Unemployment Benefit Extension. Really?

[Darkbloom]

The depression didn’t hurt them, though. It was easy for them to find desperate men to do their dirty work for them, for the promise of a few dollars to get them through.

And they found plenty of men to do dirty deeds in the 20s, which was an era of great prosperity in our history. Bad men always exist.

Right - but the 90s weren’t actually characterized by those activities, and it wasn’t romanticized. I don’t remember the names of any of the 90s gangsters; do you?

Names like Pablo Escabar come to mind, as do art forms - if the name applies - such as Gangsta Rap.

 

[Khrystyne]

Bingo! You get a star!

Government shoud be about creating an environment for opportunity, not a subsidy that is a veiled form of transfer of wealth.

All of you that described your hardships being unemployed, my heart goes out to you. Honestly, I’ve never been unemployed.

But I got my bill for the cost of unemployment insurance this morning and practically fell over. It might be a nice feature, but remember, someone is paying for it. Maybe, if I didn’t have burdens like this I could hire more people.

Hey Government, are you listening???

Well, lets get it goin’, until then…extension.

My heart goes out to you too, BUT the generalization of everyone sitting on their butts is really obnoxious and irritating.

I’m in one of the high unemployment states, EDD requires you to look for Full-time work or to fit it together some how, just so you won’t be on the streets.

If I were a business person I would take it into my own hands and get involved to make it better rather than relying on the government, here ya go, pass the buck. Then you get the buck back
and have to shell it out of your own personal pocket, I can imagine that doesn’t feel too good.

You need to realize that a good portion of people on unemployment are active in seeking work. This is like nothing I have ever experienced before, just like what I’ve read all over the professional job sites. Please do some thorough research so you know what’s really going on.

God Bless.

 

[Darkbloom]

When on unemployment, you lose it if you sit home all day. You are required to hunt HARD for work.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you would be looking at least as hard without any sort of unemployment. So you’re not really being paid to work by looking for a job, you’re doing what you’d be doing anyway.

 

[m_crane]

Well, when I was on unemployment, I had to turn in a set number of apps per week, I had to go to every interview and I could not turn down a job that was offered.

I have a family member who is collecting unemployment. He doesn’t apply for jobs. He’s been on unemployment for over year. Does anyone know why the length and requirements of unemployment seem differ so much?

 

[jmcrae]

The ability to draw a check without working is taken away.

I think it’s harder and more stressful to look for work, than it is to have a job, because when you have a job, you have a predictable routine, but when you are looking for work, you have no idea what your schedule is going to be, each day. Plus, when you’re looking for work, you have to be up and dressed as for an interview before the newspaper arrives every day of the week; it’s not like you can sleep in on weekends or anything, because there could be a weekend job that would call you and ask you to come in straight away.

 

[jmcrae]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you would be looking at least as hard without any sort of unemployment. So you’re not really being paid to work by looking for a job, you’re doing what you’d be doing anyway.

Try going three days without spending any money or using anything that costs money to buy - you will look (and smell) like a bum.

Most employers don’t want to hire people who look (and smell) like bums.

 

[vz71]

Well, when I was on unemployment, I had to turn in a set number of apps per week, I had to go to every interview and I could not turn down a job that was offered.

Maybe if I lived in humongoville big city that would be easy, in a small town it was difficult to find places to apply!

The internet job prospects were acceptable forms of job search documentation.
No matter where you are, dozens of job prospects a day are easily available off of the internet.
5 minutes work on a PC, and all of the job search documentation for a week is collected.
A few more minutes setting up email and some of the free job search engines and the documentation is sent to you with no more work on your part every day.
I know, I spent a couple of years there.
In fact, I still have job search sites sending me their wares.
With no effort at all (in fact, effort to stop it) documentation of a job search arrives in my inbox every week.

And have you ever thought about how exactly they enforce these interviews?
Perhaps it is different in your area, but around here the unemployment office is not equipped to handle that type of investigation.
How exactly are they going to determine if you actually were in an interview over the phone?

