The Department of Labor is Robbing the Unemployed out of ARRA Funds

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Wednesday September 26, 2012 · 7:05 PM PDT

2012/09/26 · 19:05

Petitioning The President of the United States
Change.org Petition - The Department of Labor is Robbing the Unemployed out of ARRA Funds

(A) The Department of Labor published an implementation error in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program (EUC08).

(B) This error was published by the Employment & Training Administration in August of 2008, in UIPL 23-08 Change 1, in the Q&A section about "Multiple EUC Claims".

(C) The "Multiple EUC Claims policy" does not comply with 20 CFR 615.5(2). What they advise all states to do violates regulations and laws.

With our election right around the corner, almost every politician and citizen is debating about the Economic situation, the Unemployment Rate, the lack of Jobs and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

This is one thing we all should be talking about...

corazonroto

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Sunday September 23, 2012 · 10:53 AM PDT

2012/09/23 · 10:53

Just deny claimants access to benefits! Watch your Unemployment numbers tumble overnight! You too can be another success story for the Rick Scott Denial by Deception Program 2012! All you have to do is sign up now, confirm you are an unforgiving thoughtless SOB, and implement a sure-fire policy of class warfare tactics upon your struggling unemployed workers and families with results that we will guarantee! Yessir! Just watch them poor folk try to apply for benefits online when they don't own a computer...or even a home! If you make it near impossible for your citizens to apply for and maintain eligibility for benefits, then just watch your unemployment rate start to fall overnight...or your money back....guaranteed!

corazonroto

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Saturday September 22, 2012 · 11:19 AM PDT

2012/09/22 · 11:19

I am sad to report, that there still is a serious implementation error in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program (part of the Recovery Act under Division B Title II Section 2001). Since a great many people will not believe the facts presented from one individual so far, maybe its best to hear it from the Department of Labor themselves.

Mistakes similar to what I have described ("Multiple EUC Claims Error"), have happened before, and the Federal Government acknowledged the problem and made repairs in the past. The appeal victory in CUIAB Case A0-265448, 10/20/2011, had the same result for me and me alone, and adjusted my EUC08 payments according to the correct "applicable benefit year". The "Multiple EUC Claims" implementation mistake that our Department of Labor has made, is what caused the improper payments in the first place, in my case and for millions of others.

Many Claimants were paid entitlement to their EUC08 with respect to the wrong/older and terminated benefit year before, during the 1990's recession. The "applicable benefit year" was misinterpreted by many states and the claimants determinations, payments and adjudication were made incorrectly, in very much the same way that the "Multiple EUC Claims" error has done during our own 21st century recession. In both cases the claimants were paid less aid, they were harmed by this and the Economy did not benefit from the loss.

I will let the past Department of Labor speak for themselves, as they describe a very similar situation (claimants being paid EUC08 based on the older terminated benefit year), from the 1993 General Administration Letter 12-92 Change 5, issued October 31, 1994, by Barbara Ann Farmer Administrator for Regional Management:

corazonroto

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Tuesday September 11, 2012 · 3:51 PM PDT

2012/09/11 · 15:51

Bill Moyers and Chris Hedges on Capitalism’s ‘Sacrifice Zones’

There are forgotten corners of this country where Americans are trapped in endless cycles of poverty, powerlessness, and despair as a direct result of capitalistic greed. Journalist Chris Hedges calls these places “sacrifice zones,” and joins Bill this week on Moyers & Company to explore how areas like Camden, New Jersey; Immokalee, Florida; and parts of West Virginia suffer while the corporations that plundered them thrive.
“These are areas that have been destroyed for quarterly profit. We're talking about environmentally destroyed, communities destroyed, human beings destroyed, families destroyed,” Hedges tells Bill. “It's the willingness on the part of people who seek personal enrichment to destroy other human beings… And because the mechanisms of governance can no longer control them, there is nothing now within the formal mechanisms of power to stop them from creating essentially a corporate oligarchic state.”

