Poll Position: How to repay state’s debt for jobless benefits?
Georgia’s government maintains a AAA credit rating and owes relatively little money to creditors. But we’ve run up one debt that is breathing down our necks: to the federal government, for unemployment benefits.
The recession walloped Georgia’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, wiping out reserves of nearly $1.3 billion and leaving us to borrow from Washington to pay benefits to the jobless. The trust fund once totaled $2 billion, but it never quite refilled after legislators approved tax holidays totaling about $1.1 billion during Roy Barnes’ administration and somewhat smaller extensions during Sonny Perdue’s tenure.
How should Georgia pay down its federal debt for unemployment benefits?
- Raise unemployment taxes (80 Votes)
- Cut jobless benefits (48 Votes)
- Some combination of 1-4 (43 Votes)
- Sell bonds (to reduce interest costs) (20 Votes)
- Use general revenues (12 Votes)
- Something else (specify in comments) (10 Votes)
Total Voters: 213
Loading ...Today, we owe the feds $721 million. Starting next year, federal unemployment insurance taxes will rise each year until the debt is repaid. And with the state’s unemployment rate rising to 10.3 percent in September, payouts are going to continue for some time. Taxes are set at an average of $187 per worker per year now, and they are due to rise by $21 in 2012 and an additional $21 in 2013. That puts us “under the gun to get this paid back,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler told the AJC Thursday.
To that end, Butler has proposed that the Legislature cut benefits for new applicants going forward. Checks for “top earners” would fall to $300 a week from $330 a week now, and the state could reduce the number of weeks it pays benefits. (Federal benefits currently are paid for 99 weeks.)
Alternatives for repaying the debt include raising unemployment taxes on businesses, selling bonds to take advantage of low interest rates (Georgia pays the feds a 4 percent rate) and devoting scarce general revenues. Which option is best? That’s this week’s Poll Position. Answer in the nearby poll, and offer an explanation — or other ideas — in the comments thread below.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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88 comments Add your comment
MarkV
October 21st, 2011
11:28 am
Uncle Jed @10:31 am : “My cat could spew out a more accurate guesstimate than the CBO.”
Why don’t you tell us what your cat has spewed out? It would be more valuable than your comment.
Donna P.
October 21st, 2011
11:46 am
I’m going to say something radical here; end all the Visa programs and let American citizens have those jobs back. Also, give employers a tax break to hire American citizens and not illegals. I know I’m a racist xenophobe; sorry. Putting American citizens back to work in America is the best way to deal with unemployment insurance.
catlady
October 21st, 2011
11:50 am
Well, we know that business passes on the taxes they pay to those who buy from them. Therefore, if business starts to “make up” that which it put in its pocket from the “tax holidays”, those who buy their goods will pay, rather than the business types that profited by not paying the tax for years.
NONETHELESS, those who are currently unemployed should NOT have their checks cut for the folly of our previous governors and legislators. Let the businesses see their sales go down, as they are the ones who put it in their pockets before. Yeah, some will lay off workers (and thus pay higher UI taxes, but there is no call to make the current jobless pay for the tax holiday employers enjoyed.
This is another example of how the lack of forward–looking by politicians who cater to business gets us into trouble. And yet, they continue to be elected.
catlady
October 21st, 2011
11:52 am
I agree with ending the Visa programs for foreign workers. Rife with profiteering by American employers!
pete
October 21st, 2011
11:54 am
we will never get anywhere as long as we keep giving private corporations our tax dollars.What do you get in return nothing,but more debt to the tax payor.We need to trim the fat cats that give our tax dollars to corporations .
timthebrave
October 21st, 2011
12:03 pm
Tax corporations big time that think it is ok to outsource to india and elsewhere overseas….You bring those jobs back to america and unemployment would drop big time. Plus I could actually understand the person when I call customer service
Aquagirl
October 21st, 2011
12:09 pm
I know I’m a racist xenophobe; sorry.
