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Applicants wait in line at a job fair in San Francisco last month. If the federal government doesn't act, more than 300,000 Californians will lose unemployment benefits.
By Charles B. Stockdale, 24/7 Wall St.
Nearly 2 million Americans currently receiving unemployment benefits stand to lose coverage this January if Congress does not extend the emergency federal unemployment insurance program. 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed a study by the National Employment Law Project to identify the ten states where the most people could lose benefits.
The supercommittee was responsible for extending the unemployment benefits. The group was supposed to reach a federal debt-reduction agreement that would have included an extension of the federal unemployment insurance for people who have run out of state-level benefits. Since the supercommittee failed to reach an agreement, the federal programs will expire on December 31 unless Congressional lawmakers renew it.
24/7 Wall St.: Richest (and poorest) states in America
A similar uncertainty existed last year, before federal benefits were eventually extended. However, a sharply divided Congress may find it even more difficult to extend benefits this year. Rebecca Dixon, policy analyst at NELP, told 24/7 Wall St. that “If Congress fails to renew unemployment insurance benefits, 6 million hardworking Americans struggling to get back on their feet will lose their emergency lifeline. These modest payments are vital to keeping these workers and their families afloat while they search for work in the worst job market since the Great Depression.”
Despite recent declines in the national rate, unemployment is still a huge problem in the U.S. The rate has remained around 9 percent for three years, well above 2008’s 5 percent rate. Worst still, 42 percent of the unemployed are currently “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have exhausted all state unemployment benefits, received before federal benefits and usually lasting for 26 weeks. This accounts for approximately 6 million people. If the federal program expires, 1.8 million people who either currently collect federal benefits or are to begin collecting them in January will be completely cut off.
The states on this list have the largest number of residents who could lose benefits. Many states make the list simply because of their size. New York and Texas, for instance, both have unemployment rates that are below the national average but are among the most populous states in the country. Other states on the list have particularly high unemployment, in addition to large populations. California, for instance, has the second highest rate in the country, and Michigan has the fourth.
These are the ten states where the most unemployed could lose benefits in 2012.
1. California
- Unemployment rate: 11.7 percent (2nd highest)
- Number of residents potentially losing insurance in January: 305,400
- Total population: 37,253,956
California is the largest state in the country, by population, and it has the second highest unemployment rate to boot. The state has borrowed $11 billion from the federal government over the last few years for its unemployment fund, and now must pay back that amount plus hundreds of millions of dollars in interest, according to the Los Angeles Times. Unemployed residents who will lose all benefits if federal handouts are not extended will exceed 300,000 — accounting for nearly 17 percent of all those in the country who will be cut off.
24/7 Wall St.: Best- and worst-run states
2. Florida
- Unemployment rate: 10.3 percent (8th highest)
- Number of residents potentially losing insurance in January: 131,000
- Total population: 18,801,310
Florida has the fifth-lowest unemployment benefits in the country, according to the Tax Foundation. Additionally, the state is one of three to have made significant cuts in benefits and eligibility over the past two years, changing its policy of a 26 week maximum benefit period to 23 weeks at most, and that is only when the unemployment rate is 10.5 percent or greater. If it falls below 5 percent, residents can only collect 12 weeks. Currently, there are more than 400,000 Floridians collecting benefits.
3. New York
- Unemployment rate: 7.9 percent (22nd lowest)
- Number of residents potentially losing insurance in January: 126,000
- Total population: 19,378,102
In March of 2011, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that extended federally funded unemployment insurance benefits through 2011. At the time, Cuomo defended the measure, stating that "Re-entering the workforce can be daunting and time consuming. This law provides basic relief for the thousands of job-hunters across the state." If benefits expire, 126,000 New Yorkers will lose their safety net this January.
Click here to read the rest of the list: Ten states with the most unemployed about to lose benefits.
Leave a Comment:
why, we will just have to give those massive fraudulent banks a few more free federal reserve dollars to loan more money to chinese tent makers so these folks can keep warm enough to sell blood so they have a place to sleep. Where are those wonderful economist when you need them.
I can't see either party allowing for this type of incident to happen!!!
After all that I have been through as well as many others and to continue to get treated unfairly????
At this point our elected officials do not understand how those who need this income will retaliate!!!!
Especially when you have people killing themselves and their children because they can't put food on the table!!!!
Myself and alot of others are passed depressed and our wits end with these politicians and with those who continue to be unfair!!!
I'm sorry but, before I decide that this life is no longer worth it I think I will have to take it to these leaders before my family or myself!!!!
KEEP F-N Up and taking food out of our mouths and watch how our calm waters can become the most destructive their is!!!
