171 Responses to “Unemployment Benefits Extension; Will it Cause Job Seekers to be Lazy?”

1. Unemployment Benefits Extension Strongly Considered by Obama Administration : Subprime Blogger
   October 30th, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

   [...] Unemployment Benefits Extension; Will It Cause Job Seekers to be Lazy? Please get the conversation going at this [...]

2. Michael
   October 30th, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

   This argument holds absolutely no water in the deep recession we’re in… benefits amount to a fraction of what one earned while employed, even at the maximum rate in a generous state like Massachusetts I still barely cover my student loan payments and various other bills… I have a master’s degree, am highly skilled, motivated, and ambitious, yet almost no jobs are available in any of the roles for which I am a good candidate. Being unemployed in this business climate is hardship, plain and simple, even the most focused job search can yield zero offers after months and months of applying. Extend benefits until unemployment starts to subside and the economy has genuinely recovered!!!!

3. Anita Arceneaux
   October 30th, 2009 @ 12:55 pm

   I don’t think anyone wants to milk the system. I have been working part time jobs since January and would rather work full time. The unemployment service in Texas told me I did not make enough for the extension in September to qualify because Texas rate was not 8.5%. That is not fair. I worked, I put in my insurance just did not make the qualified amount. Is that milking the system. I am retired if you make a certain amount they cut your Social Security Check. I made a certain amount but not enough for unemployment. That’s not fair to me Did AIG, The CAR dealers and the Banks Milk the systems? Thank about it.

   Nita

4. James
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:01 pm

   I have never been one to be lazy. I make half as much on unemployment insurance as I did working as a full time carpenter. I am a 57 year old male who has just about exhausted my entire savings. I continue to look for meaningful employment – their just aren’t any jobs out there. Don’t think for a second, that getting retrained at my age isn’t scary. I have ‘tightened my belt’ too the max and hope I have the courage to take the next step needed to hold on to what dignity I have.

5. Tim
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:02 pm

   I can certainly understand why someone with 4 kids would want benefits increased. Having said that, some may want to explore another option.

   Maybe (for some anyway)it’s time to get more creative during this economic slump. For example- why not think outside the box of looking to work for another regular job in the first place?

   I’m rather amazed that there are plenty of skill sets that are for whatever reason not “conventional” enough to be taught in schools, but the mastery of which would lead to more autonomy.

   Most of us are trained to be employees- nothing wrong with that, but I’m convinced that thinking that way is a kind of limitation that keeps many from learning skills that would allow them to carve out there own path to income.

   One of them is as close as the computer in front of a job seeker.

   For the first time in history, we are 3 feet in front of the world, yet few learn how to use it in a way to render 1) value to others and 2)income for themselves.

   While there are many hyped-up websites out there promising the world and delivering little (I spent too much $ finding that out), there are also some great exceptions, and this one comes highly recommended.

   It’s also helped me grow some extra income and with over a billion people online and growing, it’s a solution I think more people would do well to consider opening up their options a bit.

   http://leavethejobbehind.com

6. happy gilmore
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:06 pm

   My question is to subprime bloger is the person milking the system fanny may or fredie mac and how many millions did you milk

7. Issac Lewis
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:07 pm

   Michael, I agree with you. Anyone with an education is still out in the cold, but to make a reply and disagree with Anita I have to say people are more then happy to milk the system. I know of countless people who do this simply because it’s easier to do nothing then get out and work. I think this is a sad mindframe many have taken in our country and those who are unfairly taking advantage of the system are causing trouble for those who actually want to work but also need help.

   Please see my article about unemployment:
   http://www.rwbpress.com/2009/10/20/unemployment-rate-numbers-for-2009-don%e2%80%99t-tell-the-whole-story/

8. Jodie
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:14 pm

   My husband is the poster child for someone with ADHD. It is driving him crazy not working. He has remodeled the babysitter’s play yard and my yard. He is the perfect wife. He has all the kids schedules down, dinner ready, the house clean, but to a big ole’ construction worker, it does little to boost his ego or pay our bills. He is just going nuts. He has applied to the local building supply stores and anywhere else he can think of. He is even considering applying at the local craft store. Nothing is beneath him, yet there is nothting out there.

