15,000 Hoosiers could lose jobless benefits

[jayincville]

IndyStar.com | Communities | The Indianapolis Star

 

[melensdad]

Well didn't Obama and Pelosi say that they would not fund programs if we didn't have the money to fund them?

I we need the money for jobless benefits then maybe we should cut funding for PBS, NPR and the National Endowment for the Arts? And, perhaps we should FREEZE or even SLIGHTLY rollback pension & medical payments to federal government employees since they have far higher benefits than private employees? And, perhaps we close down a few military bases in areas of the world where they are of minimal value?

 

[melensdad]

Just a little follow up, it seems like both the Democrats and the Republicans have issues with the funding being all gone.

Obama election-year jobs agenda stalls in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) - The election-year jobs agenda promised by President Barack Obama and Democrats has stalled seven months before voters determine control of Congress.

Democrats have no money to pay for the program. That's because both Republicans and the Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee objected to taking money left over from the fund that bailed out banks, automakers and insurers and using it for the jobs bill. Such a move, they insisted, would add tens of billions of dollars to the $12.8 trillion national debt.

An $80 billion-plus Senate plan promised an infusion of cash to build roads and schools, help local governments keep teachers on the payroll, and provide rebates for homeowners who make energy-saving investments. Two months after the plan was introduced, most of those main elements remain on the Senate's shelf.

Obama's proposed $250 bonus payment to Social Security recipients is dead for the year, having lost a Senate vote last month.​

 

[rambone]

I wish the Government wasn't in the Unemployment Insurance business at all.

15,000 Hoosiers Could Lose Jobless Benefits

LaPORTE, Ind. — A state official says thousands of Hoosiers will lose unemployment benefits each week unless Congress extends federal jobless aid.

Indiana Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter says 15,000 people could lose benefits each week starting in May if Congress doesn’t pass an extension when it returns from its spring recess.

Lotter says about 270,000 Hoosiers are receiving unemployment benefits. Those fall into several tiers, including state unemployment and federal aid. Each level provides a different number of weeks of benefits, with all six together totaling up to 99 weeks.The National Employment Law Project says nearly 1 million people would see their benefits exhausted by the end of April without another federal extension.

 

[Paco Bedejo]

I wish the Government wasn't in the Unemployment Insurance business at all.

^^ This

Mandated government insurance is just such a wonderful idea...ain't it?

 

[libertybear]

So what I don't have jobless benefits. I don't want any either.

 

[Liberty's Teeth]

In all seriousness, 99 weeks is not enough time to find another job? Even if you applied for a job Monday through Friday of that period you would have applied for 495 jobs.

 

[dross]

In all seriousness, 99 weeks is not enough time to find another job? Even if you applied for a job Monday through Friday of that period you would have applied for 495 jobs.

It depends on what kind of work you do.

 

[CarmelHP]

In all seriousness, 99 weeks is not enough time to find another job? Even if you applied for a job Monday through Friday of that period you would have applied for 495 jobs.

To put this in perspective, prior to the extended benefits being instituted, the max was 26 weeks. This has nearly quadrupled the payout.

 

[melensdad]

It depends on what kind of work you do.

No sir. That is wrong thinking. The real answer is it depends on what type of work you are WILLING to do.

If I was a Buggy Whip salesman and the factory making my buggy whips closed down it would be logical for me to try to get a job with another buggy whip manufacturer to sell their buggy whips. However, if those jobs are filled and there is no prospect for me to sell buggy whips then I'm not going to sit on my butt for 26 or worse yet 99 weeks and collect a gubbermint check while complaining that I can't get a job in my 'chosen' profession. No sir, I'm going to find another job. Perhaps making Top Hats. Perhaps inventing a machine that rewinds VHS tapes. Well maybe not those things.

But the point is that times change. Jobs and the job market are clearly changes. Workers have to adapt to those changes. If you want to follow your 'chosen' profession then you may have to move to a different city, or even a different state just to keep that type of work.

But we can no longer condition ourselves to think that "we do this" and nothing else. We have to adapt. We have to change. That is just the facts.

