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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
North Carolina Becomes First State To Eliminate Unemployment Benefits
Friday, June 28, 2013 6:28 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:With changes to its unemployment law taking effect this weekend, North Carolina not only is cutting benefits for those who file new claims, it will become the first state disqualified from a federal compensation program for the long-term jobless. State officials adopted the package of benefit cuts and increased taxes for businesses in February, a plan designed to accelerate repayment of a $2.5 billion federal debt. Like many states, North Carolina had racked up the debt by borrowing from Washington after its unemployment fund was drained by jobless benefits during the Great Recession. The changes go into effect Sunday for North Carolina, which has the country’s fifth-worst jobless rate. The cuts on those who make unemployment claims on or after that day will disqualify the state from receiving federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation. That money kicks in after the state’s period of unemployment compensation — now shortened from up to six months to no more than five — runs out. The EUC program is available to long-term jobless in all states. But keeping the money flowing includes a requirement that states can’t cut average weekly benefits. Because North Carolina leaders cut average weekly benefits for new claims, about 170,000 workers whose state benefits expire this year will lose more than $700 million in EUC payments, the U.S. Labor Department said. Lee Creighton, 45, of Cary, said he’s been unemployed since October, and this is the last week for which he’ll get unemployment aid. He said he was laid off from a position managing statisticians and writers amid the recession’s worst days in 2009 and has landed and lost a series of government and teaching jobs since then — work that paid less half as much. His parents help him buy groceries to get by. “I’m just not sure what I’m going to do,” said Creighton, who has a doctorate. “What are we to do? Is the state prepared to have this many people with no source of income?” With the changes to North Carolina law, state benefits will last three to five months — at the longer end when unemployment rates are higher. Qualifying for benefits becomes more difficult. The Labor Department declined to comment on North Carolina’s looming situation but said no other state is considering changing benefits in a way that would imperil U.S. help. Opponents who have staged protests nearly every week against Republican policies say lawmakers are slashing a safety net for the poor while corporations and the wealthy benefit. The state’s top business lobby, the North Carolina Chamber, primarily assembled the package of proposals that lawmakers adopted. More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/with-changes-to-its-unemployment-law-nc-becomes-1st-state-to-drop-federal-jobless-funds/2013/06/28/85a8e3a2-dfdc-11e2-8cf3-35c1113cfcc5_story_1.html
Friday, June 28, 2013 6:36 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Friday, June 28, 2013 2:32 PM
MAGONSDAUGHTER
Friday, June 28, 2013 2:44 PM
Quote:The House has voted to cut food stamps by $2 billion a year. The chamber rejected 234-188 a Democratic amendment to a wide-ranging farm bill that would have maintained current spending on food stamps and cut farm subsidies instead. The bill cuts the $80 billion-a-year program by about 3 percent and makes it harder for some people to qualify. The Senate passed a farm bill last week that would make much smaller cuts to the food stamp program. The House is debating 103 amendments to the five-year, half-trillion dollar bill as backers are trying to shore up votes for final passage. Democrats are opposing it because of the food stamp cuts, while some conservatives say the cuts aren't deep enough. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/rural-lawmakers-push-farm-bill-votes-house-19431669#.Uc4rsInn_cs
Friday, June 28, 2013 2:49 PM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Quote:Originally posted by Magonsdaughter: Wow. So what happens if people actually have no money to buy food? Nothing?
Friday, June 28, 2013 3:13 PM
Friday, June 28, 2013 3:23 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Maybe go shoot the "job creators" who didn't create any jobs, for all the money they got?
Friday, June 28, 2013 3:47 PM
JONGSSTRAW
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Maybe go shoot the "job creators" who didn't create any jobs, for all the money they got? There ya have it. The anti-gun zealots go promoting murder w/ guns for those too frelling stupid to be accountable for their own lives. " Take care of me, or I'll kill you ! "
Friday, June 28, 2013 3:54 PM
Friday, June 28, 2013 4:09 PM
Friday, June 28, 2013 4:29 PM
GEEZER
Keep the Shiny side up
Friday, June 28, 2013 4:35 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Maybe start relying on ... themselves ?
Friday, June 28, 2013 6:01 PM
Quote:The anti-gun zealots ...
Friday, June 28, 2013 6:05 PM
Quote:Sounds like the Rwandan radio DJ who urged Hutus to go out and slaughter Tutsis
Friday, June 28, 2013 8:03 PM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Friday, June 28, 2013 8:06 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Jongsstraw: Paula didn't help herself with her attempts at damage control. It's amazing how quickly this woman was crucified by the powers to be. In hindsight, she really needed the services of a professional media consultant. It's a sad commentary on the times we live in. But she'll be fine. She has a huge base of fans and supporters, and I'm sure she'll be back on top in time.
Friday, June 28, 2013 8:13 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: So when North Carolina made changes in unemployment payments so they could repay debts to the Federal government they'd accrued due to paying unemployment at rates required by the Federal government, the Federal government decided to no longer provide unemployment funds (which the Federal government collected from North Carolina workers) for them to give the unemployed in North Carolina. Yeah. Sounds fair.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 1:28 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Magonsdaughter: Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Maybe start relying on ... themselves ? Perhaps you might like to get your head around the issue that people who are not in work may be unable to find work because, lets say, the economy has been completely fucked by financiers exploiting the market, using shoddy practises and basically sending the world into financial crisis instead of being too lazy to work. What is your response then?
