The Covid-19 unemployment payment amount was absolute insanity. A couple living in New Jersey with no children making under $150,000 annually would have received a one-time payment of $2,400 and a combined $11,600 per month. They would each receive $713 from the state of NJ and an additional $600 each in federal unemployment. This would be a total payout of $14,000 in the first month. This is 7 times the poverty rate in New Jersey, SEVEN TIMES! How can two, out of work adults, bring home 7 times the poverty level while not working?
At $14,000 a month that is the equivalent to $168,000 a year… all from UNEMPLOYMENT. This is why the freeze on evictions is so infuriating.
Unemployment is supposed to be difficult. You are supposed to make sacrifices and be scared. It motivates you to get back up on your feet and find work. You are not supposed to go shopping, eat out, order needless things on amazon, or make more money than when you are working.
My position was eliminated at my w2 job thanks to Covid-19. I have other forms of income, from blogging, real estate, investing, and auction flipping, but all the profits form these activities go into separate accounts that I don’t really touch. My W2 account is what I use for all my day in day out bills and expenses. My Covid-19 unemployment payment amount in New Jersey was so high my bank account actually continued to grow each month.
I received the $713 NJ unemployment along with the $600 Federal and a $1,000 grant for being an S-prop because of my rental property. Bank accounts should not grow when you are unemployed, quite the opposite.
Still, people demanded free rent, student loans be frozen, and when the $600 a week federal ran out they still demanded more.
We live in a world of such entitlement that even the unemployed believe they should not have to make sacrifices.