Fox News host Glenn Beck: Some unemployed 99ers should be ashamed to call themselves American

New York Daily News ^ | 8/17/10 | Aliyah Shahid

[Nachum]

Glenn Beck has a message for the chronically unemployed: You're a bunch of un-American losers. The Fox News host thinks some 99ers — those who have used up their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits—should be embarrassed to call themselves Americans (Snip) "Go out and get a job," said Beck. "You may not want the job. Work at McDonald's. Work two jobs. There has been plenty of times in my life I've done jobs I hated, but I had no choice. Two years is plenty of time to have lived off your neighbor's wallet."

[FlingWingFlyer]

There is another phenomenon going on out there that the public has not gotten wind of yet. Most of those who are incarcerated have figured out the unemployment system. LOL! They’re all (families and girlfriends) receiving unemployment checks! Aren’t computers and cell phones great!?

[freedumb2003]

>>You’re living in some fantasy world where $35k is easily obtainable. Sure there may be job ‘listings’ out there, but a lot of it is fake as hell too. No real jobs there and if there is, 50 people trying to get that one or more.<<

So, the 50+ jobs I read in the physical paper were fake, as were the 1,000+ I am qualified for I found on Monster.com. Not to mention the 30 or 40 contacts that would hire me in a NY minute if I were to pick up the phone...

Right now, $35K is what I pay in taxes. It is what I made back in 1981. But a wise planner always dials up the worst-case scenario.

[ICCtheWay]

I am experiencing this very problem right now... I have more expertise and experience than my younger boss right now... We have had several face downs - and I risk getting fired because of his insecurity and fragile ego ...

[Tolsti2]

I’ve had some requests from citizens to do it for me. Can’t afford it now though. Why bother trying when an illegal will undercut you all the way down to a few pennies to do it eventually?

You can’t win on that low end anymore.

[TruthHound]

I’m a Beck fan, but he and others with this attitude are being elitist.

No, I don’t want unlimited weeks of unemployment available. Any extension needs to be paid for by cutting somewhere else. And I recognize that there’s a significant number of people who are making the Gov’t dole a way of life.

But this “just get a job” attitude is patronizing in the highest order.

I’m a professional who hasn’t had steady employment since January of 2008. I tried so hard to invest in ventures that didn’t take off, I actually missed my window of opportunity to even file for unemployment, so I’m not on the dole myself.

I’ve done warehouse work next to 50 Mexicans. I’ve cleaned pool furniture. I’ve helped move storage units. I’ve done whatever maintenance work I could find.

I’ve applied at Home Depot, Target, Kinko’s, and just about every craigslist offering in my field. I can’t describe the depression level from fervently trying to get a decent job for months and months and being constantly rejected. REAL JOBS JUST AREN’T OUT THERE!

I’m blessed to have my wife with a dream job, otherwise we’d be in the street.

This is the age of Øbama putting his jackboot on the throat of any private sector effort to provide employment.

So lay off the JUST GO GET A JOB crap. Be glad you can say it from a position of not needing one.

[Tolsti2]

See? You’re very comfortable so it’s VERY easy to bash those that are not. Obviously you have no interest in this other than to bash those down on their luck. This stuff is actually relatively cheap compared to most government programs and helps keep people from losing everything.

And yes, most are fake on there now. You will not get any response no matter what you send them. A lot of recruiters are posting jobs now just to find out what the volume of people looking is and how much salary they want for the future so they can adjust things downward.

[ICCtheWay]

Today’s reality in Texas - illegal alien teams cut nearly all the grass... Teenagers or even adult Americans passing out fliers have not a chance... Unwisely - American citizens prefer supporting illegal aliens than fellow Americans...

[chad_in_georgia]

What states are paying $600 per week? The max in Florida is $275.

[Tolsti2]

These benefits are a drop in the bucket compared to the stimulus and so on. I highly doubt it’s causing any worse ‘hardship’ on business or tax payers than the far, far larger spending that goes on all the time.

This isn’t a matter of ‘go get a job’ if the market dries up. Trust me, I was panicked when the benefits were running out cause I saw it coming and tried absolutely everything I could, and it was all for nothing.

If they cut off UI benefits you’d see no hiring increases. You’d have a drastic amount of people falling into apermanent lower class (millions and millions). This is not what anyone wants or needs and will make things farrrr worse.

[surfer]

Why does anyone think receiving an unemployment check is moral or ethical?

That is the point - there should be NO UNEMPLOYMENT PERIOD.

