Its not the fraud prevention aspect which cost the state money, it was the cheap and lazy way of going about it in a way which was predatory to the middle and working class. Actual fraud prevention (something which is part of my job) requires actual people doing actual work.
Typical conservative solution. Attack the wrong targets, cost everyone more money and enrich the coffers of political cronies.
I once taught a special programme to help adult students complete their high school diplomas and get jobs. One thing I learned: people who have been on benefits for a long time do not see government bureaucrats the same way regular working stiffs do. If a government employee says “jump”, they drop everything and start jumping.
Being a government programme itself, the attendance rules for my classes were very strict. I had to help one student negotiate a different time for a doctor’s appointment so she wouldn’t miss class – it had never occurred to her you could just say, “I’m available at these times on these days – do you have any appointments open?”
Seriously. She gave me a hug and gushed about how the receptionist had “let” her reschedule after she used the script I gave her.
A letter like the one you describe would trigger a full-blown panic attack for some people, and, more importantly, they would just assume there was no way to prove a mistake had been made.
One “like” is nowhere near enough to show my appreciation for what you’ve said here.
It so tidily captures the flawed thinking, the confirmation bias, and the lack of perspective that goes in to perpetuating this belief system.
OK, I know you’re joking, but Michigan is a beautiful state - lakes and rivers, forests, and even mountains. Some parts tend to get a little chilly in the winter, a little warm in the summer, the black flies can blot out the sun and the mosquitoes grow to the size of softballs, but it’s still a beautiful place. Get away from the awful big cities and you find compassion, generosity, and a reliable Midwestern sensibility - there are lots of reasons for people to live there, it’s just that the douche bag governor isn’t one of them. At least, that was my experience, and I lived there for over 50 years. I was still there when Snyder was running for the first time, and the promises of his campaign and the reality of his government are miles apart.
According to exit polls, @Wanderfound is correct
although it might be truer to say that no income group went overwhelmingly to either candidate. There are some weird generalizations you can make about the under 30K based on the fact that they went for Clinton by 12 points, but republicans gained 15 points in that group relative to the previous election.
under 30K income is still majority blue, but much much less than it was last time. So if you treat the previous election as your baseline, then low income voters handed this election to Trump. If you treat 50% as your baseline, then low income voters delivered decent results for Clinton
How exciting! I got a paper letter, but that was back in the days of paper letters.
I’m taking a look at the auditor report, and this isn’t what appears to have happened.
It sounds like it was sending out boatloads of false negatives to go with those false positives. Like it didn’t flag 28 people claiming unemployment at the same address or $65,000 of payments to people who had social security numbers matching those of people in prisons.
The idea that it was missing lots of fraud is also backed up by the system was giving out five times as many claims of fraud as was typical before but only have a 7% rate of success on those claims. That means that either about two thirds of previous fraud claims were false positives or the system was missing the balance.
I think the best explanation is probably the system was the result of a contract with a politically connected company that knew it didn’t have to deliver anything worthwhile. A couple of quick google searches aren’t finding me the name of the company that built the system, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the now seemingly inevitable “Company that built MIDAS was run by governor’s sister’s boyfriend” story.
That’s not “the problem”, that’s a “feature”. It’s always a grift.
The poor typically don’t qualify for unemployment in Michigan. It’s blue collar skilled labor and middle class white collar workers getting stiffed by the State. I’m just glad my SO was fully employed while this BS was going on. With his luck, he’d gotten one of the fraudulent accusations.
Make no mistake, this is Lansing stealing money from the workers of Michigan who pay into the unemployment insurance system with every paycheck. Employers also pay into the system, so I’m a little surprised they’re not raising holy hell and filing suit in Federal court to get this remedied.
@TomFury13: What campaign promises? I don’t recall him offering anything more than a bill of goods. He didn’t want to attend any debates, and barely participated in the one he was heavily pressured into participating in. The people of Michigan didn’t know anything about what policies he was offering because he offered none. Sound familiar? The president elect just did the same damned thing, only with a heck of a lot of overt racism, xenophobia and misogyny.
Good Lord. I stand corrected.
This level of incompetence is… impressive. So it’s just basically something nailed together, then?
Lets see… from their 2014 report - look at those savings for all of $50MM invested!
Cost Savings: Via decommissioning of legacy servers, high support costs of
maintaining an aged mainframe system, and other support costs, the UIA is estimated
to receive a cost savings around $2 million in 2014. In subsequent years through 2020,
the Agency is estimated to receive anywhere from $2 to $4 million in annual savings.
It was nominated for an award, after all…
@anon50609448
The company of interest in this debacle is Fast Enterprises, LLC.
It’s not just Snyder, Michigan politicians are a garbage nightmare. How about the one who thinks you aren’t paying near enough for health care?
why? it’s only 7 % off the spec target, not bad for bigger software projects
Definitely makes you not a 2016 Republican
Yeah, that’s the attitude!
But not everyone signed up for Republican zero-sum social Darwinism.
They should leave normal folk out of their sick games
This is the deal I want to offer. You guys get to gold plate whatever you want and we’ll build you huge mansions and operate fine dining establishments for you, whatever, but you don’t get to fuck with us anymore. We are collectively easily well off enough to float some gut parasites. It’s the brain parasites that are the problem.
it’s the brain parasites that are the problem
That’s one way to explain this election…
And now this is stuck in my head:
