Bad News For The Unemployed

Unemployment extension didnt pass. 99weeks is up at the end of November for a lot of people.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A bill to extend federally-funded benefits for long-term jobless workers failed to pass in the House of Representatives Thursday. To pass the House, the bill needed to capture two-thirds of the votes -- 258 lawmakers voted in favor of the extension, while 154 voting against it. The bill would have extended special federal unemployment insurance benefits through February, calling for $12.5 billion in emergency spending. Without an extension, long-term jobless workers will start losing benefits in coming weeks, with about two million cut off by the end of the year.

That's going to hurt. I'm assuming jobs are hard to come by in the US too.

Yes, they are.

Oh well.. I don't have benefits anyways.. Had me worried the govt. was gonna tax those of us that can't find a job or some stupid ***like that..

dont give them any ideas

what exactly does the bolded to apply to I wonder.

Yeah it sucks. They'll just have to take a less respectable job until their field of expertise opens up again.

A lot of Americans have this entitlement attitude that they need to drop. I support some amount of a social safety net but this attitude where people are too good to work underemployed needs to stop. Unemployment benefits going for 99 weeks seems more like a safety trampoline to me.

A similar bill will likely pass in the UK soon now that we have the Tory's in power.

You are right in your assumptions. And the worst part is....it isnt getting any better. This is super bad, the unemployed get no McLovin...../sigh. I consider myself very fortunate to have a great job. I wish the best for these people.

I had an interview yesterday, but due to lack of experience I doubt I'll get it. I'm working for my dad a bit atm, so I'm getting enough to survive at least.

Agreed. If you cant find a job and Wendy's is hiring, you damn sure better be flipping burgers. It sucks, but its money.

Cutting off unemployment benefits is not good for the economy, under normal circumstances. However, these are not "normal" times.
Many Americans have decided (or been persuaded) to blame "big spending" and the national debt for their economic woes.
Sadly, all those people are badly disillusioned or misinformed. In reality, the national debt has no direct ties to the everyday plight of Americans (unemployment, low salaries, healthcare costs, etc.). However, American voters "have spoken" by electing GOP representatives into power, and the current GOP reps are not going to allow any spending bills to pass during the remainder of this "lame duck" congressional session.

It's sad really. Americans are going to find out that even if we "balance the budget" (which is an absurd concept @ the national level), we're still going to face the same economy.

Our educational system is declining and antiquated. Our healthcare system is bogged down in private bureaucracy. Our democracy is heavily influenced by special interests. Our people eat too much, and also eat too much artificial junk. Our infrastructure is archaic compared to other civilized nations.

America is still a great place to live. Better than most places. But it's in decline at this time, make no mistake.

I completely agree with these sentiments.

how is that stuff related to the economy at all? lol it seems like ya went an a rant there for a bit lol

/Tears

Most thought out post I have seen in the "politics and religion section". You know your ***, sir/ma'am.

Every Elana post is a rant Eik :p
sadly it's not always the most agreeable things, but that's what makes life interesting.

Dam 99 weeks is almost 2 years of half your salary up to $425 weekly. I hit the max when I was on Unemp back in 2005 off a 30k a year salary but they only gave it for 6 months then you were kicked off. So 2 year of receiving $425 for just sitting on your *** is no excuse to not have a job. 6 months was short it took me almost a year to find a decent job back then but if I could of got 99 weeks back then I would of been golden...

Hey it worked for the last election didn't it?

The GOP actively made this recession hurt the great mass of our citizens worse than it needed to. They prevented any possible "victory" for Obama, even if it was good for the country as a whole. Especially if it would help the country as a whole.

Then they blamed Obama.

Whatever people meant by voting the way they did what they will get is tax reductions for the wealthy and otherwise total gridlock.

In England you have more than two parties.....

although i can see your point.. the problem with that is, most of these people were making $20+ hr. wages, and even with unemployment benefits they are still getting most of that + healthcare. the problem with working fast food is, that you are not making even close to what you would with your main job or unemployment, the avg. food service worker makes $7 an hr.

that is not enough to make ends meet if you are trying to support a wife and kids

its almost not even worth it to work those kinda jobs...

*** politics power needs to be put in the hands of the people again not big business and corporate Giants as it currently is...When people wake up and realize that voting is a myth used to keep the people quiet while Government/Big Business Run ***they way they want and not the way the people want maybe things will begin to change for the better.

I can't even get a job doing that.. Fast food sucks beyond all sucking, I worked for sonic before, literally flipping burgers, and I hated every miserable minute I spent in that place.. but I'd go back to working in fast food if given the chance.

I agree. But whats better? No check, living on the streets....or a $300 check living on the streets. I know thats a little extreme. But when it boils down to it, when the checks stop coming from uncle sam, any money helps.

They are only hard to find if you don't want to work for 99% of the jobless people out there. There is always a job out there but the real question is "Do you want to do that said job?" Nothing wrong with working fastfood or the multiple labor jobs out there.
If someone really wants to find a job they can find one in a week or two. Might not be the office job or easy job you expect but will be a job...

If nothing else the experience and the ability to show future would-be employers that you are responsible enough to hold down and keep a job, helps.

Not particularly. While these high end job people are laid off and unemployed, the high school drop outs are also unemployed. Believe it or not, there is a lot of competition when it comes to a fast food job. I've thrown down an app to every Fast food joint within biking radius and haven't received as much as a call back.

This is that entitlement attitude I talked about. If you're working a job that pays $20 + Healthcare and you suddenly get laid off, you're not entitled to still get $20 + Healthcare. You aren't even entitled to get $15 - healthcare. You are only entitled to get what you work for.

This same reasoning is why I don't agree with alimony too. A spouse isn't entitled to a portion of their ex-spouses income just because they would otherwise have to make a lifestyle adjustment. It's not the ex-spouses job to maintain their ex's quality of living.

I agree with some amount of a safety net and minor unemployment benefits, but just because you made more than minimum wage before you were unemployed doesn't mean you get to live better than someone who is currently working a minimum wage job. You can't feed your spouse+kids on minimum wage? Tell that to the thousands of people working at minimum wage (or close to it) right now.

The way I see it is that unemployment should be less than minimum wage so that it is fair to everyone else who might already be working for minimum wage. You shouldn't make more than someone making minimum wage while not having to do anything just because you were laid off from a better paying job and don't want to adjust.

^This

Fyi in the real world a job at Micky D's flipping burgers does more bad than good if your looking for a real Job out side of fast food or retain. Imagine going for a job in IT and you put you been flipping burgers at micky d's for the past year lol your resume is going in the garbage.