9. Lily
   October 30th, 2009 @ 1:22 pm

   I get really perturbed with anyone who asks such asinine questions. I don’t know of anyone who asked to be jobless. If they did, they are not eligible for benefits anyway. This expresses judgment of a population that has been rendered helpless by the powerful! To suggest that one would be made lazy is the epitome of arrogance….make no mistake….your jobs could be lost too….ask that question when you stand in those shoes.

10. Steve Tisbert
    October 30th, 2009 @ 1:32 pm

    How in the hell can you Senate BUMS say the working stiffs are LAZY? You BUMS only work 2 days a week. Give WE THE PEOPLE our unemployment benefits or expect the worse!

11. Greg
    October 30th, 2009 @ 1:36 pm

    This is an old right-wing argument. Let’s punish everybody because a few are “milking the system”.

    Once again, the GOP proves that they love their country, but hate most of the people living in it.

12. Ed Brenn
    October 30th, 2009 @ 1:53 pm

    Lazy?? Bum???

    30 yrs of hard constuction.

    Snow & sleet & rain

    Try Calling me that to my face!

    Yeah, I’m on unemployment, I busted my ass for it too!

13. Steff
    October 30th, 2009 @ 1:53 pm

    Just sit down and think about it…whenever there is some type of rule or should I say in this case a law set in place the ones who are making the decisions on others lives they most likely never experienced the law/rule in which they have set in place so they really don’t understand how hard it has become to find employment! I myself has a bachelor of science and I have even applied to jobs outside of what I was previously applying for and I still haven’t got any call backs! My unemployment ended the last week of August and I have been borrowing money to keep shelter and food! I don’t even have gas money now to even get to a job interview if I was called! I don’t own a computer I walk to the library to access theirs! If I don’t get any help soon I will be living in a shelter if they have room because from the looks of it I will not be the only one knocking on their doors!

14. paul
    October 30th, 2009 @ 1:53 pm

    hard to look for a job when u have no money for gas food or a place to live duh?
    what do these idiots think?
    There are no jobs

15. m huffman
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:05 pm

    Who is this asshole?….take away his ability to earn a living for 18 months and then get back w/ him.

16. MarciaFS
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:06 pm

    If extending benefits does cause some people to be “lazy,” so what? I don’t think that’s a bad thing with official unemployment nearing 10% (and actual unemployment much higher). If some people choose to stay out of the labor market for a while, it will greatly help those of us who don’t qualify for benefits and have no choice but to look for work. It will also help create jobs by maintaining purchasing power in hard-hit localities.

17. rob
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

    just a though on the GOP stalling the unemployment bill over and over and over again. do you think that the GOP are smart enough to know that they are going to lost a lot of seats come election time? do you think the GOP knows that the middle class are the ones who will vote them out of office? Do you think the the GOP knows that the the least likely to vote are the poor and homeless? Do you think that the GOP thinks, if we hold up the unemployment bill it will send million of unemployed into poverty, so the people that are going to vote us out are now the people who are the least likely to vote. If these people don’t vote we don’t lose or jobs. by holding up this bill the GOP has put 7000 people a day into poverty and thus less likely to vote against them. Just a though. let them know we will not forget who put us here.

18. JimH
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:12 pm

    Oh great, just what we need – another cloture vote. If it does happen at 5PM Monday, it will make it impossible to accomplish anything next week. They’re in session only two days next week, and cloture imposes a mandatory 30 hour delay.

    In other words, it would mean they can’t do anything any sooner than 11PM Tuesday night – and you KNOW they won’t be there at 11PM Tuesday. They’re not going to be there Wed, Thurs or Fri either.

    Bottom line – nothing’s going to be accomplished next week either.

