You can tell when the propaganda machine is belching the same message on all pistons. You start hearing the groupthink’s identical fabrications bouncing from social media to local government boards to newspaper articles and comment sections. It happened after the election with that “stop the steal” smear. It happened after the January insurrection, when the con blamed the attack on Antifa agitators. It periodically happens when masks or the vaccine are reimagined as government conspiracies.
It’s happening now regarding unemployment and stimulus checks. They’re blamed for keeping people home. It’s a twofer: Business owners, politicians and chambers of commerce of a certain stripe blame the government for “competing” with the private sector by sending “handouts,” and they attack workers at the lowest end of the wage scale for staying home–as if crappy wages, questionable safety or a worker’s job market have nothing to do with employers having a hard time filling their ranks.
But accuracy isn’t the blamers’ concern. Belittling workers and lampooning government is. The motives are primarily ideological, part of the continuing war against better wages and stronger worker-safety protections.
It’s nothing particular to the covid pandemic but rather the periodic revival of Ronald Reagan’s original slur about the welfare queen who had 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and whose “tax-free income alone is over $150,000,” as he put it in so many speeches in the 1970s. Reagan biographer Lou Canon found out that the future president was lying, never a difficult task with Reagan. He was referring to a woman who was, in fact, convicted of fraud for using two aliases to collect 23 checks totaling $8,000. She was found guilty in 1977. But Reagan kept repeating the lie for years, never mentioning that the system worked: fraud was stopped. The fraudster was punished. And so the term welfare queen “became a not-so-subtle code for ‘lazy, greedy, black ghetto mother,’” in Michelle Alexander’s description in “The New Jim Crow.”
More recently we had John McCain’s claim that Obama would turn the IRS into “a giant welfare agency” or Mitt Romney’s slur about the 47 percent. Same misleading motive. Romney wasn’t wrong: 47 to 50 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax. He passed over the slew of other taxes all of us pay regardless of income, with disproportionate effect the lower you go down the tax brackets, especially in Florida. And he called millions of retirees and working poor who don’t make enough to pay taxes freeloaders “dependent on the government,” fueling resentment from one set of Americans toward another and indicting social and government responsibility.
The same distortions frame current claims that businesses are either “competing” with government checks or that the unemployed are profiting off government’s dime. The stimulus checks were nothing to live on for very long. Nor is unemployment, even if you throw in the $300 from the federal government (which runs out in December), especially in Florida, the state with the stingiest unemployment system in the nation: your checks top off at $275 a week–the actual average is $235–and end after 12 weeks, assuming the unemployed is willing to put up with a gauntlet of requirements. (Mississippi, Arizona, Tennessee and Alabama have lesser or equal benefits, but they last 26 weeks).
No one can volunteer to be unemployed and still get benefits. Fraudsters aside, no one is profiting off that system: if an employer has invited an employee back, they can either go back or lose their benefits. If, as inevitably may happen on occasion, some workers are gaming the system, then blame the system, and blame yourself: there are plenty of measures in place for employers and government to red-flag and catch fraudsters.
But we keep hearing our own local elected officials or business groups peddling the fabrication of the lazy unemployed: “I speak with business leaders daily in Flagler County, who have open jobs that are going unfilled,” the spokesman for a small group trying to replace the defunct chamber of commerce says in a release. “Business leaders believe this is because of covid stimulus and extended unemployment benefits,” and so on. Zero evidence.
Anecdotal stories have their place of course. They may distort reality even as they illustrate perception, which often drives the conversation more than reality does. But without analysis or context the solipsism of the “everyone I know” principle can betray ignorance or prejudice or both: “Business leaders believe…” sure. That doesn’t mean business leaders know, even if we tend to see them as infallible and deific oracles. “And bear in mind,” as Martin Amis put it, “that the people you know are astronomically outnumbered by the people you don’t know.” What CareerSource Flagler Volusia reported via the Observer is solid evidence, however: Only 12 percent of those who filed for unemployment in the Flagler-Volusia area since March 2020 are still getting unemployment, which is borne out by the unemployment rate, now hovering around 5 percent in Flagler for the past several months–close to full employment. If all these people are sitting home, why aren’t the unemployment figures bearing it out?
