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A Mess of State Aid for the Jobless
So, we’re trying to get this straight: If you’re really, really broke, move to South Carolina. If you can control your start date for work, go to Oklahoma. On Sunday, the New York Times laid out a few examples like this to show just how erratic the systems of distributing food stamps and unemployment benefits are.
Here’s the “duh” quote: “You’ve got this kind of jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t really fit together,” said Stuart Butler of the conservative Heritage Foundation. Even so, one in 10 Americans manage to receive food stamps (see our stories on whether yuppies should receive food stamps). Here’s a sample of the wildly varying state rules, from the Times article:
South Carolina: Food stamps = <$2,000 in savings
North Carolina: Food stamps = <$21,588/year for a family of 3
Oklahoma: Unemployment benefits = $10,000 over six months if you started your job specifically on Feb. 15, May 15, Aug. 15, Nov. 15
Mississippi: Unemployment benefits = Don’t work at a religious school.
Connecticut: Child care subsidy, welfare-to-work grant = Don’t get laid off (unemployment benefits okay)
No, we can’t make sense of it, either. Some anti-federalist strategy. In order to try to help, we could list links to all 50 states’ rules here, but instead we limited it to the top states with the most people in need (or else mentioned above), as measured by unemployment rate, with population thrown in for context.
Michigan – 9.6% unemployed, 10 million people, 8th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
California – 8.4% unemployed, 37 million people, 1st largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
South Carolina – 8.4% unemployed, 4.5 million people, 24th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
North Carolina – 7.9% unemployed, 9.2 million people, 10th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Georgia – 7.5%, unemployed, 9.7 million people, 9th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Florida – 7.3% unemployed, 18 million people, 4th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Illinois – 7.3% unemployed, 13 million people, 5th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Ohio – 7.3% unemployed, 11 million people, 11th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Mississippi – 7.2% unemployed, 3 million people, 31st largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Indiana – 7.1% unemployed, 6.4 million people, 15th largest state by population
Unemployment benefits; food stamps
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; U.S. Census; U.S. state websites
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There’s a larger point here that will be true even if/when we get past this recession. In the 21st century, where so many of the problems we face are global rather than national problems, the federalist system of the United States is completely dysfunctional. There are THOUSANDS of levels of government in our country: federal, state, and local. To address even a national (as opposed to global) problem with this absurd smorgasbord of governments–including lots of politicians with very limited and parochial concerns–is nearly impossible.