Millions will lose unemployment benefit extensions April 5th

Originally posted by Retrovertigo
I honestly can't understand why many Americans seem to be calling for extensions on unemployment benefits

On one hand its "damned if that bastard Obama will push his socialist policies on me", the next its "oh please, we need unemployment benefits extended"...

Do you want socialist policies or not ? I mean, make up your minds already for chrissakes...

I'm with you on this one, people just spout off what the boob tube tells them to. Look at how many people on here are complaining about losing unemployment benefits yet they are on the internet surfing ats.

reply to post by whoshotJR


C-mon man !
You know no-body is wanting to work at Mickey-D's and wrap their grease burgers all day for hardly nothing when they can get more from unemployment.
Be realistic ! Working at a fast food joint won't pay the damn mortgage and it won't keep the baby in diapers or formula-or make the car payment. People will be getting desparate and I don't blame them for anything they have to do to survive! Do what you gotta do baby !
Peace

reply to post by whoshotJR


Welfare for the Rich is way worse then what the poor get -- the whole system is based on oppressing the poor. So take away all the welfare for the rich jobs and see what happens.

Advertising -- a tax deduction for corporations.

Attorneys -- a tax deduction for corporations.

Psychologists -- a tax deduction for corporations.

And then you got the military contracts -- over 50% of income tax goes to the military which is the most inefficient means of job creation.

And finally the financial class -- capital gains is taxed at 15% while the working class pay over 30% in tax and their payroll tax is being stolen by the rich to subsidize the military funding and bailouts of the financial class.

The banks have hedge funds that get bailed out -- over 50% of investment is in debt trading and over 90% of investment is speculative gambling in currency trading and futures as derivatives.

Meanwhile the banks have loan shark ATM fees and retroactive increased interest rates on credit.

The whole system is based on leaching the poor -- and the answer is to just send them off to Iraq to commit genocide against the periphery of the empire. Now it's Afghanistan -- so the rich can reap the oil profits.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The super rich tax you to death!

Originally posted by Retrovertigo
I honestly can't understand why many Americans seem to be calling for extensions on unemployment benefits

On one hand its "damned if that bastard Obama will push his socialist policies on me", the next its "oh please, we need unemployment benefits extended"...

Do you want socialist policies or not ? I mean, make up your minds already for chrissakes...

Ahhh....you've discovered the hypocrisy of today's American.
Government: Stay the hell out of my life but leave the check in the mailbox!

People have yet to figure out that so long as you depend on the beast, the beast has the control.

reply to post by drew hempel



no one would have been hurt by the arm (adj. rate. mortg.) if they didn't sign the contract. the bankers weren't holding a gun to their heads. no one was forced to sign anything. no one was forced to buy anything either.

i know of real estate agents that would try to get customers to hire attorneys, and just be more responsible and people still bought stuff they couldn't afford under bad contracts.

same logic to credit card rates.

so, complaining about that in the 1st place is ridiculous.

from your perspective, complaining about TARP and the arms at the same time is absurd. if you think the rates are high now, how high do you think they'd be if they didn't get the TARP money? they'd have just raised the rates high enough to cover their solvency. (and im against TARP and consider it illegal)



[edit on 4/2/10 by RedDragon]

reply to post by drew hempel


So then why would the super rich or pray on the poor as you say, want people to be unemployed and lose benefits? From what you have listed they would be better off without all this financial mess because it was have more people to roll up into them.

If what you are trying to describe is a pyramid scheme then why would they try and cut out the biggest bottom layers that are they only reason the top doesn't come crumbling down into the chaos also?

This tuesday is my last unemployment check. Its one of those weird "half checks" due to getting my benefits biweekly. Ive been laid off from one of the worlds largest robotics companies for well over a year. To be honest I consider myself lucky that I never putmyself in debt , have no house payment (i rent), no car payment and am not a very materialistic person. What little I own in my one bedroom apartment , i paid for with cash.

My unemployment benefit was under 250 a week, barely enough to cover my rent , utilities , food, and overpriced gas. My car broke in november and I have not had enough money to even fix it. Ive been to EVERY business from bars and restaraunts to fast food franchises. The manager at Mcdonalds showed me the stack of applications , it was at least six inches tall.

I live in a suburb of detroit, and Ill be honest , I'm a survivor what little cash I had left , I bought canned goods and non-perishables. For those with homes and families , I can do nothing but pray and wish there was some kind of network in place we could help each other out.

My cash is gone , my car barely runs, I dont have this months rent, and I wont see a lick of the new health care for almost a decade? Im upset. Im crushed but I can only see myself crawling forward through this. At this juncture I feel my only option is to start moving north until I find some "State" land and pitch my tent.

I dont know what the legalities are concerning the "state" land were taxed for , but with no other choice than headed to the trees , i hope i have enough hustle in me to purchase a firearm. Even an 80 dollar Mosin will feed me.