The concept that you must work ‘hard’ to keep collecting unemployment benefits is mistaken.
Honest people continue their search.
Others do not.
But it actually takes very little effort to maintain unemployment benefits.

 

[vz71]

Well, lets get it goin’, until then…extension.

My heart goes out to you too, BUT the generalization of everyone sitting on their butts is really obnoxious and irritating.

Perhaps the remedy is to utilize the funds put out to extend these benefits into directly assisting these individuals with their job search…retraining, education, workforce development programs, etc.
Those that will not participate can be readily cut off of the government tit.
Those that will can stay on as long as they need to.

I am sure an argument can be made that cutting of the dregs would result in an employment program that would be much more efficient at finding people work and likely much less costly to the employers.

And complaint threads such as this would also be cut back.
How many small business owners would really complain if the dollars thrown into unemployment actually went into education and job skills training.

 

[Graubo3]

Congress is scheduled to consider adding another 43 weeks to the 99 they have already approved.

I own a small business. I pay for my unemployment insurance for the benefit of my employees. They pay nothing. When the bill comes due to pay for the expected increases to cover 2.5 years of sitting home all day, guess who pays? And, in reality, we all pay because I have less money to provide other benefits and or raises.

OK, fire away…

Years ago I worked for a very small business owner in seasonal employment that would rather pay me cash under the table than have his unemployment premiums increase by someone drawing upon it. He explained to me that he would rather pay me for actual work during downtime than pay me for no work. Illegal, yes, but I am sure that he was shaped by the depression of the 1930’s. Thanks Geno, I would shovel s**t for you. Oh wait, I did. Enough to keep rice and potatoes in the cupboard during the long winters.

My prayers are with those that are without work and searching. Have a nice weekend.

Peace, Graubo

 

[cargau]

Well, lets get it goin’, until then…extension.

My heart goes out to you too, BUT the generalization of everyone sitting on their butts is really obnoxious and irritating.

I’m in one of the high unemployment states, EDD requires you to look for Full-time work or to fit it together some how, just so you won’t be on the streets.

If I were a business person I would take it into my own hands and get involved to make it better rather than relying on the government, here ya go, pass the buck. Then you get the buck back
and have to shell it out of your own personal pocket, I can imagine that doesn’t feel too good.

You need to realize that a good portion of people on unemployment are active in seeking work. This is like nothing I have ever experienced before, just like what I’ve read all over the professional job sites. Please do some thorough research so you know what’s really going on.

God Bless.

I get the fact that you think generalizing the unemployed as lazy and opportunistic is “obnoxious”. But, there is a fair percentage of people that do take advantage of the system. That costs money. Typically, the employers (businesses) are paying for this. It’s not free.

You talk about taking matters into my own hands. I do employ people. The folks in my employ are not on unemployment, so I am doing something about it. Also, if I didn’t have the burden of paying for plans like this, I could add more.

The government should be out helping employers employ. That’s one benefit that those horrible corporations (you alluded to) provide. Instead, Obama is worried about health care, cap and trade and the space program. Oh, and extending unemployment benefits.

All of you mentioned your struggles…it’s not that I don’t appreciate your hardship. It’s just that I think there are better, more efficient and cost effective ways of solving these problems. Unfortunately, our leaders don’t grasp the concept…

 

[puzzleannie]

If society was better able to handle depression in the 1930s than today the sensible thing to do would be to emulate that society instead of furthering the incursion of government that has helped to destroy that society.

yes and thousands of people actually starved to death during the depression, despite strong families. and not everybody has a family, newsflash

 

[lufty]

I get the fact that you think generalizing the unemployed as lazy and opportunistic is “obnoxious”. But, there is a fair percentage of people that do take advantage of the system. That costs money. Typically, the employers (businesses) are paying for this. It’s not free.

Let’s not forget that when employed, each of us pays into our future unemployment. Unemployment is not shouldered by small/med/large business alone.