You’re being too hard on yourself, Donna. You’re not a racist xenophobe. You may be suicidal though, if you want Americans handling things like bridge designs and medical care. Frankly we don’t have enough intelligent people to fill those slots.
HORRIBLE POLITICIANS
October 21st, 2011
12:14 pm
THIS IS WHAT HAS CAUSED THE PROBLEM WITH THE DEPT. OF LABOR:
“Georgia makes weekly payments to workers, laid off by no fault of their own, from its unemployment insurance reserve, normally funded by employer taxes. But in 2000, amid low unemployment, the General Assembly declared a “tax holiday, ” which lasted through 2003, absolving most employers from paying the tax. The reserve fund fell from $2 billion to $703 million in late 2003. Although employers were supposed to refill the fund once the holiday expired, legislators repeatedly granted them additional tax breaks.”
NOW, FOR ONCE HOW ABOUT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS DUMPING THE BUSINESS SECTOR IN THEIR HIP POCKETS AND FOCUSING ON THE PEOPLE??????
OUR GOVERNMENT CAUSED THIS AND HERE WE GO AGAIN – THEY WANT THE PEOPLE TO SUFFER AND PAY FOR IT….ANYONE WHO HOLDS OFFICE EACH TIME SHOULD BE VOTED OUT IN THIS STATE AGAIN AND AGAIN – THEY DO NOTHING FOR THE PEOPLE!!!!!
AND AS FAR AS “JOHNNY AND SAXBY” – VOTE THEM OUT!!! WHEN WILL GEORGIANS LEARN!!!!!!!
Donna P.
October 21st, 2011
12:26 pm
Aquagirl; I think Americans are very intelligent. We have wonderful schools that most foreigners aspire to be educated at. I feel sorry for people like you who think America is full of idiots.
DixieDemons
October 21st, 2011
12:42 pm
God forbid you become unemployed and not able to support your family. The GOP leadership you voted for is going to get you in the fields picking fruit / vegetables / and cotton one way or the other.
Corey
October 21st, 2011
12:43 pm
So $330/wk is the max even if you made 1200/wk while employed. Not everyone qualifies for the max which is determined by total earnings within the past five quarters, nor does everyone qualify for the maximum number of weeks. Once again the formula which determines the amount also applies to the number of weeks without the feds kicking in an extension of benefits. If the proposal is to reduce the max from $330/wk to 300/wk does that mean individuals who receive $200/wk will receive $170/wk instead. Some people who were low wage earners while employed may only qualify for $75/wk. Will they then receive $45/wk? Inquiring minds want to know. Veering off topic, what is it about people who lean conservative that causes them to take pleasure and pride in berating their fellow citizens who are less fortunate? I follow the Republican debates, and it appears the more nasty and mean spirited the candidate is the more applause from the amen corner. Do you not find it abhorrent that people are gleeful when the less fortunate among us are described in less favorable generalities? Does one have to possess a degree of meanness to pass the conservative test?
Bob
October 21st, 2011
12:44 pm
Why does it seem like a lot of people in this state seem to want to punish all unemployed people? We see some businesses doing it, we see Congress and State politicians wanting to cut unemployment benefits to near zero and practically make it impossible to get government money to retrain to save money, and we see some of the public treating the unemployed as if they committed a crime. These people live in a dreamworld where they believe if they work hard they won’t EVER be unemployed and that being unemployed is somehow the victims’ fault. Yes, go ahead and keep living in your dream world but don’t expect any help from me if it happens to you.
Grandmachick
October 21st, 2011
12:46 pm
Obviously you “hard working people” that want unemployment benefits cut have never been unemployed. I am a 56 year old cancer survivor female. I was laid off from my job of 21 years due to my job being sent to Manila for cheaper labor. I worked very hard and moved up the ladder the right way. I had excellent attendance and never one bad thing on a review. Yet you cannot compete with the slave wages in another country. Put yourself in my shoes and try to find a job with my age and health against me. If you think I am happy to sit on my butt you are out of your head. I went from 65K a year to $330.00 a week and no medical benefits. Yep I am real happy with that.
