unemployment creates jobs, and at least we are not 15%

[Mike.357]

Is Nancy Pelosi serious? Unemployment compensation creates jobs?

And hey things are great, the Big O takes credit that unemployment is not at 15%. Lets give him a raise!

Are you ****ing kidding me?

[Guest Jcochran88]

Nope this is how they are justifying things now.

[JayC]

Is Nancy Pelosi serious? Unemployment compensation creates jobs?

And hey things are great, the Big O takes credit that unemployment is not at 15%. Lets give him a raise!

Are you ****ing kidding me?

Their flawed logic is that since people get money for not working, they continue to speed that money therefore keeping other people employed. But all that matters is the 2 second soundbite on TV, not the crazy logic you must use to come up with the soundbite

[Chief07]

Pelosi is a mental case.

Im not sure what is wrong with her but I'm sure that make a drug for it.

[Guest jackdm3]

Not 15% on the top, perhaps, but it's greatly acknowledged by those whose jobs it is to dig deeper, that the real figure is around 16%, due to the unemployed that aren't on the rolls anymore, those that aren't on the rolls yet and those that aren't going to get on the roll at any time.

[Defender]

I work at a Career Center helping military veterans find jobs. I have noticed that when all these extensions are allowing people to collect unemployment for almost 2 full years...many of them don't even come look for jobs. I have had a great influx of people lately and when I ask them why they are coming in now looking for jobs. the response is that no more extensions on my unemployment, goitta look for some work now! I am not kidding or exaggerating. I honestly do sympathizes with anyone who is out of work, and I KNOW how hard the job market is right now, but ... we are enabling many who make adjustment to be able to live on unemployment without even looking for work... now I know this doesnt apply to everyone, and I feel sorry for anyone who genuinely cant find a job but jeez...and also who's gonna pay for all this? Our grandkids?

[Guest mikedwood]

I think part of the problem is most jobs out there can't or wont match what unemployment is paying. At 300 a week that's about 9.50 an hour after taxes then there is gas.

Plus a part-time job pays half that.

I think most people would do the same if it were them. They aren't staying on the roles and turning down 30k a year. For 30k a year ATM you could get someone with a masters degree.

[Guest mikedwood]

Opps

[Guest Boogieman]

I think part of the problem is most jobs out there can't or wont match what unemployment is paying. At 300 a week that's about 9.50 an hour after taxes then there is gas.

Plus a part-time job pays half that.

I think most people would do the same if it were them. They aren't staying on the roles and turning down 30k a year. For 30k a year ATM you could get someone with a masters degree.

Isn't unemployment somewhere around 70 percent of what you made over the past year at the time you apply? My wife is disabled and collects SSI. I lost my job this past January and instead of jumping on the unemployment bandwagon we decided that we'd tighten our belts, make due with what she brings in, and I would go back to school. By returning to school I am going to gain a degree which should ensure a solid job once completed. We are fortunate that we are able to get by with such a small amount and I know that it would be impossible for some to do the same. I just didnt want to take a handout if I didnt absolutely have to.

[Guest jackdm3]

Isn't unemployment somewhere around 70 percent of what you made over the past year at the time you apply? My wife is disabled and collects SSI. I lost my job this past January and instead of jumping on the unemployment bandwagon we decided that we'd tighten our belts, make due with what she brings in, and I would go back to school. By returning to school I am going to gain a degree which should ensure a solid job once completed. We are fortunate that we are able to get by with such a small amount and I know that it would be impossible for some to do the same. I just didnt want to take a handout if I didnt absolutely have to.

I hope that's the way of it when you get out. It seems like "all bets are off" is the way of it, now.

[Guest SUNTZU]

I'm waiting to hear this one explained away....

[Guest Boogieman]

I hope that's the way of it when you get out. It seems like "all bets are off" is the way of it, now.

Yeah, that kind of worries me too. I've got 3 years to go so hopefully things straighten out by then. If not I'll have a pile of debt with no way to pay it back......

[Guest Boogieman]

I'm waiting to hear this one explained away....

Who is this twit and what morons put her in political office?

[Guest SUNTZU]

[Guest Boogieman]

^^^ Now thats funny right there.

[Guest jackdm3]

She's a little late on the suicide part.

[MCSCOTT]

I work at a Career Center helping military veterans find jobs. I have noticed that when all these extensions are allowing people to collect unemployment for almost 2 full years...many of them don't even come look for jobs. I have had a great influx of people lately and when I ask them why they are coming in now looking for jobs. the response is that no more extensions on my unemployment, goitta look for some work now! I am not kidding or exaggerating. I honestly do sympathizes with anyone who is out of work, and I KNOW how hard the job market is right now, but ... we are enabling many who make adjustment to be able to live on unemployment without even looking for work... now I know this doesnt apply to everyone, and I feel sorry for anyone who genuinely cant find a job but jeez...and also who's gonna pay for all this? Our grandkids?

I'm seeing this type of behavior more and more from the people around me. The bit O made it so you can draw unemployment for almost 2 full years, and on top of that from what I've been told you can file two extensions after that to make it up to 6 years. More and more people are working the system where they draw close to what they were making to start with from unemployment, and also since they have all that free time they can work on the side for cash money and make much more than they were making when they had a real taxpaying job. I know of one in particular that was making right around the same amount of money as me when he had a job, and now he works 2-3 days a week and brings home nearly twice as much between the cash job and the unemployment. Kinda makes me sick to see how easy it is for them to get away with it and be just another drain on us taxpayers.

Personally I honeslty don't think it is in me to be this type of person, and I applaud you Boogieman for making things work when you could be drawing a check while you're going to school. I understand there are folks out there who do need government assistance from time to time, but if our government doesn't get a handle on this type of thing then our country simply wont last much longer. When the immigration issue is brought up someone always throws in the fact that illegals do "jobs that Americans wont do" and the fact that most Americans wont work for minimum wage. This is true, but it is because our government allows Americans to make more money to NOT work than what they could make getting these types of jobs. If some of these handouts were cut out, I would be willing to bet there would be lots of Americans willing to do any job they could, which is how things should be. It's hard to believe that our government is too stupid to see this, but everytime they hand out more of our tax dollars to people who are able to work, it becomes more evident that those in charge are complete idiots. Either that, or they are doing it intentionally so that those of us who are willing to work and pay taxes are nothing more than slaves. Everytime our taxes go up, it means we make less money for our work so that others do not have to work.

[Smith]

If they weren't the smartest intellectuals in America, this might sound a little crazy.

[daddyo]

The sad part about this is that there are people to whom this will make sense...

[JayC]

Isn't unemployment somewhere around 70 percent of what you made over the past year at the time you apply? My wife is disabled and collects SSI. I lost my job this past January and instead of jumping on the unemployment bandwagon we decided that we'd tighten our belts, make due with what she brings in, and I would go back to school. By returning to school I am going to gain a degree which should ensure a solid job once completed. We are fortunate that we are able to get by with such a small amount and I know that it would be impossible for some to do the same. I just didnt want to take a handout if I didnt absolutely have to.

In TN unemployment is capped at $275 a week.

[G27]

I lost my job this past January and instead of jumping on the unemployment bandwagon we decided that we'd tighten our belts, make due with what she brings in, and I would go back to school.

Man, nothing but mad props to you for sticking to your principles.

[Defender]

kinda sorta...there has been an additional 25 a week added by the feds for the past year, plus now they add 15 per week per dependent up to 50.

[Volzfan]

I'm waiting to hear this one explained away....

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

Apparently the economists Nancy Pelosi listens to can't do math.

Let's look at this from a mathematical economic perspective:

An example business, Joe's widgets exists in an economic bubble as a control. Joe wishes to hire more people. However,Joe's income is static and he breaks even exactly every month, and his only source of new revenue is customers who receive unemployment benefits. This is assuming he has maximized all possible revenue from the employed who buy widgets. In this example, widgets are considered a necessity. We assume the following: an unemployed customer makes $300 a week and will not spend more than 50% of his income on widgets. Additionally, Joe's profit margin is 50% per widget.

So, assuming Joe wished to hire someone at minimum wage for 40 hours a week ($300/week), he would need 6 weekly unemployment customers. 4 customers would spend 50% of their income, so $150 each. Of that $150, $75 of it goes to the cost of the widget. So 4 x $75 is $300, which covers the employee's wages, but that is not the end of Joe's expenses. Joe must pay half of the Social Security/Medicare tax, 7.65% or $22.95 is his share, not to mention liability insurance and other expenses with hiring an employee. So in a best case scenario, 5 customers cover the cost, however, since Joe must hire from this pool, he first needs an unemployed person to hire. So the sixth is required for the actual employment, otherwise Joe is losing money by only having 4 customers.

So, in this unrealistically positive scenario, it still takes 6 people on unemployment to create 1 job.

Additionally, we must assume the unemployment checks must come from somewhere. So where does this money come from? Taxes.(This is of course assuming these benefits have exhausted what Joe has paid in unemployment insurance.) Assuming Joes pays all of his employees, including himself, minimum wage, 7.5% of their taxes go to fund this. Remember they pay a total of about 15.15% in taxes, but 7.65% goes to social security and Medicare, in addition to the 7.65% Joe pays. So each employee pays about $22.50/week in taxes. So if the government spends 50% of its revenues on unemployment, it would require Joe to have 134 regular employees to cover 5 people on unemployment. This means Joe needs 675 regular weekly employed customers who spend $150 just to meet payroll and associated taxes.

So, in this unrealistic best case scenario it takes 675 employed citizens to employ 134 people to pay for 5 unemployed to create 1 unsustainable job.

So, the short of the story is, unemployment does not stimulate the economy and Nancy Pelosi is a self-serving idiot.

Edited July 2, 2010 by CrazyLincoln

[Guest HvyMtl]

Gotta put the smoke and mirrors up, as they had been counting the temporary Census jobs towards the unemployment #'s... Now those Census workers are out of a job, too... same with most of the Stimulus Package jobs...