Am I the only one...

[bluehenbillk]

...that thinks 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is a bit excessive?

Sorry if you think I have a cold heart, but if you can't find a job in 2 years you could be shooting too high or at the wrong target.

I'm with the Republicans, why couldn't they pay for this with unused stimulus $$. Well, I guess as long as they don't use that stimulus $$ it comes out the same....

[Col Hogan]

99 weeks is more than enough...

It's not a cold heart...you think logically, not emotionally...that's the Democrats way...lead with emotions...

[Gil Dobie]

...that thinks 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is a bit excessive?

Sorry if you think I have a cold heart, but if you can't find a job in 2 years you could be shooting too high or at the wrong target.

I'm with the Republicans, why couldn't they pay for this with unused stimulus $$. Well, I guess as long as they don't use that stimulus $$ it comes out the same....

There still are hundreds of people applying for each job out there. There's lots of minimum wage jobs. The economy hasn't changed enough. I've been trying to get back into the IT market, but after 4 years and 1000+ applications, it hasn't happened. Looked at everything from entry level to experienced. I was told by a Target HR person that I would want to much money because of my experience. I told her I would work for minimum wage, but never heard back. It is what it is, but I haven't stopped looking. My wife's job and my ebay stuff get us by for now. Switched my focus to the SF Bay area this week, as my wife has been offered a permanent position after contracting for 6 months.

[D1B]

99 weeks is more than enough...

It's not a cold heart...you think logically, not emotionally...that's the Democrats way...lead with emotions...

Fuck you dickhead. Not everyone has a government fucking (welfare) job like you do. You've been sucking off the government (welfare) pracitically your entire vocational life.

Again, you DO have a cold heart you hippocrit catholic piece of shit. I know you'll never answer this, but I 'll try again you fucking coward, but, What would jesus do?

Aint holding my breath for an answer....

[Col Hogan]

99 weeks is more than enough...

It's not a cold heart...you think logically, not emotionally...that's the Democrats way...lead with emotions...

**** you dickhead. Not everyone has a government **** (welfare) job like you do. You've been sucking off the government (welfare) pracitically your entire vocational life.

Again, you DO have a cold heart you hippocrit catholic piece of ****. I know you'll never answer this, but I 'll try again you **** coward, but, What would jesus do?

Aint holding my breath for an answer....

Jesus would tell the community (NOT THE GOVERNMENT) to help those in need...that's why I willingly give to local charities that help the homeless...unmarried pregnant women...local food banks...

Hillary Clinton was not wrong when she said it takes a community...

Jesus would want it to be willing assistance...not forced as in taxes and government hand outs...

YOU LOSE!!!!!

[death dealer]

...that thinks 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is a bit excessive?

Sorry if you think I have a cold heart, but if you can't find a job in 2 years you could be shooting too high or at the wrong target.

I'm with the Republicans, why couldn't they pay for this with unused stimulus $$. Well, I guess as long as they don't use that stimulus $$ it comes out the same....

There still are hundreds of people applying for each job out there. There's lots of minimum wage jobs. The economy hasn't changed enough. I've been trying to get back into the IT market, but after 4 years and 1000+ applications, it hasn't happened. Looked at everything from entry level to experienced. I was told by a Target HR person that I would want to much money because of my experience. I told her I would work for minimum wage, but never heard back. It is what it is, but I haven't stopped looking. My wife's job and my ebay stuff get us by for now. Switched my focus to the SF Bay area this week, as my wife has been offered a permanent position after contracting for 6 months.

Hey Gil, I know this doesn't help you much in the present, but I heard a really interesting statistic this morning. The people who handle this sort of thing are predicting that there will be 950,000 new IT jobs created in the next 10 years, and there are only 400,000 people in the pipeline training for those jobs. So, if that's even remotely close to a valid estimate, your future should be looking pretty sweet. Doesn't help much in 2010, but hold on dude, the cavalry is coming.

[GannonFan]

...that thinks 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is a bit excessive?

Sorry if you think I have a cold heart, but if you can't find a job in 2 years you could be shooting too high or at the wrong target.