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October 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
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Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
October 21st, 2011
1:03 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
October 21st, 2011
8:37 am
Some of these unemployed people could have had jobs had Obozo not sent half a billion dollars to an electric car company that then offshored the work to Finland.
They also could have jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, but yet another filibuster! Heckuva job Congressional Republicans!
#occupy my desk...
October 21st, 2011
1:03 pm
I do think it is funny that the OWS movement is screaming at the banks for their greed in accepting bailouts, but won’t say an ill word about the administration that actually did the bailing out. Keep voting democrat folks, any cause that bolsters support from the democrats, american nazi party and the american communist party has to be embraced.
#occupy my desk...
October 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
Lil’ Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward) – what happened to those “shovel ready jobs” from the first “recovery act?” There were supposed to be millions of them! Then it turned out that just like his current jobs plan, all that money just goes to public sector unions – read it, it’s true.
Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
October 21st, 2011
1:14 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
You should really add the rest of your article LBB. First, it was a law initially passed by the GOP, and President Bush. Second, it is paid for by cuts. CUTS. Do you understand CUTS??? You cannot call something a JOBS BILL when it contains CUTS (also known as more unemployment).
The bill would increase profit margins, not create jobs, to be paid for with additional CUTS (unemployment).
WASHINGTON — The Senate has blocked Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors.
The legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to end a Democratic filibuster late Thursday. Many Democrats and President Barack Obama support the idea but opposed it Thursday because it would be paid for with $30 billion in cuts from domestic agency spending. The White House promised a veto.
The withholding law was passed in 2006 by a GOP-controlled Congress. The idea then was to make sure contractors couldn’t duck their taxes. Advocates of repealing it say it will help create jobs, especially from contractors with smaller profit margins on large projects.
Matt
October 21st, 2011
1:16 pm
why put money in the hands of job creators? it wont help.
The only job creators are consumers. If consumers have no money they won’t spend money.
The so called job creators ( more like business creators who find markets that need filling)
why are markets shrinking? wages are flat, incomes are lower for all except the upper class over the past 30 years. (dont show me the past 5 show the past 30)
Essentially the upper class business creators ( have nothing against them, they are needed and should be adequately paid ) have beaten and damged the goose (the consumers lower and middle class workers who have less and less income ) that is laying their golden eggs…( when the masses have money to spend it is good for business and the upper class)
At some point the upper class got too greedy and has taken so much they have almost killed the goose.
sad stuff.
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?
October 21st, 2011
1:17 pm
@Corey: Here is an example, in 2008 I was making a base salary of $1200 dollars per week and another $200 plus in benefits and bonuses. Then I was laid off. At the unemployment office I was treated as a criminal and lazy, even though I had worked every month month for the previous 10 years, including while in college. For my troubles I was given $277 dollars per week after taxes. WHile there I heard a couple of ladies that had jobs working at Waffle House being told not to work more than x number of hours so that they could continue recieving benefits. I cannot remember what the specific number was, maybe it was 20-30, but I was livid that someone was being told not to work so that they could be paid to sit on their arse! And YES, no matter your situation you are treated as A CRIMINAL for losing your job due to workforce reductions at the unemployment office. The workers are rude and absolutely worthless when it comes to aiding you in getting back into the workforce. Luckily,by the grace of GOD, I was able to get into school and get a master’s degree and find a good job. Not back at the level I was but a decent job is a good blessing these days.
Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
October 21st, 2011
1:22 pm
#occupy my desk…
October 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
Lil’ Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward) – what happened to those “shovel ready jobs” from the first “recovery act?” There were supposed to be millions of them! Then it turned out that just like his current jobs plan, all that money just goes to public sector unions – read it, it’s true.
