Unemployment Benefits

[itshappening]

Obama and the Democrats are desperate to get an extension of Unemployment benefits, that's what the current situation is about and why Obama is asking Reid and McConnell to get the Senate to act.

Anything the Senate does will have to include Unemployment benefit extension (which costs about $30bn) and therefore more irresponsible spending to get the Democrat votes required and then it goes to the House where the Democrats can vote for it.

Boehner will then only need to find 35 or so Republican's in the House to go along with more irresponsible spending which is not difficult and to get his bipartisan betrayal to the president's desk.

This is a really bad move for Bohener because it will once again split the GOP caucus on a key piece of legislation and will expose the fact that he's not serious about cutting spending.

By relying on Democrat votes for any squalid 'deal' Boehner is playing a dangerous game.

[fr33]

I sure wish they would think more about why people are unemployed than they do about paying them to be unemployed. With taxes going up pretty much for sure on some people the unemployed numbers could likely grow.

[tod evans]

Rainbows-n-lollipops....

[angelatc]

Cutting spending is good. Beginning the spending cuts with unemployed people is bad.

[DamianTV]

Cutting spending is good. Beginning the spending cuts with unemployed people is bad.

People wont revolt until their govt bennies go away.

[KrokHead]

Fighting tooth and nail for unemployment benefits, fighting tooth and nail for millionaires' tax rates. Some things aren't worth fighting for when there is a bigger picture.

[cheapseats]

People wont revolt until their govt bennies go away.

People will swipe, steal, burgle and rob before they will revolt.

[cheapseats]

Government will archive all "tweets"? Good. Too bad Twitter, Twitterer, twittered and tweet are such goofy-sounding kinda-words.

Me, I suspect certain sentiments will be culled OUT of the official bank and INTO an official ARSENAL.

Kindly bear with the length of this post, OR simply don't read it. I know I view TIME as my most valuable asset. There are many things that I do not read, many that I do not read entirely...and many that I read without agreeing or replying. I haven't met ONE person with more than half a century under his/her belt who doesn't agree: LIFE GOES REALLY FAST.

For any unfamiliar with this particular (co-opted) wonder of "alternative" media, Twitter is read BOTTOM-UP. The bottom-most post is the last post from DEC 13. The topmost post is the first post of DEC 15. I was remarking on GUN CONTROL literally just before Sandy Hook Elementary broke the news, perhaps WHILE it was happening. I actually posited a school overtaken, as an example for Gun Grabbers to ponder.

Anyhoo, SPENDING CUTS was the topic that segued to GUN CONTROL.



15 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
In light of American big-gun-wielding on global stage, BleedingHearts can SPARE ME about #GunControl until they ALSO harp about #War4Profit.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#BarackObama: "We must take meaningful action to prevent this kind of tragedy." THEY CAN'T EVEN BALANCE BUDGET, BUT THEY'LL STAMP OUT CRAZY?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
We have been at war for YEARS & YEARS. Thousands of American dead. We don't even COUNT enemy dead. But we wanna talk #GunControl? got irony?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@Congress: Does #SandyHookShooting put #TaxHikes, #SpendingCuts & YOUR COUNTRY CLUB ANGST into perspective? #GunControl drama is diversion.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
From June 2004 thru mid-Sept 2012, drone strikes killed 2,562 - 3,325 people in Pakistan...including 474 - 881 civilians AND 176 CHILDREN.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Drone strikes kill, maim and traumatize too many civilians, U.S. study says - http://CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/world/asia/pakistan-us-drone-strikes/index.html …
View summary

