As I write this week’s column, I am sitting in a hotel room along the North Carolina coast. I finally took a break from working on a project for my employer. I am a technician for a large multi-media and entertainment company. Sometimes I put in long hours, sometimes I travel, and sometimes during my travels, I have to stay the occasional overnight (or several nights).
It is part of my job to work long hours when needed. More than that, it is part of my ethic to do so. There are limits, though. I will have a life outside of my job and I will have extra-curricular activities. For instance, I volunteer with a local Cub Scout pack in Smithfield. There was a feeble attempt to start a new pack in Selma a few years ago, for which I offered to become involved in any needed capacity. Since that work never materialized, I became involved along with my eight-year-old son in the existing organization. I am sure that I will have to go through it all over again in four or five years with my toddler when he is old enough to get involved in Scouting. Then, when the “bun in the oven” is born and is old enough, he or she may well get involved in Scouting and Dear Old Dad will probably be involved then, as well.
Last week I had a weekend off from work. I got a phone call from a co-worker asking about a technical problem he was having. The technician on call had already been on the road that day and I was one of the few people who knew about the technology in question. So, I got drafted into working on a Sunday afternoon. In so doing, I had to blow off my commitment that day with Cub Scouts. That was the “season opener”, so to speak, for this year’s Cub Scout activities. I was not at all happy about it, but it was something that had to be done. After all, my employer supplies me with the job and salary that pays my bills.
On the way home, after working on my day off and missing my beloved Scouts, I had to stop by the friendly, local grocery store and pick up a few items. I took my less than twelve items to the express checkout lane, which was misnamed at this point. The young man behind the counter was obviously new. He had to constantly get help from other checkout staff no less than four times on one transaction. I don’t blame him for the problem and long wait. I do blame the company for putting such an untrained newbie at the register. I also blame something else.
As I was waiting in line for the incredibly long transaction, I could not help but notice that the couple getting the small amount of groceries and tendered the payment that caused the debacle most likely did not speak English as their native language and were probably from a land south of our nation’s border. They were using a WIC voucher as payment. It was the voucher processing that gave the young cashier such a problem, only because it was new to him. As I looked over at the next register, I saw a middle aged man paying for his cart full of groceries with a government issued food stamp debit card. I was less than thrilled to know that I was paying for their grocery purchases as well as my own.
In this present economy, I understand that a lot of people may be out of work. It is frustrating, however, to work as hard as I do and see my tax dollars supporting so many others who are not. I know people who have never worked in their lives but are collecting food stamps, Social Security benefits, disability benefits, or other forms of government subsidy. For those who do want to work, the government created the high unemployment situation with their own policies, and many just can’t keep up with the cost of living life with no job.
To make it worse, President Barack Obama is trying to push through yet another stimulus spending package and tax hike under the guise of a jobs bill. As I was explaining to a friend of mine the other day, this bill follows a pattern. I said to him, “Step one: institute plans that will financially injure the country and cause job loss. Step two: create a so-called solution to the problem just created with more of the same strategy that caused the problem to begin with. Step three: take an increasing amount of control over the population in the name of remedying the now increasing problem caused the solution to the problem originally created.”
I realize that this so-called jobs bill probably won’t pass through Congress, but I have a feeling that things are still going to get worse before they get better and I am going to see a lot more WIC vouchers and food stamps at my neighborhood grocery store. Maybe at least the nice but inexperienced grocery clerk will get better at what he does.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday, October 08, 2010
Column for Oct. 7, 2010
I am sure that there are a lot of you are like me in that you know of someone who has been out of work for some time now. I stand by my earlier assessment that the economy was not as bad as many people made it out to be. Unfortunately, just as with the Great Depression at the end of the 1920's, government intervention that was intended to help had just the opposite effect. But that is a different subject for a different column.
There are two people in my family who lost their jobs in the past couple of years. Both of them were long time employees of their respective employers. Both ended up being laid off and receiving unemployment benefits while they applied for new jobs. Neither has found new employment to this day. One finally reached the proper age for retirement, so he started drawing on his retirement savings. The other decided to just become a stay-at-home mom full time rather than re-enter the workforce.
