Digital News Report – Congress didn’t pass an extension for unemployment benefits before going on a two week break. This left almost 400,000 that are receiving unemployment benefits could see no money when they run out of their long-term benefits.
Members of the House of Representatives felt it was important to extend the unemployment benefits before going on spring break. They knew that benefits would be running out on Monday if the Senate didn’t approve the bill. Unfortunately the Senate couldn’t come to an agreement because there was a debate on how the government was going to pay for the extra benefits.
The Democrats reasoned with the Republicans that were in opposition to extending the benefits by saying that they have passed unemployment extensions three times in the past over the last two years because it was determined as emergency spending. They felt that this extension would fall under that reasoning as well and wouldn’t have to figure out a budget rule that would otherwise be required.
The Senate will reconvene one week from now and they will have the unemployment benefit extension the first matter to vote on.
Well I hope they enjoyed their Easter dinners. I also hope the American voters make sure these particular public servants are unemployed next election.
If the extension is passed..what does this mean for the long term unemployed are we also eligible for this extension. Is there going to be a fifth tier also in the very near future? I received my last check this week and now I am having to go to the welfare office for help if they will do anything. In 2 weeks alone I have applied to at least 20 jobs and yet to hear a word. In the two years I have been out of work I have literally applied to hundreds of jobs and heard nothing! I need help as well as the newly unemployed.
All my life I worked, paid payroll taxes. They took money from my wages to fund all of the benefit programs which assist those who, although they worked for a living, did not make enough money to afford food and medical care for their families and to those who came here with nothing but their neediness…and their needs were taken care of with money from my paycheck as well as the paychecks of others who also worked for their pay.
So now, my job is gone and I unfortunatly have to rely on the fund which I and others funded all those years including the salaries of the Congress. Now those Congress persons are telling me I am not worth the money that I put into the system by taking off for their Spring break and leaving me wondering and worrying how I am going to survive the next few weeks.
Someone said it a long time ago, “Those who always do the “right thing” are bound to get as their repayment, a good kick in the ass!
Remember, at voting time, who the Congress persons are who took off to their “vacations” and left you to fend for yourself!
Unemployed is unemployed. Whether your state is 7.9% or 8.9%. Government cares not for you, your family and children or whatever financial and life problems you are going through. Recently, there has been little talk about the unemployed in the national press for a reason. Government and media want to keep you neatly tucked away and out of sight. Unemployment?… What unemployment?? The other side of the coin is that Government gets pleasure of absolute power when you are begging for your life. That’s the way politicians and deviants in society like it. Washington politicans are put into two categories, and both are bad, which also tells you the direction of where this country is going. Government officials unquestionably are just plain out of touch with society and reality, or… just bad human beings with defects in their human genetic makeup as found in Sociopaths. It is very telling of these polititions and what they are truly about, when they can just go off and let a large numbers of its citizens sit with anxiety, anguish and turmoil, while they enjoy fun in the sun, or whatever suits their needs and pleasures while millions suffer. Think I’m kidding? Here are common traits of Sociopaths…(GLIBNESS AND SUPERFICIAL CHARM) They are often insincere or engage in superficial discourse. By looking good and acting nice on the surface, they hide their true personalities, which are often very selfish and uncaring, possibly even sadistic. (MANIPULITIVE AND CONNING)-
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims. (GRANDIOSE SENSE OF SELF. LACK OF REMORSE, SHAME OR GUILT)- Do not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way. Feel entitled to certain things as “their right.” (PATHOLOGICAL LYING)-
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests. (SHALLOW EMOTIONS)- When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises. (CALLOUSNESS/LACK OF EMPATHY)- Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others’ feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them. (POOR BEHAVIORAL CONTROLS/IMPULSIVE NATURE)- Abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others…. Please look it up yourself if you think I am exagerating. So after hearing this, what do you think? Pretty scary I’d say…
They don’t know how they will be able to find the money yet the will be giving 1.15 billion dollars to Haiti. It’s so sad that they spend all this money helping others but hold out on there own people.
