[BostonCard]

I happen to agree with you and Mick that most would prefer to work. But I do find it curious that "anecdotal reports" (your words) of some preferring to stay on the dole versus going back to work are presumed to be outliers while the anecdotal reports we see of "Target woman" knocking masks of shelves is seen as representative of a significant portion of Americans.   It's a remarkable dichotomy, really.


P.S.  Glad to see SJ Merc article reporting on hospital capacity problems (in Miami and Houston, most notably).  Again, areas with real or imminent capacity issues need to have the SiP screws tightened (or mask wearing enforced).

Your point is a good one; I never meant to imply that the Target woman was representative.  In fact, I deliberately titled it "posting without comment", and one of the follow-up comments noted that she may have been a victim of mental illness, in which case I hope she gets the help she needs.

Nor did I mean to imply that the "anecdotal reports" in dismissive way.  It simply meant that I did not have access to hard data on how prevalent this was.  Remember, COVID-19 itself started out with "anecdotal reports" of a strange pneumonia in China.  My intuition here is that it is not a significant number of cases, but if a study came to the conclusion that unemployment would be 1% lower without the unemployment supplement, I would have to re-evaluate.

BC

[BostonCard]

I happen to agree with you and Mick that most would prefer to work. But I do find it curious that "anecdotal reports" (your words) of some preferring to stay on the dole versus going back to work are presumed to be outliers while the anecdotal reports we see of "Target woman" knocking masks of shelves is seen as representative of a significant portion of Americans.   It's a remarkable dichotomy, really.


P.S.  Glad to see SJ Merc article reporting on hospital capacity problems (in Miami and Houston, most notably).  Again, areas with real or imminent capacity issues need to have the SiP screws tightened (or mask wearing enforced).

Your point is a good one; I never meant to imply that the Target woman was representative.  In fact, I deliberately titled it "posting without comment", and one of the follow-up comments noted that she may have been a victim of mental illness, in which case I hope she gets the help she needs.

Nor did I mean to imply that the "anecdotal reports" in dismissive way.  It simply meant that I did not have access to hard data on how prevalent this was.  Remember, COVID-19 itself started out with "anecdotal reports" of a strange pneumonia in China.  My intuition here is that it is not a significant number of cases, but if a study came to the conclusion that unemployment would be 1% lower without the unemployment supplement, I would have to re-evaluate.

BC