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As benefits expire, long-term unemployed make do with less
KERA-TV ^ | February 22, 2014 | Staff

Posted on 02/22/2014 11:18:24 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

On Dec. 28, 1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment insurance when an emergency federal unemployment insurance program expired. Critics of extended unemployment benefits say the benefits raise jobless numbers by allowing people to stay unemployed longer instead of taking an available job. But people like Trista Selmar-Steed, a 38-year-old former medical biller who lost her job in 2012, say the benefits have kept her family above water while she looks for work. Special correspondent John Carlos Frey reports from Georgia.

TRANSCRIPT

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: I open it up and just rip it down the middle. Separate it.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Trista Selmar-Steed cuts a lot of coupons these days… In fact she’s becomes a bit of a fanatic about it.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: This is my coupon box, container, I carry it with me to the grocery store. Coffee, cake, butter, milk, pasta, sugar — this one here is for household goods and personal items.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: You never know that coupons will save you as much money as you– it actually has.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: The 38-year-old who lives in a suburb just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, has been saving all these coupons because as of December 28th, she has no income. She was one of 1.3 million Americans who lost their unemployment insurance when an emergency federal unemployment insurance program expired.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: That same week that I expected to get that next check was the same week that I had a bill that was due — but I wasn’t able to pay it. I had to ask my husband to start paying my part of the bills and that’s the sad part, not being able to help my husband pay– pay the bills.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Trista, who used to make $30,000 a year working for a medical billing service, was laid off from her job in November of 2012, and hasn’t been able to find a job since.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: I sensed a year out there in this job market has kind of beat you up a little bit, yeah?

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: It’s very sad that– to have the qualifications and not be able to actually work, you know, get a job in your field. And I’ve been doing this 2007.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Why do you think it’s so hard for you to get a job?

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: I’m not sure. A lot of companies are still laying off.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Trista has now been without her benefits for 8 weeks. To make matters worse, her husband who is a truck driver was hurt on the job and is now on what’s known as light duty, working fewer hours and only taking home about 60% of what he used to which now equals about $2000 a month.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: So that’s another whammy, you know, something else that started– started the down spiral, excuse me.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: They say they now have to dip into their savings just too pay their bills. She says things have gotten so bad, that when she’s not at her computer for several hours each day looking for work, she’s and her husband spend their free time watching TV just to lift their spirits.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: Cartoons and comedy, it have us laughing. It takes your mind off of the things that you might be going through.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: There’s some people who would say that people who are on unemployment don’t want to look for a job. They just want to live off the unemployment. It’s– it’s a free easy paycheck.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: It’s not a free easy paycheck. That’s what– for me, it’s not. I know what I like in life. I know what I strive to have in the future. And I can say some people might try to use that, but me personally, I– that’s not me.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: While Trista believes that extending her benefits would give her the cushion she needs to get another job, Economics Professor Jeff Dorfman, who teaches at the University of Georgia, says that the extended unemployment benefits ARE the problem.

JEFF DORFMAN: The studies show it raises unemployment more by allowing people to stay unemployed longer, still searching for a really great job instead of taking a job that’s available.

Dorfman points to North Carolina. Last July the state legislature cut unemployment benefits from 73 weeks to 19 weeks. In the months since the state unemployment rate dropped from 8.9 percent to 6.9 percent.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: And you attribute that to cutting 50 weeks of unemployment insurance.

JEFF DORFMAN: When you suddenly get cut off, you realize, “You know, I need to take a job.” And people in North Carolina apparently found jobs.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Others attribute the decline in unemployment there to unemployed workers giving up their search for work. And they note the drop in unemployment has been coupled with a big increase in the number of people there on food stamps.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: As for Trista, she says she’d be happy to take a job outside her medical billing field. She says she’s applied for all kinds of jobs during the past year, everything from driving a school bus or a truck to clerical jobs at CVS and Wal-Mart. Even as a flight attendant with Delta. All of them met with rejection.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: We regret to inform you that you have not been selected for this position at this time. Thank you for applying and best wishes for success in your future endeavors. Delta talent acquisition team. And I’ve gotten that three times from Delta, so…

TRACY MOSLEY: You hear the– the theory that some people are just a couple paychecks away from homelessness. Well, we actually see that.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Tracy Mosley is the Transition Program Coordinator for the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, an organization that helps African Americans find and train for jobs. He warns of dire consequences unless unemployment benefits are extended.

