By Jeff
I’m sorry. I really try to give our elected officials the benefit of the doubt. I rationalize by thinking that maybe they were misquoted or maybe they misspoke or maybe they don’t fully understand the issue, but when an official (the highest ranking member in the House) says something so incredibly stupid I must tell someone. So I picked you.
The headline says it all: The Speaker of the House believes the fastest way to create jobs is to issue unemployment checks. Under her theory, if we all quit our jobs and receive unemployment checks, we will create our new jobs that we can then acquire and then quit again to create even more jobs.
I don’t care what party you belong to. We have a huge deficit, unemployment is the highest it’s been in decades, no budget for 2011 (the first time the government has not turned in an annual budget since World War 2) and nothing I can see that will turn around any of the above. Now I understand why. No one has a clue
She is THIRD in line for the Presidents job.
As I keep saying we deserve more than this. This is what happens when these people become career politicians.
This is indefensible.
These people in Congress are just f++king idiots, there is no other explanation! They are clueless as to what the American People really want or need. Part of the problem is that they are not in the real world. Just look at CA. Nancy Pelosi has been in elected office for 23 years, Barbara Boxer for 18 years, Diane Feinstein for 18 years and Jerry Brown, who is running for Governor 39 years. They do not know what it is like to work a real job, to handle a budget, to choose your health insurance plan based on your family income, etc. They cannot relate to the average citizen because they are in protected jobs, with guaranteed excellent benefits and wonderful pensions. It’s not their fault, it’s the fault of the people that keep re-electing them!
Nothing about these opportunists would surprise me!
Right now, no one is getting unemployment checks!!! I am disgusted with the entire House and Senate for leaving 1.3 million people without any income. My daughter is 29, college graduate, lives at home and was a teacher assistant in a private school for autistic children. She was laid off at the end of the school year last June. She sends 5-10 resumes a day to any one who lists an address. In a year, this college educated personable young woman has had 3 face to face interviews and 2 additional phone interviews. She gets $300 per week – she was making $30,000 a year. Yesterday Congress went off to enjoy their barbeques, march in parades or whatever they do and she is left with no way to pay any of her obligations, including her student loans. I agree that some people use unemployment as a way of life and abuse the system but most don’t. A sad part is that when you do apply for jobs, they look at your credit among other things and that can affect your chances of future employment. Credit is also used to determine the rate for your insurance, ability to secure housing, etc. Well with no job, your credit will inevitably suffer. Yet no one is screaming about how much welfare costs this country. I have no problem with welfare as a temporary measure but when it becomes a way of life for 3 and 4 generations there is something wrong. I say stop Congress’s paychecks for a couple of weeks, take away their health care and let them see how the American people really feel. Thank you for letting me rant. Rhonda
Right on Rhonda!
And right on to you Holly!
Excellent Rhonda. That’s not a rant it is the way more and more Americans are feeling. There are the elite { Politicians } and the rest of us. They are so out of touch with us.
Nancy Pelosi wants people to be dependent on the Government. It’s a way to control the populus. The Progressives believe what they are doing is for the good of the people because they think we don’t know what’s best for us. Remember November 2010!!
Today I went to a 4th of July parade and our Congressman walked passed waving to everyone. I made eye contact and told him they need to fix unemployment. He walked over and was talking to my daughter and me. She told him about how she was unemployed and he suggested a couple of special needs schools in the area. She had already interviewed at one, they were offering $13,000 for a full-time job with no benefits and the other is closing. She explained that she can’t pay her student loans and live on that kind of money. I know that it probably won’t make any difference but at least I feel that I had my say and that he at least put a face/family with unemployment.
Rhonda
Glad to see that you were at least able to vent a little with a Congressman. I am hoping that your daughter will be able to find a job in her field soon.
I will have to say that I have a problem with the way unemployment is handled. One of my son’s friends lost his job several months back and was able to use unemployment for what it was intended for – to keep him on his feet until he was able to get another job. He did get another job and it was at a salary that was less than he was making previously but he felt he needed to get back into the work force or risk not being able to get a job down the line.
My other son has a friend who has been on unemployment for well over a year. He does not have a college degree and feels that it is better for him to just sit on unemployment until it runs out. He had an opportunity to work where my son works for a decent wage, but not great. It would have been more than the unemployment that he is currently receiving. He turned it down. How can our government avoid this? This just doesn’t set right with me.
Pam: I know what you are saying. I collected unemployment over 26 years ago. At that time, you had to go to the office in person with a list of 6 places per week you looked for a job. Randomly they would call you to the back and actually call those places to see if you actually contacted them. Today it is all done on line and I don’t think they check the job searches. She does have a college degree. She worked since graduation at a school for autisic children as a teacher assistant which happened to pay well so she bought a car, etc. plus her student loans. The jobs in special ed in our state pay little more than minimum wage and sometimes no benefits so there is no way a person can live on it. (The renumeration for special ed professionals is another issue – low pay sometimes equals people who should not be working in that environment) If she was asked to provide a work search, she could show them the spiral notebook filled with contacts. Job seeking is different now in that everyone wants a resume e-mailed to them – no face to face contact to let them meet you and get to know you. On the other hand, our government hands out welfare checks with no obligation or expectation that the recipient look for gainful employment. I live next to the murder capital of our state (NJ) and see families that have been on welfare for 3-4 generations with no intention of getting out of the system. I have no objection to welfare in intended form, to help people out until they can get on their feet but that is also a system that is abused, yet Congress would NEVER cut those benefits for people, some of whom have never worked a day in their life.
Rhonda,
I agree with you. I am much more bothered by the way welfare is handled in this country than unemployment. You are right, welfare appears to let people take an advantage of it for years and years. Both unemployment and welfare were started with good intentions and I think still should exist. They just need to be managed differently.