You guys in office need to pick up the progress because the direction that this entire world will go into will not benefit any of us!!!!
If we all can't play fairly than nobody plays at all!!!!
Peel-Layer: You can't be suffering all that much if you obviously still are paying for and can afford internet access...and citing the story about that mom that killed herself and shot her kids is a very isolated incident that was used by the media to make a very unvalidated point...there was much more to the story than was being presented. And as far as "fairness"...haven't you yet realized that life isn't fair? What do you consider "fair".
This demonstrates one of the major problems with America right now. Too many people define "fair" as being entitled to more and more government benefits as long as someone else pays for it.
We need to focus on having governments provide the services which are most critical to the long term success of this country.
Food is a basic human necessity. Without it humans will die in roughly a week. Medicine is not a basic human necessity. People can live for 50 years without ever seeing a doctor. Government should provide basic food for free to every American before they provide health care to the poor and the elderly.
If government would stop providing Medicare and Medicaid our financial difficulties would be solved. It is much more inhumane to let people go hungry than it is not to provide medicine.
We should leave social security alone and provide extended unemployement insurance and stop waisting money on medicine.
THIS. YES. (and welfare/tanf/wic!, but that's just my two stamps [pun intended])
We need to get these bums off the dole and back to work...there I've given the Fox/Republican response...
Or just let' em starve to death. After all, they're unworthy of help because they don't have jobs.
The right wingnuts don't seem to realize that Unemployment Compensation is insurance, not anentitlement or "welfare." It is paid for by the employer as an employee benefit and only certain employees (about half) are even eligible. This is not "the dole" but rather a benefit that they employees bought for themselves when they were employed. Strangely enough, unemployment benefits are usually taxed at the highest nominal tax rate in the country (in toto about 38% average) because most benefit years also include some wages as well and unemployment checks are 100% spent immediately into the local economy, generating federal income tax and payroll taxes, as well as local and state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and numerous fees and mandates.
The only money that Congress and the states chip in comes when employment downturns last so long that the contractual benefits run out while jobs are still being lost. Unemployment compensation is a good example of a middle class program that is endangered by the elitists who want to eliminate all social programs, even when the programs, by and large cost the taxpayer little or nothing.
I ould like to see Santa bring all the wingnuts a calculator so they can see for themselves that much of the Fox BS is just that --- BS and that if you run the numbers, you get a completely different story that the GOP prpopaganda.
Roll Tide!
Chris,....The first 6 mos of the unemployment benefits are paid out of a state fund where set-asides have been collected from businesses (unemployment insurance). The additional tier2,3,4 or the 99 week aggregate pushed through by the Obama administration is an additional unfunded burden that is placed on those who pay federal taxes. This because the 99wk benefits are emergency extensions. Unfunded means that these monies are borrowed from China and directly raise the national debt. The responsability of getting back to work in a timely fashion rests with the individual.
Please stick to facts before pontificating........... And the only real wingnuts here are those that blame their bad decisions and misfortune on the banking industry that never forced anyone to provide their signature. These wingnuts occupy and trash major cities and vote with a "D".
Thanks for correcting Chris's errors. Betting he has never been near a payroll to know how the system works. Our company is still paying the State for the people we laid off in 2009. They raised our contribution by a factor of 4, which was a hard hit. If the Fed rate goes up, that will hurt too. Most Americans conveniently "forget" where that free money is coming from. And no, when people have been on unemployment for this long, it is an entitlement. Companies didn't receive that much from the employee to compensate for this long term pay-out.
@rightwingnut,
You're quite wrong. Extensions of unemployment benefits are not "unfunded" or any of the other TP buzzwords. The extensions are loans made to state governments and are backed by the states' promissory notes. The money is not "borrowed from China" and do not "increase the national debt."
The lack of social conscience is not a valid political theory, but rather a personal failing.
Chris,.......Promissory notes are loans, for your own edification. That is "borrowed" money. When states cannot meet their obligations they fall back on the federal government for support, such as what has been happening for the last few years. When the federal government cannot meet it's daily obligations it borrows more $$$ from foreign investors, ie China, Japan, Germany.
Your emotional postings are indicative of a childlike neediness that must implore to higher powers for daily needs (your sugar-daddy government).
No Chris, they're unfunded, as they weren't part of the original budget, but who do you think will ultimately pay for this. We will. And it is quite likely that part of the money is coming from China. Since we are spending $1.40 for every $1.00 brought in, do you know exactly what the .40 is being spent on?
