This sounds like a pretty big story! Two million Americans hanging on the actions of Congress. Drama, action, legislative maneuvering. Someone should cover it.

Why? They’d rather pull their pud at the sight of Susan Collins whining about something that happened 15 years ago.

Thank you for covering this story.

Washington, D.C. is a very affluent city. I was surprised to see so many young people there. I guess there are many colleges in D.C.. Everyone seemed young, well-dressed, well-educated. The downtown area is very clean, well-policed.

What a contrast to life in “District 12″!

“Democrats have put up the Restore the American Dream for the 99% Act, the American Jobs Act and several other landmark pieces of jobs legislation”

But they did not propose these bills when it mattered, during the time they controlled both houses of Congress. A doctor who commits malpractice gets sued and possibly loses their jobs; Democratic politicians should consider themselves lucky.

The CBO report (30 pages) linked in the post has many good ideas for using UI more effectively. From raising UI rates to providing UI to make up the difference when employers can no longer provide FT hours, to setting up bonus accounts and training accounts.

Most of the emphasis is in making the individual responsible for employment. That is beyond sad. Haven’t we learned from the 1930s that when private industry is not hiring, that government must step up to the plate and create jobs????

The real story is the people and how each and every citizen can survive and keep their life line until the economy opens up to high employment. It doesn’t matter who is President or what party they belong too. The fact that jobs are the life line of everyone and unless you have felt the coldness of the long nights with no way to stay warm or dry and the growling of your empty stomach; you have no clue as to what the unfortunate feel. The only talk is about extending unemployment is the jobs that will be kept or created. The two million people that are going to lose their unemployment is not all that this will effect. Think about the homeless that depend on the shelters to stay warm and the soup kitchens where they get nourishment. These shelters and soups lines are already turning people away due to low funding and high numbers needing the services. If two million people lose there unemployment it will result in many losing their homes and left to live on the streets pushing the already homeless people out of a place to sleep and a warm meal. This would double the number of homeless. More families will qualify for food stamps and funded housing also increasing the budget in those areas. Family members will work to help each other in a lot of cases which will affect them as well. This will take from the economy as well because the middle and lower class people reaching out in their already stretched budget to help others which will cause them to cut back on spending as well. The difference in now and the 1930′s is people back then were survivors living on the land and trading for much needed supplies. I don’t believe a doctor is going to do much if I brought in a chicken or a pig to pay for services nor do I think I can go to Wal-Mart and trade a jar of jelly for jug of milk. Life just isn’t the same as it was back then. So if you ask me unemployment extension is more important today than it was in the 30′s and the government kept unemployment funds it in place for the jobless. As I see it, the only people that are not affected is the extremely wealthy people. They might see their bank accounts fall a little or they might have sell one of their 5 summer homes. Yes, the rich are arguing that the jobless are using it as a way to not have to work and they never think about how they don’t go hungry and well they have these plush beds they sink into every night not giving thought those who are unfortunate.

So, please all you big guys in Washington, think about the little people who voted for you and for the people who are in dire need of the extension of unemployment. Training is great, but what are we training for? There are no jobs to get after we train. Government needs to also crack down on these places of employment that only hire part-time to keep from paying benefits. That should be illegal. They should at least have to pay 1/2 the cost of benefits or what every percentage you work of the 40 hour week. Also, there use to be a maximum amount of 18% interest on credit card and now I hear people paying 30%. That is doing nothing but making the rich richer and the poor poorer. It has gotten to where once a person is in poverty they will stay in poverty. Help we need a change

Just to remind people: I’m unemployed (and unemployable) and insolvent; if my benefits end on 12/29, I’ll be able to pay January’s rent but not February’s. Thus evicted by March, thus suicide before spring.

Of course, I’m almost out of benefits anyways. As America has no “dole”, no job-placement, nothing beyond “keep trying!” and “buck up!”, I’ll be dead before my 50th birthday (5/28) regardless. But I do consider it pretty tacky of Obama to slice two months off of the rapidly-approaching end.

I understand that 95% of my problems are due to my utter loser-dom and mental illness (Avoidant Personality Disorder). But it’s still depressing to realize that we live in a country where losers like myself are encouraged to “die and get out of the way”. (Yes, I know Governor Lamm was speaking of the aged then, but it’s resonated nicely for me, too.)

Thanks for being one of the very few willing to discuss the issue, David. (No disrespect, but I think it’s telling that our tiny site was so high on the Google News search I just ran. And the rest is silence, and all that.)

I just wish Grijalva was a better spokesman – more combative, less defensive. I’m looking forward to Alan Grayson turning up on some of the TV news shows.

CNN did mention this morning that the federal government had spent over 500 billion dollars on unemployment benefits in the past 5 years.

500 Billion would have paid for an awful lot of infrastructure and jobs.

While unemployment insurance is good, infrastructure jobs is better.

Sadly, CNN made no effort to tie that to the budget deficit, shrunken GDP or lowered tax receipts and even went so far as to bring on a talking head to trumpet entitlement reform. Ignoring the obvious 800lb gorilla in the room that is the impact on budgets of extended high unemployment.

Like many others, I am unemployed and over age 50 (see the pattern here?). I would happily take any one of the 100+ jobs I have applied for since being laid off in April 2012. In the last 22 years, I worked for only 2 companies and was promoted 5 times in 15 years at my last job. Now I have exhausted all my savings and state benefits, drive a 13 yr old car, my home is in foreclosure and I have nothing of value left to sell to generate cash. But I am better off than most. I am healthy, college-educated, have no dependents or debt (other than mortgage) and can relocate anywhere. EUC is my only way to pay for food, utilities, gas and car insurance. Does anyone really think it will be easier for me to find a job when I am homeless, begging for food and have no car?

Personal situation aside, why does the solution have to be either/or? If jobs truly are a national priority, how about implementing a number of initiatives that will not only put people back to work, but also make sure they can survive in the meantime? Like many companies and consumers, the government needs to prioritize must have vs. nice to have. Food, heat and a roof over your head is a must have but maybe there are expenditures that can wait. Surely, the defense dept or others can hold off on increasing their budgets until things improve. When the US gets to full employment, both consumers and companies will spend/invest more resulting in revenue growth.

Finally, why cut off everyone all at once? By my calculation, I will have received only 8 wks of EUC (plus 25 wks state benefits for a total of 33 weeks). Not to mention others who will get little or nothing going forward. Even at the max level (99 wks), my benefits would have been less than $20k/yr which is a lot less than I paid into the system over the last 35 yrs. However if the govt wants to end unemployment benefits, maybe they should look at paying some of us a lump sum based on past contribution and shut it down altogether.