Both of these people ended up being "overpaid" in their unemployment benefits. The elder of the two was the first one laid off and ended up paying back about a thousand dollars (as I recall) to the state. The younger of the two was amongst the 38,000 people who recently got nastygrams from the North Carolina Employment Security Commission saying that she owed the state.
As a matter of fact, this young lady received a total of four letters saying that she owed the state money. Three of those letters all arrived on the same day. You may have read, seen, or heard about this story in recent newspaper articles, on television, on the internet, or on the radio. I heard numerous stories about it. It was even national news.
Every one of the people that received nastygrams from the government allegedly received benefits above which they were entitled. The state knew that over payments were being made as far back as January but did nothing about it then. They waited until September to do something about it and put pressure on the poverty-stricken to repay money they did not have.
My family member was rather unhappy with the demand for money back since she, like tens of thousands of others in North Carolina, is still out of work. She received the alleged overage money through no fault of her own. She showed me the letters and they were as confusing to me as they were to her. She told me that every time her unemployment benefits were supposed to expire, she would get an extension of benefits letter. After getting these four letters saying that she owed the state money, she got yet another letter informing her of yet another extension of her unemployment benefits.
I am glad to say that Governor Beverly Perdue did the right thing by stepping in and making sure that the people who received any overage did not have to repay it. I am not much on government entitlements, but unemployment benefits are a bit different than welfare, WIC, food stamps, government housing, and other such programs. People pay into the system, as do employers for benefits during such cases of unemployment.
As I was told about the fun that my family members had in dealing with a state agency, I could only marvel at the gross inefficiency. The same state that knowingly overpaid unemployment benefits and failed to correct the problem is the same state government that tries to run our education system. The same state government that sent duplicate letters to 38,000 unemployed people is the same state that is ruthless in collecting back taxes from its citizens.
Look at this on a larger scale. If a state government can be so inefficient with unemployment benefits for 38,000 people, imagine how inefficient and wasteful the national government is with all of its giveaways and entitlement programs. I imagine that it is 50 times or more as bad as North Carolina.
When I think about government inefficiencies like this, I wonder why in the world we agree to depend upon them for retirement income programs, for running the mail service, for income for the elderly and infirm, and for medical care. Is the government that knowingly did not make correct payments to the unemployed then tried to demand the money back, the same government that you want taking decisions for your children's education or for your health care? Not me.
There are two people in my family who lost their jobs in the past couple of years. Both of them were long time employees of their respective employers. Both ended up being laid off and receiving unemployment benefits while they applied for new jobs. Neither has found new employment to this day. One finally reached the proper age for retirement, so he started drawing on his retirement savings. The other decided to just become a stay-at-home mom full time rather than re-enter the workforce.
Both of these people ended up being "overpaid" in their unemployment benefits. The elder of the two was the first one laid off and ended up paying back about a thousand dollars (as I recall) to the state. The younger of the two was amongst the 38,000 people who recently got nastygrams from the North Carolina Employment Security Commission saying that she owed the state.
As a matter of fact, this young lady received a total of four letters saying that she owed the state money. Three of those letters all arrived on the same day. You may have read, seen, or heard about this story in recent newspaper articles, on television, on the internet, or on the radio. I heard numerous stories about it. It was even national news.
Every one of the people that received nastygrams from the government allegedly received benefits above which they were entitled. The state knew that over payments were being made as far back as January but did nothing about it then. They waited until September to do something about it and put pressure on the poverty-stricken to repay money they did not have.
My family member was rather unhappy with the demand for money back since she, like tens of thousands of others in North Carolina, is still out of work. She received the alleged overage money through no fault of her own. She showed me the letters and they were as confusing to me as they were to her. She told me that every time her unemployment benefits were supposed to expire, she would get an extension of benefits letter. After getting these four letters saying that she owed the state money, she got yet another letter informing her of yet another extension of her unemployment benefits.
