A little fewer than half the States are rejecting federal money for unemployment benefits because they say it makes people lazy.
That's not why.
The Federal government sets national policy. These States have an alternative policy. They actually think they know better.
It is worth noting that these States represent the old Confederacy added together with the States with the smallest populations, by and large. It is also worth noting that these State governments are the ones that oppose Affordable Care and oppose extending Medicaid to sick people.
To be fair, the issue these States are addressing is the seeming reluctance of workers in America to return to the jobs they held before the pandemic. To these States, the reason is not low wages. These states not incidentally are also among the loudest complainers about raising the minimum wage.
They do not speak about the open fact that there is no way for women to work without child care. These States are inhabited by vociferous minorities who want women to stay at home, in the kitchen, barefoot, and in the 1950's, for the most part.
They ignore the contributing factor of workplace safety during what is still a pandemic. These States do not loom big on the remote working horizon, although many people living in these States use Zoom.
It's about who makes policy. It's about who tells the story of what life is like in these States. It's not about lazy workers at all.
Call them by their true names.
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