19. Reba Burris
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

    I have been unemployed since June 13, 2007. My company sent our jobs to Mexico and we came under the TRA. I have been going to shcool all this time. I am 58 years old and have been out of school since 69′. Now, if you think this has been a piece of cake, you are nuts. This is by far harder than any job I have ever done and its just gets harder. The kicker is, in this economy and at my age, I will need a miracle to find a job. I am in Human Services and I want to go on to get my Social Work degree. I have been on the extended unemployment benefits and I hope I can still continue until I can at least receive my associate degree. I am not lazy and I would much rather be working. I worked at my job for 23 years and now I have no health insurance, no life insurance for me and my husband, and no 401K left. I didn’t ask for this and I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation.

20. Rickmick
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

    I love getting my unemployment check each week. I love it so much that I lost my truck I have sold everything else that I owned and now I am losing my home. Who would not want to go from 850.00 a week to 400.00 Life is so good on unemployment.

21. Red
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:18 pm

    After seeing the big lie about this unemployment extension especially the republicans in this critical time, they scare me now
    Also I have a medical problems and have had doctors say im ok. That is scarry too.

22. John
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:40 pm

    I can not believe that one responder actually said “get hungry, get motivated”. I do not know anyone on unemployment who are living nearly as well as they used to when employed. Most people would prefer a regular paycheck to one from their Division of Unemployment. It will take time to get out from under this economic mess and there are few companies that are adding to or replacing employees even when they are doing relatively well. There are no real incentives for companies to add new employees (e.g tax breaks) and few have the trust that things will turn around any time soon. Most ordinary peol,e who are unemployed would rather work than sit home working to find a job each day.

23. Robert
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:43 pm

    Just think when the government allows for a 140 billion dollar bonus package to Wall street (our money) but they need to think if unemployment extension will make us lazy!!! Is this a joke? Who runs the country? Wall Street!!!

24. Lesley
    October 30th, 2009 @ 2:59 pm

    In this economy it doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, people on both sides are hurting. I do not understand why the GOP senators can’t get this. I am a Republican and I know this.
    As far as being lazy, oh yes I just love being unemployed. My benefits ran out a month ago. It’s just so great not knowing how to get by. Of course jobs are so so so abundant right now, I like just sitting back and doing nothing. I guess that’s why I have lost track counting the amount of jobs I have applied to.

25. JaySin23
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:08 pm

    It’s pathetic that this is even a discussion. People are literally going broke everyday while the senate bullshits trying to make each other look bad.

    How about a real article like- Why haven’t we done away with the senate yet since its pointless?

26. Natalie Almeida
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:22 pm

    I have worked all my life …and not that i cannot find a job you want to call we lazy…HOW DARE YOU…You do not know me …Trying walking in my shoes…..

27. Geezer Butler
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:30 pm

    In my state I have to make a minimum of 3 (4 for state extensions) legitimate jobs search contacts every week or it is considered fraud. They randomly check up on people as well. Someone could loose the remainder of their benefits, have to pay back all of the fraudulent claims and loose the ability to claim again for a minimum of two years after the judgement date no matter how long you worked with in that period!

28. Geezer Butler
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:41 pm

    It is beyond belief that we are trying to win the hearts and minds of several generations of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the expense of our taxes (10% of unemployment comp goes back to Uncle Sam), while our elected law makers are so callous and cavalier about losing the hearts and minds of the same people who put them in office and pay there wages! Remember folks, we are offering billion$$$ again to Pakistan who dithered away the tens of billions we had already gave them and they pretend they don’t know where Osama Bin Laden has been hiding out in their country for nearly a decade!!!

29. Robyn
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:48 pm

    I understand the point your trying to make.It is a severely flawed view that epitomizes stereotyping. How can we possibly allow so many people, who lost their jobs through no fault of their own,continue to lose everything in the world they have ever worked for. Remember the facts, they did not quit!.It is recklessly irresponsible to even consider this idea because of the possibility that someone may indeed collect money ( money they have worked for might i remind you ) instead of work. Remember as well, the amount of money is no where near enough for anyone to prosper, it is still barely enough to survive.

30. Stan Grimes
    October 30th, 2009 @ 3:54 pm

    Lazy? Has anyone asked for a ten billion dollar bail out besides Wall Street? All any of us want is a job and enough money to keep us in survival mode until our senators get off their asses and do something constructive.