@Willowjerk,
I am 68, retired (from banking) and a vet. The largest payroll of my own was 16 employees plus a number of 1099ers as the owner of my own service company. I was on someone else's payroll continuously from the age of 11 until I retired. So you lose. Most of the time you will lose when you are talking about thinks that you do not understand.
"Employers" like to whine that somehow unemployment insurance is something they pay. In fact, it is not a tax, but an involuntary purchase of insurance and shows up on their books as "pay and benefits" under benefits. It is actually money that the employee pays into a named conditional account administered by the individual states under federal oversight. When there is an extension the states pay the bill but can raise the unemployment insurance premiums as they wish to pay for it.
You people have been spewing this sort of inaccurate and misrepresented venom for so long that you have lost any ability to think for yourselves. Do you actually believe that no one goes and checks this sort of thing out????? Only an idiot would make such an assumption in the internet age.
Gee, now they’ll have to get jobs. I know from personal experience that one looks for a job a lot harder when the unemployment checks are no longer in the mail.
Unemployment compensation ceases to be insurance and morphs into an entitlement the same as welfare when it becomes unending, and despite what some would have you believe, there are lots of unfilled jobs available.
Social Security and Medicare are considered entiltlements but i have PAID into those programs since 1965 for medicare and 1963 for Social Security. The are both insurance programs , Social Security ,considered an Annuity and Medicare ,long term health care insurance. Why does the government think they can "PLAY " with these programs.
Been asleep for the last couple of years? We have a RECESSION and there aren't enough jobs for everyone. I suppose you want poor kids to get to work to help the family out too.
Boy aren't you cranky Chris...First of all EMPLOYEES do not pay unemployment taxes. EMPLOYERS DO. If you are going to talk about others inaccuracies, proof your own posts first.
In my accounting program unemplyment taxes are listed under Tax Liabilities, broken down into subsections of EE - Employee or ER - Employer and only are there entries for ER under unemployment taxes. The Fed and State unemployment accounts are listed under operating expenses on the Financial Statement. I'm only responding since you were insulting, and I've been successfully navigating the Accounting waters for my company for years now. If you have the experience you claim, you would already know this. It was funny, I was going to put you on the ignore list a while ago, due to the content of your posts. I should have went with my gut instinct.
There are many who come up with creative accounting descriptions, but the bottom line is still the same in this instance, the employer pays, not the employee. But the bigger picture is where are they going to find the money to pay for these extensions? We are already in trouble financially, what are they going to do, make the hole bottomless?
TL (2.10)
You are mistaken, Social Security and Medicare are NOT entitlements and they aren’t considered as such by anyone that matters, including the government. They “Play” with these programs, especially Medicare, under the ruse of eliminating wasteful spending when in reality, they’re just gutting them. In that respect, we are in agreement.
Lib50 (2.11)
There have been recessions before and out of personal experience I will tell you that there are jobs that can be had, and even in today’s recession there are many jobs that go unfilled. The major difference between the recession of the late 80’s/early 90’s and today’s recession is that back then you were on your own and that in itself is a major motivator to find a job, and find a job I did. Today, people are being groomed for permanent dependency on a growing government bureaucracy by means of ever
increasing and unlimited entitlements.
willowbrook,
Unemployment Insurance is actually in the same category as Social security and Medicare. However, unlike the benefits of SSI and Medicare which most of us plan to use those benefits as part of our retirement income, we hope to never use UI. However, what do you say to all the lower level employees of companies like Enron or Tyco, whose top leaders lied and stole the companies into bankruptcy? What to you say to the employees of the industries such as textiles, whose operations were off-shored almost completely? Or to production workers who daily see their jobs off-shored or automated?
The advent of the automobile disrupted not only the buggy-whip industry, but carriage makers, wagon builders, drayage drivers, livery stables, and even city sanitation workers.
UI is a benefit, not just to the individual, but also to the community, to assure a degree of economic continuity. If you believe that the typical UE beneficiary is living it up on roughly 30% of their former income, on which they also must pay federal, state and local income taxes, then you are truly living in a dream world. And by the way, collecting UE does not qualify anyone for also collecting food stamps or any other welfare.
wet willy,
Having lived through both the recessions of the 1980's and this one, I would point to radical differences.
In the 1980's, Walmart proudly displayed "Made in America" banners throughout its stores; today, even it's US flags are made in China. In the 1980's, automobile fabrication was largely manual work; today, it is largely automated with many smaller components out-sourced off-shore. In the 1980's, steel production was starting to complain about the incursion of foreign plate and rolled steel; today, most steel is imported, frequently made from exported American scrap.
The 1980's clarian call was for converting America to a service economy. Trickle-down economics were touted as being our economic savior. And the country went massively into debt spending on literally pie in the sky defense projects. The country recovered based on new technology called computers, realisation that auto-makers in America needed to make better cars, and demand for goods from off-shore led to exports of everything from liquor to bulldozers.
Today, we face a collapse on confidence not seen in the 1980's. Projects and contracts cancelled, not deferred. Sales not made, no demand for our goods here or off-shore. Further, many of those products we did export are now made, by the same companies, in the countries buying them.
I have to wonder where a fully valued Mexican-based illegal drug industry in this country would rank vs. Apple, Walmart, or GE. Afterall, they seem to have a broad-base of "independent contractor" vendors all across the country.
Finally, UE was available in the 1980's, with plenty of beneficiaries. The difference is that today Fox shows cartoon characters pretending to care about politics, rather than the kiddie cartoons they used to show, and the Tea Party has replaced and smeared over the Libertarians, with only Ron Paul survivng.
Sorry, system driven repeat post.
Chris and Willowbrook... please allow me to correct both of you. You're BOTH right and wrong... predicated on which state you happen to live in.
Some states place the entire burden of "unemployment insurance" on the employee as a mandated deduction from earnings.
Some states have the employer and employee share the burden.
Other states have the employer assume the full cost.
What most people don't realize is that unemployment is very similar to the "Social Security" trust fund. It's really a fallacy. The current payments go to current recipients, occasionally, the state does run a surplus and then unlike social security might lower the rates charged or WILL do like the Feds do to SS and "borrow" the excess to pay bills without going to the public market.
So in truth, as far as the basics go, you're both right... depending on location.
However, when the state "borrows" the funds from the Feds, it's a burden on the taxpayers of the state. It also becomes a burden on the US population as a whole as the money the Feds loan to the state are borrowed funds, which the Federal Government is obligated to repay. So Chris, on this point WillowBrook is correct.
California, New York....duh.
There are legitimate cases and then there are the ones gaming the system. Many will not accept a job unless it pays considerably more than their unemployment benefits. Others don't take their job searches seriously because they would rather not work.
Who here would hire someone that comes in with their jeans sagging, underwear showing, mumbling around a wad of gum about a job? This happened to someone I know. People sometimes set themselves up to fail.
And for those who dress well? Who speak intelligently? Who has experience and education? And who are more than willing to accept a 75% pay reduction?
Look, it looks by your comment that you're looking at one person, or an assumed group of people. But there are more than just the 'other guy' out there looking for jobs. Along with those who were able to land a part-time low-pay job, but would like to do more (they're not on the unemployment list).
I know one individual who would be happy to pay back every penny of UE beni's...if job was found. Yep, even the $8/hr job, YEP.
@rightwingnut,
That many people won't accept jobs that pay less than unemployment compensation is very easily understandable. The average unemployment check is $295 a week of the equivalent of a $7.38 an hour job --- not even close to minimum wage. And at a nominal tax rate approaching 38% plus, all but $183 of that $295 goes to federal, state and local taxes and fees. That's $4.58 an hour to live on. Yeah, a lot of people on unemployment would rather keep looking instead of taking a job with wages far less than the minimum wage and usually with no benefits, especially health insurance. That is the purpose of unemployment compensation.
And as far as "gaming the system" goes, unemployment compensation is insurance paid for by the employer on behalf of the employee. They paid for it, why should they not use it as they see fit. People can only collect unemployment if they have already paid for the priviledge.
The biggest reason that unemployment is so high, especially among professionals, is the housing market. People simply cannot change jobs if it would require them to move. Too many are simply underwater in their home mortgages and would be instantly bankrupt if they had to move. Right now, more Americans are in jobs that they hate or could easily better but for the housing market.
And your final paragraph is the kind of right wing stereotypical mumbo jumbo that haters always spew. People are drawing unemployment because they were fired from their jobs through no fault of their own. You are talking about the hard-working middle class, not some hypothetical black kid that you so openly despise. (And yes, the "underwear showing" thing is racist codewording.)
If you hate this country so much --- just leave!
Chris,.....You selectively missed pointing out my acknowledgement of legitimate cases of people on UI but instead turned this into a accusatory racism derail. Your post above tells me quite a bit about you.
This is just plain inappropriate behavior and their are examples of it in different races.
Go to H@ll! I will continue to defend the principles that my great country was founded upon. You ovbiously don't know what these are and espouse beliefs that are intended to destroy America so you leave!
@Chris: This is why unemployment needs reform to encourage those to seek any job until a position they desire opens up, instead of just sitting around being a drain.
Any person stuck in a blue or red ideology can leave. We need humanitarianism! We need reality slaps in the face! The writing is on the wall we just can't see it yet because the powers that be are proping up the entire world economy with fake paper money and electronic wizardry!
