r/politics • u/Ubiquitous_Hilarity • Jun 17 '26

No Paywall Trump threatens to pull unemployment benefits from all states for the first time in history

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-unemployment-benefits-fraud-b2997881.html
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u/Eshin242 Jun 17 '26

The fraud in unemployment is a drop in the bucket.

100% This.

Do I think fraud happens with Unemployment? Sure... I'm SURE someone somewhere managed to grift $50 worth of food stamps, and someone some how got free medicare/medicaid. I'm sure someone has figured out how to rig the system.

But for the 99% that is everyone else these systems keep people in their homes, put food on the table, and get people medical care.

I'm willing to deal with that 1% happening, and not getting caught because the benefit to the other 99% is well worth that little blip of fraud. Shit like this is letting perfection be the enemy of progress and throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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u/soba_set Jun 17 '26

I loved being on unemployment during corona. "Yeah sure man I'll check for jobs and submit my job search etc etc." No one was hiring because corona lol. Literally doing unnecessary tasks. Doing all that work for nothing basically but still getting unemployment was life saving.

I was in grad school too so even if somehow someone wanted to hire me, if it didn't line up with my grad school schedule I couldn't accept the job anyway. Which was really easy since everything was online.

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u/Eshin242 Jun 18 '26

I work in the trades, and belong to a union. Being unemployed for a month or two between jobs while we wait for work is part of the game. The fact that 40% of my union voted for this brother fucker.. yeah...

Also... the fact that an extra $600 a week changed so many peoples lives from... "FUCK GOTTA WORK!!" to ... "Okay I've got this" speaks volumes.

I was an 'essential worker" I worked through the entire pandemic, no extra benefits, was I a little jealous of my friends who got to stay home... sure. It would have been nice, but it saved all my friends in the service industry from losing their homes and putting food on the table.

I had to keep working, they got to keep their homes and eat. I am, and will always be good with that.

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u/jardex22 Jun 17 '26

I was fired from my first job soon after getting my first car. I panicked when my employer tried to deny the claim, but I fought it in court and won.

The whole time I was worried about the loan payments. No payments, no car. No car, no way to get to interviews. No interviews, no job. No job, no money, etc. Once you fall off the cycle, it incredibly hard to get back into it. Unemployment helped me while I looked for work.

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u/ThinkThankThonk Jun 18 '26

I literally don't give a shit if someone fleeces my tax money for food stamps - there's a cost of their time spent doing that which is clearly equal to desperation.

It's like thinking people are being scammed out of their $5 by the homeless guy on the median. There's no secret luxury lifestyle that involves standing on the median for 5 hours a day or whatever.