Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
State Of California To Add Insult, Injury To List Of Unemployment Benefits
()
Are you a recent victim of the Bush recession? Hoping to finally cash in on those (extremely meager) unemployment benefits you've been accumulating?
Better hope your cell phone bill is paid up:
In January, with the unemployment rate nearing 6%, nearly 12.6 million calls were placed to the state's toll-free phone number to apply for unemployment insurance benefits. But more than three-fifths never got through. Frank Hartzell knows the problem all too well. A laid-off Mendocino County social services worker, he tried calling morning and afternoon, 45 times in December. The computer hung up every time until No. 46, and he was able to apply.
Support for LAist comes from
Too bad the joke's on Jane and Joe taxpayer. As it turns out, the system was apparently designed to inconvenience.
Poor customer service has been the norm in recent years at the department. Four years ago, a Schwarzenegger-administration government-overhaul plan noted that "as many as 50% of the callers into their call centers receive a busy signal creating an irritating situation." The outlook could get worse. Last week the number of unemployment claims jumped 21% to 40,000, compared with the same week in 2007, and the state's unemployment rate rose to 5.7% in February from 5% a year earlier. On Friday the U.S. Labor Department reported that 80,000 nonfarm jobs were lost in March, the biggest decline in five years.
* A maximum time limit that appears to have been created specifically to worsen economic crises: "Benefits can be paid for a maximum of 26 weeks in most States." This length of time might be increased in times of mass economic hardship, but that increase will still have an artificial limit. (In other words, better hope the depression ends in 18 months.)
Obviously, anyone who can't find a new job in that length of time is a lazy Welfare cheat. Obviously.
* Taxes. You read that correctly. Not only are you literally begging the government for money you are supposedly entitled to, not only does this money come with an artificially imposed time limit that is unlikely to take the actual economic picture into account, and not only are you making a fraction for your former income. You'll still owe taxes. And guess what? They aren't withheld. SUPRISE!
Imagine finding out you owe money one money you didn't earn because you used other money that you supposedly received for hardship purposes to pay rent or buy food. Yikes! This doesn't even get into the bigger issue of how the tax code leans far more heavily on the middle class and poor than on the rich. Because doing so means you love the terrorists. Traitor.
Support for LAist comes from
* Hoping to use your time off to make yourself more employable? Ha ha, suck it braniac! There's a good chance that taking college classes will cause you to lose your benefits. Sure, there are some circumstances under which this isn't the case, but be warned - the state has a vested interest in denying benefits. So it's not going to be easy. And guess what? If your income in the previous tax year was awesome, even if you're destitute now, you probably won't qualify for financial aid.
Basically, you can suck it, or suck it large. The choice is yours.
Long story short, you would be highly advised to do your research into Unemployment Benefits now, before you're one of the millions of Bush era Lucky Duckies. In the meantime, instead of wasting your Cell Phone minutes calling the Unemployment Office, (minutes that would be better served calling your friends and family while you can still afford a cell phone,) might we suggest the internet?
Photo by Xenophod via Flikr
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist