Unemployment extension passes!

[Sava]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Sava:

I was summarizing you fools when I called him a weakling... you idiot Sava... i said that he is a capable man...

No you were being an insulting little ****** when you called him a weakling, just like you are now. I just don't understand why you haven't been perma-banned for the Pro-Nazi stuff you used to post. I guess you should thank the mods and owners of Apolyton for not banning you, because they're much nicer than I am.

[Sava]

See, you know your f*cked when a conservative like Shi, and a liberal like me gang up on you

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
To summarize all of you... Chegitz is a weakling... he is staying unemployed because of forces outside his control... he has no ability to combat these forces and actually get a job... so let's cheer that he is getting benefits for a little while more!

::scratches head::

Speer, I don't think it is an overstatement that you have no clue what you are talking about. Have you any idea how hard it is to find job in his sector (website design)? It's absolutely horrible after the dotcom bust, and most employers think that a 16-year old kid who knows FrontPage is good enough.

Maybe he could get a job at MckeyD's or something, but that would just bum somebody who is less skilled than he is out of one. Besides, why should he stoop to that low?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Philly ain't representin' the world.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I just find it amusing that people are taking Speer seriously.

[DanS]

Good. Bush gets credit for this.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Maybe he could get a job at MckeyD's or something, but that would just bum somebody who is less skilled than he is out of one. Besides, why should he stoop to that low?

Getting a low-wage menial job for which one is highly overqualified is generally never a good idea unless one is in truly desperate straits. It doesn't do anything for your confidence and interferes with actually finding something worthwhile...

[Sava]

plus, Speer would come on the forums and berade Che for stealing his job

DanS: yeah its Bush's fault

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
Philly ain't representin' the world.

thank f*cking GOD

(says the atheist)

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I just find it amusing that people are taking Speer seriously.

Maybe, maybe not. But why let a chance to *cough* correct *cough* somebody slip away?

[orange]

Originally posted by Jack_www
he said many times that he is looking for a job, but is having problems finding one.

yes. I remember a thread a short while ago on the subject. He and I discussed prospective web jobs for a bit...i was wondering if he had been continuing the search in that sector, or if he had given up on it and gone after something else.

I still believe that, if he spends a day or so going around to local businesses, he should get some bites. It's how I used to make money.

Small businesses have the money to pay, and they're willing to pay - just gotta make a decent presentation and show what having a website can do

Good luck Che.

Speer, you're a moron...have some tact. I don't hear about you working, and your 17 year old ass is more than capable.

[Ted Striker]

Unemployment benefits are not only the right thing to do, they are the practical thing to do.

I have disagreed with most of Communist's (chegitz's) theories and beliefs but I hold him in the highest degree of respect.

Asher and Urban are right, that sector is insanely hard, and I feel bad for those guys, knowing how many people are out there competing for the same spot.

[chequita guevara]

Just for Speer's benefit, I look for work daily and send out probably at least twenty resumes a week. Right now I have one major strike against me, and that's living in a minor job market in the South. One, there aren't many jobs here, and two, few people outside the South want to hire someone from the South. While working for Citibank, we ran up against this anti-Southern bias constantly, as the New York office would constantly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have NYC designers create designs for them when they had an extremely talented design team here in Jacksonville. C'est la vie. Lesson for the future, never move to a job market you can't get out of.

Bush Signs Jobless Benefits Extension
Jan 9, 7:42 AM (ET)

By DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed hastily passed legislation Wednesday extending unemployment benefits for 2.5 million victims of a weak economy, the first accomplishment of a new, Republican-controlled Congress.

Democrats in both the House and Senate complained that the measure fell short of what was needed, but Bush said its enactment "should bring some comfort to those of our fellow citizens who need extra help during the time in which they try to find a job."

The measure extends a federal program that provides 13 weeks of benefits for the unemployed who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state aid. The federal program lapsed on Dec. 28, but the Labor Department said the flow of benefits would continue uninterrupted if legislation were signed into law by Thursday.

Officials said an estimated 750,000 people are immediately affected, plus an additional 1.6 million who are expected to become eligible before the extension expires on June 1.

Workers who qualify for an extra 13 weeks from the federal government receive the same weekly benefit amount that they got in state aid. The average weekly benefit was $249.92, according to the latest Labor Department data.

The average benefit was lowest in Alabama, where jobless workers got $165.03 per week. The highest was in Massachusetts, where the average weekly unemployment benefit was $353.29.

The president placed his signature on the $7.2 billion bill a few hours after it cleared the House on a vote of 416-4. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday on a voice vote.

The lopsided votes masked a politically charged debate in which Republicans claimed credit for helping the jobless as their first order of business in the new Congress, and Democrats accused the GOP majority of acting grudgingly.

"It is important to note that the first piece of important legislation ... helps American families by extending unemployment insurance," said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Democrats failed in an attempt to win approval for a more generous bill, and said they were unimpressed by the GOP-crafted measure.

