Thread: Stubborn Jobless Claims Still Keep On Climbing Higher

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

Obamanomics suck.

It's not about the potus.

How many times do I have to repeat this.

Study economic, Mr. Big Pimpin.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

It's not about the potus.

How many times do I have to repeat this.

Study economic, Mr. Big Pimpin.

It's not? I thought Obama campaigned on providing millions of jobs?

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

It's not? I thought Obama campaigned on providing millions of jobs?

Isn't that something every president campaigns on?

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

It's not? I thought Obama campaigned on providing millions of jobs?

He did all he can do which was provide economic stimulus to the states. many of the states (governors) did not use those monies as intended so far less jobs new jobs were created as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

how many jobs bills have been introduced by the GOP controlled House to date after 5 months of control? zero. they campaigned on the "more jobs platform" the months prior to the last election cycle.

about 400,000 jobs a month need to be created to get all those unemployed back to work to pre-recession levels. those types of numbers have never been seen in US history, about 275,000 a month is about the highest during the Clinton admin. the US never recovered in terms of jobs from the 2001 recession. add in zero job growth under 8 years of GWB, add in the losses of jobs per month in that same time frame, factor in changes in technology that have made some jobs disappear forever and you end up with the huge surplus of labor that we have in the US today.

capital projects would put a lot to work but there are no monies for that due to 30 years of a near zero national savings rate. the low national savings rate in the private sector is due to the combination of years/decades of increased wealth created by home values increasing and the accumulation of equity in them (less need to save money from wages then). stagnant wages in most markets increased the use of easy credit which further reduced the need/importance for saving. for profit company's do not invest in capital projects as there are no monies to be made.

.

In other words Obama is a useless lying elitist piece of shit in the pocket of big business like the Presidents that preceded him.

I thought Obama was going to save the banks while on his multi-trillion dollar money printing spree?

Maybe the state's governors misappropriated it?


WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of banks at risk of failing made up nearly 12% of all federally insured banks in the first three months of 2011, highest level in 18 years.

That proportion is about the same as in the October-December quarter last year, though the increase in the number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s confidential "problem" list is slowing.

The FDIC added only four banks to its list in the January-March quarter. That brought the total to 888 from 884. Banks on the list are deemed by examiners to have very low capital cushions against risk.

The industry reported its highest earnings as a group in the January-March quarter, $29 billion, since before the financial crisis more than three years ago. But only a small fraction of the 7,574 federally insured banks — the 1.4% with assets exceeding $10 billion — drove the bulk of the earnings growth. They are the largest banks, such as Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

The big banks accounted for about $24.4 billion of industry earnings.

The amount banks set aside for possible losses on loans declined by more than half last quarter, to $20.7 billion from $51.6 billion in the year-earlier quarter. But many banks pulled in less revenue in the latest quarter than a year earlier. And overall net revenue declined 3.2% to $5.5 billion. It was just the second time in 27 years that the industry reported less revenue than in the year-earlier quarter.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said some of the revenue decline likely was due to new rules that limit banks' charges for overdrafts on checking accounts. Still, she said, the financial overhaul enacted last year wasn't the root cause.

"I think it's a broader problem with the economy," Bair said.

Forty-three banks have failed so far this year, but the pace has slowed from last year, when 157 banks failed. That was the most in a year since 1992, at the height of the savings and loan crisis.

Fewer bank failures allowed the FDIC's deposit insurance fund, which fell into the red in 2009, to strengthen in the January-March quarter. Its deficit narrowed to about $1 billion from $7.4 billion in the October-December period. Bair has said the agency expects the fund to turn positive this year.

were have you been for the past 30 years? neo-liberalism is going to run it's course and nothing can stop it short of a revolution. the "middle-class" in the US was never supposed to be prosperous.

there's numerous reasons why US military contractors control the tv media. reality tv shows like American Idle, etc. were introduced for a reason in the US & UK. to give people the illusion of hope and prosperity, etc. Shows like "The Real Housewives'" etc. are on to show people that even the 1%'ers are still miserable, etc. even with all that wealth.

movies like the Matrix, Enemy of the State, etc. are not just based on fiction...

this is why I tell people to look at the data and not what "politicians" say on TV, and to plan accordingly. Politicians on TV say what must be said to keep people consuming and that there is "hope" around the corner, we have a consumption based economy, it accounts for 70% of GDP.

not quite sure how they expect people getting paid 1980's wages to afford things in 2011...

