Texas Unemployment Benefits - $643M shortfall...

[FloriTexan]

From the Dallas Morning News:

State faces $643M shortfall in benefits for unemployed Texans

12:57 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
[e-mail]
AUSTIN – Texas' unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money early next week and have to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims through Oct. 1, a Texas Workforce Commission official said today.
Another official said the system for processing applications is overwhelmed, with more than 155,000 callers unable to get through on Monday alone.
Also, commission spokeswoman Ann Hatchitt confirmed that some 82,000 unemployed Texans who will exhaust their benefits, starting this week, would not receive immediate 13-week extensions as expected.
In late May, the Legislature hastily passed a "trigger" law that would draw down full federal funding for the extended benefits, as allowed by the federal stimulus package.
However, Hatchitt said stringent federal rules and state computer problems have thwarted launch of the new benefit, even though delay means some people will lose benefits.

continued at link...
p://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071509dntexunemployment.3d9055c0.html

======================
Not good news. Not good at all.

[sonias]

1. It had been predicted for awhile

And Perry and the Legislature knew it too. They just chose to play politics and not take the unemployment benefits the Obama administration offered Texas because it came with strings attached.

State Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie said Texas should have accepted $556 million of federal stimulus funds, which Gov. Rick Perry rejected, saying too many strings were attached.

"Unfortunately, hardworking Texas taxpayers and struggling businesses will shoulder the burden of Rick Perry's failure to do the right thing for our state and accept the unemployment insurance funds," Richie said.

I'm with Richie on this one. This was not the time to be refusing federal government money. Perry like Sanford in S. Carolina are just pretending to care about their citizens.


Sonia

[Aragorn]

2. what you said

Better to secede and leave people unemployed and without help than go along with anything the Dem prez et al might suggest?

[onestepforward]

3. Horrible news.

I just hope that people who will NOT be getting unemployment know why.

This is one of the best examples of politics over the good of the people. I've known several people over the years whom unemployment was a critical lifesaver for them and their families. This selfish act by Perry will leave many families possibly homeless and hungry. Heartbreaking.

[white cloud]

4. Sad day , Greedy time.

I understand Governor Crist of Florida did the same thing in Florida and they are short 444 million, and people are not happy. Read the story about some of the killers in Pensacola. Laid off and no income and going hungry.

[FloriTexan]

5. 150,000 calls went unanswered on Monday...

I think Monday is the only day you can call in to claim your benefits for the week (I could be wrong on this). IF you have a computer you can do it through their website. I know one person who does not have a landline phone and used all him minutes for the month on hold with the TWC trying to get through to find out where his first check was. He can't afford to up his minutes on his plan, nor buy a landline now. Phone minutes were also used in his job search. The trickle down from this will turn into a flood.

[kentauros]

6. I think the calling-in function depends on other factors.

I don't know what they are, but most of my times in the past were for calling in on a Wednesday. Maybe it's determined by region.

Now, I apply online. It takes even less time since you don't have to wait for the voicemail narrator to reread to you everything you've heard a hundred times before. Just plug in your number of worksearches, answer all the yes/no questions and you're done in a couple of minutes. Maybe you should offer your computer time to your friend so they can apply online :)

Also, TWC doesn't use checks any longer. Now it's all on a debit card issued by Chase, with all the subsequent fees attached for certain uses. You get one free transfer from the card to your bank account per TWC deposit to the card. So, every two weeks I must drive to my bank and have the teller inside electronically transfer my card account to my bank account. If TWC was worried about people fraudulently cashing the former checks, why not offer direct-deposit? The debit-card is a pain all the way around and the teller said they've heard the same complaints from others having to do that process.

[FloriTexan]

7. Friend has a computer...

couldn't get the specific answer he needed. Even went over and helped him through the website a little. He really just wanted to talk to a human. I'm like that too. The debit card is a pain. Hubby is on unemployment right now himself and drawing funds. They could at least make it a fee-fre card. Is your regular bank Chase? I'm wondering if they can transfer funds directly to another bank's account. That's what we need to do.