Also unemployment benefits are something that person pays into in order to take advantage of them when and if they need to. So I do believe that person deserves the unemployment they receive.
I think the question is- where do you get the money from?
The left believes that extending unemployment insurance has a strong stimulative effect on the economy and gaining jobs back. They want to borrow the money and go further into debt but feel in the long run it will be good for the economy.
The right believes they should extend unemployment benefits but only if it can be paid for without borrowing it and one source is the unspent stimulus funds, which I believe the left wants to spend on other programs.
That is how it kind of looks to me when I read and listen about this whole thing.
I’ve been unemployed just over a year; June 1 was my anniversary. I’ve never, ever had a problem landing whatever job for which I’ve interviewed, from food service while in high school to professional positions after graduating college in the early 1990s. That is, until this economy.
I’ve sent out innumerable resumes. I’ve had only three interviews of varying intensities, with three different companies; I’m still waiting to hear back from the latest. (Wish me luck!) Employers these days can afford to be extremely picky, to the point where they can dismiss consideration of a candidate for such reasons as “(s)he might get bored,” “this position is lower than what (s)he had before,” “this candidate meets all qualifications, yet I can always get a younger person to do it for cheaper,” etc. It’s sad because they’re bypassing people who are hardworking and have proven themselves as reliable, loyal workers–the kind of people needed to keep a company afloat during uncertain financial times. I’m not talking about myself here; I know many people (like Rhonda’s daughter) in the same boat, people for whom I personally have professional admiration and respect. I have also heard (from a placement agency) that employers will often change the requirements of a job last-minute, or decide last-minute not to hire anyone, especially these days.
The unemployment benefits system is different in each state. Some states require specific information about where you’ve applied for work, such as a list of and names/contact information, and ask for a benefits-collector send out a minimum number of applications per week. Most states use technology to keep tabs on people and to get checks out in timely fashion. California, however, has an insanely antiquated system that doesn’t allow computerized claims, since their computers all hail from the 1970s–despite $60 million in funds set aside to update it *10 years ago*! Instead people have to fill out SAT-like forms and mail them, and wait for a paper check to arrive; if there’s a problem, checks can be held up for weeks and months. (I’ve been lucky but I’ve heard some horror stories.) There’s no real way to see how effective the unemployment system is nationwide, because of these state differences, which I think is a shame because of questions raised (here and elsewhere) about abuse and efficacy.
I have to say, my ability to survive on unemployment and the occasional low-paying freelance work means I’m able to funnel that money back into the economy–the point I believe Nancy Pelosi was trying to make, and that may have been mis-stated in the article to which Jeff linked. Using that logic, economic stimulus money given to the unemployed means it will, indeed, be used to stimulate the economy. For example, I buy foods from local farmers, services from local providers, goods from local shops. While I agree there may be better ways to manage unemployment benefits, and while I’d be one of the first people to criticize anyone who abuses the system, I think it would be disastrous–for individuals as well as for the economy–if checks were to suddenly stop coming.
I agree that we need to help the people that are victims of this awful economy. It makes me livid that politicians are using this as a political game. If Nancy Pelosi is so magnanimous and cares so much about the unemployed, she should stop worrying about making the Republicans look bad, and agree to use the stimulus money to fund unemployment. It is so hypocritical to say the Republicans won’t pay for it, so millions will have benefits cut off. The Republicans are trying to pay for it without using the age old method of “print more money’. Both sides need to get their act together and quit worrying about November. If they did their jobs with the good of this nation truly in their minds, they wouldn’t have to fund raise or worry about reelection. They just don’t get it.
Edyie: The unemployment checks did stop coming for 1.3 million americans. Congress, more specifically the Senate, fillibustered and the bill extending benefits was defeated by 2 votes. Then our lovely congress adjourned for the 4th of July weekend and will not be taking the matter up again until at least next week. They have done the same thing with Flood Insurance which also held up real estate closings where flood insurance was required by the lender. They had no problem bailing out banks and insurance companies while the CEO’s of these companies flew around on private jets and took big bonuses. They bailed out credit card companies who turned around and raised interest rates for no other reason than they could. These politicians have no clue of how the real world lives. Funny thing, they are basically living on public money also. I don’t know of any actual person who received any kind of stimulus money directly. We couldn’t even get a tax credit when we bought a car to replace the one that died because it had to be a BRAND NEW car. Couldn’t even afford to look at those. Washington needs to stop acting like children in a sandbox and actually work together to benefit the people in this country.
So much said in the last three postings of which I agree with most of.
I can’t agree that unemployment checks stimulate the economy. If you take Middle America who have been earning 50,000 to 150,000 a year and are now living on unemployment can’t pay the bare essentials such as mortgage, car, insurance, food and so on. Can you imagine if you have a family of 4 ! Only small business can get us out of this mess. They need to kick start this economy. The Government DOES NOT MAKE MONEY, they either steal it from future generations, or social security or tax us to death. Even our unemployment benefits….. the money we get back is much more than what we put in so that money comes from somewhere.
Our politicians don’t care about us at all. This has gone way beyond Republicans and Democrats. Although what was previously stated about the impasse between the parties over the unemployment funding is pretty accurate. All politicians care about is getting re elected and obtaining power and money. Our problems are after their own. We are partially to blame for this because we keep re electing the same people over and over again. The same goes for the local level, the city level, and the state level. In California we have elected Boxer and Feinstein over and over again. They have been in office since 1982 and 1992. Other states have similar stories. What was Robert Byrd doing in the Senate for 52 years ? We must limit these terms so they can’t become power hungry and gather riches for themselves and not do the people’s business. Are there a few good politicians…yes…..will they be lost with limits, yes. Look at what we have created here now. People who think they are ROYALTY!
Amen Stu!