This points out that unemployment is an insurance program, not a social welfare program. If you pay in, you get money out. Just like Social Security. Whether it should be that way or not is another question. Perhaps all these programs should be means tested. But as everyone points out, that can cause issues too. Why should you not get money out of the program you paid into just because you are frugal and don’t waste your money?
Absolutely NOT! If you are going to force me or my employer to buy unemployment insurance, then I am damned well going to collect should I become unemployed.
If you force me to pay in, and then means-test me out of collecting, then you are STEALING from me.
Better to allow people to opt out.
Social Security operates as a welfare program rather than insurance because its benefits are not proportional to the amount paid in. If you earned at the cap for your entire career and thefore paid the maximum SS tax you would only get 33% more than someone who earned and paid half as much.
The proper thing to do, I think, is not to means test for unemployment, but to set up a new, separate program if you want to establish some long term unemployment entitlement. Obama and Congress were too lazy to do that though, so they took the easy way out and muddled up the whole system.