14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Making statements, settling differences or venting anger via ARMED FORCE...gee, how d'ya reckon people get THAT idea into distraught heads?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: It is audacious to preach #GunControl in country loitering at war for more than decade...longer than both WorldWars combined.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#SandyHookShooting is incomprehensible tragedy. But political priority is #FiscalCliff, NOT #GunControl. I spy #YellowJournalism, in spades.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Chicago Homicides Outnumber U.S. Troop Killings In Afghanistan http://huff.to/Ltaz6H via @HuffPostChicago
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
In June 2010, U.N. team released a report on #DroneStrikes, criticizing U.S. for being "most prolific user of targeted killings" in world.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
American Dead in Iraq: 4486 (NOT including suicides). American Dead in Afghanistan: 2167 (NOT including suicides). http://icasualties.org/
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@GunWieldingNutCases: There are so many authentic Assholes. IF yer gonna go on rampage, taking out BIG LEAGUE BAD GUYS leaves better legacy.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
What heartless Ratings Seeker thought it appropriate to "interview" traumatized child who expressed "what was going on in his head" as WHOA?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Now. Presume UNARMED public, and imagine SECOND INCIDENT occurring on other side of town from #SandyHookElementary. SHIT OUTTA LUCK...RIGHT?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
By #GunGrabber reasoning, should we ban MACHETES or HISPANICS?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#MS13 is "transnational" gang, mainly Hispanic. #Trinitorios is "multinational" gang, mainly Hispanic. #DDP gang is ethnically Hispanic...
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Early reports about how many were shot at CT school appear to have been WRONG. Like Rice's early Benghazi report. WHO DO WE HANG OUT TO DRY?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
"Gangs live & breathe terrorism," Salinas explains, "& hacking someone with a machete is much more poignant than shooting them with a gun."
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#MS13 + #Trinitarios + #DominicansDon'tPlay (DDP) = MACHETE TOTING GANGS. Where are calls to have #MACHETES specially licensed & regulated?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Ban guns! Wait...ban guns & KNIVES! Better yet, ban guns, knives, bows & arrows and anything that could be culprit in "BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA."
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
At least 22 children stabbed in attack at Chinese school http://aje.me/UFqHG6 via @AJEnglish
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
LISTEN TO outrage & emotion over shooting at Connecticut school, TWO dead. Compare that with CALLOUSNESS about devastation of #DroneStrikes.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Graduate of SandyhookElementarySchool, on shooting: "No one would ever have thought anything like this could happen here." #FamousLastWords
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Would parents of many, MANY females raped & murdered in U.S. rather their daughters had armed, trained, killed assailants...& LIVED TO TELL?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
IvoryTower people with safe 'hoods & security systems & perhaps even bodyguards must accept guns as poor folks' SEPARATE BUT EQUAL SECURITY.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
America routinely arms Non-Americans. It is MARKET SECTOR for cryin' out loud. Best defense is NOT good offense, but EQUAL OR GREATER FORCE.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@AlynGAmes: Do you imagine MassMurderers WOULDN'T have resorted to black-market acquisition of weapon absent legal route? GUNS are Will/Way.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@AlynGAmes: Many more people are murdered individually than en masse (stateside, that is). Mass Murder summons SWIFTER aid than random 911.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
TaxHikes AND SpendingCuts are required, PERIOD. High Unemployment + Reduced Benefits + Fewer Police = Recipe for #ArmedRobbery to increase.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Greece is small potatoes, compared to how AMERICAN non-sense impacted global economy. Americans would rightly suck up some Austerity pain.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
That's some do-do-do-do/do-do-do-do TwighlightZone suff...CT shooting news came up immediately after "pretend Nut Case storms school" post.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Connecticut School District on Lockdown Following Shooting - ABC News http://abcn.ws/ULukIh (via @ABC)
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Pretend gun-wielding Nut Case storms school. Armed Someone blows HIM away, or HE blows children away. No time to discuss, only decide. BOOM!
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
QUESTION TO #GunGrabbers: Rebels "we" arm around world don't exactly love America. ARM others but DISARM Americans? With friends like YOU...
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
"Justice" is extremely lucrative.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#GunRunning = #ArmsTrafficking = EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE. #DrugTrafficking is extremely lucrative. POLITICKING is extremely lucrative.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Look no further than time-honored war zone MiddleEast to KNOW that gun-wielding Bad Guys will ALWAYS be able to secure weaponry. #GunRunning
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Walk with me thru this. Gun-wielding Criminals will ignore #GunControl laws, like they ignore OTHER laws. I draw attention to CRIMINAL noun.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
QUESTION TO #GunGrabbers: What would you "allow" Peon do to defend self against real-time, gun-wielding Villain? Call 911? TAKE THE BULLET?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
ANTI-GUN LEGISLATOR Illinois State Sen. #DonneTrotter FACES WEAPONS CHARGE http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/13868-anti-gun-legislator-faces-weapons-charge?tmpl=component&print=1 … #Hypocrisy #IvoryTowers #DoAsWeSayNotAsWeDo
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: Top 1% would rightly pay different rate than NEXT 1%. Truly, tippy-top of Top 1% is in different league from "rest" of Top 1%.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: WORLD of difference between TOP 1% and NEXT 1%. Proposal to raise rate on Top 1% to, say, 45% will bring 'em around to 39.6%.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: Hollow promise that you will pursue cuts AFTER securing revenue smacks of "I'LL GLADLY PAY YOU TUESDAY FOR A HAMBURGER TODAY."
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: If not 2-to-1 Cuts-to-Revenue, THREE-to-one. If president in 2nd term won't be Bearer of BadNews, what elected official WOULD?
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@BarackObama: YOU don't stand for reelection. YOU must bust thru Democratic economic NINCOMPOOPERY to make folks get real about NEEDED cuts.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Corporate America Seeks to Elude the Taxman Through Special Dividends http://ti.me/11xnE7K via @TIMEBusiness
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
While SERVANTS paid by #WorkingPoor pontificate about their search for "fair & balanced" resolution, NON-RESOLUTION FAVORS BIG MONEY. Daily.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
#Gridlock favors #BigMoney.
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@morningmika: "If IF's and BUT's were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?" - #DonMeredith, quarterback, commentator, actor
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
@SpeakerBoehner: "If IF's and BUT's were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?" - #DonMeredith
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14 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
"If IF's and BUT's were candy and nuts, wouldn't it be a Merry Christmas?" - #DonMeredith, football quarterback, sports commentator, actor.
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13 Dec ImplausibleEndeavors ‏@MindOfMo
Homeland Security Delayed Arrest of New Jersey Senator’s Intern Until After Election - by Dan Amira | http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/12/menendez-intern-immigrant-arrest-election.html …

