AND NOW A WORD FROM THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING: The unemployment-insurance program traditionally granted 26 weeks of replacement pay for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The extended benefits, signed into law by President George W. Bush, lengthened the time period to up to 99 weeks. Benefits average just $300 a week. According to The Washington Post, the average job search lasts 35 weeks, so the current 26-week benefit will create added stress on families already struggling. Jobless benefits are actually stimulative to the economy. “This is the wrong thing to happen at the wrong time for our economy,” “Every $1 we provide to someone of unemployment benefits yields $1.60 in economic activity. And that’s why the loss of these benefits is going to rob our economy of $41 billion.” People living on the edge financially spend what they have to get by. Those in the top echelons of our economy, the top 1 percent, can take their income and hold on to it, or stash it away into an offshore account. By denying unemployment benefits to more than a million Americans who have lost their jobs? Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat of Rhode Island, and Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican of Nevada, have put forth a bill that would preserve the extended benefits for three months. Heller said in a press release: “Providing a safety net for those in need is one of the most important functions of the federal government. As Nevada’s unemployment rate continues to top the charts nationwide, many families and individuals back home do not know how they are going to meet their basic needs.” The partisan budget agreement passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama protects military spending, but promises to throw the most desperate in our economy into increased financial hardship, thrusting hundreds of thousands of families beneath the poverty line. Still the long-term unemployment rate is at the highest it has been since World War II, while the percentage of those receiving the benefits is at its historic low. Meanwhile, Wall Street bankers are popping the corks, celebrating a banner year for the stock market as stock-brokers await their bonuses, many more of the unemployed will head for the breadlines AND HOMELESS SHELTERS. Alexis Goldstein worked for years on Wall Street, and now is the communications director for The Other 98%. She said on the “Democracy Now!” news hour, “Wall Street could take $60 billion out of their bonuses and help ... fund something called the National Housing Trust Fund for two years. It’s a program that, if funded at $30 billion for 10 years, could end homelessness in America.” She points out the bonuses are essentially publicly financed because Wall Street banks obtain funds from the Federal Reserve at very low rates. These banks also can afford huge bonuses, she says, because “they continue to commit crimes that are very profitable.” Goldstein noted two criminal settlements made by JPMorgan Chase, one for $13 billion for mortgage fraud, and another for $300 million for manipulating electricity rates in California. Inequality entered mainstream public discourse through the activism of Occupy Wall Street. The cold, economic reality of it is hitting more homes this week, as unemployment benefits expire. Congress can, and should, renew them. Whether it does depends on people who care speaking out. Never mind what Marie Antoinette said in 1790 about the cake TODAYS its LET THEM EAT Confetti! Do you agree? SPREAD THE NEWS! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ^s^
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 17:00:17 +0000
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