[kentauros]

8. Okay, I understand.

I have no problem doing the online requests, as I use computers for so much, like my normal employment (computer-aided drafting/design.)

I'm also with a credit union and they had no problem transferring the funds. I only mentioned it because it was the first time I had to do that, and chatted with the teller about it a bit. Plus, you have to know exactly how much is in your Chase-card account before your bank will let you transfer the funds, or at least know that you have enough to cover whatever amount you are transferring over.

My guess for why the card has the fees at all is that TWC is making money from the fees, too. What would be the point for them to offer a debit card through a for-profit bank if they don't at least make some kickbacks? That's probably the answer for why they didn't offer direct-deposit, too.

[FloriTexan]

9. Hubby was/is autocad...

and spent the last 2.5 years training up to plumbing design. Now he is behind the curve on autocad training (everyone wants 3d experience) and not enough experience for the knit-picking employers out there right now if there is even a position to apply for. So much for training up. He is happy to retrain for a yet another new career and went to a TWC seminar about doing that in some federally funded program but they are out of funding thru this month (at least) and couldn't even get a first appointment with a counselor to discuss his options or eligibility until September 9. I wish we had the money for tuition to pay for it ourself but we don't. Don't even know what he could retrain in. Its hard to tell where things are going since no one is hiring.

[onestepforward]

10. I wish the best for you and your husband.

I am hopeful that the economy will turn around and everyone will be doing better. That can't happen quick enough for most folks. Times are definitely tough right now. My husband and I have a small sculpting business and needless to say, people are not buying very many sculptures right now.

[FloriTexan]

13. I hope things pick up for you as well n/t

[onestepforward]

14. Thank you.

Selling on Ebay as helped some in filling in the gaps. I use coupons too and save almost $4000/year. You can get some great coupons on Ebay too. :)

[kentauros]

16. Obviously, you're an artist

so have you thought of using such sites as CafePress or Zazzle to sell printed designs on objects and shirts? I've been wanting to do that with Zazzle; I just need to get off my proverbial ass and make some designs ;)

[onestepforward]

17. I do the office part of our business

and my husband sculpts 3-D action figures and comic book character statues. I am familiar with those sites. "Woot" and "Designed by Humans" sites have cash prizes for t-shirt designs that are sweet :)

[kentauros]

18. Okay, I'll have to look at those.

Thanks :)

I've probably seen some of his work and not known it. Does he sell through any of the comics shops, like Nan's? I can't remember the names of the others since Nan's is where I used to go all the time. If y'all have a website, I wouldn't mind looking.

I recently bought a couple of T-shirts from Zazzle of a comic design that I thought the artist/creator Donna Barr had discontinued long ago. I linked it to her name there ;)

The design is larger than the old one, so whenever I do make something, I'll have more room to work with...

[kentauros]

11. PDMS/PDS

It's a form of 3D process piping design. I'm assuming that if your husband trained in plumbing design, then he's in architectural drafting. At least in Houston, the push now is for piping designers to know PDMS and PDS. A good friend and former co-worker of mine took PDMS through the Houston Community College and TWC paid for part of his tuition; I don't know how much. But as soon as he reported he was taking classes, they wanted help him pay for it :)

I know some 3D, though that's for surfaces, since I do mapping. Surveyor points are in 3D to begin with (Northing, Easting and Elevation) so I have to know how to make use of that information, and edit it if necessary. Problem is, not enough pipelines are being designed at the moment. They were, up until this past Spring, then the funding stopped flowing, shutting down current and future projects.

I hope things turn around for you both soon. I'm anticipating things to turn around in our fields in the coming months, just by how I am seeing more activity on the job-boards and from the contractors. Good luck and hang in there

[FloriTexan]

12. He would be happy to go back to school...

He'd be happy to go back to autocad drafting. He went to a seminar offered via the TWC about retraining but they told the 100 some odd people in the room that they were out of funding through July and the first available appointment he could get with a counselor to even see if he can apply for the retraining benefits was September 9. He was doing his own autocad while plumbing design, but we now understand that the company he was working for was behind the times on software for autocad.

