I keep seeing people make this same idiotic claim, or similar versions thereof... and quite frankly, it's bullshit. With all due respect to fellow freepers, being dependent upon less than half of what you 'were' making before being laid off is no damned disincentive to find another job. There are no jobs because nobody's hiring. Nobody's hiring because we have g-damned commies running/ruining the country, and quite deliberately so.
So all you people that keep bleating this same tune better wake up and smell the reality. If you're lucky enough to be one of the few that still do have a job, be aware. It could be you that's laid off next and you could be the one sitting there, desperate and in despair, through no fault of your own, wondering where you'll be living two months from now...cause it sure as hell won't (or can't) be the same place you've lived for the past 12 years...cause you don't have the money for the rent.
And for all you "compassionate conservatives" (now I know where the lefties get that term)....that are either retired comfortably on pensions or 401ks...or even those that are on social security and don't have to worry about where that next check is coming or when....think again. The more people out of work, the LESS money is going to pay for your social security. This thing is going to get even uglier before it gets better. Even you on nice fat 401k retirement funds better worry. You're the last vestige of ""wealth"" the commie aholes have now. And they're coming for you next.
So yeah... keep making those noises about fiscal responsiblity and concern over the debt and all the other things that sound right for our side and under normal conditions ARE right. But these aren't normal conditions. Not even close. People are losing their jobs, their homes and everything they had these days, some after already selling off their personal possessions just to put food on the table.
So stop and think a minute (or at least try) the next time before you spout off about the unemployed. Think of this....there but by the grace of God go you. Don't be an Angle, obtuse or otherwise.
I AM one of the long-term unemployed myself. I lost my former 6-figure, 20-year IT career last fall and have not been able to get another job in the field at all. I very easily could have been one of unemployed you speak of who has lost everything, but I saw all this coming last year before I actually got canned and my family took steps to prepare and get the situation under control before we got buried.
We started early working to eradicate all debt - no credit cards, car payments, etc. My wife went back to work and we sold our overpriced suburban McMansion last summer into the declining market, but thanks to the flaming hoops we were willing to jump through in order to get and keep a buyer, we got it sold and came out of it with some cash in hand.
I also completely cashed-out my 401k after getting laid-off and did the only rational thing I could do with it: used all of it as a huge downpayment on a much smaller house in a less expensive town. So now I'm in my 40s with no retirement savings whatsoever, but at least we have a place to live with a mortgage that is now is smaller than the SECOND mortgage on our previous house.
I've also gone back to school at an inexpensive community college to retrain to do something else, worked my butt off to ace my classes and put the young kids to shame, and am now very close to landing a job. Yes, if get lucky I'll be making A FIFTH of what I used to make before my layoff, but we've endured the sacrifices and altered our lifestyles to where we'll still be secure.
So yeah, I can legitimately claim that unemployment IS a disincentive to find work. I was getting more from my UI benefit than I'll be making when I go back to work - what would you do in this situation?
Bravo. I laugh at the first reply to you. You just explained that there are no jobs. The answer? GET AHHHH JOB YA BUM!