[MelissaWV]

Cutting spending is good. Beginning the spending cuts with unemployed people is bad.

The *extension*. Isn't that for folks who've been unemployed for a couple of years now?

[matt0611]

We shouldn't be paying people for 2 years NOT to work, it makes no sense. Let it run out and let them find minimum wage jobs.

[cheapseats]

We shouldn't be paying people for 2 years NOT to work, it makes no sense. Let it run out and let them find minimum wage jobs.

I have NO problem obliging Benefits Recipients to fill available jobs until every job IS filled, including executives-in-transition flipping burgers. (Google search: MILLIONAIRES COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT.) Better to subsidize people partially if need be, than wholly. Certainly they ought not be effectively PENALIZED for working.

I have NO problem booting Illegal Immigrants.

I do not think Taxpayers should be springing for JUNK FOOD for Benefits Recipients. I do not believe cell phones & unlimited use "plans" fall under the SUBSISTENCE umbrella.

But we DO have a long-term Unemployment problem. MORE BODIES THAN PAYING POSITIONS. Like China, but simultaneously worse and less bad.

In some cases, saying TWO YEARS IS LONG ENOUGH makes sense like the driver who decides he has waited at a cross street long enough and, although traffic is steadily oncoming and there is no traffic light, it's simply his TURN to muscle into the flow.

