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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Moochers need to be bought, for votes.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:03 PM
The path is clear: Make everyone unemployed, we all go on the government dole, everyone is happy.
A plan so simple even you Rethuglikkkans can understand it.
Bishop on December 1, 2012 at 1:06 PM
this
cmsinaz on December 1, 2012 at 1:07 PM
We should all go on unemployment to help burn it down.
wildcat72 on December 1, 2012 at 1:09 PM
I am getting my fire suit on here.
UI is needed. I have lost jobs for FMLA , at least I would have had FMLA if I did have a year in. I called in 2 times in 7 months because I had to take time off to take my kids to a specialists and they are not close.
So what your saying is that I am a moocher because I had to use UI for a short time until I found another job.
Your also calling a moocher because when my current job got closed down for a while after we had really bad flooding and they had no clue if USDA would allow us to reopen after clean up.
Its guys like you I can not stand.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:11 PM
Yes when the enemployment benefits run out, they just find a way to get SS disability! Another reason SS is going down the krapper!
And ALL the illegal aliens getting SS also!
L
letget on December 1, 2012 at 1:13 PM
FTFY.
You are the exception to the rule and you darn well know it.
MelonCollie on December 1, 2012 at 1:13 PM
^ s/b unemployment
L
letget on December 1, 2012 at 1:14 PM
99 weeks though?
LibertarianRepublican on December 1, 2012 at 1:15 PM
I don’t qualify for unemployment compensation. Coincidentally, I’ve never been without work for more than a couple weeks, but I’ve suffered the human rights violation of having to move for work a couple times.
forest on December 1, 2012 at 1:16 PM
Guess who also gets rich from SS disability? TRIAL LAWYERS! You CANT get on SS disability without hiring one of them (socialist security rejects all applications out of hand, regardless of merit) but hire a TRIAL LAWYER (huge democrat party contributor) and you win eventually regardless of merit. And the TRIAL LAWYER gets a huge cut.
wildcat72 on December 1, 2012 at 1:16 PM
We don’t need 99 weeks when communists aren’t in charge.
wildcat72 on December 1, 2012 at 1:18 PM
Boohoo, you’re not the only one struggling and until we cut you people off the gov dole, soaking up cash we don’t have, our economic mess is never going to change. Suck it up pansy! Yunnno, its called “shared sacrifice”.
jawkneemusic on December 1, 2012 at 1:19 PM
I guess it depends. Are you going to school after you get laid off? I mean, I have 10 years in where I work now and I am in my early 30′s. What would happen if my place closed down for good, looking at my skill set I could easy find I job ( I deal with USDA regulations daily so as you can imagine I would be picked up fast as I found out when I went to find a job when the flood happened. ) … but there are many that really dont have many skills that might be employable by some other company due to being at the old job for so long. SO that 99 weeks might be needed.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:23 PM
I have been on unemployment for about a month, and my husband for about a week total since we have been married. Short-term UI is not at risk here.
If you have been unemployed for 99 weeks, you need to either seriously re-think your re-employment strategy, re-think your skill set, or seriously leave your area and go where they are actually hiring in your field. UI is not made for some 60-something to ride into retirement on Social Security, or hold your breath until something just like your old job shows up.
Sekhmet on December 1, 2012 at 1:23 PM
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:11 PM
You don’t need a fire suit. You need an upgraded brain.
When in history did anyone get 99 weeks…and now Obama is asking for more in his latest ‘stimulus’ plan?
Paying for mooching furthers more mooching, while assuring phone lady-style dependency.
The once free land is full of idiots. The leftist elites live like the Obamas while the rest are kept in dependency from diapers to Depends.
Have you no shame? The occasional help doesn’t mean a lifetime of Looting form producers.
May all who have this mindset, and their families be starved and destroyed. Your lack of independence is disgusting. It is harder to live free, but it is a free life.
Enjoy the bondage, fools.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:26 PM
Really? You must be well off then to afford the risk of losing your job. Many of us can not. So you would rather see millions of people go without food and shelter because if not then we are pansy’s?
You might want to get your nose out of the air and try to walk in some other peoples shoes and live the “shared sacrifice” before you open your trap. ( I can tell you most likely never had to live though the idea of losing your job or have made enough money to not have to worry. Making low wages does not help save what little you have left )
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:27 PM
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:23 PM
To be 30 and think like you is a disaster.
