Posted on 02/16/2012 8:46:50 AM PST by tobyhill
Relieved congressional bargainers say they've reached agreement on compromise legislation extending payroll tax cuts and benefits for the long-term unemployed through 2012, edging a white-hot political battle a major step closer to finally being resolved.
Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the two top negotiators, strode from a conference room minutes after midnight Thursday to say that only technical issues and the drafting of legislative language remained. The bill would assure a continued tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for several million others, delivering top election-year priorities for President Barack Obama.
"It's a very good deal for the country," said Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Get ready to see a spike in the unemployment numbers because suddenly these people are counted again.
Sounds like Obama and friends painted themselves into the corner on this.
Wait wait wait... you mean to tell me that if you lose your job, you can now collect unemployment for over 3 years?
What
The
Hell?
I’ve been unemployed for almost 4 months, did not apply for unemployment, and I’m going absolutely bonkers from boredom. 3 YEARS?! I’d sooner hang myself.
Yep, when they all get back on the bus, they get counted again.
Unless they play with the numbers some more...
I does not appear to me this bill will extend additional unemployment benefits to anyone - just cuts the total number of weeks from 99 to 73.
Didn't we discuss this last week? Unemployment compensation does not figure into calculations of the unemployment rate.
Exactly. Because of the way they calculate U3, this (should) ironically make the U3 start shooting back up as tons of people reapply for benefits.
Every dark cloud has at least one silver lining.
Do you guys really call it welfare? I mean these are people who worked. They can’t get it if they never worked before. There are quite a few people who worked 25 years at a company and were told to go home. Over 50 and trying to get a job is not easy. Unemployment is for people who worked. I don’t get the welfare tag. I am grateful not to have had to use it but if I ever were to lose a job, I can’t see feeling guilty because the company could not afford me anymore. If you want to ban unemployment and tell people to keep a six month emergency fund. Maybe start a fund that people contribute mandatorily to bank six months worth of funds so if they do lose their job they have that to fall back on. Are you guys SURE you want to call unemployment welfare? If you don’t like unemployment, what are the alternatives to this? Enforce companies that they are not allowed to give out pink slips?
I tend to agree.
Referring to unemployment as “welfare” is not *always* correct.
There are some people on it who are genuinely looking for a job, but due to the Obama economy, they can’t find one.
Of course, there ARE others who really do use unemployment as a prop to sit around and do nothing, making only a notional effort to “look for work” so they have something to turn in each week to prove that they’re “looking for work.”
But lumping the two together doesn’t seem fair to me.
The above is incorrect. Completely. Where does this misconception come from?
We are no longer content to borrow money from China (who is becoming more reluctant to loan us money), but now we borrow from ourselves. Depleting the social security coffers is not the answer.
Also, the idiots have destroyed the return on our retirement funds held in IRAs at our banks. Bernanke took care of that for another three years by holding interest rates at zero. We seniors are getting a double whammy.
But then we seniors are not considered long term voters. Obamacare plans to just let us expire.
In that case the unemployment rate should improve...
Your opinion? Or can you make a case?
It’s on top but in lieu of the 99 weeks so if someone is at 98 weeks then they can apply for the additional 73 weeks. What you say is correct if one hasn’t already applied for their Federal Extension then it will be 73 and not 99 weeks. Now if the benefits have already been exhausted past the 99 weeks and that person still has not found a job then they can file for an “Emergency Federal Unemployment Benefits Extension”. The Unemployment Office will interview the person and make sure they have been actively still searching and based on the answer will give a yes or no. If approved, they will deduct the number of weeks it has been expired from the current 73 weeks
Oh... well then... perhaps I shouldn’t post before noon on Thursdays.
Still... that’s 26 fewer weeks (half a year) but still over a year to be unemployed.
Again, I’ve been unemployed for 15 weeks, and I’m miserable. Any true American man or woman who’s unemployed for more than a few months is going to be as miserable and bored as me, I’d imagine. Unless, of course, you’re like 60 and want to spend more time with the kids/grandkids playing parcheesi or fishing.
My apologies to card players and fishermen for pigeonholing you.
I was on unemployment for a total of 6 weeks last year. Hated every second, but like you said, I worked and I paid into the system. I took the first job I could find... longer commute, less pay, but I needed a job so there you have it.
I haven’t yet had anyone tell me to my face that I took welfare. I’m waiting for the day.
Once a week, it seems. Most annoying is to correct someone only to see them repeat the same falsehood later. Please pay particular attention to the second paragraph. From the BLS website:
What do the unemployment insurance (UI) figures measure?
The UI figures are not produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics on insured unemployment in the United States are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims ("initial claims") that serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment figures (as "continued claims"). Data on UI claims are maintained by the Employment and Training Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, and are available on the Internet at: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp.
These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following:
- Unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits
- Unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force)
- Disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions; for example, a worker discharged for misconduct on the job
- Otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits
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