Editorial -- State Sending Bill Collectors After COVID Payment Recipients

The attacks on our way of life continue. First, the federal and state authorities are exploiting the Coronavirus Pandemic to force our small businesses to be on life support while the large corporations operate with business as usual. Then, they force our kids to stay home from school for days or weeks due to overly restrictive quarantine rules Now, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that the state is sending bill collectors after people who applied for unemployment benefits after losing their jobs through no fault of their own.

Now, the state is turning around and telling certain people that they have to repay thousands of dollars because they were ineligible to begin with. They won’t give people the reasons why, and they are dragging their feet on hearing appeals. 

These are not people who are gaming the system. These are people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and who believed, thanks to pronouncements from either the state or the Trump Administration that they were eligible for unemployment. President Trump himself said that people who fall through the cracks through no fault of their own need help. 

Last Wednesday, during his inaugural speech, President Joe Biden talked about unifying the country. That is all well and good. But we will not get the unity that President Biden talked about as long as we have certain governmental agencies who see their primary purpose as control. 

For the last 100 years, the elites have been attacking and undermining our way of life. To say that ordinary people need to pay the price because the government screwed up is exactly the kind of thinking that has torn apart our country in recent years.

The other problem is misinformation. If we are to avoid situations like this, politicians, governmental agencies, and the media have a responsibility to communicate accurate information regardless of their political beliefs. When inaccurate information is floating around about who is eligible, or ineligible, for unemployment benefits, people apply in good faith. They should not have to repay because they acted in good faith based on false information floating around.