Posted on 07/01/2010 1:12:51 PM PDT by Kartographer
The House voted 270-153 to restore benefits for more than 1 million people whose payments ran out in early June. The measure would extend the federal long-term jobless aid program through November and retroactively restore benefits to eligible people.
But the Senate has rejected several attempts to extend jobless benefits amid worries about record budget deficits, and it is not scheduled to address the issue again until mid-July.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Check your pay stub if you get one. At least in my state, both employer and employee pay contributions to the unemployment insurance fund. I paid into it for 25 years and never collected a dime from it.
Is insurance a “hand out”? Is Social Security a “hand out”? That, also, a fund into which both employers and employees make contributions.
I consider a hand out to be direct cash payments with no contribution made by the recipient. It’s especially pernicious to me when the recipients aren’t even checked for need or income, for example, agricultural subsidies. But receiving unemployment benefits doesn’t fall into that category.
Have you ever been on COBRA? You are misinformed. It’s by NO means “free”. The former employee pays both his or her former contribution AND the employer’s former contribution, along with an “administration fee.” The only people getting any sort of cushy deal from COBRA are the health insurance companies who set the rates and collect the money.
Here are the facts about who pays what for COBRA:
“When you were an active employee, your employer may have paid all or part of your group health premiums. Under COBRA, as a former employee no longer receiving benefits, you will usually pay the entire premium amount, that is, the portion of the premium that you paid as an active employee and the amount of the contribution made by your employer. In addition, there may be a 2 percent administrative fee. While COBRA rates may seem high, you will be paying group premium rates, which are usually lower than individual rates. ....Although they are not required to do so, some employers may subsidize COBRA coverage.”
I don’t need to check a pay stub... I get two retirement checks and I have investments that have survived, so far. Besides, before I posted my previous post, I contacted Employment Security in my state, to verify that what I knew to be true hadn’t changed.
I suppose other states could do it differently. But in the state of Washington it is strictly an employer paid tax. It’s called FUTA tax here. That pays for all unemployment, plus funds our worksource offices. Employers cannot deduct from employees paychecks.
As I see it, when a person first starts to receive unemployment benefits, it’s a hand up, but when weeks turn into months—it becomes a handout. When those months turn into years, it becomes a way of life.
I have absolutely no problem with those that need a hand up during a real time of need, but for the others, they can eat from dumpsters for all I care.
Now as for SS, you are correct. Folks were forced to pay into it and given a promise, and as such, many planned their lives based on that promise. Folks that didn’t pay into it, should receive nothing from it, period.
Thanks, it’s hard to deal with things at times. I appreciate your rare voice on this board.
“The republicans jumped as high as they could when W said “jump for TARP”. Now all of a sudden they’re fiscal Hawks.”
When TARP was passed the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress.
Like Obama, you can’t resist blaming Bush.
Who’s sidee are you on anyway?
If you haven’t been unemployed in this job market then I would say there is no comparison. Unless you unemployed during the Carter administration.
In California contributions to Unememployment/Disability are paid by both the employee and employer. My Looking at my current check I pay about $102 in contributions per month (the withholding rates are between 1.5% to 6.2%.) I have been contributing at varying rates for the last 18 years, but it’s probably been close to the $100 a month for the last ten or so.
Since the MAX benefit is $450 a week for 26 weeks. I can pretty safely say that I won’t even see all of the money I contributed were I to be laid off tomorrow much less my employers contribution.
Were not talking welfare here. Were talking about mandatory withholdings for the purpose of giving people the resources they need to look for other work.
This issue is a loser for Republicans.
Can you not read? I don’t care who was in charge of congress when W pushed TARP through. I’m pointing out that the same republicans are in now and voted against spending sure as hell voted for TARP when W asked for it. Do you not understand that simple statement?
I’ll try again in a new paragraph. Republicans who are now in the senate are all principled about the deficit. These same republicans were in the senate when W’s TARP was passed but they weren’t so principled then. So, they are hypocrites. Get it? And, yes, I do blame W for the TARP crap that he and McCain and Mitchell and everybody else voted for.
Everytime a republican votes against spending I want to remind them of the spending they did when they WERE in charge and when W asked for the money. Maybe they’ll get it through their thick skulls to not act like democrats next time. But I doubt it because there are people out there who will vote for anyone who has an “R” after their name. No different from those who will vote for anyone who has a “D” after their name.
my house has been fully paid off for 6 years now, when I was in my 40’s. I reasoned that the Demoncrates would come next (after Bush) and trash the country. Boy, they sure are those destroyers now...
“No, but I just refinanced so I have a very manageable monthly payment. I also have no other debt, cars and credit cards are all paid off.”
0bama hates people like you and me. And if we’re both white, it’s a ‘two-fer’ for him, LOL!
Who were the damned rinos that did this? They are political history!!
Well, the economy the way it is, and it does not have to be that way, I can understand the extensions but they are only good for a stop gap measure. There are truly people out there that are looking hard but find they are still unemployed or underemployed. Trouble is that there are bums out there who take advantage of it. Well, for now only, we need to do this but overall this is really not good at all. We need to lower taxes and regulations and foster a more business friendly climate so we can bring more jobs back instead of paying people not to work. That is the key, trouble is, with Obongo in office and a Democratic Congress, their chances of heeding this advice is about the same as me benchpressing a 1968 Buick.
I know the feeling as well, and I’ve only been on for 4 weeks. I’d rather be working than doing the “Honey Do” list, which is getting smaller and smaller, but then what do you do, especially when nobody calls you back after calling, emailing and faxing, over and over again?
Gee, it sure would be nice to bring some jobs back to the US that got sent out to the Third World so somebody else’s profit margin looks better.
It can take anywhere from a one to three years. You can always change your mind. Disability lawyers most often don’t charge unless you win. It might be a good idea to get the process going. Good luck in whatever you decide.
For your information, I spend about 6 hours minimum each day looking for a job and might I also inform you that many companies now tell people to go online, and to their website to do job searches.
Please do not insinuate that all we do is sit in front of the computer and do nothing.
Until it happens to you, maybe you will comprehend all of this.
Believe it or not, wise guy, some of us devote more than full time to looking for a job. Excuse us if we take a few minutes to check on current events by logging onto FR.
And if you had had the experience of searching for jobs recently, you’d find that employers do not hire people if you walk into the office to hand them a paper resume. They laugh at you and throw you out if you do that. You have to apply online. So cut the criticism. We are breaking our hearts, and our backs, trying to find work, and having our fellow conservatives take unjustified shots at us is so absurd that it just excites contempt in everyone who reads your post.
Insurance isn't a handout. But at some point, endless rewriting of the "contract" to extend benefits in incremental fashion isn't exactly insurance.
With regard to SS, for those of us who pay in, it isn't a handout, it is compensation for being forced to pay in all those years. However, there is a large body of recipients who didn't pay a dime. In those cases, it is a handout.
Hi Gene,
In case I need to use jobless benifits when / if severnce runs out before I find something.
1. The very compassionate Family Leave Act (can you have the leave if you do not have a job?)
2. The equalizing Money Back Act, that gave back taxes to non-payers.
3. The Green Tech & Sustainable Body of Laws, that are voluntarily mandated, directly or indirectly, on almost all companies.
4. Hundreds of Laws, Acts, Dispositions, created after congress become D in 2006, with the face value of people protector, but really decreasing the availability of jobs.
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