The bottom BOTTOM line on the issue of "benefits" is whether people are willing to step over corpses in the street, when it gets to that time. Hunger &/or Exposure do that.

[Philhelm]

Why step over corpses when you can eat them?

[cheapseats]

Why step over corpses when you can eat them?


Ode To Jonathan Swift
Posted on 10 December 2009

Nigh 300 years since your modest proposal

To generate wealth by childrens’ disposal

That a heartless Elite might yet eat hearty

Whether dining alone or trussing a party

Be they stewed or roasted, baked or broiled

Or cured in salt that they be not spoiled

Upon storing for use at special occasion

With candles and silver and libation

Yearling babes without prospect or food

Might again be served for national good.



Right to Lifers will surely object

The very ones who strangely forget

That carrying to term is briefest taste

Of costs that mount with steady haste

Til workers crippled by woe and want

Cramp the style of Landlords who flaunt

Their lordship o’er the ones who produce

Or would if employment they could induce

From Robber Barons whose greatest pleasure

Is wealth beyond imagination and measure.



I pray Better Than Thou’s and Holy Rollers

To cease the squander of elections and dollars

Betaking themselves to a choice of war fronts

To stand between pregnant women and grunts

Shall be grander service to mankind and life

Than repetitive, circular, winless strife

The peace they’d sow they could not savor

With American babies seasoned for flavor

Compel our withdrawal from the Middle East

And upon our Yearlings we’ll need not feast.

[belian78]

People will swipe, steal, burgle and rob before they will revolt.
Well that's the thing, really. Look at a city like Chicago, 500 murders this year and a majority of the inner city populace is on some form of welfare/unemployement. Take that away? OMG That city would split apart at the seams.

[itshappening]

Well that's the thing, really. Look at a city like Chicago, 500 murders this year and a majority of the inner city populace is on some form of welfare/unemployement. Take that away? OMG That city would split apart at the seams.

Watch Alex Jones 'Strategic Relocation' (search youtube for it). He makes a good point that there could be riots and that these people will be hunting for food, gasoline and shelter. You need to be out of their way.

[MelissaWV]

If there are more potential workers than positions, then there would not be such difficulty in finding qualified, willing workers to fill positions. The problem is that there are more workers than "satisfactory" positions within certain industries. Other industries are left offering incentives to get people hired and trained, or hoping that someone will notice the vacancies and stop trying to storm saturated markets.

[cheapseats]

If there are more potential workers than positions, then there would not be such difficulty in finding qualified, willing workers to fill positions. The problem is that there are more workers than "satisfactory" positions within certain industries. Other industries are left offering incentives to get people hired and trained, or hoping that someone will notice the vacancies and stop trying to storm saturated markets.

If more people want healthcare than can find/afford it, Unemployed should "just" become doctors...QUICK...they can pick up the slack, plus competition will drive the prices down. NUMBER of Unemployed is not the same thing as SKILLED Unemployed.

CHEAPSKATE corporations want to pay qualified people PEANUTS and/or saddle one person with the workload of 2-3 people (buyers' market), AND they want Government to fund Job Training.


October 24, 2011
Why Companies Aren't Getting the Employees They Need

The conventional wisdom is that our education system is failing our economy.
But our companies deserve a lot of the blame themselves.


By PETER CAPPELLI

Everybody's heard the complaints about recruiting lately.


Even with unemployment hovering around 9%, companies are grousing that they can't find skilled workers, and filling a job can take months of hunting.

Employers are quick to lay blame. Schools aren't giving kids the right kind of training. The government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants. The list goes on and on.

But I believe that the real culprits are the employers themselves.

With an abundance of workers to choose from, employers are demanding more of job candidates than ever before. They want prospective workers to be able to fill a role right away, without any training or ramp-up time.

Bad for Companies, Bad for Economy

In other words, to get a job, you have to have that job already. It's a Catch-22 situation for workers—and it's hurting companies and the economy.