This, too, is pretty strong evidence: if it were true that unemployment benefits were keeping Floridians home on Florida’s meager checks, then the fatter the checks, the higher the unemployment rate. Somehow, the reverse is true: The most you can get in Florida between federal and state benefits is $575 a week. The unemployment rate is near 5 percent. Workers in Utah and Vermont can get more than $800 a week. Workers in Nebraska and South Dakota, more than $700 a week. You’d think half those states’ workers would be sitting home running out the clock on their “handouts.” Yet those states’ unemployment rates are all 2.9 percent, best in the nation.
These checks aren’t handouts. They’re relief, just like the $50,000 that restaurant I mentioned earlier got as part of the CARES Act: no one should call those checks “handouts,” subsidies or unfair competition. They were an essential bridge back to health, even though undoubtedly a good many businesses took the money just because it was available, not because they needed it (see the list of CARES act checks to local businesses here.) By the same token, don’t smear those getting unemployment benefits, though in Florida it’s difficult to speak of unemployment checks as relief. Scraps, more like it. The last time the Legislature increased the benefit, in July 1997–nearly a quarter century ago–Lawton Chiles was governor. If the weekly benefit had merely kept up with inflation, it would have had to be $457 today.
The Florida Senate wants to raise the weekly benefit to $375, still well short of where it ought to be. Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the plan killed. “We’re getting people back to work,” is how he put it. In other words, if you’re unemployed, it’s your fault and all you need is to feel a little more pain to get back out there. You’re the lazy one. It’s a more coded way to convey the slander that “Unemployment insurance is a prepaid vacation plan for freeloaders,” as Ted Kennedy put it in 1980–quoting Ronald Reagan.
Enough fabrications. The unemployed aren’t the enemy. Nor is government. And business isn’t hallowed. It’s an equal partner, no more privileged or sanctified than its lowest-wrung worker. In an economy near full employment, a living wage and a little more respect may be better ways to attract workers than trash-talking them.
Mark says
“In an economy near full employment, a living wage and a little more respect may be better ways to attract workers than trash-talking them.” So money and respect are factors to get people back to work? Kinda shoots your entire argument out of the water. What is a “living wage”? Something like “fair share”?
Jim Morrison says
Correct. What pierre does not explain is that the 5% unemployment rate is misleading. Fed unemployment rate is calculated by those attempting to look for a job not who is out of work.
When people are collecting govt $ and staying home they have no desire to look for work. This is all a fact and not economic theory. How many unemployed are not paying rent based on covid relief. Once this rent relief is removed the game will change.
Pierre Tristam says
Jim Morrison is incorrect. The official unemployment rate reflects those who qualify for unemployment and are termed “unemployed.” The more expansive, alternative measure of labor utilization, referred to as the U6 rate, includes the under-employed, those working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work, and those discouraged workers who are no longer looking for work–but are not receiving unemployment benefits. That rate is much higher, and is in double-digits for Florida. But it underscores the, point: those discouraged workers are not receiving benefits. And no one is currently “not paying rent based on covid relief,” that meager benefit having only to do with subsidizing some rent–and most people who need it are not taking advantage of that–certainly not to the extent that businesses have taken advantage of CARES Act funds, whether they needed the money or not.
Concerned Citizen says
You said a key word. Respect.
I work in the Security industry. I retired after time in the military and a full career in Public Safety. Decided to keep working because the money is decent. And my wife works so why stay home all day?
Never have I seen people so disrespectful to workers as I have over the past few months. I see it in attitudes and I see it in language used. On several occasions I have been called disrespectful names and even been told to F Off. Something I can’t fathom doing because I was raised to be respectful. And the consequences were feared for not doing so.
