COVID is over. Axios is nixing their weekly pandemic map because the level of infection is so low. Last week was the news organization’s last graph, noting that the caseload has dropped to the point where a surge isn’t likely due to the rate of vaccination. I would also add the tens of millions of Americans who already had the infection and have acquired natural immunity. All of this plays a part in herd immunity. Florida is open. Texas reopened weeks ago and nixed their mask mandate. The COVID panic porn peddlers wanted death. It never came. The Centers for Disease Control tweaked their mask mandate. Virginia is virtually open. New Jersey is set to reopen. The lockdown regime is coming to an end and that means businesses are starting to ease their workforces back to normalcy.
Yet, people aren’t going back to work. There’s a labor shortage. We’ve had two consecutive job reports that were miserable. What’s going on here? Well, the unemployed have no incentive to return to work if they’re being paid more by the government than when they had full-time work. Yes, there should be unemployment benefits, but the Biden administration’s push to keep giving people checks has impacted the market. Of course, Democrats disagree, but the numbers don’t lie. Forty-two percent of those on unemployment said they’re earning more sitting on their couch collecting from the government than they were at their previous job. You don’t need to be a Nobel laureate to see that’s a sizable chunk of former workers that aren’t in a rush to find a new job…unless the government nixes those benefits. It’s time. And Republican governors are doing just that, saying bye-bye to additional supplemental relief. Go find a job, folks (via Reuters):
Half of U.S. states, all of them led by Republican governors, are cutting off billions of dollars in unemployment benefits for residents, rebuffing a key part of President Joe Biden’s response to the coronavirus recession.
The payments - an extra $300 per week from the federal government to unemployment recipients because of the pandemic - have become part of a political battle in Washington over how to best guide the country out of an economic downturn.
Maryland on Tuesday became the 25th state to announce it would stop the $300-per-week benefits before the federal program lapses in September. Governor Larry Hogan said that while the program gave "important temporary relief" during the pandemic, it was no longer needed now that "vaccines and jobs ... are in good supply."
[…]
Unemployed workers may still be eligible for regular state unemployment benefits. But those vary widely. Unemployed people must take suitable jobs that are offered, White House officials have emphasized.
Oh please, that latter claim by the Biden camp is almost as convincing as their handling of the border crisis where they said they’re telling migrants the border is closed through some ads on Facebook. Does it feel that way? We have another month where some 170,000 people that we know of were detained at the border. The Biden White House is not fighting GOP governors’ moves to nix unemployment benefits since we’re reopening from COVID. Liberals aren’t too pleased as you would expect.