I'm with the Republicans, why couldn't they pay for this with unused stimulus $$. Well, I guess as long as they don't use that stimulus $$ it comes out the same....

There still are hundreds of people applying for each job out there. There's lots of minimum wage jobs. The economy hasn't changed enough. I've been trying to get back into the IT market, but after 4 years and 1000+ applications, it hasn't happened. Looked at everything from entry level to experienced. I was told by a Target HR person that I would want to much money because of my experience. I told her I would work for minimum wage, but never heard back. It is what it is, but I haven't stopped looking. My wife's job and my ebay stuff get us by for now. Switched my focus to the SF Bay area this week, as my wife has been offered a permanent position after contracting for 6 months.

I'm sort of with Gil - the economy just flat out sucks right now and there are legitimately plenty of people who can't find jobs close enough to what they need to be paid to stay close enough to their standard of living. Granted, you can make an argument that people should start downsizing their expectations (car they drive, house they live in, schools their kids go to) and take jobs that are far below their desired pay level, but that's a real hard thing to do. Ideally, it shouldn't even have to come to this - if we hadn't flubbed the recovery by screwing it up with health care reform and pursuing climate change legislation and clumsily putting forward an ineffective stimulus package, things could be a lot better right now and we wouldn't even need to be talking about covering 99 weeks of unemployment. But when you screw up the other stuff, you're kinda forced to deal with the impact and the reality is there are plenty of people who just can't find anything right now in terms of productive work.

[andy7171]

Good to see D1B in a good mood for once.

[Skjellyfetti]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

[89Hen]

Good to see D1B in a good mood for once.

His medicare must have run out and he's out of pills.

[death dealer]

99 weeks is more than enough...

It's not a cold heart...you think logically, not emotionally...that's the Democrats way...lead with emotions...

Fuck you dickhead. Not everyone has a government fucking (welfare) job like you do. You've been sucking off the government (welfare) pracitically your entire vocational life.

Again, you DO have a cold heart you hippocrit catholic piece of shit. I know you'll never answer this, but I 'll try again you fucking coward, but, What would jesus do?

Aint holding my breath for an answer....

I am a cold hearted bastard. I don't have a problem with helping people out for a short period of time, but 99 weeks is plenty. I've had tons of friends lose their jobs. All of them have either found jobs in their fields, or they have accepted that they have to make a change and have. One guy was the manager of a small regional carrier, now he is training to be a financial adviser with a firm in G'vegas. One guy was a logistics manager for a large corporation here, now he lives in Nashville, and is the owner/operator of a automotive services franchise. Those are just two examples. It sucks that I've had some good buds have to relocate to some pretty distant locals and some others have to leave professions they had invested years into, but they did what they had to do. I also realize that some folks just can't find jobs at all, in any field. That sucks and I feel bad for them, but at some point, you just have to say sorry, good luck. Unemployment checks should not be a source of income for more than a year and a half.

[BlueHen86]

There still are hundreds of people applying for each job out there. There's lots of minimum wage jobs. The economy hasn't changed enough. I've been trying to get back into the IT market, but after 4 years and 1000+ applications, it hasn't happened. Looked at everything from entry level to experienced. I was told by a Target HR person that I would want to much money because of my experience. I told her I would work for minimum wage, but never heard back. It is what it is, but I haven't stopped looking. My wife's job and my ebay stuff get us by for now. Switched my focus to the SF Bay area this week, as my wife has been offered a permanent position after contracting for 6 months.

I'm sort of with Gil - the economy just flat out sucks right now and there are legitimately plenty of people who can't find jobs close enough to what they need to be paid to stay close enough to their standard of living. Granted, you can make an argument that people should start downsizing their expectations (car they drive, house they live in, schools their kids go to) and take jobs that are far below their desired pay level, but that's a real hard thing to do. Ideally, it shouldn't even have to come to this - if we hadn't flubbed the recovery by screwing it up with health care reform and pursuing climate change legislation and clumsily putting forward an ineffective stimulus package, things could be a lot better right now and we wouldn't even need to be talking about covering 99 weeks of unemployment. But when you screw up the other stuff, you're kinda forced to deal with the impact and the reality is there are plenty of people who just can't find anything right now in terms of productive work.