Kindness and respect are free. Learn to use them and make the world a better place. Being disrespectful doesn’t make you cool. Or better than anyone else. It makes you an obnoxious asshat. And one dau you might run into that one person who teaches you a valuable lesson.
Percy's mother says
One would assume a “living wage” might be something over $9.00 an hour, which is what a lot of businesses are offering these days.
Mark, what’s YOUR thoughts on a “living wage”. What are you offering?
jw says
I have positions open that I’m having trouble filling. I start our unskilled people at well over what unemployment is paying, and our skilled workers do very well. Am I the only one having this issue?
PC Mom says
No you are not! I own a business in town and can’t find anyone to work either. I can tell you that everyone I have interviewed , will not be getting employment if they come back in after their unemployment runs out. All my years, the laziness and sense of entitlement is something I have never seen before.
Unemployed Friend says
@PC Mom and jw,
Where do your advertise your jobs? All that I see are fast-food jobs or jobs that require 2+ years experience in that field.
I’m asking “for a friend” of course.
jw says
@Unemployed Friend. You can email me at [email protected]
A Recruiter says
This article is 100% true. I am a recruiter for a national company with a local branch. I hire people all over America. LITERALLY ALL of the people I tried to hire who have turned down jobs due to wanting to keep unemployment or disability benefits are white men in their 40’s-50’s, many of whom I see on Facebook pages talking about “the takers” and “the moochers.” I’m sure to their friends, they brag about being smart and knowing the value of their time and effort. Yet God forbid anybody else decide to do that.
When my company had a difficult time attracting workers, we raised our wages. Guess what – we started to attract more workers. We treat everyone with dignity and focus on employee experience to keep the people we have in place. It’s not rocket science, folks.
Yeah, some people don’t show up. I do a little bit of research and find that many of them have found better opportunities at other companies. And that’s okay. That’s the game in America. That’s the system working.
The businesses who are crying about lack of workers seem to call hospitality workers lazy moochers in the next breath. Gee, maybe your low wages and contempt for your employees is the problem.
Albert Holland says
What evidence says otherwise? No restaurant in the area has enough help, and many are closing extra days to give the workers that do show up adequate time off.
Only Me says
Florida the antiquated laws and the Republican Party that enjoys the benefits of them for their own selfish greed. The Right to Work State, who came up with that antiquated law and what year? So people can get fired or let go for no reason-given, is that constitutional allowed these days? Sure it is in Florida because they refuse to make any progress to treat its workers with respect and pay them a decent salary.
The Republican Party hasn’t figured out if you pay people a decent salary they won’t need State assistance Food Stamps etc.
It amazes me that the Republican Party has yet to want to get rid of antiquated laws and become modern with the times.
The people in Florida voted for $ 15.00 an hour wages and legalizing marijuana as Mr. Mogan fought for, has that happened yet? Of course, not the State of Florida Republicans refuse to listen to its voters and continue to still follow what they want and not what the voters want.
The Florida Republicans are still going to want you to go out and vote for them even though they ignore what its people want and have voted for on their ballots.
Why is that?
cgm says
drive around every business has help wanted signs post.
so are cutting hours because they don’t have employees.
Unemployed Friend says
… but most of those signs are too small to be read while also paying attention to traffic as your going 30-60mph, so really if a person doesn’t WALK by that business, they probably won’t see the sign. Also, that requires going that direction for some reason. Most unemployed people I know won’t be going to work, and they probably won’t be going out to eat if they don’t have an income (at least, I wouldn’t).
Where are the businesses advertising their jobs? Only on their window? On online platforms where they don’t even bother to acknowledge the application has been submitted? Or do they require a few years experience IN THAT FIELD? That’s what my friend has seen for the last 6 months.
