The investigative Web site Pro Publica (propublica.org) notes that South Carolina and North Carolina are among 14 states nationally whose unemployment funds have run out of money because they didn't put enough money aside to keep it going in a pinch or because they paid out too much in claims. Here's a link to the site.
In summary, Pro Publica says:
It used to be, unemployment insurance meant a sturdy back and a jalopy big enough to fit the whole family. That changed in 1935, when the government started offering unemployment insurance, and states began to save when times were good so there was money to spend to help workers and stimulate the economy when times were bad.
In all but a handful of states, it no longer works that way.
Fourteen states have already run out of funds to pay unemployment insurance claims and taken out a total of more than $8 billion in federal loans to cover the shortfalls. At least 18 more states are in danger of exhausting their unemployment insurance trust funds.
States with empty unemployment insurance trust funds have pointed to the severe recession as the cause for their plight, but a closer examination of their trust funds shows underfunding and poor planning as the main culprit. Instead of building up reserves during good years, legislatures in these states yielded to political pressure for high benefits and low taxes. The result: dangerously low trust fund balances.
Now, states with bankrupt trust funds will have to increase taxes or cut unemployment benefits at the worst possible time -- during a recession.
"This is not a very smart way to run a railroad, because you want benefits to be available quite freely when unemployment rates go up, and you don't want to raise taxes on employers during a recession," said Gary Burtless, an economics expert at the Brookings Institution. "There used to be rules most states abided by, but those standards kind of went the way of the dodo bird."
Thursday, June 04, 2009
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35 comments:
I'm not sure if Pro publica or Jack Betts wrote this piece. When I came across the words " taxes to low" I knew right away a left leaner was involved.
Tired
North Carolina has low taxes? Delusional.
And the length of the benefits is, sadly, mostly an unfunded mandate from the feds.
I have lived here for 13 years and continue to be amazed at the low property tax rate. Living in NY I paid nearly 5,000.00 a year in property / school taxes. Down here my tax bill has never been over 1000.00 in a house that is comparable in value to that in NY. The mentality down here dumbfounds me. People own houses that increased in value from 80,000. to 450,000 but feel they should not pay an increase in taxes. All the while the value climbs a sense of entitlement to that value blinds the southern into thinking THEY made that home increase rather than the growth of the area. Growth means a higher demand in services........TOO LATE NOW YEAH HIGHER TAXES (too bad it was not 10 years ago)
Because southern states are typically conservative, property taxes are low since out of control liberal spending doesn't happen here like it does up North. The rise in home values was primarily caused by yankees moving South paying too much for houses, thus driving up property values and taxes. For $300,000 you get a crappy house in NJ but here you get a decent home. Maybe we should charge a yankee tax for each New Yorker who comes here and thinks it's okay to double our property taxes. The key point here is the states did not put ENOUGH money aside to plan for an economy like this. That's the problem. The solution is not to raise taxes. The solution is for states to be fiscally conservative. Look at California. The state has the most liberal, ridiculous state run programs and now it is the most bankrupt state in the union. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration wants the whole US to have programs like California. God help us all!
yes, anonymous at 9:12p. i vote for a yankee tax too!!! we could charge it for each time they do not pronounce an "R".
Pro Publica is funded by George Soros and Herb and Marion Sandler, the California couple who brought down Wachovia Bank. They are all huge Obama donors, so I wouldn't trust any tax information gleaned from any source to which the three of them were connected.
I think the feller from NY should go back to where he came from!
Glad to see that issues are reduced to name calling. Has anyone intelligent to say, either side?
your mom -
When are people going to learn that government is a scam? This is no surprise. Individuals need to realize that they need to manage their own affairs and not have some IDIOT in gov't tell them what they should or should not do.
"THe only thing the last 8 years has taught us is the masses in the country are too STUPID to have small government."
You do know GWB grew the size of govt dont you? You do know that the founding fathers warned of large govt dont you?
People in North Carolina have nothing better to do than complain about the way things are done elsewhere and not hold themselves accountable for their own in-state problems. Not that this is isolated to North Carolinans, but open your eyes! People say "out of control liberal spending" has gotten us into this mess, but what about the last decade of conservatives? Don't blame the current problem on "all those liberals." We're all to blame. That's capitalism my friends. We only get out what we put in.
Taxes here in NC low????? I have calculated that the taxes, Social Security and Medicare withdrawn from my paychecks and pay out in sales and property taxes comes to more than 1/3 of what I earn between Federal, State, Local. If taxes get any higher I will be paying out more than I bring home. It has to stop somewhere! If the Yankees think we arent paying enough, then they can always go back to Jersey or wherever they came from and pay out more. We will gladly allow them to do just that.