 

[kage_ar]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you would be looking at least as hard without any sort of unemployment. So you’re not really being paid to work by looking for a job, you’re doing what you’d be doing anyway.

It is much more difficult to look for work when you are homeless. That unemployment check keeps families off the streets - where I live there are NO shelters for poor families.

What do you propose when a person loses a job, has the suggested “6 months income in savings” and stretches that for a year and a half.

The max unemployment in my state is less than $1500 per month. Our medical insurance on Cobra is $1000 (I was unemployed back when you had to pay your cobra) per month. You do the math .

 

[cargau]

Let’s not forget that when employed, each of us pays into our future unemployment. Unemployment is not shouldered by small/med/large business alone.

Not true, Lufty. Employees do not write checks for unemployment Insurance, employers do. If you were to say that employees pay indirectly in the form of higher consumer prices or that if employers did not have the burden, there may be extra funds for higher wages, maybe you could stretch out a case. But, the simple fact is, the average joe contibutes nothing to unemployment benefits

 

[Swan]

This is obnoxious. Do not believe what the media tells you about people who are unemployed. We are not sitting on our arses all day watching television.

I am a professional, laid off, it’s been a year.
I’ve had three interviews with retailers and each one of them offered me a positon, BUT as they said " we cannot guarantee you more than 5 to 15 hours a week" AND "we aren’t able to work around another pt job, ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. Goodbye…
Hey, ya if I were 16 and living at home this would be great, BUT I’m not!

Turn your anger in on the corporations and businesses in this country, MAYBE, just maybe you aren’t one of those businesses, BUT it’s all about you, right? Well, ditto!
In my opinion I’m GRATEFUL that the government is helping “U.S.” out, the streets look pretty bleak, thanks.

I think people were just a bit more compassionate back in the depression, a lot of loving, honest networking going on to help eachother out. Now, it’s sink or swim.
Good Luck! Have a nice day.

Hey, ya, thanks…:takethat:

 

[Monica02]

Congress is scheduled to consider adding another 43 weeks to the 99 they have already approved.

I own a small business. I pay for my unemployment insurance for the benefit of my employees. They pay nothing. When the bill comes due to pay for the expected increases to cover 2.5 years of sitting home all day, guess who pays? And, in reality, we all pay because I have less money to provide other benefits and or raises.

Look, I understand that there are needs. But, Unemployment insurance is supposed to be a bridge, not a way of life. And, extending the benefits perpetuates the unemployment rate because many are comfortable collecting the check that the business owner and the working stiff is providing.

Our country is too soft. Hardship builds character. I heard one politician comment that extending benefits will keep families together. Really? What happened during the depression? Families buckled down and came together and they survived. Then they prospered. I know the social justice proponents will be aghast reading this post. While I acknowledge that as Catholics, we need to be sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters, at the same time too many entitlements allow folks to drift into a sort of productive coma. Is that good?

Actually, I am 100% behind the idea that we have to look out for the sufferings of others. I just don’t think that the government taking money from the producers and giving it to the leaches is real social justice. Again, I realize that there are exceptions. But, the way this government thinks scares me. We are creating a whole social group of dependents.

OK, fire away…

I need my unemployment benefits. If my company had not hired the people from India and Indonesia to replace me and the other American citizen who lost his job I would still have my job. I came in on Saturdays and put in upwards of 20 hours a week overtime during the Christmas season and they still replaced me with an Indian who did not even concern himself with showing up at scheduled meetings. A man I know from church had to train his Indian replacement for 6 months before he got fired. The H1B visa program is being abused. If the US government allows businesses to recruit overseas and then fire perfectly competent US workers then they can pay my unemployment. You can call me a leach if you want - I do not care. I will collect my unemployment while I look for another job (all the while competing with the entire world’s population) and not pull in my belt anymore than necessary.

