Florida Gov. Rick Scott's unemployment solution: bog the system down, and deny, deny, deny

[Hugabear]

One of the things that Gov. Scott has announced is that he wants everyone collecting unemployment to show proof that they're looking for work. Not only that, but he wants applicants to prove that they've looked for a job before receiving their first unemployment check. He points to a report that claims that unemployed only spend about "20 minutes per day" looking for work (a figure that even the report's author takes issue with).

I'm very curious just how the hell he intends to enforce this. Does he intend to force the unemployed to keep track of what jobs they apply for? That's fine and dandy, when there are jobs available to apply for. But somehow I don't think that Scott will be content with just that. After all, according to him, most unemployed are just lazy scumbags milking the system. I'm pretty sure that he'll have some sort of enforcement team (hey, there's a few job openings!). Their job will be to call employers to verify that so-and-so actually applied for the job that they said they did. Imagine you're an employer looking to fill a position. Next thing you know, you have to deal with literally thousands of phone calls from Tallahassee verifying whether or not all those people you didn't hire really applied.

Then there's the issue of online job postings. Many of these, as we know, are completely anonymous, which means that you can't even put down the company or contact that you applied with.

What I foresee happening is that there's going to be a huge clusterfuck logjam, and in the meantime, thousands upon thousands are going to have their unemployment either denied or halted.

There might be another, more efficient system, who knows. But I sure as hell don't think that Rick Scott is intelligent enough to come up with one. After all, he is a Teabagger first and foremost, with all the simplistic thinking that comes with that. Which means that if you don't have a job in Florida, or if you're facing unemployment, you're pretty much fucked.

[peekaloo]

1. I suppose the "enforcers" of such action will be volunteers since he

also wants cuts in gubmint jobs.

State Capitol should be moved to Orlando because he's fuckin' Goofy.

[tsuki]

2. Rick Scott is not a goofy Teabagger. Rick Scott is a criminal, whose

criminality is supported by the Teabaggers. Big Difference.

[Enthusiast]

8. The merger of organized crime, the state

and corporations. What a wonderful world.

[Mugweed]

3. Scott is an idiot who knows nothing about the regs

Having been unemployed for a few months twice in my 17-year career in FL, I am familiar with the unemployment process. There is a minimum requirement of job applications and you have to keep a log of the jobs you applied for and the dates you applied. You don't have to submit it regularly but it better be ready when they request it or you're cut off.

Also, the reason people spend 20 minutes per day looking for work is because there are only so many jobs in their field and region to apply for. It only takes 20 minute to see if there are any new openings that day. You don't want to scatter-shot everybody in one mass resume action. I know someone who was laid off in 2007 and sent their resume to every other firm in a 50-mile radius. Unfortunately we're in a very small circle and everyone knows each other; they all found out he sent the same thing to everyone and it just made him look like a desperate loser who didn't really care who he worked for. He eventually moved out of the state to find work.

My field of work is faltering, for small companies that is. I fear 2011 in FL and the prospect of unemployment looming over me.

[Hugabear]

4. Apparently, Rick Scott still lives in a world without computers or faxes

You're absolutely right, it doesn't take very much time to submit an application electronically or to fax your resume. Apparently, Gov. Scott believes that every unemployed schlub should be hitting the bricks, physically going door-to-door.

[sendero]

5. Don't most states do that?

TX certainly does. You have to apply to a certain number of jobs per week and keep records.

When there is one job for every 5 people looking it's pretty pointless but then I don't really object to it.

We have a bigger problem in TX, the TWC is simply an incompetent organization. For me, and later for my wife, we got caught up in situations where one TWC employee said it worked "this way" and another said it worked "that way". They flip flopped on my wife THREE TIMES with one rep saying she was an "employee" and a supervisor overruling her to say she was a "contractor" only to be overruled TWICE MORE before the whole thing was done. My wife had to produce a mountain of paperwork and the TWC itself spent hours OVER NOTHING. Even if there had been a legitimate question about her status, we were talking about a few hundred dollars spread over months. It really made no sense, and clearly there is a huge waste of taxpayer money because of the apparent poor training TWC employees receive.

I, after following instructions given to me by a TWC employee was later accused of fraud. The issue was dropped but not before a lot of lost sleep. I will never deal with the TWC again without recording the conversation.

[spanone]

6. scott proves that the road from criminal to governor is paved by HCA

However, federal investigators found that Scott took part in business practices at Columbia/HCA that were later found to be illegal -- specifically, that Scott and other executives offered financial incentives to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, in violation of federal law, according to lawsuits the Justice Department filed against the company in 2001.

The doctor payments were among 10 different kinds of fraud identified by the Justice Department in its 10-year probe of the company, records show. Three years after Scott left Columbia/HCA, the company admitted wrongdoing, pleading guilty to 14 felonies -- most committed during Scott's tenure -- in addition to paying two sets of fines totaling $1.7 billion...



Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2010/06/rick-scotts-role-in-columbiahca-scandal.html#ixzz19nKRQ0WY

[Enthusiast]

7. Vandelay industries...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T35QhLx_KI

[retread]

9. "Scott is one of those people who always thinks he's the smartest one

in the room, but he will soon be educated otherwise." Carl Hiaasen

[lonestarnot]

10. I D I O T

[brentspeak]

11. We should have Scott prove he hasn't conned the Medicare system out of millions first

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Make sure they know who is responsible for this.

And make sure they're registered to vote.

[butterfly77]

13. KICK