 

[6birds]

But we can no longer condition ourselves to think that "we do this" and nothing else. We have to adapt. We have to change. That is just the facts.

Good post!

 

[dross]

No sir. That is wrong thinking. The real answer is it depends on what type of work you are WILLING to do.

If I was a Buggy Whip salesman and the factory making my buggy whips closed down it would be logical for me to try to get a job with another buggy whip manufacturer to sell their buggy whips. However, if those jobs are filled and there is no prospect for me to sell buggy whips then I'm not going to sit on my butt for 26 or worse yet 99 weeks and collect a gubbermint check while complaining that I can't get a job in my 'chosen' profession. No sir, I'm going to find another job. Perhaps making Top Hats. Perhaps inventing a machine that rewinds VHS tapes. Well maybe not those things.

But the point is that times change. Jobs and the job market are clearly changes. Workers have to adapt to those changes. If you want to follow your 'chosen' profession then you may have to move to a different city, or even a different state just to keep that type of work.

But we can no longer condition ourselves to think that "we do this" and nothing else. We have to adapt. We have to change. That is just the facts.

I don't disagree with your basic points. Depending on the level of the job, and the size of the profession, it might take some time to find a position. A friend of mine, who was the Chief Operating Officer for a company of 150 people took almost a year to find a new position. In my field, even in good times it might take me six months to find a position. Sure, I could find a variety of positions that would pay 1/4 of what I can make doing what I do.

Now, that said, anyone who follows my posts knows I don't agree with federal money being spent to extend unemployment benefits. I will however, take any government money that is on the table for which I am eligible. These are the rules they made, they've taken my money by force, and I will use the system to get whatever back that I can. I'm a net payer, believe me.

The first few months of unemployment are part of your compensation - I can explain, but I've explained this many times before. The federal extensions are wrong IMO, but so is my having to fund them.

 

[Liberty's Teeth]

It depends on what kind of work you do.

Melensdad, you beat me to it.

 

[melensdad]

I don't disagree with your basic points.
. . .
I could find a variety of positions that would pay 1/4 of what I can make doing what I do. . .

Or you could move to where there are more jobs.

Or you could change professions.

I realize that finding jobs within an industry can be difficult, that is why it is important to consider other industries.

I suppose my point can be made another way. Suppose you live in the desert. Suppose whatever meager crops you can grow will not grow one year because your well dries up. Now you and your people are not only dying of thirst but you are also starving to death. The United Nations would fly in "aid" by bringing you bottled water and 50# sacks of rice and grain.

I'd send you a bunch of U-Haul trucks and move you onto land that can produce food and that has a productive well for fresh water.

My point is that there is water, it is not in the desert. There are jobs but people may have to go to them. There are construction jobs, they are not in Detroit or Kokomo. There are jobs producing steel, but they are no longer in Pittsburg.

 

[ocsdor]

This is why people need to change their lives so when they become unemployed, there is no immediate danger of being homeless and starving.

Do I buy a new Ipod, Ipad, or whatever? No, I pay off my house.

Do I trade in my 3 year old car? No, I drive it 'til the wheels fall off.

Do I get the premium cable package or the Dish HD w/ 300 sports channels? Neither, dummy. You grow a garden and teach your children essential life skills.

Quit being slaves people. Gadgets = Indebtedness = Slavery

 

[Lyudmilla]

In all seriousness, 99 weeks is not enough time to find another job? Even if you applied for a job Monday through Friday of that period you would have applied for 495 jobs.

I hope you are being sarcastic.

 

[SavageEagle]

Or you could move to where there are more jobs.

Or you could change professions.

I have no problem changing professions. I've dabbled in just about everything entry level you can do without needing schooling for it first. I'd dig ditches if I could find work for it.

However, I'm about to do the first option as I MAY be able to get a job in a coal yard pushing coal around. If I'm lucky I can get some heavy equipment operation experience. Then I'll be happy. However, as it sits now, I can't find work.

Sure I could drive to Greenwood and work at McD's. That's about an hour drive, making, what? $7/h? Figure about 35 miles, one way, I'd be spending 90% of my paycheck in gas alone. I can't even find a union job that's hiring or willing to hire me. It's getting crazy out there.

