Unemployment claims with Governor Newsom

Have you noticed how, at the governor’s COVID-19 press conferences, someone usually asks about how come unemployment benefits aren’t reaching all the people who have applied for them? The governor takes time to explain how they’re trying to catch up with the sudden swelling of the unemployment ranks, and how, just before the virus appeared, unemployment was really low, so staffing at EDD (the state’s Employment Development Department) was low. But they’re staffing up now, he says, and things should get better.

“I don’t buy that,” says my friend Rob. He used to be in advertising, and then the surfboard business. “These days,” he says, “I’m in the gig economy. The restaurant business. I had a bit saved away when this happened. But my coworkers all fell off a financial cliff. They’re are hurting, bad.

“I started this folder the other day on my computer, after [EDD] hung up on me several times, after I’d been on the phone [trying to get through] 4, 6, 8 hours a day. Then I actually did get through. I got one of these wonderful ladies, a tech lady who was ordered to go to EDD to help them out. Absolutely wonderful person. She stayed on hold with me the whole time, trying to get through to EDD’s department that handles basic claims.”

Rob says she did not succeed. He’s back at square one. With the San Diego region’s number of unemployed reaching close to half a million, compared with an estimated 70,000 before the virus hit, it’s no surprise bodies like the EDD are overwhelmed.

“But people like me, who don’t get through to the EDD to find out where their unemployment money is, are pissed. We’re not trying to take advantage of the government. We’re not crooks. We’re not criminals. We just need to eat. We have bills to pay. Our rent’s due. We need canned goods. We need vegetables. People aren’t getting what they need. They’re not getting what they’ve been paying into. One gentleman told me it was ‘Time to start marching on the Capitol.’ The governor needs to hear from We the People. He needs to understand that we’re real breathing human beings who have worked our whole lives, who are out there. We hired you as our leader, and realistically, people are not getting paid. They’re not getting money paid into their accounts. The governor needs to, please, get the funds out to the people. Worry about investigating later, man. People need to eat. Maybe there are a few crooks in there. But for the most part, these are good people. They work hard for a living. They need their money.”’

Rob’s starting to get emotional. “I’m just saying,” he says, “people are desperate. Can you imagine? Hunger in California, fifth largest economy in the world, home of Silicon Valley, because its government can’t get its hands around the kind of accounting problem FDR was handling back in the 1930s?”