House Dems prepping for fight over cuts to jobless benefits

As it is CA the deadline for the Fed-Ed is March 4 and that is exactly when I start it... Wow! Scary!

I have to say being unemployed long-term has left some imprint on me. If I had not lost my job, I suspect I would not see the "need" for unemployment extensions, but I was layed off and I am still unemployed. I would like to think that I would have been rooting for extensions even if I still had my job, but I am writing this to remind myself when I feel people do not understand the long-term unemployment situation that unless someone has experienced it in the last 3 yeas they really do not have the experience to understand.

I hope and pray that our government continues to do the best it can for unemployed people.

I also find it odd but it seems for unemployed people it is almost better if their state rate of unemployment does not improve so that they get the extensions. This is a real hard time for people who have been unemployed for a year or more, unemployment may be cut, and they face applying for jobs only to be overlooked. But, I think some people do see things for what they really are. We have to keep faith.

Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year to all....

Blessings...

J

There going to talk about UE cuts when in Jan Feb and March UE rates will climb again as forcasted. A local factory near us is going to shut down leaving over 2,500 people jobless. So that will hurt PA's UE rate as well. I feel talking about reducing weeks is wrong. The problems with this country are so obvious. What needs to be done is lower the corp tax rate. Give tax breaks to small business and companies that hire long term unemployed. Then give the 99ers 14 more weeks. I feel it needs to be done just by looking at the numbers as a whole. That is the number 1 problem. UE has never been addressed as a whole.

Rose.... You are right on. If we want jobs to stay here the corp tax rate has to be competitive with other countries. It seems the talking point to demonize corporations and say they need to pay more taxes but all that does is send jobs away. I certainly agree that individuals who make more should pay more, but the big picture has to be considered if we want to keep factory and even office / accounting jobs which have left.

And of course there also needs to be a push to hire long-term unemployed, without a push whether it means tax credits towards paroll taxes or a law that makes it discriminatory to ask about unemployment in the last 3 years if the person has had steady employment before the crash. Something... needs to be done. Just suggestions imperfect as they are, but it seems the talking points are retraining, well some of us alreadyhave supposedly marketable degrees and experience and I am still not landing a job.

As for the extensions, they need to remain in place until unemployment reaches 3%, I feel it needs to be that low because the "official" unemloyment rate is not a true rate. Even at 3%, I believe eal unemployment would still be 5 - 10%. Right now I believe unemployment varies by area between 15 an 25% and this should be such an outrage but I feel that neither party has acknowledged this opressive situation for the long-term unemployed.

Working hard... applying for many jobs does not seem to necessarily work right now when every position has at least 6 people (and some hundreds) clawing for it.

Thank you for sharing Rose. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, I just felt I had to say my views.

Happy Holidays everyone...

J

But the real taxes that corporations pay in this country are already ridiculously low. Some corporations, like GE, paid ZERO taxes last year. The reason they're not hiring here has noting to do with corporate tax rates.

The main reason that corporations want to hire outside the USA is much lower wages. And the only way that you can effectively counter that is to impose tariffs on goods brought into this country. Make it cost them same to manufacture over there as it is to do it here. That would be fair trade, not the bs free trade they tout that's really just the race to the bottom.

Joan is right to her point, and they are not hiring because of Unions and higher wages in the U.S..
American factory wages are out of touch with reality (lower wages overseas). Until this country recognizes that some jobs that use to pay well are no longer viable or should pay well this debate will go on and on.

We need to retrain workers and especially the UE (in fields that can provide the accustomed wage) and kiss those jobs goodbye as they are gone forever (or at least until the wages overseas move up more).

Oh that's right, I forgot...once we put protect our markets with tariffs, we have to get rid of the union-busting, right-to-work-for-less war on the middle class that's been going on for the last 30 or so years. Thanks for reminding me, tristen.

Retraining, education, eh, nice...most of us including me have done that three or four times already. While tuition skyrockets. Looks like a money-grubbing racket to me

Market dictates costs; consumers dictate market and consumers want products that cost less. Those jobs are no longer "careers" (and maybe never should have been).

When the market changes the job changes (just ask everyone laid off from Wall Street, nobody is crying for them).

Somebody who hangs bumpers on cars or bags groceries at a store has a job not a career (and may have made a bad career move considering that they could be replaced by machines or the skill set for their job has become so low that it no longer merits the higher wage).
It is not the consumer’s requirement to make a job a career by paying too much for the products that he or she makes that are no longer cost effective.

The history of manufacturing shows when industries die (form modernization, or changes in the market) so do those jobs.
It is ridiculous to make society pay for the career choices of individuals.

I agree that manufacturing is important and actually a defense issue but this redistribution of wealth at all levels is just plain ridiculous and is actually accelerating the decline of America and the western world.

We need a viable education system (not the failed one that you have experienced) and UE system (that does more then just provide income)that gives workers the mobility to move around and work in the emerging industries that pay the better wages as opposed to crying foul and trying to maintain a wage level inconsistent with the market or needs of the consumer.