As Lockdown Rules Shutdown More Biz, Unemployment Spikes (Again), Cooper Drags Feet on Unemployment Benefits

RALEIGH – The consequences of Governor Roy Cooper’s arbitrary lockdown rules are still burdening businesses and livelihoods across the state. Not to mention the rights of everyone living under his unilateral emergency rule.

For instance, the Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster in Banner Elk is a single car, scenic, downhill rail ride in Banner Elk. It’s only been open a few months, but now it’s closed. You see, even though to enjoy the completely outdoors ride (by yourself, or with your child), you must social distance and wear a mask, the business ran afoul of King Cooper’s edict commanding businesses categorized as “amusement parks or outdoor entertainment” close because of the coronavirus.

State bureaucrats ‘paid them a visit’ and shut it down. The owners don’t know when they’ll be allowed to reopen. They’re livelihood is subject to the whim of Roy Cooper.

Maybe that’s why unemployment claims are spiking again? After several weeks of pure grit and determination in reclaiming lost jobs and economic activity lost to Cooper’s commands, jobless claims are having their own ‘Second Wave.’ It’s a direct consequence of the governor’s reluctance to loosen his authoritarian grip on the economy — his heavy-handed approach to singling out and smashing dissenters into compliance — and the dominoes, like the Alpine Coaster, continue to fall.

Brewery with a bar? Good to go. A bar with beer? Not so fast; this is about saving lives, after all.

Unemployment rates have climbed back up to 8.1 percent in North Carolina after a recent spike in claims. Claims that, in many cases, are taking weeks and months to be processed.

Even after the job losses Cooper causes, the pain is compounded for those now forced to rely on the benefits. The White House, after a stale mate in congress, was able to green light an extra layer of benefits through FEMA. It turns out that North Carolina made the list of approved states to accept funding for another $300 (at least) of weekly benefits for the unemployed. That’s good for the jobless North Carolinians, right?

Well, it would be if those benefits were actually being distributed. The original ($600) supplemental benefit expired August 1st, but the Cooper administration has still not started giving out the money yet.

North Carolina on the list of states that have been approved but haven’t actually started giving out the money–meanwhile it’s been almost a month since the old federal benefits expired #ncpol https://t.co/GesyfgGCaG

— Will Doran (@will_doran) August 25, 2020

Still no word on when NC plans to start the new program.

And according to this, we plan to give people an extra $300 a week–half what they had been receiving before Congress let the benefits die, and $100 less than what we could start giving them #ncpol https://t.co/8ZQuYuGPad

— Will Doran (@will_doran) August 25, 2020

Republican leaders at the #NCGA have promised to put up the extra money the state would need to fund the full $400 a week, and lawmakers will be back in session in a week. So it’s possible things might change. But for now Gov. Cooper has only asked for $300/week, not $400 #ncpol

— Will Doran (@will_doran) August 25, 2020

While we’re no fans of overly generous jobless benefits funded by…printing presses(?)…when that state of joblessness comes directly at the hands of emergency edicts from the executive, forcing the business closed in what has proven to be a NON-emergency, the consideration is much more nuanced.

At the very least, Governor Cooper should be facilitating and expediting the distribution of federal relief funds awarded to the state by congress or the White House. Yet, we know from experience that Cooper can take YEARS to actually distribute such federal disaster relief funds.

Far too many North Carolinians know from experience that such jobless claims can take WEEKS (or longer) to get processed by the state bureaucracy that handles them.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations in North Carolina from COVID-19 continue to wane. The original argument for lockdowns and business closures, protecting hospitals from being overwhelmed, has never even come close to materializing.

Still, the lockdowns remain. Still, Cooper’s henchmen actively seek out businesses with the gall to open their doors in contravention of Cooper’s commands, and shut them down. They even make examples out of them to scare others into compliance.

North Carolinians may, indeed, face an emergency. But it is not from the cumulative public health effects of COVID-19 itself.

It is from the Pandemic Panic that has hobbled the economy, ruined livelihoods from the coast to the mountains and everywhere in between, and hindered the healthcare for all other ailments. That is to say nothing of the travesty of K-12 public education under Governor Cooper’s fear mongering policies, which will arguably have the longest running consequences of all.