Many Unemployed and 33 States are Out of Money

by mygoditsfullofstars in Issues, April 16, 2010

According to the National Employment Law Project, 33 states and the Virgin Islands have exhausted their unemployment funds and are currently borrowing from the federal government.

This is some of the ugliest news I have heard in awhile and people really need to understand what is happening and what this really means. In simplest terms, 33 states (and the Virgin Islands) have no money left in their unemployment payout accounts. Not only that, they ran out of money awhile ago and have been borrowing from the federal government. The grand total borrowed so far is just under 39 billion dollars.

Now, there is a lot of debate about unemployment and people receiving long term benefits. I’m not going to get into that here, that’s another article. Lets just pretend that we are all on the same page and believe that if a person is laid off or fired under no fault of their own, they should be allowed to collect unemployment. OK, now we all agree that Joe Smith, who got laid off from the steel mill last week, has a right to file for and collect unemployment benefits. Joe just got fired last week and he has never collected unemployment before. Joe has no idea that his state doesn’t even have the money that he is so desperately counting on to feed his children. Joe doesn’t know that if the federal government decided they didn’t want to or couldn’t pay all 33 states unemployment payouts, that he would have no benefits. None.

Read more in Issues

« Americanism

How Exactly Do You Push The Boundaries of Free Speech? »

So you can see that we are dangling by a very thin thread. Do you trust your federal government to keep paying out for those 33 states? The economy is NOT getting better and soon, every single state will be added to the list. Then what? How long can this go on? How long can people look the other way and buy a latte or send money to Haiti? Our country is dying before our very eyes. We are hemorrhaging and there is no band aid big enough to help. I’m afraid we have passed the point of no return and we are in for a future that will be startling to some and down right unlivable for others.