33 states out of money to fund jobless benefits By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporterApril 9, 2010: 2:26 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With unemployment still at a severe high, a majority of states have drained their jobless benefit funds, forcing them to borrow billions from the federal government to help out-of-work Americans. A total of 33 states and the Virgin Islands have depleted their funds and borrowed more than $38.7 billion to provide a safety net, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project. Four others are at the brink of insolvency. Debt-challenged California has borrowed the most, totaling more than $8.4 billion, followed by Michigan and New York, which have loans worth more than $3 billion. Nine other states have borrowed at least $1 billion from the federal government. "The nation's financing system for jobless benefits is under unprecedented stress," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the New York-based advocacy group for the unemployed. "While the recession has certainly made things worse, this funding crisis has been developing for years." At the onset of the recession, only 19 states met the recommended funding level, which is one year of reserves equal to the highest amount of unemployment insurance paid out during prior recessions. Financing experts suggest that states build up their jobless benefit coffers during strong economic times so that they can draw from them during downturns. Federal and state governments collect money for unemployment benefits by taxing employers on a small portion of their employee wages. While total wages and weekly jobless benefit levels have been rising, governments haven't increased the taxable base wages at the same pace. 0:00 /4:50Don't ask for a state job Instead, they adopted a "pay as you go" approach, keeping taxes and fund levels low during good times and raising taxes and cutting benefits when strapped for cash. That left many states with insufficient jobless funds to weather the recession. Jobless claims soar Of the 13 states that will likely be able to fund jobless benefits without borrowing from the feds, 10 of them followed the recommended financing tactic. That readied them for the recession, the National Employment Law Project concluded in its study. "The current crisis should compel policy makers to forge a new path to forward financing of the unemployment insurance program," Stettner said. "As the broke funds of 33 states makes clear, unemployment insurance reserves need to be stocked up before recessions hit so that states are prepared." To top of page States out of $$$ for the jobless Here's how much theyâve borrowed from the federal government. State Borrowed California $8.40 billion Michigan $3.78 billion New York $3.00 billion Pennsylvania $2.81 billion Ohio $2.23 billion North Carolina $2.14 billion Illinois $2.06 billion Texas $2.03 billion Indiana $1.81 billion New Jersey $1.55 billion Florida $1.50 billion Wisconsin $1.34 billion South Carolina $851 million Kentucky $760 million Missouri $687 million Minnesota $638 million Connecticut $422 million Georgia $337 million Nevada $331 million Arkansas $318 million Virginia $317 million Massachusetts $279 million Alabama $268 million Rhode Island $204 million Colorado $186 million Idaho $181 million Maryland $104 million Kansas $65 million New Hampshire $23 million South Dakota $23 million Vermont $23 million Arizona $22 million Virgin Islands $13 million Delaware $1 million
I know a few jobless that get 570 a week and do not want to work, they have been on it a year and have 1 more left.
what i can't grasp is how the unemployed manage to have enough money left from the employment paycheck to fill their car to drive to the mall to buy useless crap.
The max is around $900/week in MA. Most people could get by on less, especially if they don't pay the mortgage. The ones that play by the rules are the suckers. Such is life in Obamanation.
Think about it...... Would you rather get $1,600/month to do absolutely nothing (or get a tan, or workout, or watch Oprah, etc)? Or get paid $2,500/month ($30k/yr) to bust your ass for boss, company, etc??? It seems like a no-brainer, IMO.
This really does play right into the political playbook. It's a race to capture the largest number of both disenfranchised and unemployed individuals who are captive to the government ALONG with growing the official sector via pay raises, supplemental hiring, all the while sticking the private sector with the bill. The bigger question is how close are we to the tipping point? and by tipping point I mean have we reached a majority status amongst those directly supported by government spending? If you have 39million individuals on food stamps, untold millions receiving 2 year unemployment, 1 in 5 individuals working for the government in some capacity, you know how these people will vote. They will vote to keep the gravy train coming. Those are staggering numbers and of course you have those on the fence and those who are facing foreclosure or in the midst of some hamstrung "workout" via a bank that is a quasi-governmental institution. Add those millions into the equation.
couldn't the government do a better job of getting something for their money? All these people collecting unemployment should be picking up trash or some shit. lol I'm sure there's a lot more productive stuff they could be doing, but shouldn't we be talking about it?
Nah, the Dems would just call you an Elitist Racist Hatemonger, and go on their merry way deconstructing the country.