Realtalk says
You have valid points, I have seen for many years people walk in and ask of we are hiring. There is less traffic today coming in, I do agree there is something to be said about competitive pay, employee benefits and creating a positive work environment for employees. Or should I say a great place to work, have fun and make money. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. That being said, there is still the problem of finding staff. If everyone is having somewhat of the same issue, where did all the people go or is ever business that mis managed. So please before you try and act like you know what your talking about, tell your friend to be old school and walk in ask for a hiring manager. Just making an excuse for getting out there and pounding the pavement to look for work if you need it.
William Moya says
I’ll add a tangential comment, with the advent of Capitalism and the Puritan ethic leisure became akin to sin, and work became a tool to salvation, and to the secular world a status symbol. People who were rich and living of their wealth, started to work and not just 8 hours, but twelve or more, weekends, and vacations, i.e. the more they work the higher they will climb self esteemed pyramid. Culturally, it became a contagion, so that the middle class felt that they also had to do so to get the respect of their peers, friends, and family. So to be unemployed became not just a tragedy, but a disease, to be avoided, rejected, and punished.
Sherry says
Thanks for this excellent factual article, Pierre. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the people doing that “trash talking” could care less about actual facts, especially when anyone is pointing out the lies that perpetuate racism/prejudice/bigotry.
The “current” Republican party is now the “white supremacist” party. The cult members will continue to “tear down” all those who are not lily white in any way possible, whether there is any truth in their judgement or not. They are fed a continuous stream of “talking points” by right winged media outlets and social media lies and propaganda. Picking on the poor, especially those of color, comes from an arrogant, judgmental place of pseudo privilege.
There but for the grace of a higher power and circumstance goes each one of us.
Merrill Shapiro says
This piece deserves a standing ovation!
Jimbo99 says
$ 275/week or $ 375/week, not life altering money for 12-16 weeks. Unemployed aren’t doing anything more than taking on problems an employer doesn’t even care about to pay a heck of a lot of anything for. Employers need to come with the money up front. This prove yourself challenge of a scam is never getting paid enough to be anything more than a Government recipient anyway. So mark that problem down as something that doesn’t pay enough to ever be worth giving a damn about or owning the problem. Those that are getting paid enough, that’s their job to deliver, they need to own their jobs and do them, stand the scrutiny that their solution is ever good enough. Nobody empowers that they can’t do it all by themselves, because they certainly expect everyone else to do it al by themselves and for a fraction of an income that won’t ever be anything more than kicking the can down the street of an existence. The one’s getting paid they big bucks & benefits, they owe their employer & society that level of get it done. These are problems nobody cares about. Unfortunate as it is, if employees were their children, DCF would be on them for child abuse & neglect. Nobody is their pet, to be abused & neglected. Unaffordable & short of a decent life, well that seems to be the theme, always has been.
Michael Cocchiola says
There are a lot of reasons people may remain unemployed – medical reasons; caring for a disabled family member; child care; domestic violence; – are a few. And probably some at the bottom of the skill pool may linger a bit on unemployment. But I’m not aware of any study that shows people routinely avoid work because of unemployment benefits. In fact, new research from the Chicago Federal Reserve measured the number of hours in a week people spent searching for work and the number of job applications they sent in the past month. The researchers found that “those currently collecting benefits search more than twice as intensely as those who have exhausted their benefits.”
Conservatives continue to demonize American workers who demand better wages. They’re going to pay up or sacrifice their businesses.
Inthenameofunity says
Mike, I have witnessed, from a very young age that people have looked forward to being layed off. Especially high paid construction workers in the winter months. I have not done a written study but have seen throughout my days on this planet, in three states, men and women of all colors know how to game the unemployment system. I live down here with the working class, unlike most of the comentors here. I may not have a college education but I do know how to work and sweat doing it. I myself have collected one week my whole life. I have witnessed many faking job interviews and making the necessary phone calls to keep collecting. Anyone who thinks this story is correct is just plain ignorant of the facts!