To get America's job engine revving again, companies need to stop pinning so much of the blame on our nation's education system. They need to drop the idea of finding perfect candidates and look for people who could do the job with a bit of training and practice.

There are plenty of ways to get workers up to speed without investing too much time and money, such as putting new employees on extended probationary periods and relying more on internal hires, who know the ropes better than outsiders would.

It's a fundamental change from business as usual. But the way we're doing things now just isn't working.

The Big Myths

The perceptions about a lack of skilled workers are pervasive. The staffing company ManpowerGroup, for instance, reports that 52% of U.S. employers surveyed say they have difficulty filling positions because of talent shortages.

But the problem is an illusion.

Some of the complaints about skill shortages boil down to the fact that employers can't get candidates to accept jobs at the wages offered. That's an affordability problem, not a skill shortage. A real shortage means not being able to find appropriate candidates at market-clearing wages. We wouldn't say there is a shortage of diamonds when they are incredibly expensive; we can buy all we want at the prevailing prices.

The real problem, then, is more appropriately an inflexibility problem. Finding candidates to fit jobs is not like finding pistons to fit engines, where the requirements are precise and can't be varied. Jobs can be organized in many different ways so that candidates who have very different credentials can do them successfully.

Only about 10% of the people in IT jobs during the Silicon Valley tech boom of the 1990s, for example, had IT-related degrees. While it might be great to have a Ph.D. graduate read your electrical meter, almost anyone with a little training could do the job pretty well.

A Training Shortage

And make no mistake: There are plenty of people out there who could step into jobs with just a bit of training—even recent graduates who don't have much job experience. Despite employers' complaints about the education system, college students are pursuing more vocationally oriented course work than ever before, with degrees in highly specialized fields like pharmaceutical marketing and retail logistics.

Unfortunately, American companies don't seem to do training anymore. Data are hard to come by, but we know that apprenticeship programs have largely disappeared, along with management-training programs. And the amount of training that the average new hire gets in the first year or so could be measured in hours and counted on the fingers of one hand. Much of that includes what vendors do when they bring in new equipment: "Here's how to work this copier."

The shortage of opportunities to learn on the job helps explain the phenomenon of people queueing up for unpaid internships, in some cases even paying to get access to a situation where they can work free to get access to valuable on-the-job experience.

Companies in other countries do things differently. In Europe, for instance, training is often mandated, and apprenticeships and other programs that help provide work experience are part of the infrastructure.

The result: European countries aren't having skill-shortage complaints at the same level as in the U.S., and the nations that have the most established apprenticeship programs—the Scandinavian nations, Germany and Switzerland—have low unemployment.

Employers here at home rightly point to a significant constraint that they face in training workers: They train them and make the investment, but then someone else offers them more money and hires them away.

The Way Forward

That is a real problem. What's the answer?

We aren't going to get European-style apprenticeships in the U.S. They require too much cooperation among employers and bigger investments in infrastructure than any government entity is willing to provide. We're also not going to go back to the lifetime-employment models that made years-long training programs possible.

But I'm also convinced that some of the problem we're up against is simply a failure of imagination. Here are three ways in which employees can get the skills they need without the employer having to invest in a lot of upfront training.

Work with education providers: If job candidates don't have the skills you need, make them go to school before you hire them.

Community colleges in many states, especially North Carolina, have proved to be good partners with employers by tailoring very applied course work to the specific needs of the employer. Candidates qualify to be hired once they complete the courses—which they pay for themselves, at least in part. For instance, a manufacturer might require that prospective job candidates first pass a course on quality control or using certain machine tools.

Going back to school isn't just for new hires, either; it also works for internal candidates. In this setup, the employer pays the tuition costs through tuition reimbursement. But the employees make the bigger investment by spending their own time, almost always off work, learning the material.