"Not just 13 weeks, we need 26 weeks at least," said Democratic Rep. David Scott, a first-term Georgian who was sworn into Congress on Tuesday.

Apart from the unemployment measure, the House unanimously approved legislation during the day granting a 3.1 percent pay raise to federal judges, the same boost that other government employees received on Jan. 1.

The House also used a voice vote to approve legislation to keep the federal government in operation through Jan. 31. Senate passage is expected on Thursday. Current spending authority for many departments and agencies expires on Saturday.

Bush signed the unemployment bill at a meeting with top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, his first since the new Congress convened.

The unemployment issue was a blend of old and new business for lawmakers.

Congress adjourned late last year without passing an extension of the federal program, triggering angry protests from Democrats at the time.

At the same time, Rep. Bill Thomas, the California Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said the debate was a precursor to a struggle over Bush's proposals to stimulate the economy.

Democrats have already criticized the proposals as heavily tilted toward the rich.

Speaking of Democrats who opposed the jobless aid bill on the floor during the day, Thomas said, "I'm quite sure my colleagues will be opposed to the proposals to stimulate the economy as well. So those will be future battles."

But for now, he said, "We're in a position of having the president sign a bill tomorrow or not sign a bill tomorrow."

Democrats said their proposals - an additional 13 weeks of benefits on top of the current 13 - could easily be accepted by the Senate and signed into law by the president. The change would help the estimated one million unemployed who have already exhausted their extra 13 weeks of benefits. The bid to alter the legislation failed on a vote of 224-202.

"The Republican Party does not care about those million unemployed," contended Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., "because you have the presidency, you have the Senate and you have the House."

In fact, the measure that was sent to Bush's desk was far more generous than Thomas and other GOP leaders were willing to approve late last year, and more than even the Democrats were proposing in November.

The House approved a five-week extension in federal benefits last fall, but only for the jobless in three high-unemployment states.

In the Senate, Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Don Nickles, R-Okla., reached agreement on an alternative at the time that would have extended the expiring program in all 50 states, through March 31.

Thomas and other House GOP leaders spurned the measure, though, and Congress adjourned.

In the Senate, newly elected Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., sought passage of a five-month extension as the first order of business when the Senate convened on Tuesday. But by then, Democrats in both houses, noting that unemployment has continued to rise, decided to press for additional benefits for jobless people who have already exhausted their 13 weeks of benefits.

"Frankly, it's the least they can do," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "But we can do better."

But Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, House majority leader, said, "nothing is good enough" for Democrats. "I would venture to guess that they would have unlimited unemployment compensation so somebody could stay out of work for the rest of their lives."

Voting against the bill Wednesday were Republican Reps. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Jeff Miller of Florida, Ron Paul of Texas and Scott Garrett of New Jersey.

Note the bolded part. 'T'ain't true, I say. I just called my state unemployment agency for information this morning, and some of the people with whom I spoke were unaware that the law had been passed. Okay, the morning after the law is signed may be a little early to expect a bureaucracy to have assimilated the data and started the wheels rolling on the extensions, but seeing as tomorrow's my last day of benefits, and that one million people nationwide have already lost their benefits, I should expect they'd have been prepared for this. . . . patience chegitz, it's a bureaucracy after all . . .

[Urban Ranger]

Have you considered moving back to Chicago or to NYC?

[chequita guevara]

Takes money, and we're living from check to check. I foolishly listened to one of my coworkers who advised against moving to Southern Florida (where there are quite a few jobs). He said that the pay scale was much worse there than compared with the North. At that time, I had the money to move to another market, but used it up while looking for work before unemployment kicked in (three months after my lay off). In retrospect, I should have hunkered down, but I didn't know I wasn't gonna be able to find work.

[Urban Ranger]

Ouch, that rots.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Takes money, and we're living from check to check. I foolishly listened to one of my coworkers who advised against moving to Southern Florida (where there are quite a few jobs). He said that the pay scale was much worse there than compared with the North. At that time, I had the money to move to another market, but used it up while looking for work before unemployment kicked in (three months after my lay off). In retrospect, I should have hunkered down, but I didn't know I wasn't gonna be able to find work.

just out of curiousity, about how much does unemployment hand out? you don't have to answer if you don't want to, i'm just genuinely curious.

[chequita guevara]

It depends on how much you made before you became unemployed. Generally you get 2/3rds your former paycheck, up to about $1000 a month, adjusted for cost of living around the country (i.e., Massachussetts gets more than we do in Florida). I get $1100 a month, which seems like a lot, but after rent and bills, leaves me nothing for food. Since we have to eat, we have to juggle bills. If I could scrape together a few hundred to rent a truck, I'd move to a cheaper apartment.

You don't get medical or food aid, but you can get money for retraining, so if I wanted to go to welding school or something like that, I could.