Mark says
We are in the middle of a horrible pandemic and people are trying to figure out why workers are staying home!? Ever think they dont wamt to get sick and die or have life long complications from covid 19? A few more years things may be back like they were so just stay home
TR says
Just because someone gets covid does not mean they will die. Especially as the facts state people in their 30s and 40s are low risk to even catch the virus.
Get Real says
Well, most of these jobs don’t provide any type of health care so are you offering to pay the hospital bills? What about the people who have long term consequences? Should they be willing to risk their long term health and financial situation all for the honor of bringing you a cheeseburger or washing your plate and getting screamed at by Anti-Mask Martha?
Palm Coast Citizen says
There seem to be two confusing facts at hand: 1. It’s well known aecdotally and in reports that many businesses struggle to fill positions. 2. Unemployment rate is relatively low.
I have some questions I think could help us understand this so we don’t put blame in the wrong place (if blame is necessary at all).
1. These businesses who are having difficulty filling positions, why? What happened to the employees who left during covid? Would they not return? Wouldn’t they then not be eligible for unemployment?
2. What are the actual statistics on job openings now vs. pre-COVID? Are there more or less positions available?
3. Do we know what types of jobs are on unemployment/were on unemployment? Can we get that information form Career Source? Is it food service, tourism, etc?
Pogo says
@Thank you Pierre Tristam.
To others passing this way:
https://www.google.com/search?d&q=John+Rawls
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
— 1 Corinthians 13:11, King James Version
Dennis says
Open your eyes man! Why work when you can collect more money while sitting at home? There is no incentive to return to the workforce when you feeding at the tits of the taxpayers. Biden and the Democratic Party are giving away money, hoping to buy votes. The extra cash giveaway for people with kids ms,in less than $150000 a year is a joke. Please show me someone making $149000 a year with two kids that are not living big. It’s socialism at work. It’s taxpayers giving well off taxpayers more free money. What happened to the bump in social security that Joe campaigned about? I know married people on SS that live on less than $1575 a month. Any afford air on when very hot and heat on when cold. These are the forgotten people that supported and paid into the system fir 45 years. Don’t worry about them, they are just a drain on society. You’ll be there someday too. It’s all bullshit. Many people just don’t want to work while getting paid is free. This country is doomed to go broke, just like Russia did. China will rule the world.
blondee says
@Dennis Social Security was never meant to be the only source of income for a retiree. These people that have worked 45 years had plenty of time to make other investments to supplement their Social Security. Take note people, or you and your spouse also may be living on $1575/month in your golden years.
Mary Fusco says
@ Blondee And Welfare was not meant to support children of those that procreate just because they can! Last I heard, welfare was meant to be a “helping hand” for those in need to get back on their feet, not to keep reproducing and collecting for 18 + years. Between my husband and I, we worked a total of almost 100 years. I worked from 16 until I was 65. We raised our family and never took a dime from the government. Sometimes those paying their bills themselves are unable to make other investments. Luckily for us, our home is paid for and we have some investments. Time for the government to STOP paying people to breed. BTW, I feel that after 100 combined years of working we deserve our SS considering those collecting welfare don’t work at all.
TR says
Forget about the article getting a standing ovation, your post deserves the standing ovation and I couldn’t agree more with everything you said. If anyone doesn’t agree they are living their life where they don’t want to see the truth.
Jp says
If it’s more lucrative to collect unemployment why don’t employers pay more? That’s the root of the problem. Employers won’t even try to compete with government welfare and then complain that they can’t get workers. Here’s a real simple fix, PAY MORE MONEY!
TR says
then you’ll be complaining that the product or service you are buying cost to much. The employer will only pass the high pay cost along to the consumer which will not solve anything. Paying more money isn’t the entire solution. Lowering the benefits for unemployment will have a better outcome. But this administration the best solution is keep giving money away. It’s the start of communism. WAKE UP AMERICA.