Politicians lie to get elected? I"m shocked!

Its still your bush's fault

Originally Posted by suppRatings

damndest thing....money doesnt trickle down...people hoard it regardless of 'class'

even when you trace the roots of land ownership, capitalism, etc. back to the days of when there were Kings, etc. they never had more wealth than all their subjects combined, just a fraction.

people "needing" banks is also a relatively new thing only a couple of decades really...there were hundreds of years when they were not needed.

true prosperity occurs from the poor up not from the rich down, only a fool would believe the later...

Don't worry, any day now the job creators will use all of that money they saved from the tax cut extension to spur job growth.

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Don't worry, any day now the job creators will use all of that money they saved from the tax cut extension to spur job growth.

you mean the Lords are finally going to reward their surfs?

just talked to my gf...the company she works for was privately owned and just sold to a publicly traded US corp. since then they have lost $30K in annual bonuses and were already short on man power so her and the other managers average about 70hrs a week. they just cut lose 23 people today with 0 slated to replace them. slavery in the US is making a comeback...

Unemployment: The New Norm
unemployment-new-norm-fins: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by LAM

He did all he can do which was provide economic stimulus to the states. many of the states (governors) did not use those monies as intended so far less jobs new jobs were created as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Where are the "shovel-ready Jobs"? Other than GWB's Presidential Library, none have come to fruition to date. Wasn't he supposed to turn things around?

how many jobs bills have been introduced by the GOP controlled House to date after 5 months of control? zero. they campaigned on the "more jobs platform" the months prior to the last election cycle.

The Senate is still controlled by the dems and Obama is still the "Potus". How many jobs would you estimate he is preventing by the moratorium on offshore drilling? I will give him credit for creating some jobs, however, in Brazil, since they're drilling offshore and we're going to be their "best customer."

capital projects would put a lot to work but there are no monies for that due to 30 years of a near zero national savings rate. the low national savings rate in the private sector is due to the combination of years/decades of increased wealth created by home values increasing and the accumulation of equity in them (less need to save money from wages then). stagnant wages in most markets increased the use of easy credit which further reduced the need/importance for saving. for profit company's do not invest in capital projects as there are no monies to be made.

Perhaps if Obama actually did what he campaigned on and got us the F out of Iraq, as opposed to following lock-step with GWB's policies in Iraq, ramping up operations in Afghanistan, and getting us involved in Libya, there might be some funds left to put some people back to work.

[QUOTE=GearsMcGilf;2319400]

The Senate is still controlled by the dems and Obama is still the "Potus". How many jobs would you estimate he is preventing by the moratorium on offshore drilling? I will give him credit for creating some jobs, however, in Brazil, since they're drilling offshore and we're going to be their "best customer."

not many 75% of the jobs from big oil are not US based..check the numbers, I did...

do you even know what the Senate does? because they do not introduce legislation...

Aren't the GOP'ers always going on about small businesses...they sure don't' vote that way...

H.R.5297 Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010
H.R.5297: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Originally Posted by LAM

just talked to my gf...the company she works for was privately owned and just sold to a publicly traded US corp. since then they have lost $30K in annual bonuses and were already short on man power so her and the other managers average about 70hrs a week. they just cut lose 23 people today with 0 slated to replace them. slavery in the US is making a comeback...

I don't know the details of her company, but it might just be trimming fat...I know well over 23 people my company that we could let go to save dramatic costs.

Originally Posted by lnvanry

I don't know the details of her company, but it might just be trimming fat...I know well over 23 people my company that we could let go to save dramatic costs.

I wish it was....the gf came home in tears, she said they were some of the best employees in the company many with 20+ years in. the worst part about it is that the company is the leader in there industry nationwide and has bought up all the privately owned funeral homes, so there really is no were for these people to go work at now.

the gf is a manager and her salary etc. is higher than what she could ever make going to whatever privately owned funeral company is hiring in any US state. if she wants to make more more she pretty much has to move back to Canada at this point.

