OPINION: Governor Grinch Wants Your Unemployment Check

When was the last time you saw one of those “We’re all in this together,” messages?

They were everywhere last spring and summer.  When we were told the country would shut down for two weeks and we could lick something akin to a nasty flu bug by bringing about an economic depression.  Here in Idaho the suddenly jobless received assurances they would get generous jobless benefits.

Then the computer system let them down.

Some went bankrupt.  For all we know some are foraging in the forests for food.

Now we’re learning the state wants some unemployment benefits returned.  Check this link.  What’s really galling is the mention you may have violated conditions by wandering away from home.  Are we talking 10 miles?  25 miles?  Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house?  What if you had a job interview across the state line in Wyoming?

Meanwhile, Brad “To the Manor Born” Little remains quite comfortable.  As do most legislators I meet.  Christmas is a tad over a week away and these coldhearted folks make Scrooge and the Grinch look saintly.

The country has been strained like no other time in my fairly long life.  There are factions battling in the streets.  There’s talk of the mob picking up pitchforks and settling scores.  Oh, and state government rests atop a surplus approaching three-quarters of a billion dollars.  But give me back a couple of hundred because you drove to Yellowstone while jobless!

Check out this comment about how the comfortable demand we keep afflicting the masses.  History tells us this is how revolutions begin.