We are hopeful that we can ride this out; we have canceled vacations, started shopping at the dreaded wallmart and I'm clipping coupons too. Not eating out, etc.

Thanks for all the good thoughts. Some days we deal with it better than others.

[kentauros]

15. I decided to do a search on open-source CAD programs

and found the following:

Archimedes (review)
Archimedes (homepage)

QCAD (review)
QCAD (homepage)

CADemia
avoCADo
Open CASCADE Technology
A9Tech


Not open-source:
Alibre (30-day free trial) I'm going to try this one out and see how good it is.
Free Mechanical Engineering CAD/CAM Software


One reason to try these out is to use AutoCAD-like programs just to stay in practice, something that I need to stay on top of to keep my skills up, too :)

There's an open-source GIS program I have used at home and it's pretty easy to use (Quantum GIS). The difficulty is, as usual, finding the data files around the net. Most governments at all levels are using GIS now to keep track of many functions of their operations. It's just that not all make those files available or for free. In case you don't know, GIS (Geographical Information System) makes the same kind of maps as you would see on Google Maps along with all the functions where you can get information on a single place marker :-)

[sonias]

19. Texas Loses Another 40,600 jobs unempoyment hits 7.5%

Quorum Report 7/17/09
TEXAS LOSES ANOTHER 40,600 JOBS; UNEMPLOYMENT HITS 7.5%

Combined with precipitous drop in sales tax collections last month, downward trajectory may be accelerating.

The Texas Workforce Commission press release says, "Texas has recorded a net loss of 266,300 jobs in the past 12 months."

However the statement is misleading. Texas did not start losing jobs until the beginning of the year. In other words, Texas has lost more than a quarter of a million jobs in the last six months. Although the rate of job loss seems to be leveling off, the precipitous 12% drop in statewide sales tax collections last months suggests the contraction may be accelerating and that the downward slope will continue for some time to come..

Sonia

[sonias]

20. Chronicle on the unemployment fund in Texas

Houston Chronicle 7/16/09
Perry's stimulus snub wasn't the worst flub
Sure, it was a silly, politically expedient decision for Gov. Rick Perry to thumb his nose at a half billion in unemployment stimulus dollars.

But that's not the reason Texas' unemployment fund is going broke.
(snip)

The problem has much more to do with other politically expedient and shortsighted decisions Perry and Workforce Commission officials have made for years.

Last year, for instance, just as the economic storm clouds were headed toward Texas, commissioners voted to stop collecting what's known as the "replenishment tax," resulting in a temporary tax break that sucked another $90 million from unemployment funds.

The chairwoman at the time, Diane Rath, supported the move, although she said at the February 2008 meeting, according to a transcript, "I will tell you it's with deep concern, because of the increase in unemployment rate, the increase payout rates, the national economic situation and the indications that we're seeing here in Texas."

"However, the governor supports this, and I certainly support his position," Rath said.

So it's Perry's fault either way.

Sonia

[sonias]

21. Unemployment insurance a two-sided political issue for Perry

AAS 7/21/09
Unemployment insurance a two-sided political issue for Perry
Governor surged by rejecting money, but other problems may await him.

Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to federal stimulus dollars for unemployment benefits earlier this year boosted his standing among many Republicans. But other issues surrounding the state's unemployment program could create political headaches for Perry in the next year and a half.

With unemployment rising, the state will have to borrow more than $643 million from the federal government in the coming months to keep paying benefits, even though that money will come interest-free for 18 months. And the Texas Workforce Commission is planning to ask employers to pay more in taxes to repay that money and keep the unemployment trust fund healthy.

Unemployment taxes rise and fall with the economy, and, in fact, the tax rate fell steadily in Texas between 2004 and 2008. "Employers in Texas understand that the fluctuation in our trust fund is cyclical and not uncommon," Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said.

But the tax increase is expected to come at just the wrong time for Perry: in December, just a few months before he is expected to face a re-election challenge in the Republican primary from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Perry is so screwed. :popcorn:

Sonia

[tammywammy]

22. Excelllllent