31. Tee
    October 30th, 2009 @ 4:01 pm

    During this recession, I have returned to college for another degree while receiving umemployment benefits. I have been applying to various jobs for a year now. Meanwhile, I have been interning(unpaid)in my field in hope to get my foot in the door so when the economy turns around I will be able to get a job. Now in saying all of this, I know that I am not the only one out there on the grind trying to find their way. Will receiving unemployment benefits make a job seeker lazy, No! However, it is discouraging and can cause someone to lose hope and give up. Stay focus and keep moving forward!

32. don palmer
    October 30th, 2009 @ 4:02 pm

    I have been un employed for 3 years,and can’t get a job, because of my age (62), my race (white), don’t speak spanish, for a start. I live in area that has 12% unemployment, and many spanish/illegials, and they take all the jobs….even places like walmart, and convience store will not hire me, because of the above…..I have been out there for 3 years looking for anything, and not one call !!! So, I am not lazy, I want to work, and need unemployment extension badly….

33. Fillibuster Freaks
    October 30th, 2009 @ 4:18 pm

    We are talking about money for food and gas for our cars, our car payments, keeping the lights on and this internet connection. We aren’t booking cruises with the money like our Rep. friends like to think. Funny how they can send billions over seas and turn their backs on the people that got them their cushy jobs.

34. JD
    October 30th, 2009 @ 4:22 pm

    Milking the system? “F” off you prick!!! I hope you lose your job and realize what thousands of us hard working unemployed americans are going through. Until then, keep your f**cking opinion to yourself.

35. debra walsh
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

    this is truly getting rediculous,with all of this bullcrap-if i could get a job i would not need an extention.our family is honest and never milked any system,if there was a job i could get an not get this extention i will be glad to go to work.i think that you are looking for a reason not to pass it.if this happens now around the holidays,the economy is really going to be in trouble.
    god bless us all

36. Dee
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:10 pm

    Yes, continued unemployment benefits will make some people lazy. However, the people that aren’t lazy will get the first jobs once the ecomony turns around. Since there is only one job for every six applicants, the government should utlilize hardcore unemployed people in
    public service jobs while they are receiving benefits. Most people want to work. Not having a job takes away your dignity and selfworth.

37. Wes
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

    What happened to we the people of the U.S. now it seems it is we that makes the decissions by elected officials that do not care about the people who put them there I reside in Hawaii on the Big Island they say the unemployment rate here is 7.2% if you do the math wich I am sure that you will see it does not match Oahu 6.3 maui9.5 Big Island 10.8 Kauai 9.6 Molakai 13.9 Lani 11.1if you add all those Numbers it comes to 61.2 divide it by 6 it comes to 10.2% how does that equal 7.2 that tells me that someone either don’t care or did it on purpose
    I have called the senators in DC and told there staff to no eviel everday more people loose there benefits but the senate and GOP drag there feet people remeber come election time who did this and make sure we don’t put them back there there is no work here I live in the distict of Kau it is 60 miles to Hilo or Kona my benefits ran out 2 weeks ago I am fixing to have to leave here to go try to find work elsewhere I will not stop looking for work but with no jobs out there I might run for a Senate seat so I can only work 2 days a week and have all the eminities that the Senators have

38. karlthe1
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:26 pm

    I hope there are people “milking the system” because that means less people getting the good jobs that I want desperately. I WISH EVERYONE WOULD MILK THE SYSTEM. What people don’t get is the fact that there arn’t enough jobs for everyone, so weather someone wants to be jobless or not there is a huge surplus of workers. Those who want to work will hopefully get the job they want. If your milking the system there WILL come a day when you’ll wish you busted your butt when you could have. As far as I’m concerned all heavy equipment operators and auto mechanics out there who want to make it easier for me to get your job, I say TAKE A VACATION!

39. pitmaster
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:27 pm

    Laid-off from county government in August 2008, even with financial and computer experience, no body seems to need me.