Bring back aspects of apprenticeship: In this arrangement, apprentices are paid less while they are mastering their craft—so employers aren't paying for training and a big salary at the same time. Accounting firms, law firms and professional-services firms have long operated this way, and have made lots of money off their young associates.

Of course, a full apprenticeship model—with testing and credentials associated with different stages of experience—wouldn't work in all industries. But a simpler setup would: Companies could give their new workers a longer probationary period—with lower pay—until they get up to speed on the requirements of the job.

Promote from within: Employees have useful knowledge that no outsider could have and should make great candidates for filling jobs higher up. In recent years, however, an incredible two-thirds of all vacancies, even in large companies, have been filled by hiring from the outside, according to data from Taleo Corp., a talent-management company. That figure has dropped somewhat lately because of market conditions. But a generation ago, the number was close to 10%, as internal promotions and transfers were used to fill virtually all positions.

These days, many companies simply don't believe their own workers have the necessary skills to take on new roles. But, once again, many workers could step into those jobs with a bit of training.

And there's one on-the-job education strategy that doesn't cost companies a dime: Organize work so that employees are given projects that help them learn new skills. For example, a marketing manager may not know how to compute the return on marketing programs but might learn that skill while working on a team project with colleagues from the finance department.

Pursuing options like these vastly expands the supply of talent that employers can tap, making it both cheaper and easier to fill jobs. Of course, it's also much better for society. It helps build the supply of human capital in the economy, as well as opening the pathway for more people to get jobs.

It's an important instance where company self-interest and societal interest just happen to coincide.

Dr. Cappelli is the George W. Taylor professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576596630897409182.html

[MelissaWV]

NUMBER of Unemployed is not the same thing as SKILLED Unemployed.

CHEAPSKATE corporations want to pay qualified people PEANUTS and/or saddle one person with the workload of 2-3 people (buyers' market), AND they want Government to fund Job Training.

And if it's peanuts or nothing, people will take the peanuts until they can do better. Unfortunately the Government is involved. It's either peanuts, or Government benefits, job training, housing, food, and the self-important mantra that this was bought and paid for by the taxes the person on the receiving end paid when they were previously working.

[cheapseats]

And if it's peanuts or nothing, people will take the peanuts until they can do better. Unfortunately the Government is involved.

Unemployment DOES "pay" better than some jobs. It's a real problem.



It's either peanuts, or Government benefits, job training, housing, food...

There is also collective bargaining, which I very much support for NON-GOVERNMENT peons who are utterly WITHOUT POWER before gigantic companies.

12/21/12 has come and gone, but there is still HOPE that non-human entities which are bizarrely granted the stature of people will GET IT that Livable Wages for Labor trump returns on passive investments. If Labor is not paid Livable Wages, we have a Welfare State from the get-go...WITH insanely inefficient and expensive layers of bureaucracy/administration.



...the self-important mantra that this was bought and paid for by the taxes the person on the receiving end paid when they were previously working.

They make a valid if not virtuous point. People HAVE paid into "systems". They are ENTITLED to get what's theirs. UNFUNDED LIABILITIES are like hungry hordes on the horizon, approaching to devour us.

Some of the Entitled NEED what's theirs (defined by PAYING IN); other Entitled DON'T need it. Doesn't mean it's right for someone ELSE to take it away from them, but they do NOT need it.

We are in a truly perilous state of national emergency, or we are not. If we are NOT...if it's all Kabuki Theater, and we will limp along like Japan...why SHOULD non-needy Entitled give up what's theirs? If we ARE, and if Judgment Day there be, and bearing the camel thru an eye of a needle thing, GOOD LUCK to millionaires collecting Unemployment benefits.

Whether we are in a truly perilous state of national emergency begs the question of whether we are a sovereign nation, but I digress. But not really. High Unemployment and AMERICANS FIRST IN AMERICA are directly related.