I know people who have applied for entry level jobs at a fraction of their pre-lay off salary and they can't even get an interview - employers don't want to hire overqualifed people because they view them as a flight risk once the economy turns around. It's a tough job market right now. 99 weeks seems like a lot, but the economy has sucked for that long so you got expect that there are people out there who legitimately need help.

[travelinman67]

...that thinks 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is a bit excessive?

Sorry if you think I have a cold heart, but if you can't find a job in 2 years you could be shooting too high or at the wrong target.

I'm with the Republicans, why couldn't they pay for this with unused stimulus $$. Well, I guess as long as they don't use that stimulus $$ it comes out the same....

There still are hundreds of people applying for each job out there. There's lots of minimum wage jobs. The economy hasn't changed enough. I've been trying to get back into the IT market, but after 4 years and 1000+ applications, it hasn't happened. Looked at everything from entry level to experienced. I was told by a Target HR person that I would want to much money because of my experience. I told her I would work for minimum wage, but never heard back. It is what it is, but I haven't stopped looking. My wife's job and my ebay stuff get us by for now. Switched my focus to the SF Bay area this week, as my wife has been offered a permanent position after contracting for 6 months.

SF??

No shat, Brother D?

Dude, we're gonna have to find a watering hole somewhere between Sacto and SF. Davis is too far from SF...but there's a sh*tload of 'em up off 12 in Sonoma, and the wife will like the "Square".

PM me what area you're looking in.

[GannonFan]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

Well, no one getting unemployment for 99 weeks has ever paid that much money into the system. PA takes out 0.08% of my pay for unemployment compensation. It wouldn't take many weeks of me collecting unemployment to blow past what I paid into the system.

[OSBF]

**** you dickhead. Not everyone has a government **** (welfare) job like you do. You've been sucking off the government (welfare) pracitically your entire vocational life.

Again, you DO have a cold heart you hippocrit catholic piece of ****. I know you'll never answer this, but I 'll try again you **** coward, but, What would jesus do?

Aint holding my breath for an answer....

Jesus would tell the community (NOT THE GOVERNMENT) to help those in need...that's why I willingly give to local charities that help the homeless...unmarried pregnant women...local food banks...

Hillary Clinton was not wrong when she said it takes a community...

Jesus would want it to be willing assistance...not forced as in taxes and government hand outs...

YOU LOSE!!!!!

Hard to seperate COMMUNITY(society) from GOVERNMENT

The COMMUNITY(society) provides the funds that the government uses to pay un-employment claims

It is a societal problem, not a governmental problem.

Society needs to take care of it, and we are, the government is just the pass through mechanism for the funds

[Skjellyfetti]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

Well, no one getting unemployment for 99 weeks has ever paid that much money into the system. PA takes out 0.08% of my pay for unemployment compensation. It wouldn't take many weeks of me collecting unemployment to blow past what I paid into the system.

So? You still paid in.

If you have a catastrophic injury should your health insurance only pay the amount that you've paid in?

Fuck no. You paid into it to ease your financial trouble should you be dealt a serious and expensive medical emergency.

Same with unemployment insurance.

[OSBF]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

Well, no one getting unemployment for 99 weeks has ever paid that much money into the system. PA takes out 0.08% of my pay for unemployment compensation. It wouldn't take many weeks of me collecting unemployment to blow past what I paid into the system.

Employers also pay an enemployment tax

pretty low provided they've never had a claim filed against them

rate goes up if a successful claim is ever filed

[death dealer]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

Well, now that sort of thing I could get behind. But it would be tough to monitor and easy to scam.

[Skjellyfetti]

It's not government handouts if they paid into the system.

But, I do think they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours a week if they're going to receive a check after a certain amount of time.

Well, now that sort of thing I could get behind. But it would be tough to monitor and easy to scam.

Put the IRS behind enforcing it.

If you aren't actively looking for a job or if you aren't volunteering your hours a week... BAM! No more check for you... and you have to pay back what you cheated the guvment out of.... and maybe some jail time depending on how egregious.

