Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads

Techdirt is reporting that one unfortunate, unemployed New York lawyer recently had her unemployment benefits greatly reduced because of the incredible $1/day she was earning via ads on her blog. "The whole thing sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare, with NY State asking her to get a form from her new 'employer' who didn't exist. Then NY Department of Labor started giving her all sorts of contradicting information, and eventually an 'investigation' into her 'business' — during which time her unemployment benefits were stopped entirely. She's now pulled the Google AdSense from her blog (total earned over the life of the blog $238.75)."

Comments

The state is correct

[Antiocheian]

Unemployment benefits are meant to help people with no income.

Others are getting much more than $238 through web ads. Should they be running for unemployment benefits too?

Horay government

[ArsonSmith]

Can't wait until they run Healthcare can you?

Re:Horay government

[toadlife]

They already run it via regulation. Now, they just need to start paying for it like every other civilized nation in the world.

Big Government

[isa-kuruption]

This is simply the result of big government in our lives. It's the bureaucratic mess that occurs when government is given too much power over our lives; when we let them have that much power over our lives. They decided, for her, that the money she was collecting was sufficient to live on... not that the decision made sense, it doesn't, but bureaucratic decisions tend not to make sense.

It will be worse when the government passes universal healthcare coverage. Under the current proposals, they will tell you whether you're insurance is sufficient, and if not, will fine you for not having the proper coverage. Eventually, as government continues it's reckless spending, more and more people will be told their coverage is insufficient as they try to cover the increasing debt. Then, you will decide to get the best coverage available so you won't be fined, and that will result in being taxed for having a "luxury" plan.

Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps....

[sexconker]

And nothing of value was lost.

Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps....

[HornWumpus]

can't even support everyone who wants to be a writer now.

Why the fuck should it?

Should it support everyone who wants to be a rock star as well?

Re:Yes they are

[phlinn]

Please add the cost of running the IRS to Medicare's overhead, add fraud to both sides of the ledger, and then see who comes out ahead. Also, I assume you mean the health insurance industry, since that actually has a comparable function to medicare. A large portion of the overhead goes to fraud prevention, which Medicare does very little of and consequently wastes about 29 percent on fraudulent claims. I can't find a source with fraud as a percentage of payouts for private insurance for comparison, so I can't rule out the possibility that private insurance has greater losses to fraud and fraud prevention, but the point stands that the overhead numbers usually given are misleading.