Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Why the unemployed are marginalized

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Friday, January 28, 2011 at 8:52 am | More from The Michigan Messenger

Mike Konczal, a writer for the Atlantic, makes a very prescient statement on his blog about the difficult time the unemployed have had in getting their interests taken as seriously as the interests of the wealthy and powerful:

We just had to bribe the top 3% with massive tax cuts for the next two years in order to keep unemployment insurance extensions in place for another year. Unemployment benefit extension are a net job creator and should have been a no-brainer, but it couldn’t pass without a massive bribe. This doesn’t include the brutal battle for extending health care to an additional 30 million+ people. This is even after the Federal Reserve created an alphabet soup of wicked-good safety net for the top 3% of the financial system, it’s difficult to get extra benefits for working-people in the largest post-war downturn.

And all of that took place with the Democrats in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. It only gets tougher in the new Congress.

Categories & Tags: Economy/Finance| | | | | |

Comments

3 Comments

Denver Unemployment Examiner
Comment posted January 29, 2011 @ 3:29 pm

I would go so far as to say the unemployed are being deliberately suppressed.
The unemployed are not lazy. In CO, there are more than 233,000 unemployed workers; there is a job shortfall of more than 264,000 jobs and the state created a whopping 500 new jobs last month.I’m really tired of hearing how lazy the unemployed are – it’s just an outright lie -a cop out.

…in July it was reported that there were more than 16,000 who had exhausted benefits. In August, that number had increased to approximately 20,000 and by November it was reported by the CDLE that more than 26,000 unemployed workers in the State had exhausted all available EUC benefits.

Also in Novemer, the CDLE reported that “19,000 people are currently on SEB and will see no more payments after the week ending 12/4/10″ [if the 13-month extension had not been passed in the Presidents 'deal'].

Now, this week, the CDLE has told the Denver Post, 9News** and all other media outlets that there are ‘just under 19,000 claimants’ who qualify for Tier 4 benefits.

How can the number of ‘reported’ 99ers start at over 16,000 in July, increase to 20,000 in August and more than 26,000 in November, and then, two months later, fall to ‘just under 20,000′?

Shana Donohue
Comment posted January 30, 2011 @ 2:16 pm

This morning I got an email from a woman who runs a tutoring company. I had sent her my resume about two weeks ago in hopes I could pick up a few hours tutoring kids in math and science. I got a response back from her asking me to delete one of my [many] blog posts because it didn’t fit the image her clientele. I’m lucky that I don’t need a job right now and that I am just looking for work to fill my long, boring days. But it got me thinking about other people. How many people feel ashamed of themselves these days? How many people are out there breaking their backs to conform to some entitled view paying $20/hour with no healthcare? Even in this time of jobs hard to find, never, ever, ever let someone take away your dignity.
http://zerosumruler.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/my-experience-with-ms-entitled-fists-up-nation-unemployed/

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