pull in a tidy sum of income... enough to buy a second house.
But I'm not jealous. When I go to sleep at night, I know that what I'm doing is on the up-and-up and I don't have to look over my shoulder waiting for my world to come crashing down on me when I'm "found out."
Paying people to NOT work. Of course, UE benefits are one of the greatest stimuli ....ever, according to pelosi and the democrats.
UE has been around for decades and technically it is unemployment "insurance" meaning you pay for it while you are working and collect when you become unemployed. In that sense it is not typical welfare anymore than car insurance is. I don't really consider UE to be stimulus, of course people getting jobs are better but how can someone get a job if they become homeless and have no income and then can't get a job. UE at least gives people who are looking for work a shot of at least being able to take care of themselves in the basic ways while they look for work.
Sue, my cousin, does not see what she did as wrong in any way and she would not be found out because she played by all the rules. She reported her income and did look for a full time job, just could not find one. (She didn't try that hard but there is no rule against that). She reported all her part time income, etc. She just got every dime she could from the system and was smart to move to a low cost community.
* Most of the money she got in jobless benefits were federal and State Extensions which comes from taxpayers borrowing the money from China. Only her first 26 weeks came from her employer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dspguy
I know some family members that milk the system in all sorts of ways. I think between their "off-the-books" jobs and their welfare benefits, they pull in a tidy sum of income... enough to buy a second house.
But I'm not jealous. When I go to sleep at night, I know that what I'm doing is on the up-and-up and I don't have to look over my shoulder waiting for my world to come crashing down on me when I'm "found out."
So, large corporations and banks intentionally make risky investments because they know whatever happens they'll be bailed out by taxpayers in the trillions of dollars.......yet, you're upset about people trying to survive once they lose their job?
The way this country is being run, do you blame anyone for taking what is being offered to them ?
I certainly don't.
If you don't like that someone can be on UE for 99 weeks then complain to your elected officials.
They put that in place.
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