Pennsylvania is No. 1 in the nation.
Not for being the most prosperous or productive, though. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Keystone State leads the nation in new unemployment filings, surpassing even California, which has 26 million more legal residents (and heaven knows how many illegal ones).
This reality doesn’t seem to faze the union-backed Wolf administration, which actually seems proud of its dubious achievement. On the official Pennsylvania’s Labor and Industry government website, we’re told that, “More than 247,000 individuals have successfully filed for benefits since the launch of new UC system.” (UC being the acronym for the $115 million in Unemployment Compensation payments issued to Pennsylvanians.)
Gov. Tom Wolf successfully killed nearly 50 percent of all jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industry during his shutdown measures, while at the same time his Department of Health mandated outdoor dining, new HVAC systems, etc., for which private businesses had to pick up the tab, of course. And unfortunately, many simply couldn’t.
Meanwhile, he did absolutely nothing to slow the pace of government expansion and the corresponding need for more taxpayer money.
Why?
Because he is bought-and-paid-for with union money. Government employee unions filled his coffers with more than $10 million to win his last re-election bid, and that’s a lot of IOUs to back, even with someone else’s money. Wolf’s chiefs of staff actually met with teacher’s union heads before issuing further “health” guidance on keeping our public schools’ shut down and children masked up.
On paper, Wolf’s 15-month record of failure look like a damning indictment. But as long as more and more employees continue to be hired by the state, the unions — which view them and their paychecks the way any parasite would its host — are happy.
And if the unions are happy, never mind what the taxpayers think. Tom Wolf is happy.
