I hate to quote Politico, which I tend to think is both biased and given to the worst horse-race journalism, but when they’re right they’re right: ‘It’s a sh– sandwich’: Republicans rage as Florida becomes a nightmare for Trump:
Already anxious about Trump’s chances in the nation’s biggest swing state, Republicans now are dealing with thousands of unemployed workers unable to navigate the Florida system to apply for help. And the blowback is directed straight at Trump’s top allies in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.
Privately, Republicans admit that the $77.9 million system that is now failing Florida workers is doing exactly what Scott designed it to do — lower the state’s reported number of jobless claims after the great recession.
“It’s a sh– sandwich, and it was designed that way by Scott,” said one DeSantis advisor. “It wasn’t about saving money. It was about making it harder for people to get benefits or keep benefits so that the unemployment numbers were low to give the governor something to brag about.”
Republican Party of Florida chairman Joe Gruters was more succinct: “$77 million? Someone should go to jail over that.”
With hundreds of thousands of Floridians out of work, the state’s overwhelmed system is making it nearly impossible for many people to even get in line for benefits.
…
The new online system was part of a series of changes designed to limit benefits. The ultimate goal — which it delivered on — was to lower unemployment taxes paid by Florida businesses. A 2011 analysis done by the Florida Legislature estimated that the changes pushed by Scott would save businesses more than $2.3 billion between 2011 and 2020.
Now, as thousands of people try to get help, the system crashes or denies them access. Nearly 400,000 people have managed to file claims in the last two and half weeks. It’s not known how many have tried and failed.
Most of those who do submit applications won’t qualify for aid, and the benefits that are paid out are among the most meager in the country — a maximum of $275 a week.
So you hate to quote Politico, which you consider to be biased, but since they conform to your, likely not really directly knowledgeable idea of the matter, you find them worthy of quotation and “right.”
See, I have found, over and over again that it is quite easy for writers to make news sound compelling and probably correct on lots of subjects. But this doesn’t mean they are. What I have also found, over and over again, is when I read journalism on a subject that I actually KNOW and have firsthand deep knowledge of, especially on technical or legal topics,they invariably get it wrong. Usually the stories are either a summary of the first paragraph of a technical source, incomplete and misunderstood, or just an expression of what the writer thinks SHOULD be true. If journalists are constantly wrong about things where I can KNOW for FACT that they are, why would I assume they are correct about the 90 percent of the rest?
I’m not sure how you have somehow avoided this experience. I’m sure you’ve read countless “legal” articles by journalists who clearly have no real idea of what they are saying. The average reporter has no idea whatsoever on the implications of things like Incorporation, Strict Scrutiny, Fundamental Rights, yet they write articles that skirt these subjects without ever bringing them up. I see this all the time, you as an academic probably see it even more, yet you think this doesn’t happen when you read something that you also agree with.
Do you have actual knowledge of the subject of your post? Not stories from the news, but actual knowledge? Did you help draft the laws in question? Do you teach this subject? Have you ever actually looked into it? I know I haven’t on any of this. Yet I have to presume, since you are a Yale Man ™ that you wouldn’t actually be subject to confirmation bias, and that you are correct when you assert that Politico tends to be wrong, except when they agree with your opinion on the matter, and are therefor correct here.
I swear if you were my student I’d never accept the nonsense statements you assert on this blog as having any validity whatsoever. The fact that you clearly are unaware of how illogical you can be just makes it worse.
I think you should chill. It seems the stress is really getting to you.
I never claimed to have personal knowledge of the difficulties of filing for unemployment in Florida. That doesn’t, and shouldn’t, keep me or any other citizen from having an opinion about it. The problems have been widely reported. No one has denied they exist, indeed the Florida official responsible confirmed it an apologized. So no “actual knowledge” is needed there. Ditto for the low level of the benefits, a fact of record.
I will point out one thing about which I do have ‘actual knowledge’ however: nothing in you intemperate rant actually suggests a single fact I quoted or referred to is inaccurate.