Attn: Unemployed & Tier 5 Extension Thread

[Peeps]

Why would we need to extend unemployment benefits? Our Commander in Chief just spent millions & millions of dollars to visit the area of the world that soaked up all those extra (aka outsourced) US jobs and they've generously agreed to... buy 10 airplanes. Maybe. Problem solved. We can just put those millions of out-of-work people to work building ten maybe-airplanes and that will fix everything.


uh... just in case the sarcasm was too subtle, please don't bombard me with nasty-grams. I'm too busy living my lavish, country-club, let-them-eat-cake lifestyle to bother reading anyone else's opinion.

[Dee]

My husband runs out of benefits the week before Christmas (Ho. Ho. Oh, never mind...). So many of the jobs that were lost are gone for good and I doubt seriously that an extension to 99'er benefits would be passed, regardless of who has the majority in congress. Welcome to the "new normal". We are just going to learn to live on my income and sacrifice what we have to in order to get by. My husband is going to try working "commission only" after the holidays and see where that goes.

[keepinitreal]

Indiana and Maryland are providing armed guards at all of their unemployment offices now, just as many people will be using up all of their unemployment benefits.

[tcreegan]

Any thoughts about a bill being passed for a Tier 5 extension for unemployment benefits? It needs to pass between the week of Nov 15th - 19th or Nov 29th - Nov 30th when congress is back in session ...chances are somewhere between fat and slim...the Senate bill is still in the Finance committee, no references to it on their website...and the House bill is even worse...mired in about 3 committees including Transportation and Infrastructure..that means it ain't gonna see the light of day...

Wish the news was better.....

Tom in Colo

[discouraged]

It just irks me that people (like myself) who have worked for so many, many years now can't find jobs and they then want to stop the extensions??? What is going on in America? THEY (whomever the they are) allowed so many jobs to go overseas, while our people are begging for them. And now, after so many years of paying our taxes and being good citizens, we are criticized for not working.

It is not our fault that there are no jobs for us out there. It is just not our fault.

Maybe us elder workers should set up tent cities when the extensions end. If there were enough of us, they'd have to do something.

[dasherkin]

i feel for you, it's so hard out here. The unemployed needs to hold a rally, protest, light a fire under there a$$ to pass another extension

[researchnerd]

My DH is a 99er - he was laid off mid-2008 and his UE benefits expired at the end of May. We are pretty much resigned to the fact that they are gone for good. If they get reinstated, great, but otherwise we've done a major reset so we can get by on my income alone. In order to do this, like you, we've let our house go to foreclosure, we've gone through bankruptcy, cut back on a lot of stuff, and we're voluntarily giving up 1 of our 2 cars. It sucks, but it's just stuff. I am incredibly thankful that I still have my job, or we'd be homeless.

I like the name of the "Americans Want to Work Act," and I hope it gains some traction, for the benefit of others if not for DH. It really irks me when I hear people complain that anyone who is still out of work now that the recession is supposedly over "just doesn't want to work." DH has applied for literally hundreds of jobs, and he's had maybe half a dozen interviews, but no offers. It's soul-crushing to put yourself out there every day, only to be ignored and rejected. DH has a great resume and 20+ years of experience in his field, but he's just one of more than 15 million other Americans out there looking for work, and it's incredibly competitive, even for the crappy jobs. But hey, when I get home from work, my house is really clean and dinner is on the table

Congrats on finishing your degree, and I wish you the best of luck out there in the job market! It can only get better from here, right?

[Fallonedward]

My hubby just finished his 26 weeks and goes in next Monday to see if he gets approved for the 13 week extension. This is such a trying time and I'm very interested in getting these UI benefits extended

[helpme2010]

Hello everyone, I wanted to start a post about unemployment and those who may be losing their final extensions. Hopefully some good dialogue, information, and ideas will come about.

I just found out I fall into the 99er crowd, which is those that have been unemployed since the recession started 2 years ago. At the end of this month, over a million of us are likely to lose our unemployment benefits. Each month after that, i'm guessing another million+ people will run into the same problem.

Congress has put up the S.3706 bill "Americans Want to Work Act", but it has stalled out so far. Now I fear with the republicans back in charge of the house, any additional extensions to unemployment will be blocked (perhaps unless the democrats can negotiate some type of compromise, such as giving the rich an extension to their tax breaks).

For those that think the unemployed are doing this on purpose to relax and not work, that is far from the truth for many of us. I have payed the price by going into foreclosure and will soon lose my house, I have filed for bankruptcy, I am hoping to get a job after discharge and be able to find a place to rent (hopefully not ending up homeless). I did earn my Bachelor Science degree during the recession, so this should open new employment opportunities for me.

Any thoughts about a bill being passed for a Tier 5 extension for unemployment benefits? It needs to pass between the week of Nov 15th - 19th or Nov 29th - Nov 30th when congress is back in session again, otherwise, beginning December 1st, millions lose their unemployment benefits