I just love how things like this are almost hidden, leaving you with a virtually hidden tax(or tax increase, depending on how you look at it). In my case, the credit reduction was first discovered when I was filing my 940.
What is credit reduction? Any state that has not repaid money it borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits is subject to credit reduction. The Department of Labor determines what states will be subject to credit reduction. If an employer pays wages in a state that is subject to the unemployment tax laws of a credit reduction state, that employer must pay additional federal unemployment tax when filing its Form 940. This reduction is calculated using the Schedule A (Form 940).
For 2011, wages subject to the unemployment compensation laws of the State of AR, CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, NC, NJ, NV, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, Virgin Islands, and WI are subject to credit reduction.
Not even close. I know this is put out by the GOP, so the potential argument is there that it’s one sided, but given all the news and headlines pertaining to unemployment continuing to rise despite the passage of that horrible stimulus bill, I just can’t see where it can be said that it was a success. I guess it did succeed in a few ways that you don’t hear of, like further enslaving the states to the Federal Government by accepting funds that came with promises of future obligations, unaffordable obligations, that the states will now be on the hook for. It that case it worked, because our state lawmakers took the bait, hook, line and sinker, just to fill there their then gaping budget holes.
And all the talk about how it saved our country from another Great Depression, give me a break. It’s impossible to make claims of what would have happened had they not passed it, and when the interest finally comes due on the explosive debt, we can say then whether it was truly worth it or not.
There, I said it. Truthfully I’m happy for anyone that finds that special someone and is able to exchange vows with them and have that dream wedding that they’ve always dreamed of. I just don’t like to see that be the headline topic of the news for at least a week or more. Which is why I’m extremely happy that her big day has now come and gone. I admit, it’s a little ironic that I’m ranting about her wedding being the attention of all, and then here I am talking about it.
My big grip is how much attention the media and news has put on this, and how much our public idolizes these type of celebrity figures. Sure she was the First Daughter for 8 years, but that does not justify, in my book at least, constantly reminding us that the Clinton’s have invested an estimated $3,000,000 – $6,000,000 on this special day. At a time when unemployment is again on the rise and at highs not seen for years, families across the nation are struggling to keep their homes and cars, and may even be trying their best to keep from slipping into poverty, celebrities and other figures spend (waste) lavish amounts of money, and our news agencies reports on it as if it is the most important news they could bring us each day. Report on it a few times maybe, but not at every single broadcast possible weeks on end. And definitely don’t name someone “Person of the Week” just because they are blowing money like it’s going out of style.
Once upon a time, there was job security in a government job.
That’s no longer the case. The layoff ax has hit public sector payrolls with force as states wrestle with massive budget shortfalls. Since August 2008, some 231,000 state and local government jobs have disappeared — 22,000 last month alone, according to federal data.
The majority of the cuts are on the local level, which at 14.4 million workers is nearly three times the size of the state workforce. Plus, unlike at the federal level, most of these cuts come from the ranks of teachers, cops, firefighters and social service workers. Source
This comes as no surprise for me. I actually predicted just by seeing how much in the red local cities, counties, and even the state’s budgets all seem to be lately, that this would be coming sooner rather than later. As an employee of a semi-state agency, there’s becoming a good chance that I may very well be affected by all of the scrambling that there is and will be later to fill these budget gaps. Of course there’s no telling how things end up playing out as the year progresses, but it will certainly be interesting to see what the end results of these cuts will be for the services that are provided to the public in towns and cities across the nation.
We hear almost daily the statistics and state of our economy, but sometimes it takes seeing an individual do something that he/she normally wouldn’t do to make it hit home that times are tough. I went to the mall the other day for the first time in a long while, and there are numerous vacant spots available. That’s not to mention even the old strip malls and shopping outlets. But even seeing things progress to where it is now, sometimes we just hear the numbers and really never do think about how the people are actually being effected.
Today we pulled into a gas station to throw away a couple of McDonald’s cups on the way back to the office. There was a man that approached the trash can at the pumps that we were going to toss them in so we waited on him before getting out to throw them away. He had a few coke cans in one hand and dug around in the trash can with his other hand and picked out whatever cans he could find, slid a free finger into the mouth openings, and walked to his truck to put them in the bed. This guy was driving a 70s-80s Ford F150, wearing a white tee and jogging pants. This guy is the guy that rarely ever makes it on the evening news. This guy is a prime example of what Main Street is having to do today to make ends meet. It’s a very sad situation a lot of people are finding themselves in, doing things they would have never previously done just to get by, and is really hard to imagine being in.
This was Dalton’s newest Starbucks, which was only open for around a year, or maybe even less. Prior to Starbucks building there, there was a Chevron gas station, and if I remember correctly, it sold the location for a very large amount of money. I’m speculating that either McDonald’s (which ironically is pictured in the photo as well) introducing the McCafe, and/or people just deciding that Starbucks coffee just wasn’t worth the price with the economy like it is, contributed to it closing down. It’s a shame that such a nice building, and even nicer location (right off the interstate), will probably sit there vacant for possibly years to come.
Monday came and wasn’t nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be. The new Executive Director came in and talked with each of us telling us to relax that we all still have jobs. I think nearly everyone was nervous coming into the week because with merging the two places, there are duplications in positions. A team of consultants from UGA is supposed to be coming up in a few weeks to take a look at everything from benefits and pensions to job positions, and pretty much everything in between, to determine how to combine everything into the one new entity. I think that will be more likely to be the time when people either get cut or cut back, but I guess only time will tell.
He has asked that everyone provide him with a resume so that he can see what everyone’s skills are and where they could be utilized. I’ve never made one before, and have actually been wanting to toss one together for some time now. So this at least gives me that push to make it happen. It’ll definitely be handy if things end up going south here, or I decide at some point to make a career change.
If you’ve ever watched Survivor, you’ll recognize the merge of the two tribes, and how that can be the turning point in the reality show for any certain single player. Someone you thought would make it to the end, could then have their easy shot taken from them by being on the tribe with lesser players.
This week, and especially next week at work feels very similar to being on Survivor. We’re going through a “merge” that quite honestly feels like a take over. We’ve already lost two of the most knowledgeable staff that you could ever have, assets to the organization, and will be going in on Monday without knowing at all what to expect. Am I nervous? I am. I know I stand a pretty good chance of being let go, yet I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried for the others, and if there was any way that I could trade myself being safe (if that’s the case) for them to keep someone else instead of me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
It’s hard not to be concerned with seeing the unemployment rate rise month after month. Just today the numbers were released bringing the national percentage up to 9.5%, a 26 year high. You hear all of these predictions like, “expecting to only see another 1 million jobs lost for the rest of the year” and you really can’t put any faith at all in the economists’ predictions. They naturally change their predictions often, and when the single month of June alone was -467k, it’s hard to imagine only another 1 million jobs will be lost over the next 6 months.
Georgia is sitting at a 9.7% unemployment rate as of May 2009, and my county, Whitfield County, had a rate of 12.4% for May. Not as bad as some of course, but that’s nothing at all to be happy or proud of. My county’s major industry was carpet, so when the housing bubble popped, so did things here. I won’t even bring up budget deficits.
Aspire to inspire before you expire.
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