    I’m ready to default on my home, car, and cancelling two in college, I will not accept food stamps, an extension on U/E would help…

40. Chris LaValley
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:30 pm

    How Dare You Call Us Lazy!!!! I worked for the legal department in a major hospital in the state of Massachusetts, for over 23 years only to have my job sabotaged by a young punk, barely old enough to be my child!!!! However, after discovering the ugly truth, I learned it was the Illuminati working it’s deadly venom !!! How vile is that????

41. American as apple pie
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:34 pm

    Have these idiots figured out that half of them go up for reelection next year and it was their party’s president that got us in this mess.Chasing the boogyman in some foreign country. Russia got in the same mess chasing the same boogyman and it took decades for them to recover. Japan tried to rule the whole world ecomomically and lost a whole decade. Now it is our turn thanks to the GOP’s great leadership. It will take more than the next four months to get out of this mess. We probably need to start a national unemployment system like the one in that infamous third world country Germany, where a person is paid full wages and health insurance until a job equalivant to the last one is found. Oh yeah that’s right we can fix it all by giving their friends in the banking and finance industry that keep them rich, billions that do not go into the economy just their bank accounts. Yeah keeping the rich rich will fix it all. It will probably take the rest of use decades to recover from their good times.

42. Stacey
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:41 pm

    Me and my husband both worked for the same company, not at the same time. I was fired wrongly for going to a funeral out of town. There was nothing wrong with my record and they even said I could reapply for my job 6 months later. He got a job their after I got fired and after a year of work, he got fired and it was also unjustly. While we may not have kids, I have worked every day since I was 17. And I hate sitting at home. I have looked for work, I have even begged for WIA or Voc Rehab to help pay for me to be retrained and I have been denied. My unemployment runs out on my next check but his is not enought o live off of. We had to move in with friends luckily I just paid my last car payment off 2 weeks ago. That is the only way we will be able to make it.

    Please extend this bill before next week, I hate being at home without a job, but worst of all I hate being not able to eat.

43. Slath
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:48 pm

    I don’t think that the intention here was ever to call anybody lazy. It was to address the potential of abuse in the system and the impact that this bill might have. Reading the responses here has been heartbreaking and eye opening; if only our politicians in Washington would read some of these responses and listen to the people they were elected to serve. This is one small way that economic stimulus can actually impact Americans in need, not just the financial sector. Like many people have said, though, unemployment is not enough to live on and certainly not enough to be lazy on.

44. Bobby
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:49 pm

    I believe the extension will pass quickly. If not, you can bet many politicians voted out next year. Remember that Herbert Hoover didn’t last long with his callousness!

    Almost all unemployed are ready to work again but the companies aren’t hiring in the numbers that are needed. Banks are just starting to lend again. The government is a turtle.

    The unemployment phone lines are jammed at 5 am. That should tell these politicians of the despair in the situation and that folks are ready to get back to work. Why hasn’t the stimulus money been allocated? What happened to Obama’s ‘pick and shovel’ program? Is he using the money to send more troops to the 2 wars that he promised to end?

45. Slath
    October 30th, 2009 @ 5:58 pm

    I am currently serving in the Military, since 2005. I recently had my first child and I have been watching this bill very closely as my wife is about to run out of benefits. She has her bachelors degree in social work and it is impossible to get a job as a social worker in this economy without a Masters degree. So when she got laid off and could not find work she decided to go back to school for her Masters, a one year accelerated program. Unemployment is barely enough to pay our car payments and insurance but without it we could not afford to live on my income alone. I am not complaining, it is helping to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads; it is a necessary and helpful program. If we can bail out banks and financial institutions to the tune of billions of dollars, we can afford to help Americans in need to the tune of a few thousand. Right now this extension would be a life saver, how am I supposed to feed a family on a military income?

46. G Haywood
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:05 pm

    I found this blogger by accident and I’m glad I did. I have been on unemployment off and on for the past several years and the only way I can describe it is torture. I am 53 years old and I have worked most of my life, in August I lost my home, my credit went in the toilet and I had to move in with my son and his family. I would gladly give up these pennies from the government for a job.

