Unemployment jumps to 9.8% Nationally

[hooper1961]

i was taught that there is no free lunch. people collecting unemployment need to be required to contribute to society in some manner be it sweeping streets, cleaning parks or volunteer work.

better yet society would be better served by conducting public works projects in lieu of extending unemployment benefits.

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[charlabob]

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[JanS]

methinks Charlabob is at a loss for words. Hooper, people who are on unemployment ARE contributing to society, just like you and me. They put their money right back into the economy. You can’t say that about big bidness these days. They are holding onto their money, contributing only to themselves and their bank accounts. Not everyone “on the dole” is a GD shiftless bum…you have to get over that hurdle.

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[hooper1961]

THEIR MONEY? it is not money that is theirs it is tax payer money and as a taxpayer I demand something in return be it volunteer work, cleaning a park or street. handing a check to someone for no work has to have limits.

i was let go in the 2003 recession (granted not as severe as current one) and made a conscious decision to not take any taxpayer money! and instead made it on my own with no taxpayer assistance at all.

my ex gf worked hard to find and land a decent job. believe me she worked extremely hard to find a job; but it simply goes to show that someone who is driven can find a job.

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[JanS]

and you think that the people currently on unemployment aren’t working just as hard at finding a job? What world do you live in? If you thought things were bad in 2003, go try it now. You have no right to demand anything. This economy would not be where it is today , these people would not be unemployed, there would be jobs, if this country’s conservatives gave a damn, passed legislation to finally take those tax breaks away from the top, and passed legislation to not outsource jobs. I know too many people who are unemployed, and try every day 7 days a week to find something that will pay the bills. Do you really think one can live well on the pittance they give you for unemployment? Where do you think that money came from? It came from their paychecks when they were working…it’s not magical money, for goodness sake…

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[elikapeka]

Geez, Hooper, you demand???? Next thing you’ll be asking where the workhouses for the poor are. If you “demand” all the unemployed people spend their days working at menial duties for your benefit, where will they have time to find a job that will actually pay a decent living and get them off the “dole”?

Now if you are referring more to some public works projects that would provide meaningful employment to repair our infrastructure, I could get behind that in a heartbeat.

You are demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of unemployment insurance. People who are able to collect unemployment insurance payments are able to do so because they worked and paid into the system. It’s insurance, not welfare. This attitude of me, me, me and what I want and screw everybody else is so unbelievably selfish and cold that it makes me very sad.

This economic downturn is unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetimes. It is not a matter of the factory is slow, so you’re laid off for a few months and when things pick up you go back to work. For many people, their career is gone. And it’s not just blue collar factory work either, it’s medical transcription, radiologists reading x-rays, and all kinds of jobs, professional and technical, both white and blue collar, that have been sent permanently overseas. Lots of retraining is going to be required to get people the skills they need to switch careers. This retraining can take two years or more. And I don’t know how old you are, but if you’re over 40, good luck getting a job. I know many people in their 50’s that are well-qualifed, responsible, have good records, and have sent out thousands of resumes and can’t even get an interview.

We have traditionally extended unemployment insurance payments when unemployment is this high. I applaud you and yours who have in the past been able to rise above your troubles and prevail. But if you’re honest with yourself, I’ll bet you had some help along the way and maybe a lucky break or two as well. Nobody does it alone, Hooper. I know I haven’t. I’ve had help along the way in life, and I’m more than happy to to help others get the break they need.

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[charlabob]

Yup, charlabob is at a loss for words — but she has the words to salute folks like Jan and Eli and JoB (and others) who keep on keeping on.

So thank you, all!

Actually, an electronic glitch ate my previous posting and I decided it knew what it was doing.

c

“this revolution will be tweeted”

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[hooper1961]

i admit i had a supportive wife.

elikapeka you are missing the point it would be better for society to build something in return for tax payer dollars. rebuilding infrastructure, fixing parks and the like. handing out money is not appropriate. my son learned at an early age the allowance only is provided when his chores were done.

unemployment has already been extended at what point do you say enough is enough!

i too am feeling economic challenged each month with monthly bills exceeding income. unlike to many people in this country i set some money aside (that is running low) during the good times for times like these. believe me i need the economy to pick up steam as much as the next person.

