Finally, Congress Is On Track With Unemployment Benefits Extension.
By Susie Madrak Tuesday Nov 03, 2009 1:00pmIt's so predictable, isn't it? Every time there's legislation to help ordinary working people, the Republicans hold it for ransom until they get... tax breaks! Is there any illness for which they don't see tax breaks as the cure?
A $20 billion-plus package of homebuyer and business tax breaks was advanced in the Senate Monday, together with a precedent-setting expansion of unemployment benefits to help carry the jobless through the holiday season.
Ending weeks of delay, all but two Republicans joined Democrats on an 85-2 roll call to cut off debate. Procedural obstacles remain, but passage this week appears all but certain. The House is expected to take up the measure next and send it on to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Concessions to real estate and business interests helped deliver the package, a remarkable political amalgam given the pain so associated with the long-term unemployed.
The homebuyer credit, which remains controversial, will apply to houses worth as much as $800,000; and businesses of all sizes stand to benefit from a tax break first afforded this year just to those with gross receipts of $15 million or less.
But the biggest emotional driver for Democrats is the prospect of hundreds of thousands of workers exhausting their benefits before Thanksgiving and Christmas without some extension.
The bill seeks to fill this gap by adding up to 20 more weeks in aid — establishing a modern record of 99 weeks when state and federal benefits are counted together. With new unemployment numbers due out Friday, the measure testifies to the enduring joblessness problem even as the economy shows signs of new strength and recovery.
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Concessions to a handful of losers from assbackwards states.
Poor Harry Reid. I wonder if he started boxing because he was always the kid getting beat up on the playground?
Is Harry's ass tattooed...GOP's Bitch?
until we cut taxes enough that we can't pay for it.
LOL!
If we use that unemployment time right, we can still maintain our luxurious American lifestyles!
Do it at Home, America!
(satire)
the biggest emotional driver for Democrats is the prospect of hundreds of thousands of workers exhausting their benefits before Thanksgiving and Christmas without some extension -- politico
that should also be the "biggest emotional driver" for any one that cares about consumer spending, and thus the economy. something tells me that politico failed to mention that.
one of the best, if not the best, ROIs in govt spending is unemployment benefits. something tells me that politico failed to mention that, too.
"politico failed to mention that, too."
Seems like Susie thinks Politico is the "go to guy"
Roger Simon is the enemy of progressives.
Politico fails to mention that too!
A $20 billion package is chump change ($3 billion less than the bonuses on wall street)
So kind of like helping the little people, eh?
The republicans main concern today seems to be the deficit. How the hell do they think we can bring that baby down using tax cuts?
They would hold their own mother hostage in order to put a dollar in a rich man's pocket. They are horrid people doing horrid things.
Absolutely! How anyone can vote for these psychopath's is beyond my comprehension?
How many here believe this?
"even as the economy shows signs of new strength and recovery."
Over 500,000 first time unemployment applications almost every week this entire year and they have the nerve to say 'strength and recovery'. Pure bull shit............
every economic indicator has been looking better or less bad.
That is a fact.
Unemployment is a trailing indicator and has shown signs of easing.
Whenever our standard of living takes another hit, everyone is not affected equally. Just a few tens of millions who go from the middle class into poverty take the brunt of the blow.
Worry not, the wealthy will weather this storm.
or is it that more people have either become discouraged, or had to take a part time job when they needed a full-time job, or have had their benefits expire and no longer "count" as unemployed?
now, if we had a less politically-friendly measurement of unemployment numbers we would have a better idea of just what is happening in the job market.
The "real" unemployment rate, using all of those indicators you mentioned, is closer to 20%.
I guarantee, without another stimulus package 2 to 3 times bigger than the last - and without useless GOP tax cuts, this economy will completely tank once again when the next bankster ponzi scheme comes due.
But hey, the criminals on Wall Street have artficially pumped the DOW up with our tax dollars, so lets all sing kumbaya.
