OddTod Laid Low by the Law

nickynicky9doors writes "The International Herald Tribune has a NYT article on the recent woes of Tod Rosenberg who started 'Laid Off: A Day in the Life'. Mr. Rosenberg started www.oddtodd.com to tell the tale of a laid off guy who spends days watching TV and eating chips. Oddtod became so successful Mr. Rosenberg reaped cash donations and national TV exposure. Unfortunately it also brought the attention of the Department of Labor who have explained the catch of having to be actively looking for work while collecting unemployment benefits. Another dot com bust."

Comments

The same argument

[quantaman]

I wonder if the same argument would apply to someone collecting donations on the street. While it is likely that these people are not collecting unemployment how do they define "earning money". On the same note would gambling also be considered "earning money", I know in Canada winnings are not taxable yet there are some professional gamblers that Revenue Canada is attempting to tax due to the fact they consider it a job.

Re:CA unemployment myths vs realities: my own stor

[Rogerborg]

Myth 6: The benefits system has any kind of internal consistency.

Reality:

• Welfare office: OK, let's see. From your description of your domestic situation, I have to record that you are living with a partner as man and wife. As she is a full time student, our procedure says that she must claim benefits for you as a dependent partner. You are therefore not elegible to receive separate unemployment benefit, even though you are attending higher education for fewer than 16 hours per week while actively seeking work.
• Me: Uh, but wait, to claim married student benefits, we have to provide a marriage certificate, at least three years old. But we're not actually married. So, what should we do?
• Welface office: (looking around) OK. Off the record, I recommend you lie to us and say you're sleeping on the couch. Then we can lie about you living together as man and wife, and you can get unemployment benefit while you look for work. Also, don't tell us that you're attending higher education part time, as it just creates more paperwork for us while cutting you exactly zero slack.
• Me: So, basically you're saying that the system is screwed, you know it's screwed, and the best way to obtain the benefits that it's honestly intended to deliver is to lie and scam it?
• Welfare office: Pretty much.
• Me: Well, ok then. By the way, I'm doing some irregular teaching assistant work that brings in the occasional $30 or so. How do I declare that?
• Welfare office: I'm sorry, I seem to have gone temporarily deaf.

I was pretty young and naieve then, you can tell. The trouble was that I didn't understand that the system is set up to support binary states: In work. Out of work. Nothing in the middle, no gray areas. You practically have to lie through your teeth (with the state's tacit collusion) to get enough to live on, and at some point when you get a job that pays a living wage, you're expected to stop lying.

Trouble is, once you get used to the idea that pretty much everybody in the benefits system is involved in a huge scam (and that the benefits office colludes out of compassion), it begs the question: at what point exactly does it become wrong to lie, when at $1 a week less, it was OK?

Who is complaining about meager benefits?

[Carmody]

I have no way of knowing, but I am wondering about the people complaining about their meager benefits, and talking about how they can't afford to pay their bills with their unemployment checks, and how they can't afford living in a $1500 apartment (but would never get a roommate).

I am wondering if they are the same people who, a year and a half ago, were all buying copies of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and constantly posting to slashdot that government has no business taxing the wealthy (and therefore deserving) to help out the poor (who should just get up and start their own businesses).

The reason I wonder is that there seem to be fewer Randroids, "you don't work... you don't eat" people, people who complain and whine that underemployed people complain and whine. And there are more people talking about inadequate unemployment benefits, and how the government should help people pay their rent and food while they go to school to improve their job skills.

I know that it could be a coincidence, but I keep wondering if they are the same people.