To Anonymous concerning gov't growth..... Did you just hear, Oblahblahblahma has just authorized increasing the number of Federal jobs by over 140,000? I dont remember seeing anything like that in the last 8 years. Also, this moron in Washington is going to more than double our national deficit in his first (and hopefully only) term if all his socialistic programs pass? (10 Trillion to 22 Trillion... Do the math)
To all of you dubmba$$ southerners with the typical "charge the Yankee, Yankee go home" comments. Grow up, grow a spine and most of all PAY ATTENTION to what you are reading before you make stupid comments. Previous New Yorker nailed it when he/she said you people think you are entitled to incredible growth in property value with no increase in taxes. You are fools.
So lets get this right, 20 years ago your broken down farm town house was worth about $70,000 tops. Now that same home is worth $250,000 or much more if it is in a great area of town. So your taxes went from $500 a year to $2,500 a year. SO WHAT. Do the math, even if it went to $2,500 in taxes overnight, multiply that by 20 years and you get a $40,000 increase in the amount of taxes you paid over the past 20 years. Guess what ? Your house is likely close to being paid off and is now worth $250,000 when you paid $70,000 originally. That's $180,000 in profit minus the increase in taxes of $40,000 and you gained $140,000 profit that you would not have ever gained if the evil Yankees hadn't come to town and brought all the evil progress with them. If not, your podunk home "might" be worth $120,000 by now, maybe.
By the way, all those years of increased taxes ... you got to write it all off at years end.
STOP THE BITCHIN' ALREADY
Government is the problem not the solution.
TAXATION IS THEFT!!!!
The Yankee is right----taxes in New York and other northeastern states are extremely high, resulting in no jobs and a mass exodus to the South! Now this same Yankee apparently wants to make us just like the hell hole that drove him South! How dumb can you get. Makes me think a fence along the Mason-Dixon is more important than the southern border.
CUT THE BENEDFITS! ONE MORE D--- TAX INCREASE AND LIKE MARYLAND THIS TAX AND SPEND STATE IS GOING TO MISSING MORE "RICH!"
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. LOWER ALL TAXES!!!!!!!!!!
whoever said that job loss up North is higher...Clearly feeds into the Southern Man "Ignorance" factor a.k.a. "I believe what I want without facts because I can" Check the facts. NC & SC have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
2nd For those "Northerners or North Siders" who think that yall can make comments about the South and it NOT revert to name calling...Yall are suffering from the "Northerner Ignorance factor"
Blaming Obama and Blaming Bush could go on for days. At the end of the day..."YOU DON'T KNOW" ASSume what you want but you don't know. So the back and forth is pointless. At time like these you need to worry more about taking care of oneself and family and most of you need to go find God, Allah, Buddah or the Wind.
I prefer that you go find God. :-)
IMPEACH BEV PERDUE!
I love how democrats...really dumbacrats...blame GWB for this. This shows you how dumb they really are. Thank you dumbacrats for making me laugh on this rainy morning.
No thanks
I love how this Northerner can say, "I'm from NY and (paraphrasing) - If you dumb southerners would raise your taxes you wouldn't have this problem)" - without looking at the other states that are out of money...
What!?
NY ain't got no unemployment funds either.
NJ be bummin' money just like NC...
Check out the map and most of the fourteen, out-of-fund states are in the north-east or the rustbelt.
Look at the map and the writers argument that low taxes are the cause becomes nonsensical. Many of the states with the highest tax reates are in the same boat.
The northern states are being hit worse because they have many, many times more companies there. That equals many, many times more unemployment benefits needed during this recession.
That's why the map looks like it does.
So the esteemed Jack Betts goes to a "group" founded and funded by the slimy Sandlers and Soros and calls if an investigative web site? Jack, dope there is such a thing as disclosure and you wonder why you stock price is below one dollar a share now?
Reminder the Sandlers were the slime balls that made a fortune in the sub prime business.
And any dopes that think we are not paying enough taxes is further proof we have a dumbed down electorate. NYS, Mich and CA are bleeding out thanks to liberal policy. The big problem with that is that liberals are fleeing these states and bringing their disease with them.
Hang it up GOP wanker. You had your chance and now it's time for us to clean up the total f'ing mess that you made.
Take a look at the U.S. national debt chart over the past 80 years and compare it to who was in power at the time.
YOU lose. End of story.
Well, one thing is clear: people certainly aren't moving here for the intelligent discourse.
Jack, You moved up a little in popularity. There are more than 5 comments in your blog. You must be wearing a new bowtie.
I have been reading these comments and laughing. They are true. It's a Southern thing and Yankees never understand. I used to work for the state and it was a mazing to me the stuff they "Threw" away. I think it's alot of both sides faults and as in goverment it's always a finger pointing game. I just wish they would grow up, take responsibility and put as much energy in solving the issue than ranting about what the other side did. As afar as good ol" Bev. NC got want they voted for. NOTHING!!!! as the old adage goes "Be careful what you wish for you just may get it" and NC GOT IT when they elected her.
Bev Perdue is corrupt.
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