The extension of unemployment insurance benefits
is expected to pass the Senate today. Despite President Obama's attack on Republicans for delaying the bill, it could easily have passed a month ago if Democrats hadn't added so many other unrelated radical measures to it -- from higher taxes to changes in the Medicare reimbursement formula.
is expected to pass the Senate today. Despite President Obama's attack on Republicans for delaying the bill, it could easily have passed a month ago if Democrats hadn't added so many other unrelated radical measures to it -- from higher taxes to changes in the Medicare reimbursement formula.
The bill President Obama has been hammering Republicans over in the last couple of days has been puzzling since he already knew that he had enough Republican votes to overcome any filibuster and pass the extended benefits.
The problem, though, isn't that there is insufficient Republican support to pass it. The problem is that the bill will ultimately increase long term unemployment and it will reduce our GDP.
Ironically, if some of Obama's attacks are correct, Republicans can only be accused of trying to help Obama's presidency.
Suppose, as the president said on Monday, that Republicans really believe "that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job." If that were true, those Republicans who are opposing the added extension of benefits would believe that defeating it would lower the unemployment rate.
As was discussed on another thread.....working at what? Retraining for what? There are no jobs, and the jobs that do exist are a sack of crap.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the other half of the story goes untold. No, blame it on the unemployed whilst Multi-Nationals sit on barrels of cash and the High Net Worth Individuals get wealthier and wealthier.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110113/how-the-rich-are-winning?mod=family-love_money&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF - News) says sales at its flagship New York store jumped 26% in the first quarter. International luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy -- whose brands range from Fendi to Givenchy to Moet & Chandon Champagne, plus, of course, those cliched Vuitton bags -- says U.S. sales boomed 20% in the first quarter, including a remarkable 58% boost for sales of jewelry and expensive watches like Tag Heuer.
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Indeed the Swiss watch federation says exports of luxury watches (those $2,000 "timepieces") to the U.S. rose 12% in May and are now ahead 9% for the year. Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN - News) says same-store sales zoomed ahead 14% in June. They're up 11% year to date. Super-luxury goods purveyor Richemont -- which owns such brands as Cartier, Dunhill, and Van Cleef & Arpels -- says U.S. sales are up.
The Sunseeker Club in New York, America's biggest dealership in the multi-million dollar British luxury power boats, tells me business is strong again. Those who have the money to spend, they say, are spending it.
At times like these, cash buyers are king.
These are not isolated incidents. According to consultants Cap Gemini, the wealthy saw their net worth bounce back sharply last year. And while those with $1 million or more did pretty well, the real story was the boom among the ultra rich: Those with more than $30 million to invest. "Ultra-HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals) increased their wealth by a striking 21.5% in 2009, far more than the average in the HNWI segment as a whole," Cap Gemini reported, adding: "A disproportionate amount of wealth remained concentrated in the hands of Ultra-HNWIs."
This stolen wealth of ages must be taken back from these robber barons and they should be executed for the misery they have caused in stealing the lives of so many.
Meanwhile people like me who have a great background, lot's of experience, and are stable, mature people cannot find a job for months on end, then when I do get a good lead finally guess what? I found out they do a credit check. Looks like I probably won't be getting that job, my credit is toast because my wife and I have both lost our jobs recently.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Background checks, credit checks, driving record checks, all on top of there basically being almost no jobs.
It has become almost impossible for good hardworking people to get even a lousy 11 dollar an hour part time job.
This of course puts even more downward pressure on wages, as employers simply look at the pool of available candidates and reduce wages because now they can get 15 people to compete for every 1 job.
Add to that the influx of illegal aliens..the problem gets even worse, and hey, let's throw in a requirement for even the most meager jobs requiring minimum skill a college education.
How's that for you? Want a job that pays anything at all, you have to go 50k in debt first, oh and by the way, Uncle Sugar subsidizes college for everyone, especially if you're an illiterate from a 3rd world country, so of course this drives up the cost of an education as the supply of money for this ensures the schools will always be able to charge whatever they want because everyone gets all the money they want to go to school.
What are we doing to ourselves?
More fake money distributed to poor citizens who have no clue. How much is the deficit now? $140 trillion and counting.
ReplyDeleteOf course no problem funding wars, no issues there.
This country is going down, and going down fast.
Mr. Um um um took a f-ed situation I thought could not get any worse and proved me wrong in spades. I now long for the good old Bush days and my $95k/yr private sector job. Um um um destroyed it and hired thousands of federal employees making over $125K/year to sit on their fat asses looking at porn.
ReplyDeletePrivate sector is shutdown and moving sideways. Forget about getting a good job if you are unemployed.
I've had several recruiters tell me in confidence they are instructed not to submit job candidates that are not gainfully employed. Does not matter if your employer went tits up, you are considered not viable if unemployed. Anyone out for a few weeks is considered risky, more than that you're written off as ruined goods. The only real hiring now is employers upgrading by stealing employed top talent from others.
Hope & Change is pure evil. Welcome to Zimbabwe.
As I was reading this, my lunch was a bowl of Ramen noodles, with some green beans, onions and peppers from my garden. At least I have a small garden to spruce up the ramen noodles.
ReplyDeleteMy profession has allowed me to earn as much as $45.00 an hour. This morning I sent my resume in response to a position I am completely qualified for. The pay rate is $9.00 an hour and they did not reply as of this writing.
The sad part is, after two years of joblessness, I'd happily take the position...
While we are at it, why are there still millions of H1B workers in this country while millions of Americans are available to work? Is it because the evil corporations can pay them much less?
ReplyDeleteIn my state, job hunt: a telephone call to a company dose NOT count for looking for work. There has to be paper documentation. It's reviewed every x number of weeks. You are required to keep your job search documentation for at least two years, you are subject to audit and punishment, fines, etcs., and you have to produce it, when asked, time and date stamped.
ReplyDeleteIf the Employment Office contacts you for meeting with a counselor who asks you to create several different resumes, volunteer, or sign up for a course or two, you have very little to no option for saying no.
The Unemployment tax is going to start doubling and tripling. That's part of the companies payroll. They will then have to lower pay or lay off workers in order to stay in budget. Those for 2 and a half years of free checks are either on it or are stupid.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine if the tax doubles or triples laying off employees to cover it would be counterproductive as that creates even more employees receiving unemployment benefits. I can't imagine how productivity would decrease across the country if company after company told their employees they would be getting a "pay reduction" instead of a raise!!! An unhappy slave is an unproductive slave as all the world is a farm and the farmers and sheep hearders are the bankster elite (Rothchilds).
ReplyDelete