Comments about ‘Utah unemployment claims up 500 percent since start of shutdown’

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Published: Friday, Oct. 4 2013 5:25 p.m. MDT

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Open Minded Mormon
Everett, 00


and let Senator Mike Lee figure out a way to pay it.

Salt Lake City, UT

500%....??? How can that BE? The ONE has told us over and over that the economy is getting better.....! Time for more Uerkle got to go!

Salt Lake City, UT

If all you federal workers would tell your boss in D.C. to stop trying to strong-arm the other side on this law they've been fighting against for five years, you could be back to work next week. Forget that sham of "it's the law of the land!" So was slavery once. Would you stand for not being able to work to support that? Oddly, the same party fought for it with other peoples live 148 years ago. Laws can be repealed, "law of the land" not withstanding. Try not being those people interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel, who were asked if they preferred the Affordable Health Care Act to Obamacare who were so ignorant they didn't even realize they are one and the same!

Midwest Mom
Soldiers Grove, WI

I find it ironic that the state that dislikes government so much depends so largely on government spending. When the tap is turned off, then those trickling dry dollars will spread drought throughout the state economy. Then perhaps some hearts will be softened towards those whose living depends on the capricious nature of politics.

Provo, UT

Last time the had federal employees furloughed (ie. "shutdown"), they all received back-pay once the budget was passed. So, these guys are going to be sitting pretty. Get unemployment checks and then get back pay for time they sat at home. Where can I sign up for that gig?

Eugene, OR


Want to repeal Obamacare? Fine. Get enough votes in Congress and have a President who's willing to sign a bill that does so. Play by the rules (you know, that Constitution conservatives like you claim to love so much.)

Don't close down the government and hold our economy ransom just because you can't win a fair fight.

Sandy, UT

@Ett. So, just because I don't like paying my income tax means that I don't have to file a return? After all, that's also the law of the land.

DN Subscriber 2

Okay, but any federal worker who collects a dime in unemployment should not receive ANY back pay when the shutdown ends and the vote-buying Congress decides to pay everyone for the furlough time, event though they did no work.

Actually, I think this is a move by the federal employee unions to convince well paid workers that they will starve if they miss even a week of work, and that they can double dip.

Furloughed workers need to tell Obama and his puppet Harry Reid to pass the bills already passed by the Republican controlled House and the shut down will immediately end for those departments. Any delay is because Obama sees it as winning him political points, even at the expense of individual workers, and the long tern financial stability of our country.

Unreconstructed Reb
Chantilly, VA


I don't know Utah unemployment benefits work, but in Virginia any fed receiving unemployment will have to pay it back in the event that retroactive pay is authorized by Congress.

Given the expectation that the budget standoff will get rolled into the debt-ceiling debate, any paychecks may not be coming until the end of October. For a lot of people, it's worth collecting unemployment now to pay back later just to have some cash flow to pay bills.

Stephen Nielson
Highland, Utah

Those posting about double dipping from unemployment and back pay should read the article... Federal workers will be required to pay back any wages they receive from unemployment. There is no double dipping involved here.

tucson, az

Free pay day loans, who wouldn't vote for that.

St. George, UT

If this shutdown continues, the harm to individual lives, the economy, our national security, and national reputation will secure Mike Lee's place in History among our nations most vile saboteurs. The fascinating and very sad thing is that he can't even that he has already lost.

Taylorsville, UT

Federal workers on furlough cannot receive unemployment funds, they have to be terminated and 8 wks unemployed to hope for benefits so this is just another scare story by the DN and the Governor. They are trying to scare the public with false information, but the reality is the public of Utah are so impoverished it can't get any worse for us.

The furloughed federal jobs and soon state governemnt jobs will trigger and economic meltdown unlike one ever seen in the USA in 250 years because of the socialism created to spread the wealth to the rich.

As for the rest of the state and rise in application means they are not approved for benefits. Temporary unemployment or reduced employment do not qualify persons for benefits if they live with their parents. Tricky exclusions will save the state but not the economy.

This shutdown should be a lesson for all state and local governments that operation on a indentured or borrowed budget is a dangerous system of accountability.

Durham, NC

2Cents.... name me a single government that doesn't fund thing via loans. The US from day one owed the Dutch and the French.... so where are you getting this idea of a utopian existence with no debt? How do you fund major projects like highways, damns, and the like... without debt?

Even the blessed fortune 500 depends of debt to fund capital investments....

So where do you get this vision of a perfect government from?

"Temporary unemployment or reduced employment do not qualify persons for benefits if they live with their parents."

and exactly what percent of people working national parks, blm, and hill airforce base do you think are living at home with their parents still? You think this is a significant number?

The mental gymnastics to make every piece of news partisan is a wonder to watch...

Bountiful, UT

Folks, it could be that none of the applicants are federal workers. These could be jobs lost because of federal work not being done, or parks closed, etc. Even if park rangers are being paid to stay home, a lot of related economic activity is diminished.

The only people happy about the shutdown are the Tea Party and America's adversaries.

Murray, UT

Obama has seen to it that anything federal in Utah is what is deemed 'non-essential', just to punish Lee, and those who elected him, the most.

How essential was it to pay federal guards to put up the barricades and stand around the open monuments on the National Mall? It requires more guards to keep it closed than to have it open.

It is all about punishment and show with Obama.

The Senate could end this now by passing all the spending bills the House has sent, or by delaying the Obamacare tax on low income people for 1 year, but Reid, Obama's servant, won't touch that.

Durham, NC

@Badgerbadger - actions have consequences. How convenient it must be that all actions that go poorly are the result of one parties decisions, while all actions that go well, one takes credit unto their own party for.

If you had taken the time to actually look into what you are talking about... you would see that the national parks service is running on skeleton crews. Yes, it is easier, and more affordable to have a few people protect monuments, than it is to fully staff those locations. Why do we need to protect these sites.... even if they are on the mall.... just a couple of months ago we had a lady who was going around and defacing many of these sites with green paint. It cost the tax payers thousands of dollars to clean up the damage.

The last thing that you surely missed is many of these people are working without pay... because of their sense of duty. How much of a sacrifice do you expect these people to make - so we have have an argument about "principles". We should be thanking these people for being so loyal... true patriots. Not the arm chair version found here.

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