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[JanS]

well, then, since jobs are so plentiful, have you thought about a second and a third job? After all, that should be easy to do, since you think jobs are plentiful.

The rhetoric gets tiresome. This isn’t a handout…they paid into the system…and the system is screwing them…plain and simple. The main job of people on unemployment is to be looking for a job. In essence, that’s their job, period. If there is somehow that they could be employed in a gainful job, and be paid for it, then I could see that working. But, not everyone is capable of physical labor..what do we do with them? Oh, yeah..shuffle them off to the poorhouse. Let’s not help them with the basics of life – food, shelter.

There are so many people who simply refuse to see the gravity of this situation…it’s astonishing…

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[feefeelarue]

I work for the State in Employemnt Securities. I am the person that sets up your claim, answers questions and fixes problems. I have been working there for 2 years and since reading this thread I feel the need to speak out about a few things. Unemployment Insurance is not something that comes out of our paychecks, it’s paid solely by the business you work for. No one is ‘owed’ UI, each claim is judged on the circumstances surrounding the separation and UI law. I have spoken to thousands of people across all income levels over the last 2 years, and 96% of them are desparate to find work, ANY work. Unfortunately it’s an employers market and they can afford to be very picky right now. I hear the panic and frustration in peoples voices every day. Do you have any idea what it’s like to have to tell someone that they have exhausted their benefits and hear children in the background? Have claimants ask me what do I do now? Have to tell them the next stop is DSHS? Do you honestly in your heart believe that this is a ‘good time’ for people in this situation? I bristle when I hear people say that extending UI benefits only leads to people becoming lazy or just happy with the handout. There are very few people who are at the top of the weekly benefit amount and the average person is getting between $200 – $300 a week. Can you pay rent, buy food, support a family and bills on that each month? When my husband walked out on me and my daughter I was left with nothing. I had left my job to be a stay at home mom so I had no unemployment to turn to and I looked for a job ANY job for 3 years. I have over 20 years of high level experience and couldn’t even get an interview. I applied everywhere and I was willing to work at ANY job just to support us. I had to deal with the neverending BS that is DSHS. So I understand what so many of these people are going through because I’ve been there. Please understand not many people choose to be out of work. Show some compassion and try for a moment to put yourself in those circumstances. The Unemployed are not collecting for beer money.

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[DP]

“people collecting unemployment need to be required to contribute to society in some manner be it sweeping streets, cleaning parks or volunteer work.”

   

 

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[JoB]

hooper1961..

there is one big word that you seem to have misplaced.

Insurance.

This is unemployment insurance.

The premiums for this insurance are part of your employment compensation package.

Unemployment insurance is 100% funded by employers… not by the taxpayer.

http://www.edd.ca.gov/unemployment/

I am guessing you didn’t understand that you basically paid the premiums for your unemployment insurance …

even though you never saw a deduction those were dollars paid on your behalf as part of your employment package.

Every dollar paid into unemployment insurance on your behalf is a dollar that didn’t land in your paycheck.

If you are in an automobile accident, do you choose to forgo filing a claim because other people’s premiums help fund your coverage?

probably not.

As with any insurance program..

there are some pretty stiff rules about who gets to collect…

and just taking the opportunity to take some time off work isn’t one of them.

You did yourself and your family a disservice by not collecting any unemployment insurance benefits you were entitled to.

charlabob…

I speak up because it is way past time those of us who have been shaking our heads at the idiocy we hear repeated as fact speak up …

loudly and repeatedly..

to correct this kind of misinformation passed off as fact by so many talking heads.

What i find most difficult is finding the emotional distance to do so without sounding like a total bitch.

Some days i do better than others.

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[redblack]

aptly-put, DP.

feefee: thank you for clarifying the origin of UI checks. unlike labor and industries, employees do not pay into the system; it is solely on the employer’s side through state unemployment payroll taxes. when states’ funds are depleted, they are compensated by the federal government.