Again, go see JDW’s 9:45, or go riffle through Uncle Jed’s cat regurgitations. Whatever.
DawgDad
October 21st, 2011
1:27 pm
“The only job creators are consumers. If consumers have no money they won’t spend money. ”
I can’t believe someone actually posted this statement. Wrong and duh, respectively.
Get on with it
October 21st, 2011
1:42 pm
Thank the republicans (GOP) for saying no to son of stimulus. Do you know where the first stimulus went.
$528 million to Solndra
…..
$727 million to Tonapah Solar. Who is this you ask? Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve. PCG is an investment partner with SolarReserve. Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law happens to be the number two man at PCG.
…..
$529 million loan to a startup electric car company that will be building its first line of vehicles in Finland. They are actually running these cars now but not in America, Only with tax payer money.
…..
2 billion to Brazil for drilling on their land with our money. BUT America will be their number 1 customer to buy that oil. Can you say pay for drilling, pay for their employees to work and then pay to buy the oil. WOW.
….
Lets move on shall we?
:–A half million dollars for new windows at the Mt. St. Helens visitors center in Amboy, Washington. The building has been closed since 2007 and there are no immediate plans to reopen it
……
$2 million dollars to send researchers from the California Academy of Sciences to islands in the Indian Ocean to study exotic ants
…….
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program. Last look at this they have created 10 jobs and done 1 home. Yes thats right, ONE ( 1 ) home.
Do I really need to go on? This is actual spending and can be verified if you really want to take the time to do so. Where are the jobs? No jobs, just paying back democratic donors and friends/family who think that the american people owe them something.
Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Losses
October 21st, 2011
1:52 pm
hmmmmm…. twice as many people voted to raise taxes as did to cut benefits…. hmmmm….. perhaps the incessant drumbeat of the failed policies of trickle down economics (or is that the incredibly successful policies of trickle down economics?) don’t work anymore? perhaps America is waking up to the fact that we can’t cut our way out of this problem.
Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Losses
October 21st, 2011
1:55 pm
@dawgdad – that statement is 100% accurate, if you actually believe in the free market (something we most assuredly don’t have here in the US). DEMAND creates everything. No demand, no products. no products, no jobs. How hard is that to understand? If it’s not demand, why isn’t corporate america, with TWO TRILLION DOLLARS IN CASH and the LOWEST BORROWING COSTS IN HISTORY not creating jobs? (and spare me the BS about “uncertainty” – that is just corporate-speak for economic extortion).
Dusty
October 21st, 2011
2:12 pm
GET ON WITH IT
Those facts are truly amazing. Somebody in this administration is either stupid or crooked.
As to unemployment benefits, I don’t believe there should be any government benefits from being unemployed. Not when the government of this country is in worse financial shape than any individual in the USA.
Can pride be raised once more in the fact that to be independent is to care for one’s ownself, no matter what. I know it isn’t easy sometimes. But it keeps people from becoming parasites and turns them into the most stringent job hunters ever.
Now we have citizens too good to work on farms or flip hamburgers. Get over it! Take care of yourself. Uncle Sam is your poor uncle, not your sugar Daddy. Nobody promised you a rose garden, only freedom. Be thankful for that and get to work. You can do it!!
Dusty
October 21st, 2011
2:21 pm
Speaking of parasites, how are the “occupation folks” doing? Still messing up a public park and waiting for free food? Will they be the next group to demand benefits from the government? They surely are not working.
larry.333
October 21st, 2011
2:28 pm
TAKE THE “ILLEGAL ALIEN CRACK PIPE” OUT OF THE BUSINESSES/FARMS HANDS AND PUT “AMERICAN TAX PAYING CITIZENS” TO WORK !!
RAMZAD
October 21st, 2011
2:44 pm
CHELISA:
Uneducated people such as yourself can only star the show when you have rhetoric, lies, propaganda, and ignorance as your leading cast.