@Ruken,
The unemployment compensation program is administered by the states with fedwral guidelines. Every state requires that people collecting unemployment compensation respond to any open job for which they are qualified on what is called the "80% rule." That rule assigns a point system based on how much money you used to make, your education, and other factors. You have to respond to any job opening that is at least 80% of what you were doing previously. That means that an electrical engineer does not have to look into jobs flipping burgers. Most states require a minimum of 3 employment contacts a week --- interviews, accepted and acknowledged applications, job fair hits, etc. Most people on unemployment take care of state job placement services and the average is an astounding 28 contacts a week, though many of those are not legitimate jobs (many companies post have internal policies that require them to post jobs to the public before awarding them to some internal employees, usually as promotions. In those the job does not actually exist since someone has already been identified for it.)
States are really being hit hard by this but a large part of it is that unemployment insurance premiums are not paid by state and local governments, so when a state employee or a teacher is laid off, there was no payroll tax pament coming in to fund it. There have been so many layoff of state and local employees in the past 4 years that almost half the states' payouts of unemployment insurance are going to people whose employer (state and local governments) managed to not pay into the system.
The popular portrayal of people sitting on their thumbs while drawing unemployment is just an urban myth. Most are keenly aware that it is very little money and that it will run out soon. Since people who were fired with cause do not qualify for unemployment, most of the real slackers are not eligible for unemployment in the first place. Blaming the victim is pretty much a bankrupt way of thinking, but it is the tao of the American right wing.
What you've described is a VERY small percentage of the unemployed. I got my first summer job when I was 14 years old. I'm 59 now. Other than when I was going to school, I've worked my entire life. So, I'm not one of the unemployed who "doesn't want to work".
Every time there is an article about unemployment, those of us who are unemployed are raked over the coals (yet again). Funny how no one ever rakes the corporations who downsized us (by the multi-millions) over those same coals. The interesting thing is, you had to have WORKED to even be RECEIVING UI benefits. Yet, let people tell it, we don't want to work! Most of us are stressed to the limit with worry and the uncertainty of our future as we try to find work. The last thing we're doing is "sitting around"!
I'd like to believe you, I really would.
Our UI is going up 200% next year.
Many of those on unemployment are working under the table while collecting. It is no small number either. Here's a newsflash......they vote for the party of gimmee all your money while I sit on my ass, smoke pot and play video games in my parent's basement.
Ruken,
Your concept of taking the first job, regardless of your background fails logic.
You would have a displaced engineer take a job as a hotel maid, at minimum wage or less, while a twenty year old mother who would love the hours and precious pay check stays unemployeed until another engineering job in his field opens up? And you do realize working makes it harder to find another job, unless it is in the same field as your current job. Meanwhile, the twenty year old is still stuck.
By the way, most economists say it take 300,000 NEW jobs per month to break even due to people entering or re-entering the job market. And this assumes the jobs are broadly distributed, not regional. As others have noted, we are not as mobile a society as we think we are.
That’s the problem in this country we don’t need just welfare we need workfare, people who are disabled and can’t work who need assistance should get welfare, those who are able bodied and need assistance should get workfare, no one who needs help should be turned away. Unfortunately the system is so badly broken, run by corrupt politicians who are more concerned with self gain then serving the country that they hypocritically swore an oath to serve.
Warm up the presses... for printing larger denominations.
Yet another argument for stronger state government and smaller federal government.
I notice both the writers and MSNBC fail to point out how little per capita Texas is borrowing. Texas who has now a huge transient population due to the jobs here (you want to see all the out of state number plates in Houston these days)
Seems to me, in fact, most of the "liberal states" (who like big government) seem to be the most IN DEBT.
You wing nut its the state that is the culprit! The feds helped them out with the loan. So you weaken the FED then what would California do? I live in georgia and we have 10.4% unemplyment rate, and our unemployment trust has been zeroed and we had to borrow from the feds why you ask! because our state for years allowed the companies to diminish the amount they paid into the trust, when unemployment was low they let the companies KEEP the money and now look when we need that money its not there. Thinks about the second stimulus who got that money? THE STATES why becuase when times where good they cut taxes they cut they cut and they cut, and when it came time to have cash reserves to off set lost reciepts they had nothing. So don't go on touting this its all about the FED BS cause thats what it is BS!!