…which causes righties to become apoplectic and start wetting themselves and braying about welfare and “entitlements.”

in a rare moment of weakness, i watched “press the meat” this morning. (i wanted to hear mitch mcconnell try to defend the GOP’s unconscionable bush tax cut policy.) sen. john kerry (D-MA) deftly described the multiplier effect that UI has on the economy: for every tax dollar sent to the states for UI, the government and the economy in general get back $1.61.

tax cuts for the top 2%, however, pay back $.30 for every dollar borrowed from china to fund them.

if we’re going to run up deficit spending, “welfare entitlement” is a better investment.

but, as a matter of fact, tax cuts for the top 2% are the real welfare payments, and we should start calling them exactly what they are.

my challenge still stands: i defy any conservative to show me where any tax cut at any time in history has produced a single job anywhere.

in the u.s., that is. don’t try to conflate off-shoring with actual american job creation. (CPA’s don’t count, either :) )

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[hooper1961]

i am not a right wing conservative at all; and bush’s tax policy was asinine. people making over $250,000 and couple’s over $500,000 should pay a bit more. but on the other side people should not expect a nanny state either. i guess this puts me as an independent voter. i like conservative democrats and liberal republicans; but unfortunately these type of representatives have gone the way of the dodo bird.

obama squandered $700,000,000,000 (yes enough zeros). think of the infrastructure that could have been built, fixing aging water systems, transmission lines that could have been upgraded and at the same time got people working productively!

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[redblack]

hooper: bush signed TARP, not obama.

obama signed ARRA, which funds exactly the kinds of projects you’re describing.

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[hooper1961]

what about a compromise extend bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 (couples $500,000) and extend unemployment for 3 months for last time.

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[Ken]

The repugs already rejected an amendment that would have raised the threshold to one million dollars.

It is feudalism or bust for the wingnuts and their Independent and blue dog enablers.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/05/131809583/gop-blocks-bill-to-raise-taxes-on-1m-plus-income

Obama and his DLC cronies are ready to give away the whole enchilada as long as some of the goldman sachs crowd will promise to give him enough money to get re-elected.

I have had it with national Democratic politics.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/2/924773/-Why-we-are-screwed

I knew we were screwed in 1982 but held out hope until 2004.

I then hoped Obama could slow the pace of the death of the republics grand experiment.

But that ended. Now all I can hope for is to die from something more painless than slow starvation or exposure.

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.

–Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, mathematician. Sceptical Essays, “Freedom in Society” (1928).

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[Ken]

origin of graphic referred to above:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/10/cash-cow-who-has-cash-who-has-debt-by.html

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[DP]

I am not a Repub . . . er . . .

I mean . . . I am NOT a duck!

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[charlabob]

Thank you, Ken — my first (baby) step is to stop saying “we and they” when I talk about Dumbs and Repugs. They’re all them. I’m just looking for a new we who can save what’s left of the country. Just had dinner with a friend who emigrated to Australia — this time when I begged him to adopt me, I was probably 1/3 kidding.

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[redblack]

what charla said: very well-said, ken. we have seen the enemy, and it is they. “they” are the people who own the country, and they are trying to fix it so that they don’t have to cede power to the majority ever again. and that’s a lot easier to do when you own the fourth estate, too, and can spoon-feed people their own ire about things like “entitlements.”

hooper: why are you carrying water for those people? they don’t care about you, and the certainly don’t care about democracy, but they’re more than happy to let you die on the street if you can’t pay them their interest rates or their exorbitant monthly bills. don’t help them break the federal government; it’s the only weapon you have left against their tyranny.

well, that and the guillotine.

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[hooper1961]

i am neither a republican or democrat. to me both parties only serve their self interest in lieu of the country’s best interest.

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[JoB]

hooper1961..

refusing to register with either political party doesn’t make you an independent.

Questioning every article you read

and every political statement you hear

and researching the facts so that you can form your own opinion

makes you an independent.

I am a registered democrat, consider myself politically conservative and am independent as h.ll.

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[Ken]

Republicans just took another hostage.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/45976.html

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[dawsonct]

Hoop, you may call yourself independent, and you have provided a number of examples that helps me believe you are, but more often than not, you seem more than willing to buy the Republican Party line, which has proven over the last 30 years to have destroyed the American middle-class, our health-care delivery system, our public education, our environment, our manufacturing base, and on and on and on.

At the same time, they have enacted NONE of the social legislation they always campaign on.

—

Do a bit more research before buying everything those on the farreich try to sell you.

Truth has a liberal bias, but only because Republicans keep lying to us.

—

BTW, it will get worse if Comcast is allowed to absorb CBS. How do you feel about paying for your internet content like you do for your cable teevee? I wonder what tier the WSB blog would be on?

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