Unemployment benefits cost $520 billion
Jobless Americans have collected more than half a trillion dollars in benefits over the past five years.
State and federal unemployment insurance programs have cost roughly $520 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday.
The price of continuing this safety net will be the subject of intense debate in Congress as lawmakers decide whether to extend the deadline to file for federal benefits beyond year’s end as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Extending federal jobless insurance next year could cost as much as $30 billion, according to the CBO analysis.
The federal government has spent far more on unemployment insurance in recent years than it had in previous economic downturns because of the unprecedented response to the Great Recession. Federal benefits were extended to a record 99 weeks in November 2009.
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I do not gamble ( though I did buy 3 QP on that powerball that just happened… only time I would think to gamble because its for people bad at math , smoke or drink. In fact, I have 4 beers from a 6 pack that I bought 3 years ago.
I have a cheap 46 inch TV that I got for 300 bucks. I hate apple, though my kids have IPads because there are things they use on them for school ( and they are IPads 2 ).
Try again.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:24 PM
LOL you think service jobs will pay what you used to make? Man your out of touch with reality. I am sure they pay 15 bucks an hour right?
Still have to explain what people do with the homes they can not sell.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:25 PM
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Enjoy the demise, fools. That includes all of you who brought Obama, twice, from the left, to the right. I hope you all get hurt very badly. YOU deserve NO less!!!
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 2:28 PM
LOL! Is that the sound of the world’s smallest violin I hear?
Da. From those who can afford it to each according to his need. For the Good of The Many, in the long run. Well said, Comrade!
thirtyandseven on December 1, 2012 at 2:30 PM
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Incredibly many are former cops and firemen, other assorted sturdy people.
Many have nothing wrong with them, other than ‘mental’, moochers extraordinaire, just because they can. It is encouraged by Obama and by the right, incredibly.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 2:33 PM
What you dont think that better skilled workforce would not be better for society as a whole?
These same very people would pay into the system also. Instead of being a drag on it.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:37 PM
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:38 PM
Well its been fun. Cuz sense I am a moocher… I need to go to bed now and get up so I can go and work at a job that I have had for 10 years. You know so I can be lazy like some other people think I am.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:39 PM
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”~Karl Marx
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:40 PM
So you think you can afford your current mortgage and rent on that?
On that note… dang. Of course, you have to think about supply and demand. There is demand there. How many millions do we have unemployed? Sure not enough jobs there to all of them. Fine and dandy there.. but check your local market. I bet none of the come close to those wages. Your showing one little sliver and not the whole picture.
Still, I would do that if I had too. I really think most have the wrong impression of me as a person. I just think about others too.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:43 PM
I’m living on a lot less.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:44 PM
No, not the way you propose to do it. If there were a demand for better educated workers which justified the cost of educating them, the market would already be doing it. By forcibly redistributing money from those who add value to society, you overproduce a commodity (which government subsidized higher ed already does to a great extent) and allocate capital away from where it can be most efficient to fund a project there’s not even enough demand for to justify.
It’s what we call a “bubble”, and it never turns out well.
thirtyandseven on December 1, 2012 at 2:44 PM
So do most of us. We just think the government is not the solution. It is an financially inefficient way to help those in need.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:46 PM
The Obamas also think about others.
Yes, they never distributed food on Thanksgiving, like Mrs. Roosevelt would have.
No, they will not forego the 4 million/20 days vacation to HI, in order to help hundreds/thousands of families.
Hypocrites unite!!!
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 2:49 PM
The other thing they do is get a promotion and put in a bunch of overtime in their last few years before retirement, so their pensions can be 75% of their last years’ pay. Then they go find a part time job since they are only 55 or whatever, work for a few years and then qualify for SS benefits in addition to their public pensions with Cadillac healthcare benefits.
Night Owl on December 1, 2012 at 2:51 PM
You can try to rent your house. If you walk away the bank will sue you. We put 20% down on our house so we’re particularly furious at BO/ACORN/Eric Holder- all the poverty pimps who pushed magical no money down/low interest loans which led to subprime fiasco. Those people lost nothing more than the cost of a moving van if they are foreclosed on because they have zero “skin in the game” (as the Liar In Chief likes to say).
These jobs won’t begin to make up for a white collar salary. Everything is not in demand in all areas of the economy. We’ve moved a number of times over jobs and it’s very expensive unless you’re one of the lucky ones whose company pays to move you.
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Night Owl on December 1, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Described to perfection, except it’s closer to 95% of base pay. They destroyed the state and federal freedom.
Look around – the ‘righties’ are NO different. To Hades with all.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 3:00 PM
ND oilfields.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 3:02 PM
I’m sorry I wasn’t aware UI was paid by people so you could have extra cash while you go to school. Point is we’re broke and not eve YOU deserve money you didn’t earn while the rest of us who don’t have the luxury of UI work our asses off, pay taxes so our government can blow 520 billion on hand outs, oops, I mean “unemployment insurance”.
jawkneemusic on December 1, 2012 at 3:05 PM
Here is a CRAZY idea;
Start your own business.
It really only requires ONE of these things:
A modicum of intelligence.
Willingness to work long and hard.
If you have both, so much the better.
and if you can ‘sell’ on top of that, you can survive in any economy.