TRACY MOSLEY: We actually see people that– had a sustainable income, that had a good job, good employment. But all of a sudden they find themself homeless.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: The problem is particularly acute in the African American community where the unemployment rate is nearly double the national average. Mosley says the interview and job prep classes his organization offers have been filled to capacity with people like Trista Selmar-Steed, who he says are desperate for work. She recently met with a job counselor here.

COUNSELOR: so you are being recommended for a position with MARTA, which is the transit authority for Atlanta, that our bus railway system that we use here. That’s one of the opportunities you’ll be considered for. So I wanna make sure that you are going to be available on March the 3rd so I can have you lined up for an interview.

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: Ok, well thank you so much, I really appreciate this, this is a big help.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Trista is crossing her fingers that this lead might just pan out… but for the time being just getting to the Urban League’s office in Atlanta, a 45 minute drive from her home in the suburbs is a financial burden now that she doesn’t have an unemployment check every week.

TRACY MOSLEY: And so if their source of income, of temporary income, is cut off — A lot of them cannot even afford to come down here for their training.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: But Professor Jeff Dorfman says that government benefits can’t go on forever.

JEFF DORFMAN: Our compassion has never been unlimited in this sense. We always eventually cut people off. We already had some mechanism for deciding at some point we’ve gotta stop paying for you.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: And some would argue that we’re not there yet. We’re not at that point in the recovery where we should start cutting back. We still need to fund for an extended period of time.

JEFF DORFMAN: The longest we’ve ever kept benefits before is 35 months after the end of a recession. And we’re at 55 months now. So we’re 20 months, that’s over a year and a half longer than we’ve ever provided these extended benefits for.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: Dorfman believes that if the government is going to intervene, that money could be better used retraining the unemployed for new jobs. For now, with Congress at an impasse, it looks like Trista, and nearly two million others, will have to survive without the federal life line they’ve come to count on in these hard times..

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: I mean, it dampens your spirit a little bit, but the only way you can prosper, I’ve learned, is to keep a high spirit // And so I just look at it as where one door closes, someone will eventually hire me.

JOHN CARLOS FREY: After a year, you still feel that way?

TRISTA SELMAR-STEED: I still feel that way. Yes.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; obama; unemployment; welfare
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To: Mastador1
No there are no jobs in your computer, but you know what? nobody wants a written resume or walk in job seeker these days either!

It pays to know somebody. It helps to be a member of a Church or a volunteer organization.

That being said, if your unemployment INSURANCE benefits run out, they run out. You are not being punished by anyone when that happens.

I have a $500 deductible on my insurance. When some gravel truck drops a rock that hits my windshield it generally costs about $350 to fix it. My insurance company is not punishing me if they tell me to fix it myself. If I want to punish my insurance company, I guess I could find someone who will do it for $600, but then I have to pony up $500 and then my rates go up.

Life just isn't fair.

21 posted on 02/23/2014 12:34:52 AM PST by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds)
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To: Patriot Babe
Well I pretty much feel that.

OK, I'm all in for extending YOUR unemployment benefits, but not anyone else.

Now do you still feel like I'm punishing you by not supporting giving those benefits to those other people?

22 posted on 02/23/2014 12:52:55 AM PST by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
In a deep, long recession like this one, all the old rules go flying out the window.

Exacatickly. We are in a slow-motion apocalypse. The crash of 2008 was a very big bump, but there will be many bumps on the way downhill. We have run out of credit--of all kinds.

One little gem of comfort from my church: Your only job through all of this is to continue to be kind, no matter what. Depressing in a way, but burden-lightening in another.

I pray for all freepers trying to make ends meet or looking for work. May God provide for His own.

23 posted on 02/23/2014 1:09:20 AM PST by firebrand
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

James FalknerJuly 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm(28)

Last week in a legislative briefing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) stoked the unemployment insurance (UI) debate by stating that unemployment checks are the fastest way to create jobs.


24 posted on 02/23/2014 1:13:03 AM PST by stocksthatgoup (Take out the trash)
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To: Patriot Babe

“There are few here that says “get off the couch and get a job”. That is easy for you to say. I remember having that attitude but not no more. Now I’m on the other side.”

It is part of the plan. Create more people who need the govt. who look upon the govt. for their daily bread, who eventually worship the govt. as their lord and savior.

You have already made the trip from conservative to moderate supporting the govt. safety net.

It will not be too much longer until you are a liberal democrat blaming Walmart, big business and Wall Street.


25 posted on 02/23/2014 1:22:48 AM PST by staytrue
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“...will it pay me just enough to support myself at a minimal level...”

This, I think, is the stumbling block

It’s all well and good to say: take any job.

That can work when you are young, etc. OK, or even really desperate.