@Alex,
The tighty-righties still don't seem to get it: The federal government does NOT fund unemploymnent compensation and no unemployment funds come from the federal government. The primary funds (usually 100%) come from premiums paid by employers as a part of an employeee's compensation. When a states unemployment trust fund is exhausted, the federal government loans the money to the states to make good. As you say this has been exaccerbated by poor management of the UI trust funds and constantly shrinking insurance premiums, but also has been hit very, very hard by the layoffs of so many federal, state, and local employees for whom no unemployment insurance premiums were ever collected (the states consider themselves "self-insured.") The states have to pay back the loans with interest. And with the states financial situation worsening, those interest rates are climbing as their credit ratings are downgraded.
The states have every right in the world to raise unemployment insurance premiums to make up any shortfall, and only the mantra of "no tax increases no matter what the reason" has kept them from doing so. So it is okay for an airline to raise ticket prices retroactively when fuel goes up, but not okay for states to raise the unemployment insurance premiums when unemployment goes up. What's wrong with this thinking? What the GOP is espousing is when an airline's fuel costs go up, that they should cut ticket prices. Not really very bright thinking.
My company's UI is going up 200% next year.
I was on unemployment for a while before I started taking SS. I went out every day and picked litter at a park or along a highway. It felt good to do something AND get some exercise. I also volunteered at community functions. It may not seem like much but is was more than most do. I still pick up litter weekly for the exercise.
Good Comment Sarg.. Kudos buddy
Let the bums starve. There are jobs out there all over the place, the job may just not be in their back yard. They don't want to work if they can not work right at "HOME" or for the big dollars they think they are worth. There are jobs in all sectors that are going begging for workers but why work when OBAMA willl give it to them. Again, I say let them starve. Now jump on this all you left wing liberal a** holes.
If you pay people not to work and tax them if they do work, don't be surprised if you find a lot of people not working.
@ Steve
The trajectory towards "fair".
Ok so who do you know that can actually live off unemployment insurance? its based off your previous salary and most are only at 30% so how can you live the life you've esthablished off 30% you can't. Most states make the insurance run out after 26 weeks anyway just because the federal government extended it to 99 weeks doesn't mean the state you reside in did. All this paint with a broad brush is ridiculous.
For a long time, people have been filing legitimate claims. Then, there are those who milked the system, and get away with it. My ex had applied for disability, and was awarded 2 years back benefits. During the time waiting, she applied for and received unemployment compensation for nearly 2 years. Yes, she is a con artist, but I give equal blame to the state of Florida being too dumb to catch it. I'm sure if one did this, so have others. It is always the same thing, a few ruin it for the rest.
So you just decided to not report her fraud because it's the state's fault? What kind of logic is that?
This just in: those aware of ongoing crimes and do nothing are guilty as accessories.
It was reported to Workforce Florida, and even Sen Detert's office. The excuse is they can't investigate everyone.
That's better.
But, this would be seen as a sign of progress by the news media because fewer jobless claims would be filed!
hey john bonern,[actually bohner,but call em like i see em],WHERE ARE THE JOBS??????????????????????????????can't have jobs in this country when we,[our great goverment], pays businesses to throw our people out in the street and run off to some 3rd world country to get cheaper EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!wake up america,where will it end????????????? how about charging a little when they bring their junk back in this country!!! trade war??bring it on!! they need us A HELL OF ALOT MORE THAN WE NEED THEM!!!! also,lets start buying american again,would help a hell of alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!tell this to your local congressman,mine had every excuse except being taken hostage,[bobby,"THE SCHILL" schilling of illinois!!!!!!!!!!!]
Dude, calm your tits. One question mark and one exclamation mark are quite enough to get your point across. It's very difficult to read your opinion when it's put like a preteen's facebook update (aka like THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Come to Alabama (if you are a legal US resident). Many jobs have recently opened up in the agricultural field, the fast food industry, and janitorial, landscaping, and construction industries. No knowledge of Spanish required.
we need CCC programs again, something to rebuild infrastructure etc, we got problems folks,, its most likely just the beginning of the real wack,
Didn't Obama try to pass something like that in his American Jobs Act? Something that'd give funding to rebuilding our transit systems?
Ruken, yes he did, and the GOP shoot the AJA bill down. People need to understand that from day one, the GOP could not handle the fact a black person became President. Queer limpdick gave his orders that Obama must fail. And since then, what has the GOP done to help our country? In fact, name one bill the GOP has ever passed that helped the average American worker.
Yea, that's one of the parts of his bill I wanted passed too :(
Party politics, yuck.
For all u liberals, one more time.
Unemployment insurance is paid for by the employer/employee, with a maximum of 16 weeks. We pay this by the state we are in, and yes it is an insurance benefit we have paid for.
If the Gov't extends this it is paid by all of us. It is not an insurance at this time. it is a welfare check.