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 3:18 PM
Let it Burn.
tjexcite on December 1, 2012 at 3:21 PM
You Capitalist hog, YOU!
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 3:23 PM
You forgot start-up money.
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 3:23 PM
If the amount is insignificant, why is it you can’t throw a rock without hitting a billboard for a John Edwards advertising socialist security disability representation?
wildcat72 on December 1, 2012 at 3:27 PM
And a Barack Obama to come along after your hard work finally produces fruit to remind you that “you didn’t build that” to claim your profit for the Looters.
wildcat72 on December 1, 2012 at 3:28 PM
the ‘make not-work’ program…
shovel-ready all right… digging the nation’s grave
phreshone on December 1, 2012 at 3:29 PM
See the Akzed comment and the link.
Good luck, AmeriKa. You are being milked, from the left, to the right.
Harlots on the dole (just for you verbaluce).
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Oh, so it’s worse than I thought. Public employee unions need to go. It’s sad to think you are correct about the right being as bad as the left when it comes to scamming the system. It seems to be every man for himself now, and it’s hard to argue with people who have been producers all their lives and now feel like gullible fools.
Night Owl on December 1, 2012 at 3:34 PM
The max per case is $6,000.00, but the amount of work put into each case is minimal, for the most part. If you can churn as many cases as you can handle it is quite lucrative. If you hire someone who can process an application and order doctor’s reports, the lawyer probably doesn’t do much of anything but show up for the hearing if it even comes to that.
Night Owl on December 1, 2012 at 3:39 PM
I KNEW someone would come up with an excuse.
In 1979 I started a business for the price of a few hand tools and a tank of gasoline… (The library research was free, but invaluable). In 1987 that business netted me a million dollars.
And I’m basically lazy and horrible at selling.
I know people who have been very successful even with less ‘start-up money’.
Conventional thinking about ‘start-up money’ and stuff like that is just as big a societal and economy killer as 0bama is.
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 3:42 PM
I took 51 weeks of unemployment back when the economy was first down. The only federal money I got from it was the 25$ they added to the weekly benefit amount. The reason I collected for so long and did not tap federal payments is that I was collecting from two states where I worked.
I put in well over 300 qualified resumes in that time. I contacted several old work mates, they were all out too for most of that time. I took the first job that called me back. I always get hired if I can get someone with the hiring decision on the other end of a conversation.
astonerii on December 1, 2012 at 3:55 PM
I do not. And as I said before, sometimes you make less than you did before, but you develop new opportunities instead of sitting on your can for 2 years. I’ve done it myself, and it’s always turned out for the better.
And also, as I’ve already said in this tread. Sometimes you just have to admit a loss. If you’re underwater big on a house, it might be best to write it off. Sometimes you have to admit to getting burned or having made a bad decision. There were no guarantees of making out on buying a house. Don’t let it turn you into an unemployable slug. Walk away from if if necessary and rent someplace that has work.
I don’t even qualify for any UC, and I’m better off for it. If I lose work, I lose work. Period. And I’m forced to pay in anyway to subsidize people who refuse to move or refuse jobs with insufficient status while they spend my money.
forest on December 1, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Didn’t say “insignificant.” I said “relative.” Lawyers typically charge 1/3 to 1/2 of amount awarded to plaintiff.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 4:01 PM
“You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 4:05 PM
True.
Without God/Gaia providing the raw materials, I would have starved or died of exposure.
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 4:11 PM
“Michelle, I knew it. I’m a god” — BHO
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 4:23 PM
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 3:42 PM
It’s not an “excuse”. It depends on what business you want to start. Many will require start up money.
You can’t just “walk away from it”. Where can you rent if your credit is in the sewer after “walking away” from your house? As for “bad decisions” it was the federal government who screwed us, so stop blaming Americans for what they did. It’s not my fault there’s a ton of foreclosed houses surrounding me!
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 4:50 PM
Yeah, and I WANT to be a movie star… Unfortunately that requires stuff I don’t have.
Poor, poor, pitiful me.
These old dreams won’t set me free.
Damn oh, damn that reality.
I remember you telling me to quit whining because the GOP wouldn’t give me ‘the perfect candidate’, and suck it up and support Romney, because that is the hand we were dealt.
Right back atcha babe. Suck it up and do what you can with the hand you are dealt.
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Good for you. That still does not correct the fact that someone is still going to have to pay the old obligation of a mortgage of 1200+ rent which could run what? 800? So already your looking at 2000 a month. Working at 15 and hour is 2400 bucks on a normal 40 hour week. That is before taxes are takin out… and all other fun stuff like insurance ect ect.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Hey bitter old wingnut, nobody here is asking to be a movie star. Hell I doubt anyone here would even WANT to be a movie star.
What we’re asking is not pie-in-the-sky liberal “everyone lives in a green mansion” nonsense. What we’re asking is to be able to afford a home and family. If that’s too much for you…
MelonCollie on December 1, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Heh. I remember when you were semi-sane and semi-coherent. When did that stop??
I’m trying to give you people the chance to NOT be slaves to things completely beyond your control; not take anything away from you.
LegendHasIt on December 1, 2012 at 9:17 PM
Who’s stopping you? You can afford anything you want. Just don’t ask us to pay for it.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 10:44 PM
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