And one stat I’d be interested to see is the North Carolina (for example) bankruptcy filings.

But, just in my own example, I probably could have gotten several jobs that would have NOT paid me enough to pay my mortgage, etc. and transportation to the job.

How can you take a job like that?

I’d be perfectly willing to work at Dunkin Donuts, but my mortgage lender wouldn’t be too happy about it.

All I can say is I never thought I’d be in this position, never in my darkest nightmares.

And yes, I blame Obama, but in all reality I must concede I think there may be other forces at work here.

Not diabolical forces but global economic forces.

But, it could be better than it is (North Korea/South Korea, East Germany/West Germany) and Obama is a HUGE part of that.

I know a lot of us had problems with Romney, but I still think it will prove a great tragedy that Obama was re-elected.

Here is an iron rule of reality: you can’t get blood from a stone.


26 posted on 02/23/2014 1:27:59 AM PST by jocon307
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To: Robert357

“Isn’t unemployment insurance a state program?”

Yes, but if the state unemploment ins. program runs out of money, it can increase taxes or it can borrow from the federal govt. only the loans must be paid back when time improve which in Obama’s case is never.


27 posted on 02/23/2014 1:29:27 AM PST by staytrue
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To: jocon307

“And please call McConnell, because he rolled right over over the debt ceiling.

This is how the R party gets it’s “nothing for the little guy” rep.

Sorry, but it’s true.”

Excuse me but paying more unemployment benefits AND simutaneously imposing the debt ceiling and cutting govt. programs ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE OF EACH OTHER.


28 posted on 02/23/2014 1:31:31 AM PST by staytrue
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To: Patriot Babe

I saw a medical billing job opening in Portland the other day. Also, have you looked in Seattle? Are you willing to move?


29 posted on 02/23/2014 1:44:26 AM PST by Aria ( 2008 & 2012 weren't elections - they were coup d'etats.)
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To: staytrue

I get that, so now they’ve done the one they may as well do the other, that’s my point.

But do they do the one the plays in Peoria?

No, no, that they mightily resist.

Instead they seek, as always, to appeal to the NY Times editorial page.

Now, they *might* get some reciprocal support from Peoria, but they’ll get none from the Times.

Or the illegals, btw.

But to those groups they continue to pander.


30 posted on 02/23/2014 1:44:38 AM PST by jocon307
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To: P-Marlowe

“There are no jobs inside your computer. I looked.”

Well, look again, because it is the ONLY way to look for a job now.

I remember the Sunday NY Times used to have a big fat section every sunday, filled with want ads for jobs of all kinds, at every level

In my recent job search I bought the sunday Times and searched it page by page looking for the want ads.

2 pages (literally 2 pages) with print so small that if you really were interested in the ads you’d need a magnifying glass.

Mostly computer stuff.

If you haven’t looked for a job in a while, as I hadn’t for over 20 years, all I can say is you have no idea what it’s like.

It’s Craig’s List or nothing in my experience.


31 posted on 02/23/2014 1:51:50 AM PST by jocon307
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To: staytrue; P-Marlowe

“You have already made the trip from conservative to moderate supporting the govt. safety net.”

This is BS. These are all programs that we’ve supported with our tax dollars for decades.

I think there is general agreement that there should be a safety net, or perhaps you’d prefer India.

The unkindliness here is disturbing.

I would say something else, but I won’t.


32 posted on 02/23/2014 1:58:20 AM PST by jocon307
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To: jocon307

I meant that you should be able to pay your mortgage or rent, put very basic nutritious food on the table, transportation, pay basic utilities and buy those other things which we all need, such as clothing, toiletries and medications. But a recession such as this is not the time to be worrying about vacations, tuition, dining out, extravagant entertainment, parties, expensive hobbies, gift-giving and the like. Many people on Earth live rather well on less than we pay for car insurance in a month.


33 posted on 02/23/2014 2:06:41 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Sarah Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: staytrue
It will not be too much longer until you are a liberal democrat blaming Walmart, big business and Wall Street.

Whatever. Walmart & Wall Street had a HUGE role in putting us in this situation. Walmart for leading the charge on outsourcing, and Wall Street for the financial debacle (ongoing, by the way).

Many intelligent conservatives on this very site warned about this nearly a decade ago, and were ignored by the likes of you. And now, when you and your ilk have been thoroughly discredited, you harangue the innocent victims of what your stupid ideas have wrought?

Here's the deal: the "World" economy actually IS a zero-sum game; and we are being dragged down to the tune of probably 50-60% because people like you were too stupid to understand that simple FACT.