What needs to happen is Congress should go ahead and extend benefits to the end of the year. Of course, this needs to be paid for in some manner and both parties have legitimate points. ie, there is an emergency and we should be fiscally responsible. We can do both by halving the monies needed. Half from unused stimulus money and half from emergency. I’m not a politician, but it makes sense to me.
Well they passed Health Care Reform. I hope it covers hypothermia and starvation because these 400,000 are the first wave who have exhausted benefits. There are hundreds of thousands every week in the future. I just hope our fingers are not to weak to push the button to oust them at re-election. And I am sure they enjoyed their vacation, and will tell you how hard they worked during that time to create jobs by adding taxes and driving business to China, so they will not be unemployed also.
I have been working for the past 13 years without asking the government for help. I am currently depending on my unemployment benefits to survive. I too am without benefits as of this week. The government does not care about this. What was important to them SPRING BREAK. NOW should someone like me care about their elections. Obama you should have not allowed a vacation at such a crucial time.
So here we go, I am out of benifits and I have exhausted 99 weeks. I have applied everywhere from walmart to gas stations and I have experience in the medical field and can’t find employment. Lets face it being 40 or older isn’t helping either. Can anyone tell me if they do pass another extension after you have reached 99 weeks can you reapply for benifits? I have been out for 2 weeks now and I am going to be late on all my bills and trying to figure out how to put food on the table. I saw the recession in 85 and it was hard then but nothing compares to this. Congress needs to wake up, they think people are going to watch there families starve. I think not we are going to see crime like never before people will not be safe anywhere. So people lock up your house good, and don’t walk alone because people in dire need will do whatever it takes to survive. Good luck all my unemployed friends you are not alone, may God bless you and your families.
There are ways to make money ! You can shine shoes at airports, clean car windshields, cut lawns ect ect, You just have to get out there and stop typing on your computer…
When we are no longer eligible for any kind of unemployment income we no longer count toward the unemployment rate..therefore dropping us will make it look like the economy is getting better. Watch the democrats oooo and awwww when they get back about how the unemployment rate is dropping when they reconvene.
Clean car windshields????
From one unemployed person to the next… Maybe what people should be doing is contacting their representatives and telling their stories instead of posting them on sites like this. It is imperative that Congress understands that you will hold them to account if they do not act.
This is for Steve. You think its that easy do you? People like you are whats wrong with this country! I have two computer degrees and a very strong knowledge of graphic designing, and I still cant find a job. I have been out of work since Feb of 09. This country has went so far down in the last 10 years, congress should have never went on vacation until this was settled. But wait there making six figures a year that were paying for!
I just sent in my last unemployment claim form.Two years unemployed and have applied for every job I can thin of. Even at the grocery stores and nothing. I have enough money saved for maybe, (that is a big maybe)two months. After that, my car will be repossessed and I will be homeless with my two adult children who work part time for just over minimum wage. Who will hire me then? Something has to give here. Isn’t are government suppose to be for the people and not against them?
“There are ways to make money ! You can shine shoes at airports, clean car windshields, cut lawns ect ect, You just have to get out there and stop typing on your computer…”
Steve, it sounds like you don’t take your own advice. Either that, or you are wasting your company’s time (and your bosses’ time) typing out your worthless dribble.
I have been unemployed for a while now. Looking for ANY work, I have found small odd jobs from time to time. When I do find these jobs those wages are taken out of my unemployment. I need work. I need to be able to pay my bills. I have never been in debt but now with unemployment stopping I am looking at being homeless.
Steven,
One of these days you are going to be over 40. You will probabaly lose your job in the future as companies just worry about the bottom line. Life’s good when you’re working and young…but remember…what goes around comes around. We all get older…even you.
To the unemployeed. It is a shame but many of us so this coming. As we told democrats and republicans to do some thing about the illegal aliens who have taken many of the jobs and use up our tax money with free benefits they have never paid into.
We also have made it hard for corporations to keep jobs here in the US has they tax profits from corporation and the left over profit after taxes goes to stock holders who then pay taxes on it. We have a very anti business policy at the moment.