I was laid off and after 12 weeks on unemployment, i got a contract offer in California. Not what I wanted both in pay and location, but better than unemployment. I spent 6 months in CA, i live in Arkansas. I now have a contract in MS, at least just one state over, and I drive home on the weekend. In CA I couldn't afford to fly back and forth except for last xmas. But you do what you have to do to survive. No amount of gov't hand outs is going to help us, we must help ourselves. That goes for the able bodied and the disabled. These SOB's in the gov't keep wanting to give money away. Perhaps if they were not so loose with our tax dollars the country wouldn't be in such a mess.
JB, just be glad that you found work. A lot of people are trying to find work, and very few places are hiring. The only way this economy is going to turn around is by consumer spending. And spending money on foreign made junk is not the way to do it. Spending money on American made products causes companies to produce those goods. The more demand, the company will hire people to meet those demands.
Until that happens, we are screwed, each and everyone of us, because this economic mess will take yrs to come around.
One additional item for you liberals.
When Obama was voted in, the first two years you had a majority in the house and senate, and you could pass anything you wanted, and you did. The people looked at what you did to rhe country in 2 years, and voted as many liberals out as they could in 2010. A lot of voters were sorry they even heard of Obama, much less voted for him.
Now we have a president campaining in his 3rd year in office, and trying to say he is running the country from inside a bus. He is not a leader, voters already spoke out on that in the 2010 elections, 2012 we will get rid of him and all his Chicago friends.
JB
what you preach is YOUR OPINION!! and unemployment insurance is exactly that. and when the fed extends it it is up to the state and the state run program to decide what to do, not the feds. Many states depleted this fun to pay for other things when times where good like giving breaks to employers so don't sit on your high horse now that you're not collecting a check telling other people they shouldn't collect theres becuase now that you have a job you don't want to pay for other people. So typical. You know whats even more funny is you talk about liberals this and that but the majority of states with the highest unemployment and highest poverty rates are republican states. I live in georgia and our labor chief decided to lower the amount of time you could be on unemployment by 4 weeks and decreased the amount that it would pay out. And to pay back the fed they took the money from medicaid and cut other programs that help the poor. Its a joke 10% unemployment in a bright red state and somehow you want me to magically blame Obama OK!! My state taxes gone up, property taxes up, introduced a new highway peach pass you pay to use the road we've already paid for, gas tax up. Please my governor is the real crook.
Alex, typical liberal reaction when not wanting to hear something, just call it an OPINION. And if you dont like the subject, change it to something else to try and prove nothing.
I didnt say i didnt want them to get checks, only that they should work for them. There is no part of the constitution that guarantees a job within a 50 mile radius of your house. Just like it doesn't guarantee a welfare check. If you need a job, start surfing the web, as I do. And don't discount the job opening just because its not in Georgia.
Sally and Alex
I suggest that you go to your local Community College sign up for a welding class. in a year or less you can become a Certified Welder and make 75-90 per hour. Or you can learn Auto Mechanics. May take 2 years but you can become ASE Certified. Sally if you can't handle the work in a mans world you can get an Accounting Degree in 2 years. Start your own Accounting Business. Or you can learn Medical Billing in a year or less. Lots of jobs in my area for a Billing person. You can even work at home if you wish. There are many jobs that you can learn in a Community College in 2 years or less at a small cost. You just have to apply yourself,and tough it out.
I did many jobs in many places in my career before I started my business. Some I liked most I didn't,but hey it put food on the table and a roof over my family's head. We survived. And I think the better for it. I'm retired now and we are doing quite well on my pension and Social Security. My wife will get her Social Security in a few years then we will join the ranks of the RICH AND FAMOUS!!!
Slodon,
I agree for those young enough and/or fit enough to invest in another career. Education in new skills, especially where there is an inherent interest is never wasted. However, for many 55+displaced people this may just become another expense. Until we can successfully accomodate young, new entries to the job-market as well as older employees, the young will have a certain advantage. Bosses don't want to boss their mothers or grandmothers, they much prefer their kids or peers. And too many of these skills, while not beyond the older populace, really challenge many of us, regardless of education.
I don't know if this matters or not.. I live in Rhode Island and our citizens who are collecting 27 weeks or more (collecting federal dollars) can collect up to 660.00 per week for 79 weeks when a Mississippi citizen can only collect up to 230.00 for 59 weeks! Does this seem right? Why would our Federal Government give more money to one citizen in a particular state than to another citizen in a different state? Is it a loan from the government?
My guess is cost of living.
I'd guess more people are "unemployed"/scamming in Mississippi than in RI, so RI can afford to give more.
