In case you missed some of the news of the week.
Vermont NewsGuy: after decades of underfunding unemployment insurance, Douglas Administration seeks to take it out of the workers' hide.
If they do agree, the Legislature will pass a bill that Gov. Jim Douglas will presumably sign.
If they don’t, the Legislature will pass a bill anyway, effectively daring Douglas to veto it.
Vermont Daily Briefing:
That Damn Arnie Gundersen Ruins Another Perfectly Good Turtle Egg Breakfast With His Constant Harping On Safety And Science
Mulish Behavior:
A Better Way to Fix the Unemployment Fund
The Brattleboro Reformer endorsed an unemployment fix today that would gradually increase employer contributions and avoid benefit cuts to laid off workers and their families – a position we have advocated for months. You can read the editorial here.
John Boehner:
New York Times–Just wondering: Did you see this covered on TV?
Daily Kos–Readers support corporate heavyhandedness:
Once again, we see that the cool, hip, Apple people decide that the way to act in the world is to do their best impression of the Spanish Inquisition. This time Gizmodo ran an article about the next generation of the Apple Brick, which. I'll grant you, may be a totally cool phone.
Salon:
Sarah Palin sticks with “Drill, baby, drill.”
Damn this John Boehmer. Republicans saved health care. What planet does he live on? They’re trying to save it for Blue Cross, Wellpoint, United. They have fought to preserve that all this time. His hypocrisy is almost breathtaking.
First – – Gov. Douglas says – – we must decrease unemployment benefits to “share the pain” of the recession. I guess he is so used to saying this that he doesn’t realize how inappropriate a comment it is to say to people that just lost 60% or more of their income that they must “share the pain” by getting an even smaller check. If he really wanted to “share the pain” there is a simple and fair way of doing it – – an income tax surcharge – – but he’s not going there.
NOTHING — that is what I think we should do with the UI problem. Right now, if the stats that are bandied about are correct, we are borrowing $4 million a week to sustain the unemployment fund. That means we are injecting four million dollars a week to those that most need it and are bolstering our economy. A very important thing to do.
This problem is easily fixable. Once the economy recovers, the contribution rate from employers will have to go up to pay off the debt and restore the fund. Now is not the time to hit employers or employees with significant extra charges.
Norm