your opinion of unemployment extensions
By laglen
@laglen (19759)
United States
May 10, 2010 9:05pm CST
http://worldnewsvine.com/2010/05/congress-silence-rings-loud-and-clear-with-unemployment-extensions-set-to-expire/
Washington, D.C. (May 9) – Voting for additional unemployment benefits extensions for existing recipients appears to be a tabled issue in Washington. Rumors of unemployment extension help for the group known as the 99ers also remains unconfirmed. The topic of unemployment overall is not currently being considered on the Senate floor. The Financial Reform Bill appears to be the soup de jour.
According to sources, the jobless are not on the legislative radar in any form. This is not good news for many millions of Americans as the June 2 deadline approaches. On April 12, 2010, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio attempted the impossible and “urged an extension on unemployment insurance”. At that time, Senator Brown also stated, “Many of my colleagues had no problem giving tax breaks to companies that shipped jobs overseas, but now balk at extending unemployment insurance.”
Appeals to address the most pressing concern in this country, putting people back to work, have fallen on deaf ears. Inquiries to ensure reporting accuracy to both the Majority Leader’s office and the House Ways and Means Committee have gone unanswered.
What do you think? Do you think they should get this passed or do you think it is encouraging people to not work?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
12 May 10
I'm afraid that it's encouraging people not to look and find work. I know I was looking for a part-time job earlier this year. I was hired twice (Home Depot and Wal-mart) and turned down both jobs (and I'm not on unemployment). I think the jobs are out there. They may be hard to find, but they're there. So maybe you don't start as the Vice President...
1 person likes this
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
12 May 10
I think that's part of the problem (including for me, but then I did have over 30 years of managment experience), no one wants to start at the bottom. Too many people think they're worth more than that and should at least be/are entitled to first-line management, higher pay, whatever. If you need a job bad enough, the bottom is a fine place to start. Been there, done that, and would do it again. It turns out, when I turned down the part-time jobs, that I decided to buckle down and work harder at my home-based production business. With my new roommate, we're starting to make both our businesses grow. In fact, we're going to create a new partnership and register it in NM as a LLC. So turning down the part-time jobs was kind of a gamble, but it's paid off. We're going to be submitting stuff to the NY Times, other larger newspapers, food magazines, etc. It's fun...not sure working at Wal-Mart would have been that fun...
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
11 May 10
With the employment situation the way that it is I seriously doubt that there are too many folks who are living fat and happy on unemployment benefits, which is only a percentage of their normal income, and not trying to find another job. There's too much competition for every open position for anyone to sit around and intentionally wait. Because the unemployment rate is so high I believe that there should be extensions available since families in particular need this safety net.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
11 May 10
But when do the extensions end? People may not be "living fat", but they are living free off those unemployment checks and it's been proven that many people don't get back to work until their benefits are about to run out. If I decided to mooch off unemployment from my last job instead of taking the first job I could get, I'd be pulling in around $400 a week. I'm making more than that at the job I'm working, but not by much. I'm just not willing to be a government sponge. Most people don't have that issue.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
11 May 10
Where has it been proven? I haven't seen any studies on the subject (not saying that they don't exist) but what I do see is intense competition for every job opening available. I see long lines at job fairs and at companies that are taking applications so that tells me that people are trying. Especially here in Florida where there are double digit applicants for every open position according to the statistics I've read. Your unemployment benefits were good but they're not the norm as far as I know. You have to also remember that many people who lost their jobs also lost their insurance coverage so finding another job is important in that respect. If you think about it, being forced to go on welfare would actually be more beneficial to a family because they would then qualify for medicaid. I just don't buy the theory that the majority of the unemployed are out of work by choice. There's too many of them for that to be true.
1 person likes this
@TTCCWW (579)
• United States
11 May 10
I think they have done a lot to get the job market moving but you do not come back from the abyss overnight. This administration and congress take heat everyday for passing a stimulus package. They need to extend these benefits and do all that they can but they are not the private sector.
Where I live I assure you no one can afford to live on unemploymnent benefits and that they are using those benefits to stave off finacial disaster or to eat.
1 person likes this