All ten of the Poorest States are Southern Red States. Things that make you go, HMMMM.
Spartan,.....That infowas published by the Huffington post which is a liberal op-ed whose sole purpose is to degrade conservatives. Toilet paper. It bases "poorer" on lower salaries and wages in parts of the country that have a much lower cost of living. And will never admit that though earning less, more people in red states are working than sitting out drawing 99weeks'.
The ten states with the most long term unemployed are mostly blue. Hmmmm.......
rightwingnut63,
Could the fact that the ten poorest states are southern red states have less to do with the Huffington Post and more to their historic political and economic power structures. A legacy of poor rural schools, segregation, share-cropping, mills taking their profits north or overseas, and local bosses controlling peoples lives. That is a recipe for a few well-off folks at the top, and a lot of poor, often uneducated people.
Until the civil rights split of the 1960's, Democrats controlled most of the South. After the Dixiecrat split, Republicans moved into the power vacuum, but don't seem to have seriously changed the overall ethos.
hey d848, in most states,she would have to pay the u.c. back.not florida???????????but,not surprising, look who they elected gov, scott, [a medicare thief,]and senator rubio,doesn't know when his parents came from cuba!!!!!!!
Bob, the people who supposedly investigate fraud in Florida are very short staffed, according to their benefit control section. I don't know if they are truthful, or just don't give a damn because she only took them for around $20 grand. I laid part of the blame on Florida because they never ask her to show proof of searching for work, or caught the fact she was using 2 different last names. As for Gov. Scott, Florida has a long history of corruption in the political arena. It just seems to be a state where people get away with anything and everything.
well d848,whos fault is that??????????????file a charge with the dept of labor,then you will get something done!!!
hey jb024,i wouldn't bet on that with what the clown show, [fascist tea baggin republicans], has put up!!!!!!!! but,if you would like to make a wager,let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Using the logic of Chris and the assertion that unemployment and the extensions are fully funded and not borrowed - then I guess we here in CA can forget about paying the federal government the $11 Billion they say we owe them - plus interest.
I guess there really is a unicorn carrying a huge bag of magic fairy dust after all.............................
If the unemploment benefits are not extended then obama will not count the ones that are no longer collecting. Obam will then say that the percentage of unemployed has gone down just like he did to bring it down to 8.6%.
The question is, when does Congress draw the line? There are thousands of people who either have exhausted their 99 weeks, or have simply dropped out of searching for a job. These people were forced into taking drastic measures simply to survive. Lay offs are way down considering the way it was during the recession, but job creation is slow at best. Basically the way it is going, extending benefits will come up before Congress for another few more years to come. Every year we go forward, this subject becomes more controversial.
Euro banks going down, brings recession for America. Congress can't agree if the earth is flat or round. If we are still around on election day. Both republicans and democrats should know with common sense only clowns are running on the republican ticket. Without a question, it will be Obama in 2012.
Republican congress have show the world, they are for the rich. The republican governors like Ohio and Wisconsin have shown they are for the rich. This coming year is a warfare between the rich and us that's making 250,000 or less. I hope these republicans can join us this coming election on Congress members.Sending a clear message we support the $250,000 or less people in Ameica. I understand it's hard on the die-heart republicans for this one time to vote out republicans. Just look at your republican leaders on who they are furnishing you for republican president. It's like the republican leaders are spitting in your face. It's an insult to the republican voter. For once, send a message loud and clear your supporting the $250,000 or less american people. In the end you can get back a true republican in 2016. It's just a thought, think about it. It's America, I respect you either way you vote. We're in this together.
Deb
You really believe it's warfare between the <1% and the middle-class? Hardly. It's warfare between the Administration and the Republicans. But if you're up for weakening the Social Security program, then you win. If you're up for new permanent taxes to fund a "Holiday" cut, you win. The President has brilliantly boxed the Republicans in a media corner. However, President Obama has not told the whole story in his otherwise lifting speeches.
And though you find the Republican candidates to "clowns", there not the only ones running this circus. If you're really in this together, then you wouldn't pick on one half of the "US team".
@ MJ: those repub 'clowns' ARE the ones holding back our economic recovery though. The Party of NOooo should get with the program. Instead of just trying to make Obama look bad....at least listen to constituents and read polls. Cutting budgets in half and making middle & lower income persons pay more....wont do anything toward creating demand for more products/services. It actually pushes the economy backward, as does the elimination of needed regulations that protect employees and consumers.
people should be allowed to supliment unemployment with parttime work there are jobs but our standard of living requires people to run faster or get run over maybe we have hit the wall the point where we just need to accept reality and begin to lower our consumption our lifestyle exceeds our rate of production