Long-term jobless see reduction in benefits

Long-term jobless see reduction in benefits - USATODAY.com

Peter Gordon has been out of work for
more than a year, and his $233-a-week
unemployment checks stopped last month.

"I'm getting by," he says, "but just barely."

Gordon, 53, of St. Louis, worked in call
centers and as a patient coordinator at a
hearing clinic before being laid off. Last
month, Missouri became the first state to
quit the federal program that provides an
additional 20 weeks of extended benefits for
people such as Gordon: the long-term
unemployed who have exhausted their
otherwise-maximum 79 weeks of benefits.

In his state and elsewhere, benefits for the
jobless are under pressure. Governors and
legislatures across the nation are moving to
cut the length of time unemployed workers
can receive benefits, despite historically high
unemployment rates, amid concerns that
states may need to boost taxes on
employers to shore up unemployment trust
funds exhausted by the jobless benefits.

More than 8 million Americans are drawing
unemployment, according to the Department
of Labor. Benefit levels are set and
administered by each state and vary widely.
The initial benefits, generally for 26 weeks,
are paid by states, largely from employer
taxes. It's a program that has helped tide
over those who lost their job through no
fault of their own since it was created in
1935 as a response to the Great Depression.
In times of high unemployment such as this
one, the U.S. government has enacted a
series of additional emergency programs
and extensions providing additional weeks
of benefits, up to 99 weeks in some states
with the highest jobless rates, paid with
federal dollars.

In late March, Michigan became the first state
to reduce the basic 26 weeks of state-paid
unemployment benefits to 20 weeks for
workers who become unemployed starting
next year.

Missouri, while resuming the extended
benefits, followed Michigan's lead and cut
back the initial state-paid benefits to 20
weeks for the newly unemployed, starting
immediately.

In Florida, where the unemployment rate is
11.1%, the Republican-dominated legislature
last week passed a law cutting maximum
state benefits from 26 weeks to 23 weeks,
with fewer weeks available when the jobless
rate falls below 10.5%. Florida could provide
as little as 12 weeks of checks to the jobless
if unemployment falls to 5%. More than 1
million people are officially unemployed in
Florida, according to the U.S. Department of
Labor.

The additional 20 weeks of extended federal
benefits has ended in North Carolina,
Tennessee and Wisconsin without those
states' legislatures taking action required to
remain in the program.

In North Carolina, the legislature approved a
technical change intended to keep the
checks flowing, but packaged it with
spending cuts that drew a veto by
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. Arkansas and
Illinois are among states that have cut
benefits or are considering doing so this
spring.

'A very, very deep hole'

The reductions come as the nation's
unemployment rate remains stubbornly high
despite other signs of economic recovery.
The national jobless rate was 9% in April,
down from a 10.1% peak in October 2009
but still well above the 4.9% rate of April
2008.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
recently acknowledged the pain of long-term
unemployment, even as he said inflation
worries are a bigger concern for the Fed.

"We are digging ourselves out of a very, very
deep hole," Bernanke said. "We are still
something like 7 million-plus jobs below
where we were before the crisis."

Forty-five percent of all unemployed people
have been jobless for six months or longer,
he said. Long-term unemployment is "the
worst it's been in the post-war period," he
said.

"We know the consequences of that can be
very distressing, because people who are
out of work for a long time, their skills tend
to atrophy. They lose contacts with the labor
market, with other people working, the
networks that they have built up," Bernanke
said.

Recession and high unemployment have
strained the ability of states to pay their
share of unemployment benefits, which are
outpacing unemployment tax collections
from employers.

Michigan, where the unemployment rate has
been in double digits since late 2008, owes
the federal government nearly $4 billion that
it borrowed to pay benefits.

Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, noted that
"we have people suffering today" when he
signed legislation shortening the length of
benefits for next year.

Business groups, including state chambers
of commerce, have led the push for reduced
benefits to ease the taxes employers pay to
fund them.