[heavenlyboy34]

If more people want healthcare than can find/afford it, Unemployed should "just" become doctors...QUICK...they can pick up the slack, plus competition will drive the prices down. NUMBER of Unemployed is not the same thing as SKILLED Unemployed.

CHEAPSKATE corporations want to pay qualified people PEANUTS and/or saddle one person with the workload of 2-3 people (buyers' market), AND they want Government to fund Job Training.

That's a good article. IMO, the big hurdle in getting companies to do stuff like this is discrimination laws. That begot the common degree requirement(to replace intelligence/competence testing-considered "discrimination"), which forced students into programs that provide nothing but book study (no practical experience). So, in most jobs, you have to have a job before you can get a job. That has really screwed over a lot of people (employers and prospective employees alike). /end ramble

[oyarde]

I could give a crap about unemployment benefits if they are funded like they should be. I am more interested in doing away with a helluva lot of other things . Dept oF Education , USDA, EPA, FBI,CIA ,DEA ,BATF, Medicare, Medicaid ,Social Security optional , money in a seperate fund, etc.

[cheapseats]

That's a good article. IMO, the big hurdle in getting companies to do stuff like this is discrimination laws. That begot the common degree requirement(to replace intelligence/competence testing-considered "discrimination"), which forced students into programs that provide nothing but book study (no practical experience). So, in most jobs, you have to have a job before you can get a job. That has really screwed over a lot of people (employers and prospective employees alike). /end ramble

Not rambling at all.


...In other words, to get a job, you have to have that job already. It's a Catch-22 situation for workers—and it's hurting companies and the economy...

Some jobs are GONE. And there IS a skill gap slash training/retraining NEED. (We have a big pool of unemployed/underemployed middle-aged construction workers, fer instance.)

A sort of extension of the NEED A JOB TO GET A JOB mentality is that many many many many many many people who HAVE jobs have TWO jobs, to make ends meet. The person with one job is seen as a better risk. Unemployment is further exacerbated by some Baby Boomers lingering in (clinging for dear life to) jobs longer than anticipated, and by affluent debt-free kids graduated from "good" schools being willing/ABLE to work for free for a spell.

"Jobless Recovery" was always bullshit.

Some of the richest people ON EARTH laid off Employees to prop tradable numbers when the MANMADE financial "crisis" hit. Unapologetically, they are sitting on sideline cash AND reprimanding GOVERNMENT for lack of Jobs Creation.

[belian78]

Watch Alex Jones 'Strategic Relocation' (search youtube for it). He makes a good point that there could be riots and that these people will be hunting for food, gasoline and shelter. You need to be out of their way.

I live in 'little Chicago' AKA Peoria IL, and that crap already goes on. It's gotten so bad that our homeless are now getting robbed for their (donated) cellphones and daily allowance right after leaving the shelters for the day.

[oyarde]

I live in 'little Chicago' AKA Peoria IL, and that crap already goes on. It's gotten so bad that our homeless are now getting robbed for their (donated) cellphones and daily allowance right after leaving the shelters for the day. My Condolances.

[tttppp]

Obama and the Democrats are desperate to get an extension of Unemployment benefits, that's what the current situation is about and why Obama is asking Reid and McConnell to get the Senate to act.

Anything the Senate does will have to include Unemployment benefit extension (which costs about $30bn) and therefore more irresponsible spending to get the Democrat votes required and then it goes to the House where the Democrats can vote for it.

Boehner will then only need to find 35 or so Republican's in the House to go along with more irresponsible spending which is not difficult and to get his bipartisan betrayal to the president's desk.

This is a really bad move for Bohener because it will once again split the GOP caucus on a key piece of legislation and will expose the fact that he's not serious about cutting spending.

By relying on Democrat votes for any squalid 'deal' Boehner is playing a dangerous game.


Why cant we just privatize this function? Let people buy unemployment insurance in the open market.