I am glad to say that Governor Beverly Perdue did the right thing by stepping in and making sure that the people who received any overage did not have to repay it. I am not much on government entitlements, but unemployment benefits are a bit different than welfare, WIC, food stamps, government housing, and other such programs. People pay into the system, as do employers for benefits during such cases of unemployment.
As I was told about the fun that my family members had in dealing with a state agency, I could only marvel at the gross inefficiency. The same state that knowingly overpaid unemployment benefits and failed to correct the problem is the same state government that tries to run our education system. The same state government that sent duplicate letters to 38,000 unemployed people is the same state that is ruthless in collecting back taxes from its citizens.
Look at this on a larger scale. If a state government can be so inefficient with unemployment benefits for 38,000 people, imagine how inefficient and wasteful the national government is with all of its giveaways and entitlement programs. I imagine that it is 50 times or more as bad as North Carolina.
When I think about government inefficiencies like this, I wonder why in the world we agree to depend upon them for retirement income programs, for running the mail service, for income for the elderly and infirm, and for medical care. Is the government that knowingly did not make correct payments to the unemployed then tried to demand the money back, the same government that you want taking decisions for your children's education or for your health care? Not me.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Column for Feb. 26, 2009
A few weeks ago, this newspaper ran a poll on its web site asking if readers knew anyone who lost their job. I voted in the affirmative in that poll, since I have known several such people. As a matter of fact, in my own household we had a recent job loss with which we are having to contend. My employer has laid off a lot of people in another state to consolidate its operations into North Carolina. My father-in-law got laid off after some 35 years or more with the same employer.
I understand cut backs. I have been the victim of them my own self, and on more than one occasion. I have no problem with people who have been displaced getting a "hand up" when they are down. There is a system designed for that very circumstance. I know first hand that there are people on both sides of the employment balance, both employee and employer alike, that abuse that system. I have even been served with a summons twice to appear before the Employment Security Commission to testify on the behalf of a wronged employee as well as one time for an employer that terminated an employee in a just manner. For every abuse story, however, there are many more honest stories.
Whenever I personally lost a job, I personally chose not to file for unemployment benefits but rather searched for work quickly, secured it even if it was a situation of serious underemployment, and kept going with life. It is never a fun thing. As I said, that was a personal choice.
According to the United States Department of Labor's web site, "In general, the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program provides unemployment benefits to eligible workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own (as determined under State law), and meet other eligibility requirements of State law. Unemployment insurance payments (benefits) are intended to provide temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers who meet the requirements of State law." In general, as the feds put it, I don't have a problem with temporary assistance for workers who find themselves suddenly unemployed and did not become so as a result of disciplinary action or of their own volition. In our current economy, there are plenty of people finding themselves in this circumstance.
My dear sweet wife and I were married in October of last year. In July of this year, we are expecting our first child together, a honeymoon baby. My wife has lived in Harnett County all of her life. That is, until we made the big commitment. She has had two jobs in her entire life. One was as a waitress and subsequently a wait staff supervisor, then for the Harnett County government. The department for which she worked made use of her talents for over a dozen years. Unfortunately, politics have their way of playing out in the office, not just during election season.
Under state law, an elected official, specifically, a Register of Deeds or a county Sheriff can hire and fire at will. Under law, such employees "serve at the pleasure" of the elected official. That means that they do not have to abide by state or county labor laws and procedures. If the local sheriff does not like the color of the car you drive to work, he can get rid of you at his whim. The official can set obscure policies such as the requirement for all departmental employees to reside within the county, even if there is no such requirement by the county Human Resources or even county law. Hey, even the County Manager for Harnett County does not live in Harnett County.
Just so my readers who are suffering through hard economic ties and feel wronged will know, my wife and I are right there with you. My wife was let go from her job in January with a letter explaining that her departmental head was exercising her state law supported right to let her go because she was reorganizing the department, and gave the reason for her selection that she has a personal policy that all employees of her department must reside in the county and she moved to Selma when we married. Never mind the fact that my wife was always at work earlier than employees who reside withing a mile or two of the office and knows every job in that department, she had to go. Furthermore, other office employees also reside in other counties. In reality, she was terminated because she is pregnant and the leadership did not want to deal with an employee being out on Family and Medical Leave Act provisions. The "piece de resistance" is the county fighting the claim for unemployment benefits, so we still have to contend with over one third of our family income being instantly removed by the whim of a petty dictator. If you really want to have fun ladies, try being a woman who is over four months pregnant and diligently seeking new employment.