Pierre Tristam says
TR is absolutely right. But why stop at lowering benefits? We should eliminate unemployment benefits altogether and force the unemployed to do something really reprehensible, like moderate comment sections. That should teach them.
fightingforjustice says
What a load of BS. IF you are offered work and turn it down, you lose unemployment. What’s going on now re unemployment is because of the pandemic hitting businesses and people over the past year. Plus, some companies/businesses claimed the PPE funds and still laid off their workers. You cannot get unemployment if you QUIT your job either. And the ones who pay into unemployment are the businesses, not taxpayers. I know, I owned corporations. I’ve also worked on the production line of plants, in restaurants, with engineering firms, government contractors, government itself, etc.
This Qanon crap of lies from the right has to be closed down. I am happy that democrats (NOT republicans who only want big corporations to pay little to NO taxes) decided to refund ME some of MY taxes I have paid to the federal government while working over the years in my time of need. The ‘cash’ being given to children is a TAX CREDIT that both republicans and democrats agreed would be better spread out over the year to help than taken as a 1 time lump sum April 15th (tax day). The stupidity and vitriol lies of the right ‘leaders’ is outrageous. The ‘bump’ in Social Security that President Biden ‘campaigned on’ can’t happen until 2022 because he didn’t become President until January of this year.
How much does the average person pay in federal taxes from their paycheck a year? Getting back $1200 or $2000 after paying thousands a year for years is a drop in the bucket, but I, for one am thankful that at least ONE decent political party cares about ME and the PEOPLE, and not just corporations and the very rich. BTW, those radio and TV hosts screaming about the proposed increase in taxes on multimillionaires are themselves making millions a year. I find that disgusting. (Levine, Hannity, Carlson, Jones, etc.).
Sherry says
William Moya, an excellent analysis regarding the underpinnings of “shaming” those who are unemployed.
We are experiencing the “downside” of capitalism. One where greed is glorified and even sacred services/relationships such as the medical profession have turned patients into “profit centers” in an assembly line of health care.
William Moya says
Thank you, Sherry, your writing ain’t too shabby either.
Sherry says
All those crying “Socialism” regarding the Covid relief checks. Unless you gave that $ back to the tax payers, you are the worst kind of hypocrite .
The “majority” of our citizens are in favor of that payment, and also in favor of having the billionaires (who often pay ZERO or less than their secretaries) BEGIN to pay their fair share. We need to get rid of the “loop holes” and tax that “off shore” $$$!
Regarding the low level (go nowhere) jobs that are left wanting. . . the new Republicans are trying to have it both ways. Oh sure, they are all in favor of our tax payers (NOT Mexico) paying for trump’s wall and making the USA “white” by getting rid of all the black, brown and yellow people. The trouble is those black and illegal brown people were the ones doing the scut work for less than minimum wage and paid”under the table”, so no employer taxes or benefits were needed. Now, those same people are complaining that they can’t find workers. . . that’s because they don’t want to pay the cost of a “living wage” for white US citizens who are really looking for some kind of upward career path. This whole situation was completely predictable . . . but, the short sighted trump faithful were too busy shooting themselves in their prejudice feet.
capt says
Agree, but who will pay for these Trillions in our national budget with an out of control budget, we with taxes pay a little but not enough to get the budget under control. . It will not be you and I, or our children or our grandchildren but their children maybe, https://usafacts.org/state-of-the-union/budget/#:~:text=Budget-,The%20federal%20government%20collected%20%243.5%20trillion%20in%20revenue%20in,2020%20%E2%80%94%20or%20%2410%2C457%20per%20person.
Sooner or later the Govt will want to collect on all of these relief expenditures. Its not going to be free. Someone will pay.
Percy's mother says
There’s a very nasty, mean, vicious element that’s surfaced in Palm Coast and Flagler County as evidenced by some of the comments posted here.
I know two highly educated women late 50’s who haven’t had any luck landing any kind of job in Palm Coast or Flagler County.