Enjoy a life-time of slavery, fool.
You were given the freest land on Earth and you chose to be enslaved. Disgusting!!!
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:28 PM
How in Hell have Americans survived without this, until Obama arrived?
Be ashamed of yourself, you utterly bonded given-to-be-free narcissist. You never deserve to live free.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:30 PM
What you think that I do not pay into the system like everyone else? You do not think my employer does not pay into the system too?
Your wish ill on me and my family is over the line.
So you have no problems with people living out on the streets… got ya. Maybe you can give your addy so people can come to your area and knock on your door and beg for food instead of using UI to get a useful skill set to find another job, and not one that pays 8 bucks an hour.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Is this the total cost (including what it costs employers) or just what it costs taxpayers? As for the morality of UI, I don’t have a problem with it as a short term lifeline. People tossed out of work because of Democrat’s failed policies aren’t necessarily “moochers”.
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 1:34 PM
Moron, that w/b in the leprosy-prone India. You are never without food, shelter or warmth, not in America. You are clueless as to what misery living means, you spoiled brat.
If you own a business, fire a handfull of spoiled millennials. They brung you Obama, twice, they who never produced anything worth-while, but mope as the day is long, show up when they please, and ‘deserve’ everythin an platter, from parents and the government.
Go to Hades, all of you. You have no clue what misery is. It’s time that you wake up. Stealing from others’ efforts is theft. Peruiod. Shame on you and your robbing masters, who live like Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Open your eyes, fools in modern day plantations. They don’t give a rat’s azz about you. You are just voting fodder, morons.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:36 PM
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Those living on the street have more decency than you do. You are an utter despicable fool.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Actually I’m not. We live pay check to paycheck, struggling to find new sales for our small business in this crap sagging economy and I have two children to feed. But I refuse to take a single dime from the tax payer as that money does not belong to me nor does it even exist. I’m sick of people like you who think the government should continue ripping off those you think are better off than you so you can mooch. And don’t give me this go hungry crapola. This is America. You can find food if you need it. But that may not last very much longer as you and your ilk continue to devalue our society by sucking the life blood out of those of us who work our asses off to pay the damn taxes you so much enjoy getting for free. Life sucks and it isn’t fair for most, you suck it up and find new work. You don’t get to sit on your ass for 99 weeks collecting unemployment benefits you didn’t pay for.
jawkneemusic on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Is that your only sticking point? The 99 weeks? You missed my whole reasoning behind this. Its not like the rate is under 6% for crying out loud.
Ponder this for a minute. Lets say people are on the UI for the 99 weeks and they go back to school (maybe trade school ) and they come out being say… going into HAVAC services. Now that person I am sure would be a lot more useful in society than say someone that is working fast food. Huge income gap. Guess what? Now that person is paying into the system again at a greater rate.
O and FYI, in my entire working carrier I have used a total of a whoppin 4 months total of UI.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM
ALL who brung Obama, twice, go to Hell, be totally destroyed. You deserve his destruction and wrath in full, while he and Michelle live like Louis XV and Madame de Obamanette.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Chill.
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:33 PM
May addy – go to Hades. I stopped producing so as to starve your Looters, at the highest levels.
Starving the system is all it’s about now. You can sustain your Utopian dreams without me.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:41 PM
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Why?
Shame and decency are utterly lost in America.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:41 PM
I am done with you. You cant even have a civil conversation without degrading me. You are the one that is a child not me. I have more in depth discussions with one of my very far left co worker.
Its my understanding that we all pay into it when we work and our employers at least do so.
I see the only real issue here is the 99 weeks. If thats is why I am getting personally insulted for my thinking on why this might not be such a bad idea during these times so be it. I guess a country full of fast food / grocery workers is what you all want.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:45 PM
SO that 99 weeks might be needed.watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:23 PM
Nope. There is work available for anyone who is willing to either move, commute some distance or take a job with somewhat less pay or status than the one they had lost. I’ve done all of these things at one time or another and it always led to better opportunities than I ever would have seen if I sat in my hometown for 2 years on atrophying on UC. I’m glad I’ve never qualified for UC or I may have been tempted by it.
The other problem is people feeling immobilized because their house is underwater. It’s likely best to view it as having paid rent and move on. Rent for a while in, say, North Dakota or the gas fields of PA and maybe buy later.
forest on December 1, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Good riddance. Maybe china would suit you better though. That way you can keep getting yours while you watch the other suffer.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Good. My nom doesn’t care.