47. American as apple pie
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:10 pm

    I am confused about why this congress can’t pass any legislation when for the first time in decades one party has a full majority over the other. Why are the democrates trying to drag the republicans along for the ride when they are only interested in keeping things the corrupt way they are. Not one republican vote is needed to pass some of the most important legislation in a century. Pass health care, pass unemployment and anything else that is needed to make America fulfill the promise it made over two hundred years ago and let the republicans go down in history as the greedy, backstabbing, corporate butt kissing scum that they are and have been for four decades.

48. Neece
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:18 pm

    for those that hv the nerve to say “milking”, 99% are those with a income. well i’m here to tell u, i’m not lazy. i hv a file folder applying to nearly 400 jobs a month that don’t exist. do i want to stay on ui, NO. I want to work, until i can. i depend on these funds to pay my bills. so if u say, “lazy/milking”, u can take it and put it up your behind. there are millions of americans who needs these funds to make it day to day just as i and i support that this bill is passed immediately for a sign of relief to know that we can make it through the holidays with hope come 2010 there are real jobs available.

49. cassiusclay
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:40 pm

    Without a job does not mean
    without a vote.

    The Senate should remember
    this. We will.

    Statements, and arguments,
    about working are moot when
    no jobs exist.

50. anonymous
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:40 pm

    I’m so mad that people think that we’re all lazy.. let me tell you, We’re NOT////// I’ve tried everything to find a job and with all of my knowledge you’d think i could find something… WRONG!!!!! I never thought that this would come to this.. WE ARE NOT LAZY!!!!

51. john smith
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:45 pm

    If the benefits are extended it won’t cause the unemployed to be lazy because it’s only temporary. No one can milk unemployment for the rest of their lives so to even think something like that during these times is not right. Everytime I go to a job interview, 100’s of people show up so I don’t know where they came with the figures like there is only one job opening for every six applying, it’s more like there is one job opening for every hundred applying. A lot of company’s are posting their ad’s on the internet but are not hiring. They are posting ads in case they will have a opening in the future which might be in six months or more or less. The media just likes to misinform the unemployed everyday stating the extension will be approved this week or next wednesday, it’s all a big lie. All the media is doing is driving traffic to their site so they can brag to their customers that they had so many millions of visitors go their site for advertising dollars.
    I have been reading about this extension for 4 weeks now and everyday they are getting the unemployed people’s hope up but failing to extend the benefits over some bullshit. The damage has already been done to most who have run out of their benefits and the damage will continue till the unemployed who have run out of benefits get some help. The Republicans just don’t care about the unemployed. Their bread and butter are the rich. Most of our jobs have been sent oversees so the big corporations can make huge profits and pay their CEO’s millions in one month compared to what all the employees make in a whole year added up. It’s like the CEO’s are winning the lottery every month without even playing. The Republicans would rather spend 30 billion dollars a month of borrowed money on the war they started 8 years ago killing mostly innocent people in Iraq & Afganstan than temporary help the unemployed at home. And still the war is not over yet after 8 years of spending billion of money they borrow from China. And then lets not forget all the billions of borrowed dollars they have sent and are still sending to Pakistan who actually created the Taliban so they can milk this country for ever. When this country goes broke then the Pakistanis will hand the nuclear weapons to the taliban who are actually their brothers and cousins so they can hold everyone hostage. The Republicans are like demons who won’t help the unemployed temporarly and continue to destroy this country over corporate greed and spend billions of dollars on the two wars they have created and if we had a republican president again we would have been in war number 3 with Iran. They never found Bin Laden who is hiding in Pakistan but they just keep sending billions over there to Pakistan and not help their own. God bless the unemployed who have run out of benefits and strugling to survive.

52. david
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:47 pm

    The extensions haven’t made me lazy,just very poor and SICK of not having the food i want to eat or the money to do ANYTHING. i’ve used up all my savings over the last couple yrs. my wife is working, but its a strain on my marriage and family. its friday night, we are to broke to do anything but excersise and watch tv. if someone suggested to my face that i would rather suffer and get less than half my old income,instead of go to work, i would beat them to death i think. as a matter of fact…i think i’ll go kick some republican looking guys butt at the local wal mart or something, that will make me feel better. if i go to jail, my family will just have more food and i wont have to look at them and feel like a loser.