One of the women is an engineer having travelled all over the world in her jobs. The other woman is an accountant. Both are highly educated, have been successful in their fields in the past, and are only too willing to work. These are some of the scenarios both have encountered in their respective job searches:
1. The engineer applied to all sorts of jobs here in Palm Coast / Flagler County. Because she is in her late 50s, she was asked to take off her mask so the interviewer could “see what you look like”. She was asked point blank, “how long are you going to keep working?”. (age discrimination). This is a well-educated woman having travelled all over the world in her capacity as an engineer with plenty of knowledge, enthusiasm, spark left in her. She even applied for a cashier job at ACE Hardware, but didn’t get that job either. She was willing to take anything, but was offered nothing.
About 6 months before she left the area, she managed to find a temporary job (she’s QuickBooks certified) working for a company on US-1 in Ormond Beach making $13.00 an hour.
The engineer ended up moving to Charlotte, NC having landed a job while still living here in Palm Coast. After 18 months in Charlotte, NC, she landed a job working for a developer in south Florida with all expenses paid including housing, and now works in an engineering capacity for the developer who’s building housing developments all over the south Florida area.
The other woman I know, an accountant, is in the same position. Having applied for numerous jobs, professional as well as unskilled, she was able to get a job as a JANITOR (“custodian”) for Flagler County Schools. However, because she didn’t fit the profile for a normal “custodian”, she was bullied by the “leads” at Bunnell Elementary until she resigned. She was actually bullied out of a custodian position (being an accountant who was willing to take any job just to be able to work).
I’ve heard quite a few stories from these woman about what the job search has been like here in Palm Coast / Flagler County . . . from belittling remarks about “let’s see what you look like without the mask” to subtle comments about age. Plus, a lot of businesses posting for their unskilled jobs, are only paying $9.00 or $10.00 an hour, and some of those are independent contractor positions. Are people supposed to be happy to be offered $9.00 an hour as an independent contractor (which means paying the IRS double social security, Medicare, as well as quarterly tax reporting)? Most people are looking for better. I don’t call that a decent wage.
I remember back to the 1970s when one of my sisters was working as a secretary in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. FORTY-FIVE years ago she was making $12.00 an hour as a secretary. Today, many businesses want job seekers to be thankful to be offered $9.00 or $10.00 an hour.
Also I’ve heard from numerous job seekers that they submit applications and never hear anything back OR they submit applications, get called for an interview and never hear anything back OR submit applications, get called for interview #1, #2, #3 and then hear nothing back. AND these are for menial jobs that pay almost nothing.
As stated in my first sentence, there’s an element which has emerged in Palm Coast / Flagler County which is mean and vicious. I’m talking about the fringe element of the Republican Party here in Flagler County. They’re the ones touting “God, guns and country”. They’re the ones who have no use for anyone who isn’t young (“old” people / retirees) because Palm Coast according to them isn’t a retirement community any longer. They’re the one’s who’ve posted here and on the equivalent Facebook site that if you’re not working, it’s BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK. They’re the ones who think EVERYONE is getting unemployment and therefore people are TOO LAZY to work. That would be the followers of people like Joe Mullins, Victor Barbosa, et al. They post mean comments about people not wanting to work because they’re “LAZY” or want to lie around all day at home on their unemployment. Many people ARE NOT ON UNEMPLOYMENT. This fringe Flagler Republican element is mean, vicious, largely uneducated, and love to put other people down who aren’t in their “tribe” (God, guns, country, constitution, “business” owner).
Reading their comments makes me want to vomit.
The only thing left to say is that things never remain the same. Sooner or later, when the economy goes into nosedive, these same vicious and mean people who think they’re above it all because they have “A BUSINESS” and that everyone else who doesn’t “HAVE A BUSINESS” is worthless and lazy, will end up bemoaning their fate because their businesses have gone down the drain. Remember the great recession 10 years ago? Can’t wait for it to happen to these vicious people.
