While Congress and the President were wrangling over the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010, the FAC (Federal Additional Compensation) Program — which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — was allowed to expire.
The FAC provided a $25 dollar per week supplement to those collecting unemployment compensation. Between February 22nd of 2009 and December 7th of 2010 the program distributed an additional $353 million to those in the ranks of the unemployed.
While the rich, and the adequately employed, celebrate the windfall of extended tax relief and temporarily reduced FICA deductions, the unemployed will discover that their biweekly unemployment check is about fifty dollars lighter.
That means that instead of a can of tuna, some rice, and a Diet Pepsi for daily sustenance, the average unemployed American human will be consuming some rice and a half glass of Kool Aid. And, best of all, that human will still be contributing taxes (10% federal, 3% state, in Illinois) to help offset the budget deficit.
It’s too bad those Tea Partiers weren’t on board for this vote. I bet they would have been really concerned about expecting the unemployed to contribute part of their pittance to the tax coffers of the grossly negligent governments. Or are they only concerned about the tax rates that rich people pay?
What? You didn’t hear about this in the news? Of course you didn’t. We mostly like to ignore the plight of those less fortunate who are on hard times. Plus, the way the pie has been divided up is much classier. Lexus dealerships will be doing bigger business, and Dollar General will take a hit. The unemployed don’t need to buy a cheap new pot anyway because they won’t be able to afford a chicken to throw into it.
Still, I wonder when and if the real anger will kick in on those people who have lost their livelihoods to foreign competition. Do you think maybe they will begin to hurl rocks at each passing Lexus and Mercedes? Maybe they’ll firebomb Bank of America!
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