I dont feel let down by individuals or party politics however, and never thought I would NEED a state handout, Im furious at the bankers and corporate greed. The people who gambled away my 401k (It turns out i have 21cents left in it) the people who gambled away our money and who will get enough in bonuses to carry the hungry a little further.

Im down for a little camping.... sigh.

reply to post by pavlovs cat


Wow, I feel for you man.

A word of advice if I may....

Get the hell out of the Detroit area, out of Michigan if you can and relocate to a state with a lower unemployment rate if you can.

I travel around and I can tell you I have seen few states as bad as where you are, except perhaps the central regions of California.

There are jobs and opportunities out there, just about anywhere but where you are now.

If you can, consider relocating from that dead zone as soon as you possibly can.

So let me get this straight, because I'm a little perplexed at the moment.

There are no plans to re-extend unemployment benefits to the millions unemployed. However, the health care legislation is going to require everyone in the United States to pay for insurance. Only those in a bad way, displaced or basically unemployed, will be exempt and can either pay at a reasonably discounted rate or it will just be provided for them.

So, who is going to pay for all of these unemployed and all of their health insurance? Everyone else? How much money exactly, and how long before everyone else starts to fall? So basically the government is deciding to give money to health insurance, but not for basic living? Thank God we can get all those thousands of soon-to-be-homeless people insured with Health Care, whatever would they do if they couldn't go to the hospital and go into super-debt with variable deductibles and prescriptions.

This is really just a complete 'no-brainer' that we are headed into serious chaos.

A lot of people are just going to stop paying taxes, and stop caring about what the government tells them to do. Make no mistake about it, it will not be a "Crossroads" moment where the nation has to go in either direction, we are only in one direction, and that is chaos and growing poverty.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


Yeah , Michigan is a ghost town as far as work is concerned, but itll take many dollars that I dont have right now to actually get somewhere. I feel trapped lol.

I was looking towards the Southwest , its beautiful and I hear word of some work. I bartend and am quite knowledgable in carpentry as well so I have trades I can rely on, just a matter of getting out.

I also know the north here quite well and if the Stuffing really hits the fan , well theres plenty of water and wildlife. Ive got very little time and Ill see if I cant rustle up the revenue to escape.

BTW thank you for the empathy , so many people give me the "just go out and get a job, its simple lazy ass" or the "why should we have to pay for you" crap. I only hope those people never have to eat their words , it is not a fun position to be in.

reply to post by pavlovs cat


Dude, I've been in Michigan recently, in and out of Detroit and I've seen how bad it is first hand.

Southwest may be good for you based on your skills.

No matter what, best of luck to you.

Firstly I want to offer a prayer to all of you that are facing hard times.
My heart goes out to you.

I am not a bible beater, but I do believe in positive thinking which prayer essentially is.

To those that might be facing foreclosure, remember, the bank/mortgage holders package and resell your mortgages and most likely no longer have the original Note.

Fight back and Ask them to present the NOTE !

The “produce the note” approach has become a rallying cry for a growing number of lawyers who say homeowners can fight foreclosure-and win.

www.consumerwarningnetwork.com...

On the unemployment front.
This has all been a long time in the making.

This is what a system dictated by FOR Profit corporations inevitably creates.

And that is that Those at the top make the decisions to lay off those whom are expendable at the bottom.

Employees are expendable, in the name of corporate profits.
And if the companies still can't make a profit, then the jobs are moved overseas.
Overseas where they don't are not required to abide to child labor laws and slave labor wages.

All for the sake of more profits !

This has been occurring for years now.

Hate also isn't the answer, This isn't the first recession we have faced in US history and I also don't believe that Obama is necessarily the cause of what we are currently experiencing with the economy OR even the Antichrist for that matter


but we should instead focus our blame upon those who have historically controlled the money as well as our economies throughout history.

The Banksters.

Looking back in history of the United States Recessions have historically followed the FED having created lots of cheap money. Which is also historically followed by a contraction in the money supply which is what we currently are experiencing.

The bottom line is that the cause of layoffs and your resulting unemployment situation is very simply attributed to greed.

The company you used to work for most likely didn't go under, but you were part of an ongoing statistical trend here in the US of headcount reduction in order to maintain profits.

In order for management to maintain their high paid salaries and positions as well as profits for the stockholders, they reduce headcount.

Many people here on ATS poo poo'd Michael Moore as well as his most recent movie, Capitalism a Love Story, apparently due to their prejudgment based solely upon the title. or perhaps in their believing he was being critical of the system of capitalism when he himself, being a capitalist, was profiting from his movie.

Simply stated, I say, Don't judge a book by it's cover.

If you would actually watch the movie, there is more to the story in that Moore IS describing exactly HOW we arrived here in the USA today with all of the banking crisis,resulting foreclosures and layoffs.

