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Long-Term Unemployment: No Help for the 99ers
This week Congress will consider legislation to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits for the rest of the year. It's going to be an epic fight: Republicans in the Senate will likely do everything they can to stand in the way of a bill projected to add $123 billion to the deficit, forcing Dem leadership to round up a supermajority for a last-minute Friday vote before Congress adjourns for its Memorial Day recess.
Job seekers search for employment opportunities at a graduate recruitment fair at the ExCeL Centre in London in 2009. This week Congress will consider legislation to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits for the rest of the year. (AFP/File/Ben Stansall) Too bad the jobs crisis, in a big way, has already left this bill in
the dust. Hundreds of thousands of people have exhausted their extended
unemployment benefits. In some states, laid-off workers can receive
checks for 99 weeks -- and that's all they're going to get. This bill
isn't for the "99ers" and there's no proposal on deck to give them
additional weeks of benefits.
"What's frustrating is that our government doesn't seem to think this is an important issue," said Christy Blake, a 35-year-old mother of two in Fruitland, Md. "We didn't put ourselves here. It wasn't our choice. I have been diligently looking for work."
Blake told HuffPost she received her last biweekly $618 unemployment check in February. She said she lost her job as an accounting associate with the city of Fruitland in September 2008 (jobless Marylanders can get 73 weeks of benefits). She said she's three months behind on rent and has no idea how she'll pay the $205.63 electric bill that came with a May 28 cutoff warning. She said she's applied for jobs at Walmart, Target and McDonald's without any luck. She has no idea what to do.
Meanwhile, members of Congress are losing their appetite even for renewing existing benefits. Several members of the House and Senate have flirted with the idea that unemployment checks make people too lazy to look for work. Most recently, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.) told the Washington Post that businesses in her district wanted to start hiring but were getting few applicants because Congress had given the unemployed so many weeks of benefits.
"Now, whether that's true or not, I'm still trying to decipher," said Dahlkemper. "But I think it's something we really need to look at."
Blake is concerned about the situation: "I think it really stinks," she said. "It's beyond stinking."
More than a million people will probably be in Blake's boat by the end of the year. She's one of 19,000 in Maryland to have exhausted all available benefits, according to the state's labor department. As of last week, 65,400 people had exhausted benefits in New York -- up from 57,000 at the end of April. In Michigan, it's 34,900. In Illinois, 22,000. In Pennsylvania, 35,200. In California, 110,609. In Florida, the number had climbed to 130,000 before May and currently stands at 193,000.
People who've been out of work for longer than six months constitute 45.9 percent of the total unemployed. Those out of work at least a year make up 23 percent.
Only two-thirds of the country's 15.3 million unemployed receive benefits when they lose their jobs in the first place. Dean Baker, co-director of the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research, said that while he supported extending benefits in principle, "It's a bit hard to push an argument that the benefits should be extended when so many people are getting nothing."
Some families ineligible for unemployment benefits can get on welfare, formally known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The total number of TANF caseloads has risen to 4.6 million as of December after a steady monthly increase from 4.1 million the previous year. Policy experts say the program serves far fewer families than it should.
Pamela Robinette of Philadelphia told HuffPost she lost her job as an administrative assistant in April 2008 and received her final unemployment check in March. She can't turn to TANF -- her children are grown. "If I'm kicked out of my apartment, I can always live in my car," she said.
Robinette said she thought she could move in with her mother in Texas -- but her sister and daughter are already there. "I'm 53 years old -- to move back in with mommy after all this time, it's degrading," she said. "I think the American government is screwing its citizens."
After a Tuesday vote, the House will send the measure to the Senate, where Democrats will need to file a time-consuming cloture motion to proceed to a final vote at the end of the week. Aside from unemployment benefits, the bill includes tax breaks for individuals and businesses and $2.5 billion to extend a jobs subsidy program through 2010 that will have funded 185,000 jobs through September (Republicans are targeting the program; Democrats didn't stand up for it when they had a chance to extend its funding in March).
An enterprising layoff victim in California garnered more than 20,000 signatures for a petition demanding Congress give the long-term jobless additional weeks of benefits, but few members of the House or Senate have indicated that they support the idea.
UPDATE 6:50 PM: A Dem aide advises that the House vote will now happen on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Laura Bassett contributed to this article.
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81 Comments so far
Show AllA union of the unemployed is a good idea and happened in a big way during the last depression. Of course at that time there was the Communist Party and the CIO unions were still radical. Now it would be more difficult because no national organization is willing and able to committ resources to this idea.