34 posted on 02/23/2014 2:57:10 AM PST by garandgal
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To: Mastador1

Heck, before I left the states 16 years ago, I was told that I was “overqualified”.. Still p!isses me off today :/ All I wanted back then was a stable job (and I would have stuck with it).

Looks like, if I go back now, I would not only be jobless, but homeless too :/


35 posted on 02/23/2014 2:58:32 AM PST by Bikkuri ( those would have been affected.)
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To: Nextrush

Are you suggesting that we should continue to dole out years and years of extended unemployment benefits?

Do you realize how many people take their sweet time finding just the right job that doesn’t involve a cut in pay because of it—and then by the time they realize they’re not going to be offered an equivalent position they are so long out of the workforce that they may not even get a lesser position in their old field?

Not only an expensive drag on the economy to fund such a program, but it creates a new class of indignant government dependents from the previously self-reliant.


36 posted on 02/23/2014 3:30:07 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: P-Marlowe

Yes—and we’ve been funding her for years so her husband doesn’t have to kick in a few more dollars toward her support!


37 posted on 02/23/2014 3:31:08 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Exactly. I know someone—a highly-educated attorney—who is now long-termed unemployed. He complained for years about how unfair it all was because he was having to cut into his retirement savings. He couldn’t take a lesser-paying job because it wouldn’t support his ‘bills’, which reflected an upper-middle-class standard of living.

Then he eventually sold, then even stopped renting, his own apartment and has moved back in with family. After years like this he’s not only a dubious job prospect as an attorney, but in other lines of work as well. Still, he won’t take just a menial job or two to actually support himself.

His rage with the world has become huge, which can’t help his hiring either.


38 posted on 02/23/2014 3:38:18 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Part of the Obama Legacy.


39 posted on 02/23/2014 3:40:32 AM PST by Iron Munro ("Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime." - Lavrentiy Beria (& Eric Holder))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t want anyone here to get the wrong impression in what I’m about to say because this woman in the interview does seem to have a good attitude about looking for work, etc. But that is why she was chosen for this story in the first place.

This (the PBS video interview) is a very slick production piece that isn’t really about her. It’s about reasons for extending unemployment insurance compensation and uses her as the ‘showcase’.

Firstly, I watched the entire production (I call it a production because there was a carefully crafted political story here). WE MUST HAVE EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT!

I’ll go over her story a little and tell you what I saw. A woman who lives with a husband who has “her part of the bills to pay”. Husband on “light duty” because of an injury making $20,000 a year now as a truck driver, etc. Nice home in okay subdivision, nice furnishings. Her monthly bills for “her part” covers things like $132/mo home phone, $153.60/mo Cell phone, $74/mo cable and car insurance and vet bills plus and entry for $640/month child support(?).

Nice clothes (some kind of designer stuff by Denmark Impressions(?)- wore two different things), goes outside to get into a new Nissan and passes a truck and two SUVs in the driveway. All I can say is that Dave says you can cut some of this stuff out and make it easier to get by.

The rest of the story: Good Guys - Urban League for African Americans and their spiel, driving 45 minutes to get downtown is a financial burden. Bad Guy: Professor Dorfman who says long unemployment compensation is bad. He cites NC dropping UIC from 59 weeks to 17 (or like that) and the unemployment rate in NC went down from the 8s to the 6s. People took jobs they could get, not what they were holding out for.

The producer’s and the Urban League’s comeback? UNEMPLOYMENT IN NC ONLY WENT DOWN BECAUSE SO MANY GAVE UP LOOKING FOR WORK. Read that again! The unemployment rate, according to them now ONLY WENT DOWN BECAUSE SO MANY GAVE UP LOOKING FOR WORK! [Never mind that this happened ONLY when NC cut the length of time for UIC] Imagine that!

Do we hear Obama and his ilk with this excuse for the national employment numbers? Hell no! Obama CREATED jobs! It is ironic to me the reason they give for NC isn’t correct for the cited NC rate, but IS correct for the national rate. Damned funny if you ask me.

These people actually do want their cake and to be able to eat it too! - regardless of the lady (who I’m believe is eligible for SNAP, EITC - her husband anyway, and other stuff they don’t dare mention here in this production).

PBS and the Urban League spent a lot of time and effort on this production - carefully crafted, excellent production quality, and a careful choice of a ‘candidate’ who didn’t fit their view of a conservative’s idea of a welfare cheat. The goal here is push production - move attitudes towards UIC extension towards LONGER and LONGER terms.


40 posted on 02/23/2014 3:47:16 AM PST by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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