Saturday, June 29, 2013 1:42 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: So when North Carolina made changes in unemployment payments so they could repay debts to the Federal government they'd accrued due to paying unemployment at rates required by the Federal government, the Federal government decided to no longer provide unemployment funds (which the Federal government collected from North Carolina workers) for them to give the unemployed in North Carolina. Yeah. Sounds fair. Rappy says governments aren't supposed to be in the business of making things "fair". North Carolina is one of the states that takes more money FROM the government than they ever pay TO the government. Maybe they should live within their means and stop relying on "Uncle Sugar" to take up their slack.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 2:41 AM
Quote:The median North Carolina family would get a modest tax break while wealthy taxpayers may see a significant cut under a sweeping bill primed for a landmark House vote Friday. A married couple with two children making $40,000 a year would get an estimated $40 tax break when the legislation is fully implemented, according to a new legislative analysis. If the same family earned $250,000 a year, it would see a roughly $1,700 break. The tax cut increases to at least $12,500 if the family makes $1 million The numbers set the stage for a House debate on what bill sponsors are calling the biggest tax cut package in more than a decade and their top legislative priority. Crafted by the Republican majority, the House measure is expected to easily pass and move next week to the Senate. Backed by Gov. Pat McCrory, the House legislation cuts personal and corporate income taxes by raising the sales tax on electricity bills and removing the sales tax exemptions on dozens of services. All installation, repair and maintenance services, such as car repairs and appliance deliveries, that are now tax-free would have to pay a combined state and local 6.65 percent sales tax, a slight decrease from the current rate. The legislation proposes trimming the personal income tax to a flat 5.9 percent next year and gradually reducing the corporate tax from 6.9 percent to 5.4 percent by 2018. In addition to the new service taxes, the bill would add sales taxes to movie, concert and many amusement tickets. Republican lawmakers say their tax plan preserves adequate revenue to cover law enforcement, transportation and other budget priorities. But Democratic state Rep. Verla Insko of Chapel Hill, speaking against the bill in committee, said the loss in tax revenue is too big a price to pay. “We are cutting our essential services,” she said. “We are making cuts that are going to compromise the future of many of our children and the future of our state.” Alexandra Sirota, the director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, a group opposed to the bill, said pure dollars distort the numbers. The center used a different model to gauge the affects of the legislation and forecast that 95 percent of taxpayers, or those making less than $169,000, on average would see their tax burden increase, compared to higher earners. The median household income in North Carolina is roughly $46,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sirota said the sales tax expansion would proportionally hit lower- and middle-income families harder because they spend more of their income on goods and services. “Looking at just dollar amounts is not really reflective of the proportion of their income – because that’s a critical measure,” Sirota said. “A dollar for a low-income family makes a much bigger difference than an upper-income family.” http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/06/2944494/impact-of-proposed-tax-bill-outlined.html#storylink=cpy
Saturday, June 29, 2013 2:56 AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013 3:01 AM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: The 'poor and suffering' in N. Carolina, or anywhere in the US, still live far better than most of the rest of the world, even in Europe.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 3:10 AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013 3:37 AM
Quote:A new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund, on the well-being of children in 35 developed nations, turned up some alarming statistics about child poverty. More than one in five American children fall below a relative poverty line. The United States ranks 34th of the 35 countries surveyed, above only Romania and below virtually all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Southern European countries, among the most effected by the euro crisis, have some of the worst rates, although none as low as the United States. The poor U.S. showing in this data may reflect growing income inequality. According to one metric of inequality, a statistical measurement called the gini coefficient, the U.S. economy is one of the most unequal in the developed world. This would explain why the United States, on child poverty, is ranked between Bulgaria and Romania, though Americans are on average six times richer than Bulgarians and Romanians. Lots more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/15/map-how-35-countries-compare-on-child-poverty-the-u-s-is-ranked-34th/]
Saturday, June 29, 2013 6:14 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Magonsdaughter: Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: The 'poor and suffering' in N. Carolina, or anywhere in the US, still live far better than most of the rest of the world, even in Europe. I'd rather be poor and suffering here. Sorry. A decent welfare system and free health care makes a big difference. And I can say that just because you have a good welfare system, doesn't mean you have to use it. Take me. You'd consider me a true socialist, and compared to you, I probably am. Never had more than a month's unemployment benefit in my life, although I did receive Austudy for a year when studying, funnily enough. Worked in a variety of jobs, including bar work, waitressing, cleaning. Every day I thank the universe that I was lucky enough to be born in a wealthy country and I owe the fact that I live okay to what that country has provided for me.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 6:21 AM
Quote:The 'poor and suffering' in N. Carolina, or anywhere in the US, still live far better than most of the rest of the world, even in Europe.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 6:49 AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013 7:31 AM
Quote:I know you really do hate America
Quote: but honestly, don't make the mistake of thinking just because someone else doesn't share your loathing for the great unwashed who aren't thrilled to be indoctrinated by BIG GOVT that they've stuck their foot in their mouth.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 8:58 AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013 9:30 AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013 11:15 AM
FREMDFIRMA
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote:Originally posted by Magonsdaughter: Wow. So what happens if people actually have no money to buy food? Nothing? They kill for it. What the GOP *wishes* the poor and unemployed would do is simply go away. Lie down and die, basically. Unfortunately for them, people have this kind of will to survive, and will do pretty much whatever they have to in order to stay alive, including kill, steal, rob, etc.
Saturday, June 29, 2013 1:23 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: I did say " most" of the rest of the world. There are , of course, a few exceptions.
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