My last thought is about what some of you have said in regards to who pays for unemployment. It is not the employees as some of you have suggested. With the exception of the extension. Unemployment is paid by the employer. Each employer pays into a pool of money. The amount paid is based on your total payroll and is a percent. The extra percent that comes directly from the employer and not out of the employee’s check goes up down depending on how much is being used from that employers eligible unemployed.
In response to posts purporting that we have anti-business policy now. Here’s a few facts to ponder. 1) Corporations account for about 12% of IRS revenue while 35 years ago it was around 50%. From 1940-1980, income in excess of 3 million (give or take) was taxed at 75-91%. During that time, our infrastructure and educational system was the envy of the world and we had the most successful, broad reaching, and robust middle class in the history of the world. Now with excessive income taxed at about 35% and corporations with all time profits paying only accounting for 12%, our educational system stinks, our roads and bridges are crumbling, and the middle class is disappearing before our very eyes. Corporations are outsourcing at an alarming rate, not because of unfair taxation, but rather for the opportunity to access peasant labor overseas for 35 cents an hour for 16 hour days/ 7 days a week. Overseas, children as young as 5 or 6 years old are worked like slaves in conditions we would have found an abomination 200 years ago. Corporations say they have to outsource to compete. Well, if we’d reinstate tariffs on foreign imports and refuse to import goods produced in inhumane conditions, that would not be true. It is the corporations greed and desire to produce for nothing and sell to the US for 1000% profit. In the 1800’s, slaves cost a slave owners the equivalent of 30,000.00 in today’s money. A child laborer can be had today for about $30. If the atrocities against labor were done in this country, or done in the high awareness of the U.S., the outrage would promote boycotts on these goods. But for most, its out of sight…out of mind, totally unaware of the slave labor that produced your designer jeans. Big government is no where near the threat to this country as big corporations who operate with callous inhumanity and no loyalty to citizens. If the current practices continue, the end result will be that likened to the parasitic virus that flourishes until it takes so much from the host (the common man) it eventually kills the host and ultimately itself. There has to be balance or to put it better, checks and balances which have been methodically deregulated away since 1980. What we are experiencing today with unemployment is the direct result of outsourcing (less directly illegal immigrants) that take away good jobs for 35 cent an hour foreigners. Then when you have 15 million unemployed workers that go unemployed long enough, they’ll eventually find work for far less than they once worked for…and that’ by design too. Our pathetic disloyal trade policy,greed mongering multinational corporations, and corrupt lobby influenced congress is why there is so many unemployed. It hasn’t got a thing to do with unfavorable tax code on corporations or lazy workers. If you buy into that “poor over taxed corporation” BS propaganda, you are mislead and don’t have a clue as to what’s going on.
PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DO CRAZY **** TO TAKE CARE OF THERE FAMILYS.THIS COUNTRY WILL NOT BE SAFE FOR ANYBODY.CRIME GONNA GO ABSOLUTLY BESERK.IM SCARED TO DEATH.GOD HELP US IF THEY DONT KEEP EXTNEDING HTOSE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.THERE ARE NO JOBS ….PERIOD.I HAVE SENT OUT ENDLESS RESUMES WITH OUT EVEN A RESPONSE.THIS COUNTRY IS IN A JOBLESS DEPRESION.EXTEND THOSE BENEFITS NOW CONGRESS.
how about we outsource government.we can get politians much cheaper.just like they outsource american jobs.
To vocal mike; that was well reasoned and articulate, nicely done.
I am frustrated too, but I think we Americans need to accept some responsibility. I am in my late 40s, disabled and have a MA and, for the first time in my life, I can’t find a job to save my own life. It’s been almost exactly one year since I was laid off and now my UI Benefits run out in two weeks. Medical insurance is a necessity, but Cobra eats a third of my benefit money. So I get the anger and fear. But I am tired of hearing about how it’s all everyone else’s fault, we helped.