[belian78]

My Condolances.
I'm out as soon as the overlords let me have part of my pay back in Feb. I just pray everyday that the craziness remains oblivious to my family's presence until then.

[cheapseats]

I could give a crap about unemployment benefits if they are funded like they should be.

It would be MUCH cheaper to lay off a third (or half...I know, I know, MORE) of Federal & State workforces and pay them Unemployment FOREVER than to retain bloated rolls of overcompensated make-work Paper Pushers WITH PENSIONS.


I am more interested in doing away with a helluva lot of other things . Dept oF Education , USDA, EPA, FBI,CIA ,DEA ,BATF, Medicare, Medicaid ,Social Security optional , money in a seperate fund, etc.

The yanking of the discussion to the SURVIVAL/EXISTENCE of core Safety Net programs diverted attention from Inefficiency & Graft, and there is a LOT of both. A LOT of money is frittered away, a LOT of money is FINAGLED away. There is BIG MONEY to be saved, and there are outright CROOKS to be ousted.

[oyarde]

I'm out as soon as the overlords let me have part of my pay back in Feb. I just pray everyday that the craziness remains oblivious to my family's presence until then. Yes indeed , if you can get a tax "refund" and it would help you get out , I think that would be highly effecient use made of that cash.

[oyarde]

Why cant we just privatize this function? Let people buy unemployment insurance in the open market. That would be the way to go. And , I would have carried it my entire life and not used it, like House Ins , auto Ins ,Health Ins etc

[itshappening]

I live in 'little Chicago' AKA Peoria IL, and that crap already goes on. It's gotten so bad that our homeless are now getting robbed for their (donated) cellphones and daily allowance right after leaving the shelters for the day.

You need to get out before it gets really bad in the years to come.

[tttppp]

That would be the way to go. And , I would have carried it my entire life and not used it, like House Ins , auto Ins ,Health Ins etc

Also, what happened to people investing in their careers and getting new skill sets if their industry is declining. We should be incouraging versatility with our workforce, not boxing them in to one set of skills.

[angelatc]

People wont revolt until their govt bennies go away.

Politics being what they are, yanking the rug out from people who have already had one rug yanked out isn't the best plan for getting elected. And if the government starts cutting benefits from the people who need it the most, the revolt won't be what you want it to be.

Even Ron Paul says social spending should be the last to go.

[angelatc]

The *extension*. Isn't that for folks who've been unemployed for a couple of years now?

I think that the state only pays for 4 or 6 weeks, and after that the Federal government picks it up. But someone else could come along and tell me that's wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised.

Disclaimer: We're living off umemployment right now, and after that we're probably going to go full blown welfare. After the state buys me a new furnace and new windows I'll get serious about looking for work.

[oyarde]

They pay for furnaces and windows ??

[LibForestPaul]

Fighting tooth and nail for unemployment benefits, fighting tooth and nail for millionaires' tax rates. Some things aren't worth fighting for when there is a bigger picture.

indeed!
end the fed reserve!
fire federal workers
end federal departments
end federal pensions.

[oyarde]

indeed!
end the fed reserve!
fire federal workers
end federal departments
end federal pensions. More in line with my thoughts .

[MelissaWV]

I think that the state only pays for 4 or 6 weeks, and after that the Federal government picks it up. But someone else could come along and tell me that's wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised.

Disclaimer: We're living off umemployment right now, and after that we're probably going to go full blown welfare. After the state buys me a new furnace and new windows I'll get serious about looking for work.


http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-VT642_unempl_F_20121220182647.jpg

[oyarde]

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-VT642_unempl_F_20121220182647.jpg So the rest is Fed tax money given to the states after these time periods ?

[MelissaWV]

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/11/25/how-long-can-you-collect-unemployment-benefits/

It has an interesting progression at the bottom, showing how the benefits have changed recently.

[oyarde]

Looks like my state is currently 15 3/4 months, most people could not replace a decent job in that time frame where I am now....