So instead, while I find work, I mow grass, rake leaves, paint fences, fix computers, play taxi, whatever I can do to make some money. You just gotta be flexible and creative and willing to do whatever.

 

[dross]

Or you could move to where there are more jobs.

Or you could change professions.

I realize that finding jobs within an industry can be difficult, that is why it is important to consider other industries.

I suppose my point can be made another way. Suppose you live in the desert. Suppose whatever meager crops you can grow will not grow one year because your well dries up. Now you and your people are not only dying of thirst but you are also starving to death. The United Nations would fly in "aid" by bringing you bottled water and 50# sacks of rice and grain.

I'd send you a bunch of U-Haul trucks and move you onto land that can produce food and that has a productive well for fresh water.

My point is that there is water, it is not in the desert. There are jobs but people may have to go to them. There are construction jobs, they are not in Detroit or Kokomo. There are jobs producing steel, but they are no longer in Pittsburg.

I don't get your point, I really don't. I'm not complaining about the lack of jobs, I'm not talking about careers that are no longer viable. I'm saying that some jobs, especially those of a certain level, can require job searches of many months. Why would I change careers, if mine is going just fine. My point is that some jobs take long searches, even in the best of times, even if the career field needs people, and even if your qualifications are excellent. High paying jobs with much responsibility often take long job searches. This does not indicate a problem that needs to be solved by moving, or changing careers, or any other thing you suggested. I was simply making the point that depending on what kind of work you do, a job search may take more time than unemployment pays.

 

[Liberty's Teeth]

I don't get your point, I really don't. I'm not complaining about the lack of jobs, I'm not talking about careers that are no longer viable. I'm saying that some jobs, especially those of a certain level, can require job searches of many months. Why would I change careers, if mine is going just fine. My point is that some jobs take long searches, even in the best of times, even if the career field needs people, and even if your qualifications are excellent. High paying jobs with much responsibility often take long job searches. This does not indicate a problem that needs to be solved by moving, or changing careers, or any other thing you suggested. I was simply making the point that depending on what kind of work you do, a job search may take more time than unemployment pays

If you are person on the level that you are describing then you shouldn't need unemployment in the first place. It should be your responsibility to save what you need to cover rough patches or job searches, not spend every dime you make while making it. My mortgage is half of what any guidelines say it should be as a percentage of my income. If I found myself out of work my unemployment might just pay my mortgage and nothing else, and I have a regular 3 bedroom house in NW Indiana. I guess I just do not cherish the thought of relying on any governement, state or federal, for my supper.

 

[dross]

If you are person on the level that you are describing then you shouldn't need unemployment in the first place. It should be your responsibility to save what you need to cover rough patches or job searches, not spend every dime you make while making it. My mortgage is half of what any guidelines say it should be as a percentage of my income. If I found myself out of work my unemployment might just pay my mortgage and nothing else, and I have a regular 3 bedroom house in NW Indiana. I guess I just do not cherish the thought of relying on any governement, state or federal, for my supper.

I don't like government involvement in business. Yet they ARE involved. They take our taxes (the more you make the higher percentage you pay, as you know) and they take even more that they hide. For instance, every dime the government requires by law that your employer spend on your behalf is money that comes out of the total cost of your compensation. Your value to the company is worth the amount you get paid, and all the government mandated programs your employer pays on your behalf. Making your employer pay is a way to tax YOU while hiding it from you.

As long as these programs are mandated and coming out of my pocket, I will take full advantage of anything the system allows me to get back. It is NOT charity, it is money stolen from those who pay into the system, of which I am one.

Their rules, not mine. I will take every dime that is coming to me by their screwed rules, just as me and my family pay lots of dimes into the system. What does my income have to do with whether I get unemployment? It just means more was paid in on my behalf (unemployment insurance is based on total payroll) which means more out of my pocket.

I've had no choice about what I've had to pay in - that was taken from me by force. I will take back every dime I can legally get back according the same rules they use to take an oppressively large amount from me, my wife, and my child.