Wisconsin GOP Pushing Law to Spy on and Seize Bank Accounts of Unemployed

Politics • June 2013 • Views: 2,576

A law is advancing through the Wisconsin state legislature that would double the job-seeking requirements for people collecting unemployment and which would allow the government to peer into their bank accounts and freeze them if they believe the account holder has received overpayments in their benefits. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the co-authors of the bill, which was introduced in the state Assembly and Senate on Friday, insist that the changes would be for workers’ own good.

“This is to protect the workers and lessen the burden on employers who are paying all the bills,” said state Rep. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown).

More: Wisconsin GOP Pushing Law to Spy on and Seize Bank Accounts of Unemployed

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16 comments

Romantic Heretic Sat, Jun 1, 2013 10:45:33am

They can’t even pretend to not be utter authoritarians. Their message is “You are property of either your employers or The State of Wisconsin, and everything you own is our property as well.”

Also,

The bill also addresses the concerns of businesses which say that the state has not done enough to train judges on how to rule in disputes between companies and employees.

Meaning in any dispute between the companies and employees, the employee is in the wrong. We can whip the skin from their backs on a daily basis and the employee can’t say, “Boo.”

Scumbags.

Eclectic Cyborg Sat, Jun 1, 2013 10:56:26am

And this from people who champion “limited government.”

Four More Tears Sat, Jun 1, 2013 11:00:20am

But donations to super-pacs are off limits. Okely dokely.

sagehen Sat, Jun 1, 2013 12:27:09pm

So if I’m on unemployment my parents can’t send me money to pay my COBRA, or to send the kids to summer camp, or to buy a nice suit or get the car repaired for upcoming job interviews?

Four More Tears Sat, Jun 1, 2013 12:28:40pm

re: #4 sagehen

So if I’m on unemployment my parents can’t send me money to pay my COBRA, or to send the kids to summer camp, or to buy a nice suit or get the car repaired for upcoming job interviews?

Professional moocher!

Amory Blaine Sat, Jun 1, 2013 12:37:18pm

I’ve been on a crash course of saving money. The second I lose my job the for sale sign goes on the house. I’m getting out of this state. It’s fucking poison here.

aagcobb Sat, Jun 1, 2013 1:13:53pm

Why don’t these moochers just borrow $100k from their parents and start their own company?/

jvic Sat, Jun 1, 2013 1:19:51pm

1. Politifact on WI’s Republican Governor Scott Walker:

In 2010, Walker promised voters that he would create 250,000 private sector jobs by the end of his four-year term. Here are details of the latest tabulations (boldface mine) :

On May 16, 2013, the state released the final 2012 job count based on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a survey that covers about 97 percent of state businesses…

…Add the 2012 jobs to the 29,800 jobs created in 2011, and you get 62,072 jobs for Walker’s first two years in office. That’s just under 25 percent of the number he promised, though he’s more than halfway through the term.

The state also released the less accurate but closely watched monthly jobs count for April. That report showed a loss of 22,600 jobs — the single largest monthly swing, positive or negative, since Walker took office in January 2011.

The explanation is obvious: Walker is creating the jobs, but the no-good welfare bums are refusing to apply for them. Hence the legislation. ///

2. Walker puts me in mind of the sales manager at a used-car dealership. Would you buy a used car from him?

Be that as it may, there are actually trial balloons for him to run for President.

3. ///: What the federal government needs is some sturdy Midwestern common sense:

Walker-Bachmann 2016!

Hyperbole. That was hyperbole. Please let it be hyperbole.

Bulworth Sat, Jun 1, 2013 1:37:23pm

“This is to ~~protect the workers and~~ lessen the burden on employers who are paying all the bills,”

Bulworth Sat, Jun 1, 2013 1:40:26pm

This is yet another in a long list of initiatives by Republicans to make it as clear as can be to anyone with pulse that they are the party of and for assholes. They’re really trying to remove all doubt.

JEA62 Sat, Jun 1, 2013 7:15:20pm

Beating slaves was ‘for their own good’ too.

Kruk Sat, Jun 1, 2013 9:11:16pm

So the Government can freeze the bank accounts who have lost their jobs, run through their savings and are now living hand to mouth if it believes they have received over payments? How could that possibly end badly?

Romantic Heretic Sun, Jun 2, 2013 4:13:47am

There’s that damned earworm again.

Youtube Video

Bulworth Sun, Jun 2, 2013 4:26:13am

re: #11 JEA62

It’s just all about “protecting” the workers. //

Skip Intro Sun, Jun 2, 2013 8:34:10am

re: #2 Eclectic Cyborg

And this from people who champion “limited government.”

No, this is from the state that is bought and owned by the Koch brothers. Just a glimpse into the future should they continue to buy up state government after state government.

kirkspencer Sun, Jun 2, 2013 9:14:34am

So what they’re going to do is say “If you have over three months savings, it’s ours?”

What, exactly, is the incentive to save and prepare for disaster in that case? Instead it becomes wise to live on the very edge so that if something goes wrong you can immediately be upheld by the government benefits.

Oh, wait, they’re cutting that to. So what they really seem to be saying is, “If you lose your job, please die quickly so we can get on with our business.”

/spit

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