The broadcast includes images from Hedges' collaboration with comics artist and journalist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which is an illustrated account of their travels through America’s sacrifice zones. Kirkus Reviews calls it an "unabashedly polemic, angry manifesto that is certain to open eyes, intensify outrage and incite argument about corporate greed."

A columnist for Truthdig, Hedges also describes the difference between truth and news. “The really great reporters -- and I've seen them in all sorts of news organizations -- are management headaches because they care about truth at the expense of their own career,” Hedges says.

corazonroto

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Sunday August 26, 2012 · 4:33 PM PDT

2012/08/26 · 16:33

Remember good ol' Watergate? In the 1970's, President Nixon and many top advisers where caught up in a major scandal. This led to Mr. Nixon's resignation in 1974. His administration got caught trying to get information from the Democratic National Committee HQ via a botched burglary. They tried to cover up the whole thing and any involvement in it, but they were exposed for their abuses of authority and malfeasance in office.

This was revealed after 5 burglars were caught at the HQ on July 17th 1972. While investigating this crime, it was discovered that these men were involved either directly or indirectly with Mr. Nixon's attempts to get re-elected. They were trying to steal information for Mr. Nixon and his Committee for Re-Election and got caught red-handed. The president was exposed to have been secretly recording conversations, that in the end proved his involvement in this conspiracy.

As a result he was forced to resign. Congress reigned back Presidential powers. The Freedom of Information Act was strengthened. For the pre-internet public, this was a shocking moment: for the first time they became aware of how corrupt our leaders were becoming and to what lengths they would go to stay in power. But, they also saw that everyone could be accountable to the law...even our President.

We thought we would never seen an administration act so recklessly again. You would think that in the information age with the endless ways to detail and record every moment, our leaders would think twice.

After Monica? After ENRON? After WMDs? After IRAQ? After PLame? After Fast and Furious? After Columbia Secret Service Prostitute Scandal? After the Financial Meltdown?

They have not learned a thing. It is happening all over again, not much different from before....

corazonroto

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Saturday August 18, 2012 · 11:26 AM PDT

2012/08/18 · 11:26

Directive:
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO.23-08

Subject:
Supplemental Appropriation Act, 2008, Title IV— Emergency Unemployment Compensation

Purpose:
To provide states with instructions for implementing and operating the Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08) program, including fiscal and reporting instructions.

To:
STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

From:
DOUGLAS F. SMALL
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Date: July 07, 2008
Expiration Date: July 07, 2009

1. Attachment A - Implementing and Operating Instructions for EUC08
2. Attachment B - General Provisions for Administering EUC08
3. Attachment C - Title IV - Emergency Unemployment Compensation

What could possibly go wrong?

corazonroto

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Friday August 17, 2012 · 10:36 AM PDT

2012/08/17 · 10:36

Recovery Fraud Complaint RATB-2011-DOL-9DF2506-0

Recovery.gov Complaint Form

Allegation
Please provide as much information as possible. Detailed, complete and accurate information will improve the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board’s ability to respond to your allegation. If you do not know the answer to a question, you can leave the space blank.

WHAT:
Provide details of the alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement. Examples of facts and circumstances to include are (1) a description of the misconduct; (2) how you know about the allegation; (3) how and when the misconduct was discovered; (4) the amount of money involved; (5) how long the alleged misconduct occurred; (6) attempts by the alleged violator(s) to hide the misconduct; and (7) any other information you believe may be relevant.

Here it comes...

corazonroto

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Thursday August 09, 2012 · 11:04 AM PDT

2012/08/09 · 11:04

The federal state unemployment insurance program began all the way back in 1935. It was started to help people who lost their jobs by giving them a safety net while they looked for new work. This also helps keep dollars flowing into the economy when times get tough. Additional Extended Benefits were first made available in the 1970s. Emergency Unemployment Compensation was added in the early 1990's recession.