In return for the money you have to apply for at least two jobs a week. Kinda lame, I think (it should be at least one a day), but they are considering that it there may not be many jobs in your career in your area. If you apply for a job and they make an offer, you must take it, as long as it is the job jor which you applied. So if I go in and apply to be a manager at KFC, but they offer me a cashier position, I'm not required to take it. If a qualified offer (you applied and it's within 80% of your former salary--remember, the government wants you to make lots of money so they can tax it) and you refuse, you lose your benefits.

Supposedly, if you send out 100 resumes, 20 will call you, 5 will want to interview you, one may decide to hire you. Obviously, the more resumes you send out the better your overall odds of finding work are. If my outbox is anything to go by, I've probably applied to four hundred jobs since June.

I could draw several conclusions from this. A) I suck and no one wants to hire me. Well, last year the same resume had me get through the first round of quite a few companies. Citibank picked the top six out of 87, CDW the top 6 our of three hundred, etc. I was in that top group a lot. So I don't think the problem is me, although it may be with my location given the aforementioned prejudice against Southerners and small media markets (or it could be the Clash of Civilizations website, which is being redesigned by me right now but still has its old ugly format).

More likely the problem is, companies just don't want to hire out of their geographical area right now, cuz they don't want to pay relocation expenses. I've seen jobs sit open for more than six months, and I'm sure they've had to have cycled through all of their available designers.

[Sava]

I'm a college student with few bills and would have problems living on $1,000 a month just for myself. I'm up to my eyeballs in student loans, and I'm betting the farm that I'll be able to get a real job after I finish school. Anyways, I live a very frugal life and I'm lucky that I paid my car off during my senior year in high school. Rent and (if I had) car payments would easily surpass $1,000. That doesn't even count insurance, gas, food ( sounds funny but too many people have to sacrifice the 'luxury' of eating). After this burst bubble, and with the amount of debt that the American people are getting into, I think that American capitalism is failing. I honestly hope that Bush, or the next president can do something about the economy. Because if they can't, well, that nasty R word is going to creep up as unemployment and poverty continue to rise.

[Al B. Sure!]

Orange:

I sell bootleg cds... that **** is some hard work...


thanks

[orange]

so you steal and then market your stolen goods. Some moralist you turned out to be.

Why don't you do what any normal inner-city kid does and sell drugs

[Imran Siddiqui]

Note the bolded part. 'T'ain't true, I say. I just called my state unemployment agency for information this morning, and some of the people with whom I spoke were unaware that the law had been passed

This is why we on the right rail against bureaucracy, che .

[Al B. Sure!]

Orange:

because drugs are bad... i dont want to spread the epidemic of drug use... on the other hand, music is art and I'm making art more affordable to people...


thanks

[orange]

no you're not. You're simply flooding the market with a cheaper alternative which has little to no overhead. You make 99% of the profit (obviously you pay for the CDs)

It's more immoral than selling drugs, IMO. Not that I have any problems with filesharing or downloading music, but I do with profiting off of it. Nor do I have any sympathy for most record companies.

[Sava]

If I buy marijuana from someone, there is no victim (or real crime for that matter). But Speer, you're costing the record companies money. That's stealing. But I won't berade you for that. I think software and music piracy is a good thing and less immoral than the practices of the recording industry.

[Az]

Why don't you do what any normal inner-city kid does and sell drugs

[Flubber]

hmm lot of stuff here

Che-- I am happy about the extension-- In Canada, unemployment benefits are pretty much a year and it is a federal program all the way-- they have never extended the program that I can recall

I know that unemployment can really suck since I went through it myself there from mid July to the beginning of December-- I never collected any unemployment as I was still collecting severance pay from my wrongful dismissal but I was starting to get worried ( building a house and a pregnant wife while having no job is no fun). Just in December I joined a firm of consultants-- there's no guarantee of pay ( I am a consultant not an employee) but they have good work so things should be ok-- Perhaps that should be a thought-- Would there be a market for your work if you sought design work yourself. I'm assuming you have the necessary equipment. You may be able to pick up a little cash while cultivating your contacts.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If I buy marijuana from someone, there is no victim (or real crime for that matter).

What about the cops that are deprived of their black market sales when you buy from a non-cop ?

[Boris Godunov]

OMG! Speer comes on here deriding che for some moral failing in getting unemployment, and here he proves to be a THIEF?

Please, please, please tell me that was a joke. If I were that much of a hypocrite I think my brain would explode in protest.

[Shi Huangdi]

I applaud Che for doing his best to try to get a job and make an honest living for himself. Better then Albert Speer, who gets money by stealing the work others work hard to produce and selling it for himself. At least when someone sells drugs they might be selling products they obtained without coercion, fraud, or theft. Funny how Albert Speer pretends to be Mr.Morality at that the same time he is stealing for a living.