Coronavirus, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Pet Peeves

I was thinking about all of the things that have gone on with this new disease battle. One of the very Bad things in my mind, State of Michigan employees profiting off of this, when it is their damn Governor who has made it worse! This is just F'n Bull****!!! The State should have to reimburse the Federal Government, and the State employees should have to give every penny over the amount they should have received back.

Plus, the State Government actually filled out all of the paperwork for the employees, they didn't have to do any of that themselves.

State employees work less, get paid more under federal coronavirus relief plan
Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press

LANSING – Thousands of State of Michigan employees are getting three-day weekends and ending up with more money in their pockets as a result, officials confirm.

It's a quirk of the $2-trillion coronavirus rescue package that Congress approved in March.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act provides an extra $600 a week in federal money for eligible workers who have their hours reduced by their employers.

But because Congress did not prorate the benefit, workers get the same $600 payment — on top of whatever regular unemployment benefits they are eligible to receive — whether their weekly hours are reduced by 40 hours, eight hours, or even less.

State employees quickly and clearly became Michigan's most high-profile beneficiaries of the program when it was announced that starting May 17 and continuing through July 25, some 31,000 state employees would be furloughed one day a week. Many employees are taking their furlough days on Friday or Monday, providing a three-day weekend.

State workers earning $50,000 a year would lose about $385 in wages for each two-week pay period, which would be reduced to a loss of about $241 through regular unemployment benefits, Brown said. Add in the $1,200 in federal payments ($600 times two weeks), and the employee comes out about $959 ahead — or about $480 a week.

While saving the state $80 million in over a little more than two months, it is costing the federal government $18.6 million a week for state employees alone. If the program was prorated, and state employees received only $120 (one-fifth of $600), the weekly cost would be $3.7 million, or nearly $15 million less.

"The state is exploiting the federal unemployment insurance bonus," James Hohman, director of fiscal policy for the free enterprise-oriented Mackinac Center for Public Policy


https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ay/5281717002/

That is just plain theft by Michigan's governor. I wonder what other states and cities are doing the same thing?

Damn we elect idiots to Congress and other political entities.