Saturday, April 25, 2020

GOPs want to open the economy so workers lose power and choices

To add to the discussion of "opening the economy", when you dig down into the reasons that right-wingers give for removing Safer at Home restrictions, you can tell that a lot of it has to do with tying the hands of workers and reducing government spending. And what happens to public health as a result is very far down the list of priorities.

One of the biggest statewide efforts to reopen busineses happened in Georgia where illegitimate Governor Brian Kemp announced earlier in the week that he intended to allow businesses such as gymnasiums, bowling alleys, barbershops and dine-in restaurants. Kemp's decision drew widespread rebukes, including from President Trump (!), who apparently pulled a switcheroo on his Southern friend.


There are likely other reasons Kemp wanted/was encouraged to remove Stay at Home restrictions beyond a desire to downplay Trumpian incompetence in battling COVID 19. For one, reopening some job sites creates no-win dilemmas for many people who may not want to go into an unsafe work environment.
State unemployment laws generally do not allow workers to collect jobless benefits if they refuse work available to them, said Thomas Smith, an assistant finance professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. That could force workers in Georgia back to their jobs at a time when it is not clear whether the risk of infection has abated, he said.

“You’re asking people to put their life on the line,” he said. “These people aren’t Army Rangers - those people signed up for combat. A barber did not.”
Taking away options for workers is certainly a GOP trademark, from not having Medicaid expansion be available for those near the poverty line, along with not having paid sick leave to allow people to take time off.

Go further, and there's an even more sinister theory being floated out there that says this is nothing more than a cost-cutting measure designed to keep the taxes on business low, and without regard to what happens to public health.
Georgia’s Labor Department says it has processed more than 860,000 unemployment claims since mid-March, when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency because of the coronavirus. That is equal to 17% of the total state workforce. Officials say they are now paying out twice as many claims in a single week as they did for all of 2019 and have distributed more than $500 million in benefits.

Some critics say the state’s early reopening is an attempt to push people out of a safety-net system that is straining state finances.

“I think that one of the big drivers of this decision by Kemp is to get people off unemployment rolls and having the private sector keeping these people afloat,” said Georgia employment lawyer James Radford.
In addition, many states (especially the ALEC ones) require individuals that are laid off to do some kind of work search, and incentives those people receiving benefits to take crappy jobs instead of choosing which type of position, workplace, and hours they want to take. Opening up the economy allows workforce development agencies to tell those receiving benefits "There are plenty of jobs now available, why don't you apply there?", so matter how suboptimal that decision would be.

A related move that GOPs have done is to underfund state unemployment offices, which makes it a lot harder to get benefits once someone is laid off. The struggles that many have had to face in Wisconsin is a good example of that, with some waiting for their benefits weeks after losing their jobs.
For weeks, Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development has been addressing complaints that people are getting kicked off its website and unable to get through on its phone lines while attempting to file claims.

The complaints are not unique to Wisconsin; people all over the country are struggling to get their checks as overwhelmed unemployment systems process record amounts of claims.

"It's a failure to all the Americans that never use unemployment, and then when they need it most, it's not there," said Jenna Teer, a dental assistant also on week four of unsuccessfully trying to file an unemployment claim. "Everything is really tight financially, and there doesn't seem to be any kind of end in sight at all."

The Department of Workforce Development has released plans to expand server space and hire more people to handle claims.

On Monday, April 13, a DWD spokesperson said those unable to complete their initial applications because they need to talk to someone from the help center are no longer told to call. Instead, they are put on a list and someone from the help center will call them within five business days.
Underfunding offices like the Wisconsin DWD and throwing up barriers to benefits allows for GOPs to try a two-fer with a Democrat in the Governor's chair. They can whine about how workers can't get their benefits filed (thereby keeping them from benefits) and then say it is some kind of proof of "government incompentence" (implicating the Democrat that is governor).

State Sen Duey Stroebel gave a good example of this BS recently.



But has Stroebel and the rest of the GOPs in the gerrymandered Legislature put forth any bills that would make it easier for people to get their unemployment benefits, and/or require less staff to get people their benefits? OF COURSE NOT. Heck, it took them 4 weeks just to remove the 1-week waiting period to get benefits!

You see, effective government helping people get benefits and security in a time of crisis, not only is good governance, but it allows for laid-off workers to be less desperate and scared. Those are two things that GOPs do not want to see happen, and they certainly do not want the average person to realize that imposing desperation and inefficiency on people is a CHOICE that can be corrected by people who give a damn about what happens to everyday people.
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