In case you missed it, there was a $17 billion swindle in unemployment last year, according to a report by the Associated Press. Now, there is supposed to be a crackdown coming for people that fraudulently drew unemployment - those that were never eligible or workers that keep cashing checks after they went back to work.
And, get this - punishment is repayment. My question is how can they repay the states that issued the funds? Why would they want to? Reportedly in the past the repayment rate is about half of what was paid out to frauds.
The problem seems to be that there is no effective way to know if a person has gone back to work. I guess there must not be an effective way to tell if someone is eligible too.
Out where I live, $17 billion is a lot of money, especially when part of it comes out of my pocket. In the grand plan of governments, it’s chump change. But if you can save billions here and billions there, it adds up to real money. And, it you punish thieve as thieves, some won’t try it again.
I grew up thinking that most people are honest and law-abiding. Boy, was I wrong.
PMO
No comments:
Post a Comment