Well...the GOOD news is, today Michigan's Republican legislature approved the 20 week unemployment extensions for Michigan's long term unemployed. Remember the ones the US congress passed in December? That one? The one that was part of the "compromise" for extending tax cuts for the top 2% of wage earners?
Yeah, despite double digit unemployment Michigan's legislature was the only state in the nation not to pass that at the state level and they went right up to the wire on it....they had to vote on it by TODAY before they went on recess and left 150,000 Michigan residents without benefits.
So. There's that. Fortunately they approved the extensions.
TheBAD news is, the same Michigan bill reduced unemployment benefits for the NEWLY unemployed in Michigan by six weeks. Now, Michigan residents who lose their job will only get 20 weeks of unemployment instead of 26.
I'd like to give a shout out to Republican congresswoman Holly Hughes and Republican State Senator Geoff Hansen, my two state representatives, who gleefully stabbed Michigan residents in the back today for voting on this bill that is more about kicking folks while they're down than it even is about helping businesses.
The bill approved by Michigan lawmakers makes a technical change to enable affected residents to continue to be eligible for the federal extension. But under the bill, Michigan residents making initial claims for unemployment benefits starting in mid-January 2012 would be eligible for no more than 20 weeks of state benefits. The current maximum is 26 weeks.
So there's that.
This isn't about debt or business even in the slightest. Heck, my wife's business saw an increase in her Unemployment Tax because of this debt...and she pays maybe $8 a month total for multiple employees. A pittance. Certainly not enough to get her to hire more people were it scrapped.
This isn't a DEBT reduction bill, or a BUSINESS FRIENDLY bill. This is just a Worker Hostile bill.