But where's thee's a will there's a way. It may be a good case of Act Locally. Organize by major unemployed areas. Recruit regional organizers from among the unemployed. Get sponsorship where possible.
There must be some rich lefties who like to buy some street cred. With any luck, we can rise to the level of controlled opposition! Sorry, couldn't resist that last sentence.
Peace
I have the solution: a bunch of us save up some cash for the next four years or so, then buy some land in Canada. That way we can grow our own food, etc., and not have to buy into this stupid economy. Why Canada, and why in four years? In 2014, it's mandatory health insurance for all Americans, which means you'll be buying it from a private corporation. Work on the land, stay healthy, and if something goes wrong, at least we'll be Canadian citizens with the right to free health care. Any takers?
Already did you one better.....went to NZ baby. CD readers listen and listen well. There is no more hope in the US. Make a plan and get out if you can. Criminals, thieves, and murders, all corporate, rule the modern feudalism. If you've been on this site for awhile you have to believe that things are getting worse not better. Fight if you want but there will be no victory. These crimes against the people are being done in broad daylight, not hidden away. They will take everything you have with the police. They will make billions by refusing you health care.....legally. They will pollute the whole Atlantic and Gulf without even 1 single arrest. Be smart and go, the US empire is going the way of the USSR, Nazi Germany, and the Roman Empire. The world is LAUGHING at how corrupt your system is but we keep thinking that we will see some justice sometime. Keep dreaming....that good ol' american dream. You can blame the idiots who would be believe the likes of Fox news, who vote republican for not getting anything progressive done. These MILLIONS of idiots will vote against their own interests. They would rather support a system that will see them poor, dead, or both then actually think with some common sense. Ask yourself, with all the scandals over the last decade what corporate exec has gone to jail??? Financial? Energy? Military Complex? Healthcare? Not one day in jail, but they will arrest you for demonstrating in one of their offices. God Bless America, you can have it........
If I was younger I'd head to NZ or one of the Scandinavian countries myself, and hope it's far enough away to weather the collapse of the US when it happens.
Look!
Their plan is working. Even here at CD people who are themselves victims of the inequalities of American life are spewing invectives at each other.
I've been poor all my life, had to fight the system (hire a lawyer) to obtain unemployment comp to which I was patently entitled, spent a year living in a storage space, scavenged to raise money for rent and to eat, tried to live on $100 a month in General Relief, was jailed for non-support while unemployed, took any lousy job I could find, but I never yelled at another poor person, "you don't understand."
Usually there was almost always somebody else near by who was in worse circumstance than I was, for example being reduced to living out of a shopping cart.
What a country! Stop screaming at each other and start screaming at your congressperson. I mean SCREAM at them. Stop being nice to them. They are not being nice to you.
-30-
During the economic disaster that followed the market collapse of 1929, the politicians in Washington didn't want to call this disaster what it had always been called before: a panic. They decided to put a spin on it by calling it a Depression, because it sounded better. Today calling our economic disaster a depression sounds bad, so the Washington politicians decided to call it a recession. But it's actually a depression, or a panic.
Well, 99ers, I think that many of us are headed your way too. My hours went from 30, to 20, to around 10 now.
Part of the reason for this is that credit is nonexistant, ( hello banks and Wall St.) and the economy is coming to a stop. No money for buying and none for selling, so if you work in service or sales, or even for schools and government, things look very bad. Everyone is sitting on what money they have and waiting for the sky to fall in.( if it hasn't already)
I was considering looking into the funeral business, but now that California has closed many of its parks, I suspect that midnight burials in forest land will become very popular, and of course, funerals businesses will suffer too, when bodies no longer need their services. I started wondering what was going on in this country a few years back when families were sponsoring car washes to help pay for funerals.
If the worst happens, and how much unemployment would 10 hours a week get me anyway, then I suppose I will meet with others in the unemployment office and we'll just have to show up at the local office of my congressman every day, and ask if they have any food or any jobs to spare.
With enough" food and jobs wanted" lines of citizens in front of each congress persons local office then, something would happen. If you have kids, be sure to bring them because it makes for a nice photo opp, if you want the media involved. Dress as nicely as you can, because we all know that it's illegal in America to be poor. ( no matter how you got there.)
Looking back to history, it seemed as though the Hearst newspaper chain was sponsoring food bank lines during the first depression. Maybe showing up at the local paper or TV station would work to get some coverage and some food. You know, bring the news to them, and then you might be harder to ignore. It also might be fun to show up at Fox news and ask if they have any chckens to spare.