So here’s where I believe we bear some of the responsibility: R. Heinlein said “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” We have spent the last 10 years equating the word tax with bad, raising taxes = evil government takeover. Ridiculous. This is the first time in US history that, while in a state of war, we did not raise taxes. In prior times some sacrifice was seen as not only essential but patriotic. Instead we have had a government, wholly bought and paid for by corporations, telling us to go out and incur debt if we really want to “support our country and our troops.” We went out like happy little sheep and used our credit cards to pay our credit cards. We bought houses, cars, and boats we really couldn’t afford. We didn’t bother to save, or we were living paycheck to paycheck. We became comfortable with waste and excess; Single servings, disposable, etc. We have yet to embrace frugality as a way to, not only help ourselves, but to help each other. Someone said once: “It’s a recession when your neighbors lose their jobs, it’s a depression when you lose yours.” As we continue to lose our jobs in this depression, many corporations and the extremely wealthy have made record profits. We let this happen. We allowed ourselves to be led by slogans and posters. We listen to news organizations who’s agenda is, not to inform, but to create controversy thereby increasing their profits. I have found that by accepting some responsibility I have become better informed and more financially and environmentally responsible. I am able to live on less, and I have found some comfort in that. Now if I can just find a job!
There is No reason that I should be drawing unemployment, NONE. Unfortunately I find myself in that rapidly sinking boat. I am disgusted and ashamed that this is the fact. It doesn’t matter what some more fortunate individuals may think or say about my situation. They are just more fortunate. The sad thing is, there are more of us than what is widely accepted. The people I find myself standing next to in my frantic search for gainful employment are the same people that I am proud to have worked along side of for over 30 years.We aren’t weak or lazy. Times are bad and our leadership has put us here. We have become to trusting in our representative government. I have lulled myself into a false sense of security over the years by subscribing to the idea that all I had to do was work hard and do what is right and smarter people than me would ensure our common welfare as set forth in our Constitution. Slowly but surely , in their infinite wisdom, these presumed representative governors have lost track of “We the People…”. I have one option left before the anarchy forces us all to a more base motivation. VOTE . I strongly recommend that all Americans stop voting party or affiliate lines , spend the time to get to know your prospective representatives and cast your vote. We as Americans in my humble opinion are the most capable people to fix our own problems. I’ve spent plenty of holidays where I DID NOT want to be because my specific abilities were required. Government positions are service positions. Capital hill get a grip, or we will.
PROUD AMERICAN ASHAMED OF MY LEADERS
re: steve Apr 5th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Steve, I read your comments and find you to be an utter poop head!
How do you expect anyone to pay the all of the bills shining shoes at the airport, cutting lawns and cleaning car windshields? We all PAID into the system for many years. Are we not entitled to the benefits that should come from years of funding unemployment?
This government cares more about funding crises in foreign countries than taking care of the people here! Billions have been sent out of the ocuntry over the years and that’s partially why there is a financial crisis here!
Your asinine comment is worthless in defining fault!
well. to all of u that think we should not get an extention of our benefits.none of u is marry to your jobs. look out what u say.because it will be u next time. and god is not please with yall selfish ways or comment toward his people. his good hard working people trying to just live here on earth until christ comes back to claims it.and obey his rules and live right. don’t u know that u don’t kick a men when he is down and u don’t looks down on a men unless u r picking him up. so think about that when u at the dinner table or just enjoying your house’car or everything that u have that we are in fear of loseing.come on people god got this. he did not say it will be easy; we gotta pray that they will do the right thing. but we knows who holds the real power and the united states has been bless. but i fear that the devil is back in the saddle and we in for a rough ride.please let us pray for the whole world to get back to a state that it should be in.god bless
I wonder does anyone believe that God is in control of the world, not the President, not Congress but the Creator himself. To those of you who will not receive your benefits, including myself, we must keep praying to a higer power than the government. Just believe that God is changing things, and they will change and man has no control.
It will soon be time for us to vote for our Senators and Congressman, if you feel that they are not doing their job, vote them out. Use your voice and vote.