Your mooching attitude doesn’t deserve civility.
You make children indignant.
You and your thinking make babies Einsteins.
See this
forest on December 1, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:49 PM
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Idiot, I thought you were “done” a while ago.
No, I ain’t leaving the country. I’ll enjoy the fruits of a life-long decent and hard labor, laughing at you morons.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Lets think about this for a minute. You state somewhat less pay. This I could understand ( I did this myself before getting called back )…. those jobs are not as plentiful as they used to be. So your used to making 15 bucks an hour. The only jobs by you are ~8 a hour. Your taking almost a 50% paycut.
Now you have a house you can not sell. If you walk away from it you get screamed at for doing that. Pick up and move? I doubt you can afford your current mortgage payment along with rent on another place. Even if you found something that payed close to the same it would be next to impossible. We are not even factoring other things like cars, power, ect ect.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 1:51 PM
You and your employer didn’t pay enough into the system to cover 99 weeks. Why the hell do you think the tax payer cost of this moocher program is up 520billion? BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY! It’s being borrowed and printed so you can take 99 weeks to look for new work which further devalues the money I do have and work for. You don’t deserve this money, neither do I. The difference is you’re willing to stick your hand out and take this funny money for your own benefit, I am not for the good of the country.
jawkneemusic on December 1, 2012 at 1:52 PM
1. It’s stolen from the taxpayers/producers (the printing just exacerbates what is stolen from the children and grandchildren).
2. It disincentivizes millions of people from even looking for work, or going to school…or it entices them to go on disability after…see huuuuuuge increase in disability pay – except that they are ‘mental’ most don’t qualify, alas).
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 1:56 PM
Yes, we can’t sell our houses because pf the Democrats Reckless Endangerment. Which is another reason not to call people who lost jobs and are stuck in limbo “moochers” without understanding what’s involved with their situation. If you’re older you can’t just pack up and get a job in the gas fields. That requires people in really good physical shape. My husband worked as a roustabout on an oil rig when he got out of college. Could not do that again.
Buy Danish on December 1, 2012 at 1:59 PM
The once freest land is now the most stupid.
Good thing one can laugh at all the fools, from the left, to the right. All, even relatively, free people always deserve the ‘leaders’ they select.
Schadenfreude on December 1, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Unemployment Insurance is supposed to be a temporary safety net, not a permanent life style.
JPeterman on December 1, 2012 at 2:06 PM
Wait a minute. I AM NOT STICKING MY HAND OUT. Lets get that straight right now. I took a job path that makes me able to get another job in the area easier than others. I may need to drive a little more but it can be done.
I personally do not know what each one of us pays into the system along with our employers.
You guys really need to take a step back. This is why republicans will never win any time soon. With the talk like this, your going to scare people away from the party. It took years for it to get this way, it will take years to reverse it. Little bit at a time.
BTW I do think 99 weeks in most cases is a little drastic. On the other hand, if the person is using it to get another set of skills which of course would benefit society in the long run, I can not see how this is bad.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Wow, at least there is someone here that at least sees a little at what I am saying. Thank you.
I thankfully took the route of a cheap starter home. Old, and cheap. Can not lose much more value ( in fact it may have gone up a bit with the improvements ), but may people do not have that luxery.
On that note, lets say people walk away from the house like some others have said. Its easy to do right? What happens to that house? it helps devalue other houses because it just added to the pool.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:12 PM
It is not permanent the last time I checked. It does run out over time.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:13 PM
There is a cap a lawyer can make on a SSDI case. It doesn’t seem to be a lot relative to what lawyers charge for work.
Having said, I recognize that the safety net has turned into a hammock for way too many.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:16 PM
99 weeks is a life time in the world we now live in.
JPeterman on December 1, 2012 at 2:16 PM
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:17 PM
fify
idesign on December 1, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Housing in the oil boom areas of North dakota is virtually non-existent. You need to go in as a turtle.
davidk on December 1, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Maybe, then again I would never last that long. The kids or the wife would drive me out the door to work. That alone is my motivation.
watertown on December 1, 2012 at 2:21 PM
There are plenty of secondary jobs in boom areas in hotels and other services across the board. One person I know who moved to ND is a social worker. Everything is in demand.
forest on December 1, 2012 at 2:23 PM
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