Comments by "Sean" (@sean2015) on "Florida To Begin Phase One Of Reopening State | NBC News NOW" video.

OUTRAGEOUS! The state of Florida doesn't have enough money to pay out all of their unemployment claims, so they would rather re-open the state, force people to go back to work and put them at risk. This is also part of the reason why they've been dragging their heels to process all of their backlogged unemployment claims!
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@TheGoofy1932 maybe that's why Sweden has had the 5th-highest number of COVID-19 related deaths per million people (ahead of even the United States) despite having a much younger population than countries like Italy...why don't you ask El Rushbo what he thinks of this?
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@TheGoofy1932 interesting how Republicans never wanted to be included in the same conversation as a "socialist" country like Sweden but now all of a sudden Sweden is like a model country for them
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@kevinp401 judging by your comment I can see how those Florida Teabagger Republicans managed to get elected
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@claudiacarrillo1609 I don't live in Florida (I used to live there, and l have friends there who are still waiting on their claims to be processed)
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@youngman7655 sure, it gives Florida a great excuse to avoid paying their unemployment claims doesn't it!
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@TheGoofy1932 "He's not doing anything crazy like opening gyms or movie theatres." --> this is only so-called "Phase 1". What do you think he's gonna do in Phase 2 or 3? Their goal is to open the whole state incrementally sooner rather than later. As this recent unemployment mess clearly demonstrates, Florida cannot sustain itself or it simply refuses to. DeSantis went to Trump probably to beg for a federal bailout of the state. By this time next week all of the Florida Republicans will be out there publicly claiming that the COVID-19 virus can't survive in warm weather and that all of Florida is safe.
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@claudiacarrillo1609 how are you doing with those unemployment benefits there sweetie? Hey, who needs money when you have warm winters and nice beaches right? Do us all a favor and don't breed any more kids than the ones you already have.
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@TheGoofy1932 how come 49 other states aren't in any rush to re-open? Because they actually have the money to pay their displaced workers their unemployment benefits. Florida is discovering how hard it is to pay for themselves when they don't have tourists or snowbirds to do it for them.
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@TheGoofy1932 there is a distinction between "caution" and "panic". If I choose to err on the side of caution that doesn't make me an alarmist. The bottom line is that Florida has made this premature decision to re-open its economy because they don't have enough money to pay all of their unemployment claims and they KNOW it. They've been stalling for time, processing the unemployment claims little by little, in the hopes that the federal government would bail them out or the shelter-in-place orders would be rescinded and the issue would go away. When neither of those happened they decided to do it on their own. Sending people back to work was the only way to get people off their unemployment rolls and this takes the heat off of the incumbent politicians during an election year. We could have the Black Plague and Ron DeSantis would still be screaming for businesses to re-open. Most Floridians are too dumb to realize this.
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@TheGoofy1932 "But come May they're pretty much out of the woods." ...really Heather? Says who?
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@UCqZV1CV3gqMO5ZSr_-9zkcQwell Claudia I have some bad news for you. Your unemployment is going to run out in just 8 weeks from now. That's because your wonderful state is run by Republicans who assume that all unemployed people are lazy unskilled people (as if any of us had any choice to keep our jobs with this pandemic). So while most other states pay up to 26 weeks, wonderful Florida shuts you off at just 12 weeks, despite having one of the longest turnaround times in the country for unemployed people to find new work. But hey, at least you still have warm winters right? xD
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@TheGoofy1932 a few other states have experienced some delays with their unemployment insurance systems (perfectly understandable given the huge number of people filing claims) but NO other state has had anywhere near the level of problems as Florida. To give you an example: Georgia (which you mentioned in a previous comment) has processed TWICE the number of claims as Florida despite having HALF the population (11.5 million people in Georgia, 21.7 million in Florida). But let's forget for a moment about the speed that the claims are being processed. Florida's UI system has a whole myriad of other problems: it the most stringent system in the country (25-40% of their claims are denied, more than any other state). The maximum payout is only $275/week before taxes (one of the lowest rates in the country) and benefits are capped at just 12 weeks compared to most other states which allow you to collect for 26 weeks or more. Florida at one point even forced UI claimants to take an online skills test but had to drop that requirement under threat of a lawsuit. Heather, don't question me on this, okay? I have worked in this field.
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@TheGoofy1932 "Sad but true, people get sick and sometimes they die. Particularly, if they're elderly..." ...Heather, who do you think makes up nearly a quarter of Florida's population? The answer: people over the age of 60.
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@BruvvaJosh what do you mean "we"? You don't speak for everybody. A lot of people are nervous about this. I'm not saying there should be full-blown panic but people have every right to be cautious.
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@TheGoofy1932 we will remain closed for however long it TAKES! It was never my idea or desire to be laid off from my job in the first place, but since it happened I'm simply trying to make the best of it. The bottom line is Florida wants to re-open NOT because they want to to "get back to work and life", but because they don't have enough MONEY to pay their citizens their unemployment! So they would rather put people at risk than have an election-year mess on their hands. This is a purely political move by Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republicans; they do NOT have people's best interests in mind. Also have you even seen or read what Florida has planned? Most of their proposals are simply impractical and unenforceable. You keep talking about Sweden, and I told you that they've had the fifth-highest infection rate worldwide as a result of their decision not to shelter-in-place.
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@TheGoofy1932 it sure does give your pathetic state the perfect excuse not to pay those unemployment benefits doesn't it? What would happen if (God forbid) we had some other economic disaster (a war, a terrorist attack, etc.,) in 20 or 30 years from now? Where would Florida be then? You guys are discovering how hard it is to fund a state when you don't have tourists or the federal government to do it for you. That's really what this whole thing is about. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if, in the next couple of weeks, Gov. Mickey Mouse DeSantis puts some hair-brained scientist (or other expert) in front of the podium to announce that warm weather kills the coronavirus and that Florida is the safest place to be right now LOL.
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@TheGoofy1932 I think Mickey Mouse would do a far better job as governor than Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott or any other Florida Teabagger. I used to live in Florida and it is by far my LEAST favorite of all the 40 states I've either lived in or traveled to (e.g. horrible social services, abysmal customer service, low wages combined with a high cost of living and staggering income inequality). I now live in Chicago. It is a bastion of snarling Liberals (I strongly dislike extremist politics, either far-left or far-right) and we have plenty of mismanagement and corruption here as well, but at least I got my unemployment claim processed and approved quickly thank goodness. Plus we have a $13/hour minimum wage (set to increase to $14/hour in July, and then to $15/hour in 2021). I've worked in the unemployment field before, I have friends in Florida and I've warned them about this problem for years. But the response I'd get was always "who cares? We have nice winters" ...I guess Floridians are finally realizing that warm weather doesn't create prosperity.
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Heather Shaw I always tell people that if you allow warm weather to be the number one factor in deciding where to live, then you’re going to wind up living in a pretty bad place (which you are now). The states with the highest quality of life are places that happen to have cold winters (Minnesota, North Dakota, Connecticut, Colorado and Massachusetts). See a pattern here?
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