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which
pushed for the six-week cut in initial
benefits, said in a statement that the move
will save the state $300 million "and put
Michigan's employer-financed
(unemployment insurance) program on the
road to long-term solvency."

"Let's focus on bringing our unemployment
rate down so we don't have people on
unemployment," Snyder said.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce said
cutting benefits has prevented a $400
million increase in unemployment taxes on
businesses that was scheduled to take effect
because of the program's high costs in the
recession.

"Florida has been burdened with double-
digit unemployment rates for nearly two
years, and the existing system of
unemployment compensation was never
designed for sustained high levels of jobless
workers," the Florida Chamber of Commerce
said in a statement.

The state moves are dismaying to Gordon
and other long-term unemployed people.
They say jobs remain hard to come by,
particularly for mature workers. Many don't
know how they will cope when the
unemployment checks stop coming.

"This is horrible. It's embarrassing and
humiliating," says Susan Harrell of Akron,
Ohio.

Harrell, 58, has been jobless for more than
two years and exhausted the full 99 weeks of
state and federal unemployment benefits
available to her, putting her in the unhappy
category dubbed "99ers" by the jobless
themselves. There are no programs for
people like her who have used up all
available benefits.

In 25 states with the highest jobless rates
and the most state funding, the jobless can
get a maximum of 99 weeks of
unemployment benefits, including a final 20-
week federal extension that was part of the
stimulus legislation. Other states have lower
maximums.

After earning as much as $60,000 a year,
Harrell was laid off from her
telecommunications job in 2005 and then, in
April 2009, from a part-time bookkeeping
job. She says she has gone through her
savings and 401(k) retirement plan. She's
lost her home, her car and health insurance,
and filed for bankruptcy. That was while
drawing a $260-a-week unemployment
check; now that is gone as well. She recently
signed up for food stamps.

Harrell sees signs the job outlook improving,
particularly for low-paying jobs. However,
she says few people seem interested in
hiring someone her age, despite legal
prohibitions on age discrimination
"They look at me and say, 'How long are you
really going to work?' That's about as close
as you can get" to age discrimination, she
says.

She says benefit reductions are "like kicking
people when they're down."

"It's enough to make you furious," she says.
"We're already down, we're already failing,
and you want to take more away? Just to give
it to who — the rich?"

Tech worker Melissa Barone, 42, of St. Clair
Shores, Mich., a Detroit suburb, has been out
of work for nearly two years. Her husband,
Michael, was laid off from his tech job in
2008.

They used up their savings, cashed in their
401(k)s, lost their home and truck, and
moved into the basement of his mother's
home with their teenage son.

Without health insurance, they were faced
with a $22,000 hospital bill after Michael had
a bout of pneumonia in December. They got
help from their church to pay heating bills
and turned to food banks for meals.

She has 13 weeks of unemployment left and
has gone back to school to get a nursing
degree. Her husband recently landed a job in
information technology.

"It's so much better now that he has a job,"
she says. However, she adds: "We have
nothing. No retirement."

'Hostility' to unemployed workers?

It's unclear exactly how many people have
seen their benefits run out while they are still
jobless. The Department of Labor does not
issue such an estimate.

The largest state, California, estimates that
343,657 people in the state have exhausted
all unemployment benefits, according to the
Employment Development Department.
That's almost 10 times as many as at the
start of 2008, when the comparable figure
was less than 37,000.

The National Employment Law Project, which
advocates for the unemployed, estimates
that nearly 4 million workers have run out of
all benefits. Maurice Emsellem, policy co-
director of the group, says state reductions
"pull the rug out from under workers in a
tough economy."

"I've been doing this work for over 20 years,"
Emsellem said. "I've never seen this kind of
hostility, especially in the middle of a
recession, to unemployed workers."

Rick Sloan, executive director of www.
UnionofUnemployed.com, a project of the
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, estimates that 3 million
to 6 million workers have exhausted
available benefits and remain jobless. He
calls the moves to reduce benefits during a
time of high unemployment "the definition of
insanity."

Before cutting its unemployment benefits to
20 weeks, Michigan had provided 26 weeks
of benefits since 1954.

"Exhaustion of benefits," he said, "really
triggers the kind of real personal family pain
that we haven't seen in this country since the
Great Depression."

US call center jobs that have been outsourced to India are never coming back. the people that work in the call centers in India are getting $2-3 dollars a day. people in the US simply can't live on those wages, at 5 days a week( 8 hrs a day) x $3/day that's only $780 a year.

Apple is one of the few that have kept all that stuff in the US at least. they know how frustrated American's get when they have to talk to foreigners on those tech supp. calls.

Originally Posted by LAM

were have you been for the past 30 years? neo-liberalism is going to run it's course and nothing can stop it short of a revolution. the "middle-class" in the US was never supposed to be prosperous.

there's numerous reasons why US military contractors control the tv media. reality tv shows like American Idle, etc. were introduced for a reason in the US & UK. to give people the illusion of hope and prosperity, etc. Shows like "The Real Housewives'" etc. are on to show people that even the 1%'ers are still miserable, etc. even with all that wealth.

movies like the Matrix, Enemy of the State, etc. are not just based on fiction....

LOL! Yes, the worst of them all was the A-Team. That one was put out by the Reagan admin to condition us all to believe that we can't depend on the govt to take care of our every need.

Pity the Fool! Rachel Maddow Frames the A-Team for Warping Her Mind (True Twit, Part 11) | NewsReal Blog

Originally Posted by myCATpowerlifts

Isn't that something every president campaigns on?

I'm pretty sure that Harding kicked off his campaign by telling the press "I am not fit for this office!" and then going back to his poker game.

Originally Posted by Gregzs

Tech worker Melissa Barone, 42, of St. Clair Shores, Mich., a Detroit suburb, has been out of work for nearly two years. Her husband, Michael, was laid off from his tech job in 2008.

They used up their savings, cashed in their 401(k)s, lost their home and truck, (snip)

She has 13 weeks of unemployment left and has gone back to school to get a nursing degree. Her husband recently landed a job in information technology.

"It's so much better now that he has a job," she says. However, she adds: "We have
nothing. No retirement."

Is that a bit of hidden advice above?

Don't use up your savings and 401(k) to survive while looking or waiting for another high-paying job. Dump that money into other education/training immediately.

That and don't live beyond your means. Live far below your means.

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Don't worry, any day now the job creators will use all of that money they saved from the tax cut extension to spur job growth.

As a small business owner whom according to the IRS calculations supposedly made $93K net profit in Q1 2011, this is how I'm spreading the money around and in turn helping people keep their jobs.

since Jan 1, 2011 I have purchased on behalf of my corp:

$4,300 in 7ga steel tables
$2,500 for a better DVR and more video cameras
$4,000 to buy and install a 5ton A/C
$2,000 to repair A/C's
$5,000-$7,500/mo in advertising
$1,000 in electrical wire and lights for a new future warehouse
$7,000 to buy and install a 11Kva electrical line conditioner
$8,200 to move a 400 amp power meter and service from one side of a warehouse to another
$25,000 on a electronic filling machine
Quarterly bonuses for all employees usually equivalent to 2-2.5 weeks of pay

In the next 3 months I will order $25,000-30,000 of concrete in order to have a $45,000 steel warehouse erected.

Not all "job creators" are bad. As a matter of fact, I hired another FT emp about 2 months and every time I ask him what he thinks of his new job, he tells me he can't believe how well he's getting paid for such an easy job.

Originally Posted by LAM

just talked to my gf...the company she works for was privately owned and just sold to a publicly traded US corp. since then they have lost $30K in annual bonuses and were already short on man power so her and the other managers average about 70hrs a week. they just cut lose 23 people today with 0 slated to replace them. slavery in the US is making a comeback...

A local school district dropped one-quarter of its personnel. Nice. Smaller class sizes? I don't think so.

"[...] York schools Thursday with the decision to cut 25 percent of the teachers in the district.

The cuts follow previous reductions of 47 teachers in March and 70 support staff jobs in April.

The latest measure would eliminate 66 more teacher positions.

In all, 183 jobs have been slated for removal from the York City School District."

From 66 More York Teachers To Lose Jobs - Pennsylvania News Story - WGAL The Susquehanna Valley