I own my own business which has been forcibly shut down by the government more or less. I have built this business from nothing over the last 15 years and have had my bottom line devastated by the forced closure of it. So you are suggesting to go get a job at the grocery store? because no way in heck will I ever qualify for unemployment.
My business was forced to shut down due to no concerts, venues being open. Which we depend on. Not seeing any light at the end of this tunnel yet. As a business owner I qualified for unemployment due to Covid.
I feel for you. What governors have done is outrageous. Really, outrageous is not an adequate enough to describe what they have done.
I am in the middle of starting a business, with several years of preparation prior to the shut downs. I had 90% of the what I needed to start the business before the economy was shut down. I changed my entire life - downsized everything so I could start a business that in a year or two would gainfully employ people, pay taxes, and of course being the evil capitalist that I am, eek out a profit.
I'm still going forward with it. There is little else I can do at this point. I've had to radically change my business model, but I still think I can make it work. I'm going to be tremendously selfish and take another $1,200 if it comes my way. I've paid hundreds of thousands in taxes over the years so I am going to be a little entitled and accept some of that back. All of that $1,200 will be put into the business, just like the first $1,200.
As for unemployment, I have been working all my life, some 41 years and not once have I held a position where I could receive unemployment. As an owner of previous businesses, I've had to pay for unemployment for the salary that I paid myself. But as an owner you can't lay yourself off and collect. That may seem trivial to those in government, but when you are starting out every penny matters.
If my business becomes successful, and if I am able to hire employees in a year or two, I will only hire people who do not have gaps in their employment history because they choose to collect an extra $600 instead of going back to work when they could. Note the latter condition. I am understanding if they were not able to go back to work because the government shut down their employer. However, if they could have worked, they missed out on work experience. There will be someone more qualified because he worked and they didn't.
With that said, I'd love to see unemployment insurance reform. Put it in the hands of individual employees. Employees should purchase an unemployment insurance policy from a private sector insurance company with their own paychecks. That's if they want. It's a risk that they can take. Just like the risks business owners take.
And now for my little rant. Get the government the eff out of business. These lazy ass government employees and politicians don't know jack-schiff about capitalism and what it takes to run a business. They are takers, not makers. They lack real world experience and the moment they start taking any real world experience that they may have had becomes irrelevant. Their motivations for their livelihoods have changed and that supersedes all their experience.