Mother Jones had a children's crusade march to D.C. to illustrate the plight of underfed and overworked children.There were the Hoovervilles after WW I, but then the government sent out the arny to shoot at those returning and unpaid veterans, so it's probably not a good idea to march around the White House. Maybe showing up daily at the congress person's local office is the best idea. However, perhaps a tour group should overrun the White House garden and start ripping up eating the vegetables right from the garden; maybe hunger would get some notice then.
If people still have cell phones, then maybe they could use twitter to create flash mobs and show up in hungry mobs when the "right" person is in public, and remind them that people need jobs. Restaurant workers would be invalubale here!
I am waiting for the first MC Donald's robbery, where the robbers steal the food and forget about the money. There were some weird wilding incidents a while back where teenagers entered clothing stores in mass, and stole clothing. Would that work with a flash mob in a grocery store?
I know that some of you will think that these ideas are ridiculous, but I think that street theatre is much better and more positive than waiting for God or the government to help you, as they both seem to work in such "mysterious ways."
I, too, looked into the funeral business but with the restrictive laws against open burning in my apt. complex I'll have to haul the bodies to the fire pits in the nearest nat'l forest. God, I hate that when that happens. A buddy I knew was in the movie " Soylent Green " and he predicted this catastrophe but was 10 years to late and is therefore still alive, poor chap. Just kiddin', of course, but I'm not joking about the dire straits ahead for millions of our countrymen and women. The gated community crowd will find out just how good those gates are before this is over, me thinks. Hang in there.
"I am waiting for the first MC Donald's robbery, where the robbers steal the food and forget about the money."
Would you settle for Wendy's?
Homeless man jailed in theft of chicken nuggets from Wendy's in Dallas
07:12 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 25, 2010
By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
A 22-year-old homeless man accused of trying to steal six chicken nuggets from a northeast Dallas fast-food restaurant Sunday night faces a robbery charge, police documents say.
Marquis Marsh walked into a Wendy's restaurant in the 6000 block of Greenville Avenue near East Lovers Lane about 9:30 p.m., jumped over the counter, grabbed the nuggets and jumped back over the counter, knocking over the cash register, the documents said.
The store manager tried to stop Marsh, who punched him several times in the head and dropped the nuggets, police said. Marsh fled the restaurant, and the manager called 911, the documents said.Two Dallas police officers who were in the area when the call went out spotted Marsh. They arrested him after a brief foot chase.
"I paid for those nuggets," Marsh yelled at the officers.
He was being held at the Dallas County Jail on $3,500 bail Monday night, according to jail records. The store manager was treated for minor injuries at the scene.
I thought they meant the 99 percenters.
My Mom's unemployment ran out too. She'll be 62 in August. I guess she just made "bad choices" and needs bootstrap talk. What BS.
Has she sent her Thank You card to Bush and Obama yet?
"Most recently, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.) told the Washington Post that businesses in her district wanted to start hiring but were getting few applicants because Congress had given the unemployed so many weeks of benefits."
That's got to be the whopper of the year.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
How much do they bribe politicians to say this kind of crap?
It wouldn't surprise me if it were true: the owners want to hire people for about the same amount as they're getting in unemployment. Which most sensible people would reject, hoping to get something better later.
To some extent this will depend on the local barter economy. Unemployment Insurance doesn't come close to (full-time) minimum wage...
-30-
MARCH TO WASHINGTON DC
JUNE 22 - JUNE 24, 2010
UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS FOR AMERICA!
JOB NOW!..... TIER 5 IMMEDIATELY!
For more info go to site:
unemployed-friends.com
America made it clear that they want strict time limits on the aid that people can receive, since extended aid only "saps people of the incentive to get up in the morning and go to work." We run the dire risk of making Americans dependent.
Keep Certifying Your Unemployed Status!
If you are a 99er and still looking for work, certify your unemployed status with your State as you did when you received compensation. Otherwise, the true magnitude of this problem will continue to be hidden.
Every time I hear one of those government officials talk about the people who "just gave up looking for work" I suspect they have a hidden agenda. I imagine they get away with that slander because no one tells the unemployed to keep certifying their status after the checks stop coming. But I'd love to see what happens if everyone who is STILL unable to find work keeps contacting their unemployment office as scheduled until they are gainfully employed.
Imagine the unemployment rate raising every month, proving the true extent of this crisis. Imagine the looks on the faces of the government officials when statistics prove things are still getting worse. What would be the number now? 15%? 20%? What would happen to the unemployment offices? They might just have to hire more workers. No one tells you to keep reporting because they want to hide behind the inaccuracy. Please don't let them get away with this deception.
In the name of honesty for the good of the middle class, please be counted.