With the mistakes being made by our federal government right now with the handling of our economy, bail outs, and the incredibly wasteful non-stimulus spending, we are all going to feel the hurt. My 401(k) is now a 200.5(k). My income has been slashed, and I will soon have another mouth to feed. Take heart my fellow citizens. You are not alone. And even more importantly, no matter what happens, God is still on his throne.
I understand cut backs. I have been the victim of them my own self, and on more than one occasion. I have no problem with people who have been displaced getting a "hand up" when they are down. There is a system designed for that very circumstance. I know first hand that there are people on both sides of the employment balance, both employee and employer alike, that abuse that system. I have even been served with a summons twice to appear before the Employment Security Commission to testify on the behalf of a wronged employee as well as one time for an employer that terminated an employee in a just manner. For every abuse story, however, there are many more honest stories.
Whenever I personally lost a job, I personally chose not to file for unemployment benefits but rather searched for work quickly, secured it even if it was a situation of serious underemployment, and kept going with life. It is never a fun thing. As I said, that was a personal choice.
According to the United States Department of Labor's web site, "In general, the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program provides unemployment benefits to eligible workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own (as determined under State law), and meet other eligibility requirements of State law. Unemployment insurance payments (benefits) are intended to provide temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers who meet the requirements of State law." In general, as the feds put it, I don't have a problem with temporary assistance for workers who find themselves suddenly unemployed and did not become so as a result of disciplinary action or of their own volition. In our current economy, there are plenty of people finding themselves in this circumstance.
My dear sweet wife and I were married in October of last year. In July of this year, we are expecting our first child together, a honeymoon baby. My wife has lived in Harnett County all of her life. That is, until we made the big commitment. She has had two jobs in her entire life. One was as a waitress and subsequently a wait staff supervisor, then for the Harnett County government. The department for which she worked made use of her talents for over a dozen years. Unfortunately, politics have their way of playing out in the office, not just during election season.
Under state law, an elected official, specifically, a Register of Deeds or a county Sheriff can hire and fire at will. Under law, such employees "serve at the pleasure" of the elected official. That means that they do not have to abide by state or county labor laws and procedures. If the local sheriff does not like the color of the car you drive to work, he can get rid of you at his whim. The official can set obscure policies such as the requirement for all departmental employees to reside within the county, even if there is no such requirement by the county Human Resources or even county law. Hey, even the County Manager for Harnett County does not live in Harnett County.
Just so my readers who are suffering through hard economic ties and feel wronged will know, my wife and I are right there with you. My wife was let go from her job in January with a letter explaining that her departmental head was exercising her state law supported right to let her go because she was reorganizing the department, and gave the reason for her selection that she has a personal policy that all employees of her department must reside in the county and she moved to Selma when we married. Never mind the fact that my wife was always at work earlier than employees who reside withing a mile or two of the office and knows every job in that department, she had to go. Furthermore, other office employees also reside in other counties. In reality, she was terminated because she is pregnant and the leadership did not want to deal with an employee being out on Family and Medical Leave Act provisions. The "piece de resistance" is the county fighting the claim for unemployment benefits, so we still have to contend with over one third of our family income being instantly removed by the whim of a petty dictator. If you really want to have fun ladies, try being a woman who is over four months pregnant and diligently seeking new employment.
With the mistakes being made by our federal government right now with the handling of our economy, bail outs, and the incredibly wasteful non-stimulus spending, we are all going to feel the hurt. My 401(k) is now a 200.5(k). My income has been slashed, and I will soon have another mouth to feed. Take heart my fellow citizens. You are not alone. And even more importantly, no matter what happens, God is still on his throne.
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