Total bullshit!
and any new stimulus package should not, as it usually is, be aimed at helping big finance/wall st/the ruling oligarchs.
it should go to: help keep people in their houses, provide food stamps, unemployment benefits, infrastructure projects, green job training, etc.
the initial stim package, imo, was aimed at the wrong segment of the economy.
all it means is the recovery of share prices on the exchange. It won't last. Eventually there will have to be consumers or the system is going to collapse.
well, i believe that there are some "signs of new strength and recovery", but i think those are misleading, and are being trumpeted way too much.
i fear that things are going to get much worse.
fewer, bigger banks. increasing unemployment. more bank failures. commercial real estate in trouble. no new regulations for the financial sector. foreclosures still rampant. still over leveraged banks.
please, FSM, let me be wrong.
The Republicans are still holding up passage for unemployment extension! This time they're standing on Principle! Whatever the hell that means and an ammendment regarding ACORN. This vote was in the Senate already and now it's going back to the House AGAIN! Thanks C&L for continuing to cover this topic. Like thousands upon thousands of Americans I'm exhausting my benefits and still continue to diligently look for work. It's frightening and exhausting. If this isn't passed soon...I'm the dark! Literally. Pls visit the website www.unemployedandtrying.com.
"The economy is growing again, much sooner than most experts predicted. If growth continues, it should lead to job growth. And the president's bold leadership has played a significant role in our economy starting to right itself. ">"The economy is growing again, much sooner than most experts predicted. If growth continues, it should lead to job growth. And the president's bold leadership has played a significant role in our economy starting to right itself."
Nobody is saying a jobless recovery is good. Just that job numbers are a lagging indicator.
that was from david plouffe. interesting, and i am sure that david plouffe sure hopes that (as do we all).
but some economists are not as sure about that notion in this economic environment.
The unemployment rate is traditionally characterized as a lagging indicator and, as such, is viewed as having limited forward-looking information. After all, unemployment is a reflection of decisions taken earlier in the cycle so the rate always lags behind the realities on the ground – or so says conventional wisdom.
This conventional wisdom is valid most, but not all of the time. There are rare occasions, such as today, when we should think of the unemployment rate as much more than a lagging indicator; it has the potential to influence future economic behaviors and outlooks.
http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Viewpoints/2009/...
Like the last jobless recovery from 2002-2007?
Lagging employment may have been true 30 years ago, but that was before the corporate fascists started outsourcing everything.
During the last so-called economic expansion (when the top 5% took every single penny), this country lost millions upon millions of excellent paying jobs!
Were not lagging, we are still trying to recover from the Bush/GOP expansion.
give the POTUS the line item veto? Couldn't Obama just pass the extension and veto the tax cut?
Raygun and Clinton wanted but didn't get it.
Just to prove the republicans can be ass holes in every respect, there was a hearing in the Senate today on global warming and only one republican showed up, the rest boycotted the hearing. They just refuse to listen and learn.
the unemployment benefit extension is being paid by delaying a tax break for U.S.-based international corporations that were scheduled to start in 2010. Instead, the new tax provision will begin in 2017. Republicans care more about these tax breaks for businesses than helping an unemployed American stave off losing their home.
And yet, millions of imbeciles still vote for them, and are convinced they are their pals!
Do the tax breaks also expire in 20 weeks?
I didn't think so.
May 23, 2009
I completely get that the repugs have utter disdain for poor and middle class people. We have a huge majority in the Senate and an even larger one in the House. Can someone tell me how exactly the repugs get to block anything?
Dems: Um, we won and we're extending unemployment benefits.
Reps: Not without tax breaks for the suffering rich people!
Dems: Fuck you losers.
Reps: Waaaaaah!
...but Americans are too dumbed-down to act.
I have been Bitchen for years on the bullshit that the Banks are fucken over the home owners. Think about it. Take a look at YOUR home loan like this one. They have a 5.85%. The banks and our bank rolled congress say, You have a GOOD interest rate. Do You. This guy pays out $1350. a month. His payment is this. $205 goes to his loan. $805 is Interest. Just where is this a good deal. It is a good if you are the BANK. The banks own it all. The will let things go fine for 7 or 8 years, then here comes one of these bullshit games and the banks take back millions of homes people have been paying on for that 7 to 8 years. the bank made millions in interest, you get fucked. You get nothing. You are just out the door. This same shit happned 10 years ago. Rember the Saving & Loan bullshit. Millions of people lost there homes they had for years. If you don't like it,fuck off, and our congress could give a shit.
Next, WTF, some one tell me just why a person needs a tax credit for a fucking $800,000 home.
What about the people who bought homes in the last 2 to 3 years. There just fucked.
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