Eva says
Brava, you hit the nail right on its ugly head. I mourn for our community and pray for the day these un-Godly ones are run off. Imagine pretending to be Christian, conservative, and patriotic all the while you are selfish and racist, supporting insurrectionists, and behaving in a manner that shames the very democracy we cherish. Nightmare. We have a LOT OF WORK to do before 2022 to start with ridding our community of those at the top who foster all this toxicity. We can do it, they ARE the minority by far!
suds buster says
Mark hit it right on the head.
Concerned Citizen says
Here’s a new thought.
Stop judging others unless you know the complete storry.
All these unemployment experts are sitting high and mighty bashing folks who might be one dollar away from loosing everything. There might be numerous reasons as to why they can’t go back or aren’t working. And quite frankly it’s none of your concern.
When it comes to Covid/Political issues I have never seen a nastier bunch of holier than thou people here in this county.. Imagine what we could accomplish by making sure our fellow residents were OK? Instead of going oh they are just lazy. And don’t want to work.
I bet the world would be a better place if we spent more time lifting others up. Than putting them down.
Sherry says
Capt. You certainly have a great point about the national debt. . . which exploded even more when trump CUT TAXES on billionaires. If the majority of Congresspersons were not completely corrupted by the power and money (and I’m not talking about salary, but things like campaign contributions and book deals) of their position, they would not have allowed this situation.
The tax increases, proposed by President Biden, ONLY for those making over $400K a year, will go a long way towards keeping us from even deeper debt. However, it will be tough to pass through Congress because it would impact most of them directly and “personally”.
Many economists have calculated that our entire national debt could be paid off within just a couple of years if only the billionaires and multi-millionaires actually paid their full income taxes, even under the current rates. The problem is that wealthy people like trump take great pride in doing all they can to CHEAT the rest of us (including future generation) by finding every loop hole in order to pay ZERO taxes if possible. The heartbreaking thing is that many people in trump’s cult actually cheer him on for NOT PAYING HIS FAIR SHARE!!
Sherry says
Percy’s Mother. . . thanks for sharing those personal stories. I can certainly confirm such discrimination, as I encountered it frequently in my 20 years as a recruiter. Now, imagine if those job hunters were not so highly educated and experienced, or if they were black.
Those who paint with a broad brush and label all those on public assistance of any kind as lazy, unworthy, second class citizens are often speaking from an insecure/close minded place of judgement, prejudice and utter contempt for their fellow human beings. Chances are that FOX (NOT credible News) is their favorite TV source for talking heads that encourage fear and hate.
Sherry says
This very relevant article is from the Associated Press:
HOW COMPANIES RIP OFF POOR EMPLOYEES AND GET AWAY WITH IT
Already battered by long shifts and high infection rates, essential workers struggling through the pandemic face another hazard of hard times: employers who steal their wages.
When a recession hits, U.S. companies are more likely to stiff their lowest-wage workers. These businesses often pay less than the minimum wage, make employees work off the clock, or refuse to pay overtime rates. In the most egregious cases, bosses don’t pay their employees at all.
Companies that hire child care workers, gas station clerks, restaurant servers and security guards are among the businesses most likely to get caught cheating their employees, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of minimum wage and overtime violations from the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2019 alone, the agency cited about 8,500 employers for taking about $287 million from workers.
Major U.S. corporations are some of the worst offenders. They include Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut and Circle-K stores, which agency records show have collectively taken more than $22 million from their employees since 2005.
Their victims toil on the lower rungs of the workforce. People like Danielle Wynne, a $10-an-hour convenience store clerk in Florida who said her boss ordered her to work off the clock, and Ruth Palacios, a janitor from Mexico who earned less than the minimum wage to disinfect a New York City hospital at the height of the pandemic.
Companies have little incentive to follow the law. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, which investigates federal wage-theft complaints, rarely penalizes repeat offenders, according to a review of data from the division. Public Integrity obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act request covering October 2005 to September 2020.
The agency fined only about 1 in 4 repeat offenders during that period. And it ordered those companies to pay workers cash damages — penalty money in addition to back wages — in just 14% of those cases.