Unemployment is not welfare. It is the proceeds of an insurance program- the premiums of which are paid by employers- not the employees. It is not like payroll tax. There is no State budget for unemployment compensation. There is a Fund with the premiums that Georgia employers pay in.
You need to be unemployed to see how you will fun like hell to sign up for your unemployment benefits.
Your lies and distortions are sickening..more like the puke you have for an education!
RAMZAD
October 21st, 2011
2:45 pm
run like hell…
Unemployment - not a part of my dreams !
October 21st, 2011
2:45 pm
I am thankful I can pay for basics like food, mortgage and some utilities with my unemployment check. However, I would rather have a job (I was making 3,000 per month) and pay more in unemployment taxes than receive 1200.00 per month from the state. Having a degree and collecting unemployment was not an line item on my dreams, goals and aspirations list.
Dusty
October 21st, 2011
2:48 pm
KYLE….ATTENTION!!
Bookman jumped right on the Iraqi announcement by Obama and liberals are bouncing on his blog like crazy!
We need a little fight back power here to offset the crazie’s notion that Obama is the worldly wizard who is saving the universe from Republicans.
COME ON! Bush set up this time table for a free Iraq. Let’s make this good departure news an all American celebration, not a political libfest!!!
RAMZAD
October 21st, 2011
3:01 pm
Dusty:
You are part of the Moron contingent who does not recognize that we should never have gone to Iraq in the first place. Will not admit that our fora into Iraq is why you can’t even buy gasoline now. Wise up if that is remotely possible!
Kyle Wingfield
October 21st, 2011
3:12 pm
Dusty: Ahem. You’re about an hour and a half late.
ohgoodgrief
October 21st, 2011
3:13 pm
Really, people? From all of the lame comments, on in particular from Uncle Jed, quoting “We’ll never appreciably knock down the unemployment rate until we stop paying people to sit on their butts and do nothing”, which is really lame.
To get the unemployment rate down – create more jobs! Remember, those who are unemployed are certainly living week-to-week, check to check, and a check or few more from being homeless, which causes more problems.
I’ve been on unemployment 4 years ago, ( and hated it). I did everything and anything to be off it, only to get back on it when a job ended or was phased out. That money kept a roof over my head, some food on my table, my power bill paid, and ultimately, got me full time work. People are really out there looking, trying to find something that will pay a decent salary to keep them afloat.
Unfortunately, the good-paying jobs are gone, and some may never come back. Those that are around pay a lot less – I took a paycut, and employed 3 years as of today.
Also remember, there’s some employer attitude – “If you’ve been unemployed for longer than 6 months, then don’t bother to apply”. This equally bad, because there’s a lot of discrimination against the unemployed by simply being out of work for months and even years.
So, to all of you judging the unemployed – stop, think and be thankful that you are working. Employment is not guaranteed. Think about it – employed today – but will you still be tomorrow? a month from now? a Year from now?
a dad
October 21st, 2011
3:22 pm
Apparently many forget that it was politics as usual in DC (anyone knoe what the going price is for one Senator or one member of Congress?) which allowed the shenanigans on Wall Street. Each bears a share of the blame for the current economic crisis. But it’s just so much more fun to regurgitate what some talking head spouted off about and insult anyone who thinks differently. Folks, considering there are so many opposing opinions about what happened and what’s wrong that maybe, just maybe, none of us really know what’s going on?
Khadafi from inside freezer
October 21st, 2011
6:03 pm
Anyone who’s been unemployed for four years (couple of posts earlier)does not want a job. He either enjoys idleness or there are other ‘issues’.
With effort anyone who wants to can find work. Surfing the internet help wanted ads for five minutes won’t cut it. You have to actually take a bath, put on some clean clothes, and go out and knock on doors. I know that for a fact.
Johnny Wong
October 21st, 2011
7:29 pm
If you don’t know what a trust fund is, this article explains it very well.
http://explainlikeakid.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-is-trust-fund.html