Do you, as a business owner, recruit employees from another country and then fire your American workers? If not - then good for you. If you do then quit whining about unemployment. In my industry, most companies have a whole department dedicated to foreign recruitment and visa aid for these recruits. Some online applications even have a question asking the foreigner if they need help getting their H1B.

Before anyone starts the “…the foreigner is such a good worker, they are so smart, they have 3 doctorate degrees, no American is qualified…”, If the Indian that replaced my friend at church was so special, then why did my friend have to train him for 6 months? Why did the Indian and Indonesian at my work seek my help all the time?
Since when is never showing up for meetings considered good work ethic?

If you are not already, you should try to stop the abuse of worker visa programs. Maybe people like me, my other fired coworker and my friend at church would still have their jobs and be able to contribute more to the economy and therefore help your business grow so that you do not have to lay off your employees. You see, we would not send our salaries back to India, we would spend most of our money in our country.

 

[Monica02]

This is obnoxious. Do not believe what the media tells you about people who are unemployed. We are not sitting on our arses all day watching television.

I am a professional, laid off, it’s been a year.
I’ve had three interviews with retailers and each one of them offered me a positon, BUT as they said " we cannot guarantee you more than 5 to 15 hours a week" AND "we aren’t able to work around another pt job, ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. Goodbye…
Hey, ya if I were 16 and living at home this would be great, BUT I’m not!

Turn your anger in on the corporations and businesses in this country, MAYBE, just maybe you aren’t one of those businesses, BUT it’s all about you, right? Well, ditto!
In my opinion I’m GRATEFUL that the government is helping “U.S.” out, the streets look pretty bleak, thanks.

I think people were just a bit more compassionate back in the depression, a lot of loving, honest networking going on to help eachother out. Now, it’s sink or swim.
Good Luck! Have a nice day.

Hey, ya, thanks…:takethat:

Some temp agency called my unemployed sister and thought she would be interested in a three week position , two hours away, to fill in for , hold your breath, a guy going back to India for a vacation.

This is the kind of nonsense we are getting. The only thing that two week stint would have done is disqualified her from collecting her unemployment.

I need to find out how many thousands of foreigners are being brought to the US to work on legal visas.

 

[TMC]

The new version of Mathew 25:

Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you required that I fill out several very complicated forms and then allowed me to stand in an hours long line before telling me to get off my butt and get a job; I was thirsty and you suggested that I should have stayed in school, but agreed to hold a conference to discuss whether it would be appropriate for the government to give me training on how to dig my own well; I was a stranger and you helpfully trucked me back to the impoverished hovel I had escaped from and then built a giant wall to keep me from coming back; I was naked and you arrested me for public indecency; ill and you voted to protect my dignity and independence by not giving me health care; in prison and you visited me to explain that I would be put in a government tracking system so that I could never get a decent job and never vote again.’

 

[Darkbloom]

yes and thousands of people actually starved to death during the depression, despite strong families. and not everybody has a family, newsflash

The Depression of the 30s was much more severe specifically because of governmental meddling. All previous depressions were overcome with less hardship and in less time with no massive government intervention.

Furthermore, no one seems willing to go beyond appeals to emotion in this debate. “Oh, how would YOU like it if you were out of work.” That may tug at the heart strings, but that doesn’t prove a point.

Truth is, high unemployment and the economic crash are all macroeconomic phenomenons that require large scale answers. You’ll never solve the problem by special pleading for each and every unemployed individual in the country.

Lastly, it also bothers me that the fact that unemployment insurance is blatant redistribution of wealth at the hands of the government is not even considered. How in the world is it consistent to decry the excesses of government in allowing abortion or euthanasia but to support government programs that forcefully take money from one group and give it to another?

 

[Ignatius]

Congress is scheduled to consider adding another 43 weeks to the 99 they have already approved.

I own a small business. I pay for my unemployment insurance for the benefit of my employees. They pay nothing. .

Actually, most State unemployment is payed by both employeer and employee contributions; the extensions come from fedaral funds, so we’re all paying for that.