[death dealer]

Well, now that sort of thing I could get behind. But it would be tough to monitor and easy to scam.

Put the IRS behind enforcing it.

If you aren't actively looking for a job or if you aren't volunteering your hours a week... BAM! No more check for you... and you have to pay back what you cheated the guvment out of.... and maybe some jail time depending on how egregious.

Hey, double bonus. We can get some much needed volunteer workers, and the increased manpower needed to police it would create more jobs. Of course, they're govt. jobs, so that would kinda defeat the purpose. But, hey, at least it would get people out of the house, and participating in their communities. And who knows? The networking involved in volunteering could lead to exposure to employment. It could work, therefore, the govt. will never let it happen.

[GannonFan]

Well, now that sort of thing I could get behind. But it would be tough to monitor and easy to scam.

Put the IRS behind enforcing it.

If you aren't actively looking for a job or if you aren't volunteering your hours a week... BAM! No more check for you... and you have to pay back what you cheated the guvment out of.... and maybe some jail time depending on how egregious.

The IRS has enough problems just trying to catch all the people not paying taxes, and now you want them to somehow determine what amounts to "actively" looking for a job? I'm sure that will be clear cut and easy to determine, let alone monitor.

[Skjellyfetti]

The IRS has enough problems just trying to catch all the people not paying taxes, and now you want them to somehow determine what amounts to "actively" looking for a job? I'm sure that will be clear cut and easy to determine, let alone monitor.

It's not that hard to determine what "actively" looking for a job is. Provide documentation for the jobs you apply for. If the government thinks it's fishy... they investigate. If you haven't been filling out applications or showing up when you're supposed to be volunteering... you lose your check. What's complicated about it?

You have a point about the IRS not having the resources for a new responsibility. But... you can expand it. More jobs! More efficiency! Saved money! It just makes sense.

[GannonFan]

The IRS has enough problems just trying to catch all the people not paying taxes, and now you want them to somehow determine what amounts to "actively" looking for a job? I'm sure that will be clear cut and easy to determine, let alone monitor.

It's not that hard to determine what "actively" looking for a job is. Provide documentation for the jobs you apply for. If the government thinks it's fishy... they investigate. If you haven't been filling out applications or showing up when you're supposed to be volunteering... you lose your check. What's complicated about it?

You have a point about the IRS not having the resources for a new responsibility. But... you can expand it. More jobs! More efficiency! Saved money! It just makes sense.

You are aware that in the span of several minutes you can apply for literally hundreds of jobs, right? Will that be enough to fit the "actively looking" criteria? And when does expanding bureacracy automatically mean more efficiency and saved money? I'm not anti government in that regard, but it's hardly automatic that you'd save any money by doing something like this.

[BlueHen86]

Well, now that sort of thing I could get behind. But it would be tough to monitor and easy to scam.

Put the IRS behind enforcing it.

If you aren't actively looking for a job or if you aren't volunteering your hours a week... BAM! No more check for you... and you have to pay back what you cheated the guvment out of.... and maybe some jail time depending on how egregious.

Who insures the person if they get hurt while volunteering? Your idea sounds good, but if the government is going for force people to volunteer then the government must also take some responsibilty if that person is hurt while volunteering.

Also, what if the volunteer commits a crime? Since the government forced the person to volunteer then the government is partially responsible for their actions.

I think there are sorts of potential legal problems associated with this.

[BlueHen86]

The IRS has enough problems just trying to catch all the people not paying taxes, and now you want them to somehow determine what amounts to "actively" looking for a job? I'm sure that will be clear cut and easy to determine, let alone monitor.

It's not that hard to determine what "actively" looking for a job is. Provide documentation for the jobs you apply for. If the government thinks it's fishy... they investigate. If you haven't been filling out applications or showing up when you're supposed to be volunteering... you lose your check. What's complicated about it?

You have a point about the IRS not having the resources for a new responsibility. But... you can expand it. More jobs! More efficiency! Saved money! It just makes sense.

Except that when everyone finds a job the IRS will have to lay off the staff responsible for overlooking unemployed people.