When our 21st century economy turned sour, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program (EUC08), started up once more in 2008 under Public Law 110-252. As the downturn worsened, EUC08 was added into the American Re-investment and Recovery Act of 2009. The ARRA states that "Each amount in this Act is designated as an emergency requirement and necessary to meet emergency needs". At its peak, through much of early 2010, nearly 6 million Americans were collecting just these benefits. According to the BLS, since 2008 there have been 29,748,954 EUC08 Claims (for all tiers) that have paid a combined 663,688,610 weeks of benefits. The amount spent so far = $97,433,246,688 for EUC08 benefits to present day.

What do you think would happen if something went terribly wrong with this system? What if the federal government made an implementation error at the start of this program and let that error go for four years+?

corazonroto

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Saturday August 04, 2012 · 9:37 PM PDT

2012/08/04 · 21:37

Last Spring, I just could not stop getting bad news, all in one week:

My amazing Grandmother, WWII Army Nurse 1941-1945, passed away...
My "family" informing me months after it happened...
The Union I trusted was shorting me and others of work, via the crony express...
I found out they had actually told an employer I moved to Oregon when they tried to request me for a huge gig...

Then when I got home to open the mail at the end of this super duper week, laid off again with no work in sight, grieving and angry, I found out that the Employment Development Department of California was taking away my unemployment benefits. EDD was accusing me of Ui overpayment from a prior year, causing them to stop paying me benefits with a lengthy delay until the appeal. After I served this overpayment penalty, I would also be having my Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) denied too, at the upcoming end of this "benefit year". They were going to force me onto an even lesser State Ui claim for a whole year despite laws and regulations that seemed to contradict what they were telling me.

That was a long time ago in my lengthy fight to expose the Fraud that I uncovered in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program. I was a victim of these "EUC08 Errors" for over 26+ very tough weeks last year. But, I was able to hang on and beat the accusations of overpayment (union error...happens all the time). In the separate and non-union related matter, I was also somehow able to beat the denial of my EUC08 benefits and had the incorrect determinations reversed. These determinations were caused by the errors that the Department of Labor published.

In the process of appealing these EUC08 errors, I have discovered and exposed much more than I ever thought possible for one "stupid unsophisticated illiterate dirt covered peasant". I have even been learning to read and write more betters...just like proper fancy folk. Them thar boys and girls at the White House and on them Bloggs, had no idea one of us simple folk would follow the trail all the way to their doorsteps...

...knock...knock...
is Mr. Obama home?

corazonroto

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Saturday August 04, 2012 · 2:44 PM PDT

2012/08/04 · 14:44

This is not the news anyone wants to hear...myself included. But here are the facts, in the form of the formal complaint I have sent to the State and Federal Officials I seem to have caught in a serious cover up and scandal thanks to the Freedom of Information Act. Before you think about your politics take one moment to imagine what this has done to our Economy and the unemployed "struggling workers and families" for the past four years...

corazonroto

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Saturday July 21, 2012 · 12:37 AM PDT

2012/07/21 · 00:37

Hello there. You can call me "Nobody", and I happened to be in the Forest one day last year. I was unemployed and wandering around where I was not supposed to be...all by myself....deeper and farther in the Dark and Scary Unemployment Forest where no Struggling Worker nor Families had ever gone before. I found and saw something I was not supposed to. I want to tell you all my story, because it will expose serious problems in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program. I have tried to tell this story many times, maybe a "fable" format will prove more effective and entertaining this time....

Once upon a time in the Forest...

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The Department of Labor is Robbing the Unemployed out of ARRA Funds

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Recovery Implementation Lessons from the Past

Sacrifice Zones and more from Moyers and Hedges

Welcome to our 21st century Watergate...

An ARRA Implementation Error Exposed

a Recovery Fraud Complaint ignored...

Mr. President, there is a serious problem with the EUC08 program

Mr. President, I hear FOIA calling...

ARRA Fraud in the Emergency Unemployment Insurance Program

If Regulations are Broken in the Forest, and "Nobody" Sees and Hears them get broken...