The discussion shouldn’t be about whether someone should or could get a job...the discussion should be why do we have unemployment? And if we do...how can it last for years? That is pure insanity right along with BS things like tenure and taxpayer funded pensions, etc.

One exception I would have no problem with military personnel who put in their time to receive a taxpayer funded pension - but that is it!

[ynotjjr]

Yea, I heard Beck say that and I thought, what a jerk. Morally, I couldn’t do what he does, sell gold as an investment. That’s a total and complete rip off. As if the economy goes to ground and I’ll just go down to Publix with my gold certificate or my gold bar, chip off a little for some bread. He risks discredits much of what he says because the more people believe him that we are heading to Armageddon, the more gold he sells…how nice. We are heading for a mess but that will lead us to a more barter type system with fed/state revenuers getting in our business. That’s what long term unemployment is doing. For example, a small business guy needs some help, a friend or relative who is collecting unemployment will work under the table for 6 – 10 dollars/hr. Win-win till we get in and straighten things out. Please don’t leave our wounded and dead on the battle field.

[madison10]

Easy for him to say...HE has a job.

[ICCtheWay]

The sobering news from one who has experienced it ... 500 job applications in five years - and NOTHING... The professional job I have now happened by total luck and odd circumstance...

Pay cut? — the situation can evolve to where just having any income becomes the goal... believe me I know...

I can only add a very sobering statement born from personal experience — if you are over age 50 and have lost your job - You may never have a professional job again... Yes - that is what I said... the situation we face today is that serious...

[chad_in_georgia]

I find that a lot of people on here just talk out of their ass in regards to the unemployed. If you’re not in the position to locate a job, you don’t really have a clue as to what is going on. I’m in Florida and i’ve applied for positions out of state. I’m willing to move and I had one recruiter tell me they almost didn’t consider me because they didn’t think I would relocate.

[highlander_UW]

The longest I was ever out of work was 2 months. It would have been 5 weeks except I didn’t want to move from Florida to New York just before Christmas.

Well, to be fair, I could have kept my job at a decrease in pay if I was willing to abandon my children and move across the country.

[GraceG]

I started my career working at McDonald’s, I actually liked it, you didn’t have to put up with messy office politics in the kitchen. If my house was all paid off it would be so tempting to work at McDonald’s, I could walk tot he one down the street, eat one meal there, and the money could help pay property taxes and utility bills, along with food and enough for extra stuff every now and then.

But if i did that i would be taking a job from someone who was starting out too.

[freedumb2003]

>>See? You’re very comfortable so it’s VERY easy to bash those that are not. <<

There is really never a reason for people to have unemployment for years at a time. It is like the poor kids who need to be fed by the Gummit in the summer. In my day, feeding kids was an interesting proposition: the PARENTS fed the kids (what were we thinking????)

Likewise, if we have 10% unemployment, then we have 90% employment. But picky people can never QUITE get that dream job.

I have already said I would take a 67% cut in pay (OK, more like a 80% cut) and have a plan accordingly.

Have you done the same? It is amazing what a kick in the butt the Gummit teat drying up provides.

[Tolsti2]

Recruiters are an evil group to deal with. I’d almost rather deal with bail bondsman when it comes to how crooked they are. I notice when they ask for salary range, they always manage to just squeek at your minimum. They really know how to play this market up.

I’ve worked at places, same job so I know the recruiters were getting the same rates, and some people were paid $16/hr some $22/hr.

[GonzoGOP]

Back in HS/college the money from the couple of lawns I cut came in very handy, that's for sure.

I was working for the forest preserve district. That was back in 91 and the job situation stunk back then as well. Not as bad as now but close to 7% unemployment. And there were a lot of the crew chiefs who had their degrees, but who were back working the summer job at the FP because they couldn't get a job in their field. Returning help had priority over new hires and in 91 everyone had been there the year before.

I saw the same thing on vacation. In Yellowstone there were a lot of older people working at the counters and restaurants that would normally have been school kids. The name tags had a the person's home state on them. The older people were all locals from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. But what bothered me was that many more had foreign countries on them. Why are jobs for a government agency going to foreign nationals when so many Americans are out of a job? Not high paying permanent jobs, but lodging and food is rolled in and it would buy people three or four months for the economy to turn around. And since the jobs are by nature temporary they wouldn't have the "over-qualification" issue.

This isn't an Illegal/Legal thing. This is a looking after your own in hard times issue.

[Tolsti2]

You’re clueless.