The movie opens with a 60 year old disabled railway worker and his wife who's family had owned the land for the last century, having the Sheriff drive up to take his home away.


Moore also provides insight into companies which are owned by the employees who maintain profitability as well as save their jobs by collaboratively making the decisions for the company by vote, versus the decisions being made by a few overpaid CEOs behind closed doors who only know how to resort to layoffs to maintain company profits.

Seek the Truth, For the Truth shall Set you Free.

Originally posted by RedDragon

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
reply to post by Subjective Truth

 

.....A guy down the road from me has been paying for his home for 10 years, never missed a payment. He lost his job and fell a month behind. Unable to make up the missed month but continually paying, the bank is taking his home.

Then he can't afford his house and should have bought a cheaper one.. or he should have rented.

Well he could afford it apparently, for ten years!

Then the economy happened to him.

The bank wants his house now.

Do you know what the 'rich pig scam' here is? He's paid with his sweat for ten years while some cushy job fat fingered bankster takes his home.
Its legal robbery, the ten years of payments mean nothing, he gets nothing.
His house is not paid for yet, but some of it is, he should be given a cheque in the amount of what he's paid on his house so far, but he gets nothing.

The banks live on the sweat and tears of the peasants.
It's legal thievery.

reply to post by coolmanmike


Seriously? There maybe jobs out there, but how many actually pay a wage that is sustainable? How many pay more than the unemployment benefits? Not many.

The competition for jobs is fierce. You have college grads, veterans of the work force, tradesmen, all applying for the same crappy jobs. I am a former union tradesman, and have been slugging it out for three years on my own. Just started to collect this year on benefits. work came to screeching halt. Things are not good or getting better out there.

And I love your stuff you dont like in your profile. That statement you made is a great example of "stuff you dont like".

Now back to the op. This I believe will be a tipping point if they do not extend benefits. But if they are passed how much longer can they really keep it up for? All the money the govt. has thrown out there, how long before it all bottoms out?

reply to post by whoshotJR


Prison labor! It's expanding rapidly. You get paid 15 cents an hour in prison!! And yes people can go to prison for debt -- contempt of court or fraud charges. Drug use has skyrocketed due to the economy crashing -- it's turned to the illegal economy.... prostitution, etc.

www.metacafe.com...

I don't understand why the hell we don't band together and become farmers? The one thing we could all do is at least grow our own food. One guy in this thread was saying how a minimum wage job can't buy baby formula! Your damn baby shouldn't be drinking baby formula anyways! WHY NOT BUY A COW AND FEED NOT ONLY YOUR BABY BUT ALL THE BABIES DOWN THE STREET AND IN THE NEXT COUNTY?

All that vacant land in detroit? FARM IT! All those houses sitting vacant? FARM THE YARDS! All these commercial building sitting idly by for lease........tear up that pretty landscape and turn it into a garden or fence it in and raise some chickens! Seriously! If all else fails at least you'd be able to spend a few nights in jail with a hot meal and a blanket!

Better yet why don't we start raining down molotav cocktails on banks? Can they really arrest thousands of us?

[edit on 2-4-2010 by Zosynspiracy]

Originally posted by Zosynspiracy
I don't understand why the hell we don't band together and become farmers? The one thing we could all do is at least grow our own food.

Wrong, the federal laws and agricultural regulations would be used to shut down any kind of mass move like this.

Ain't gonna happen.

Stop dreaming... the only way of life we can hope to have is the one that the federal government is willing to let us have period.

reply to post by allprowolfy


If you are a business owner you can still get unemployment, but you have to pay into the system to draw it out. But I understand that the laws affect small businesses way more than a large business. It is extremely costly to start a business, but when you start hiring employees it becomes incredibly expensive.

I'd like to tell all of you who are honestly making 110% effort to find a job that I really feel for you and wish you the best. Every day I thank my lucky stars that I'm still employed. If there was something I could do to help, I would.

That said, I feel most unemployed really aren't making 110% effort. My grandfather in-law was told he was being laid off during the great depression. On-the-spot & without hesitation, he told his employer he'd take 1/2 pay and work twice as long, and kept his job. He did whatever it took... I don't think many unemployed are willing (able?) to do that... yet. As long as the gov. is handing out money to stay at home, why would they?

But it can't go on forever. No doubt, when the money runs dry, there will be people wanting to take their anger out on someone else. Perhaps we need to let go of our 'dreams of wealth' and come back to reality... I'm guessing a lot of those jobs that supposedly only the illegals wanted will be in demand again.

Good luck to you and may God help you and your families through these difficult times.

Sounds like a great time to expand the military. What a great opportunity for the unemployed to help in the coming Iranian War as well as the extermination of Chavez right? Its got to be on the chalk board in some think tank room.