53. ron rasberry
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:47 pm

    The way I look at it, if all of the republicans were thrown out, our congress could get something done to help the American people. Why don’t they go 6-10 weeks without any pay to see how it is like. Its not like they are doing anything to earn it anyway. I have applied everywhere, even fast food places and I still can not find a job, my benefits ran out last week. they need to get there head out of their bleeeep and get something passed.

54. david
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:50 pm

    congress has been telling us to “eat cake”. i cant wait untill the day that heads start rolling.

55. Jim
    October 30th, 2009 @ 6:59 pm

    I didn’t vote for this corrupt clowns that are in charge now!! Corzine, Lautenberg, Andrews, Sweeney they can all go F themselves!!

56. R-ky
    October 30th, 2009 @ 7:02 pm

    I will not bless the unemployed who have run out of benefits and are stugling to survive. To hell with them

57. Charlie
    October 30th, 2009 @ 7:11 pm

    10-1 for open positions – this mathmatical percentage = massive ammounts of unemployed people.

58. john smith
    October 30th, 2009 @ 7:29 pm

    God bless the unemployed who have run out of benefits and are strugling to survive.

    R -KY you are not God so who is asking you to bless the unemployed, you stupid sob

59. greg
    October 30th, 2009 @ 7:29 pm

    Time for the revolution. Time to clean house. Time to pray. Seems the only one we can afford is the prayer. Trust in God and he will help us all. The first politician ever dumped on this planet was named satan. He convinced Eve to convince Adam….talk about playing games.
    WOW!!!!! a spineless talking snake. Kinda like the spineless snaky lawyers turned politicians we have in the den of sin we call Washington not doing the job somebody elected them to do.
    So be it. I put my trust in God and the other night he told me in my dreams that big changes are coming and for all of his children who are suffering, there will be smiles on the faces come Monday. He told me that Rep Reid will hold an all nighter and this total screw up will be resolved. The meek shall inherit the earth. Mass pray all weekend and those creeps won’t even know why they voted the way they will but we will get what’s owed us.
    Praise GOD

60. karlthe1
    October 30th, 2009 @ 7:35 pm

    I’ll bet that R in R-ky stands for republican!
    R-ky looks like nothin more than a PUNK hiding behind his keyboard. ANYTIME YOU WANT MEET FACE TO FACE YOU CAN TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL! I’d love to have a little time alone with you PUNK!!!

61. greg
    October 30th, 2009 @ 8:02 pm

    I’m right there with ya karlthe1. You be welcome in my fox hole anytime……let’s blow these creeps away. Hey what the hell is that creep(R-ky) doing on this site anyway? Should he not be on a porn site whackin’ a mole?

62. greg
    October 30th, 2009 @ 8:28 pm

    To R-ky,
    I think you got a looong line of people that wanna bitch slap you into a place you never been…reality. What the hell are you doing on this site? You ain’t worth type. I wanna cheat my way up the line to kick your ass first. Praise the lord that I am not a violent man but you take the cake. Why don’t you show what a man you are and post again…..can’t wait for your brilliant BS. You erk me so much perv I can hardly type anymo…….

63. Tony Walters
    October 30th, 2009 @ 8:49 pm

    Fellow Americans;
    How can we be so self centered. Senators and Congress need votes. They can either pander to 10% of the population, (unemployed) or they can continue the jobs that they were elected to do daily. (90% of the population). There is more to do in running a country. We have two wars going on, International disarray, the deficit, etc. Basically, more to do than worrying about 10% of the population. We are our own masters. If you dont like what you see, look in the mirror. This board sounds like a quagmire of professional victims. The government is not responsible to take care of us. Once you get in this entitlement mindset, you are done, personally, professionally, and spiritually. The employer paid taxes for unemployment. It was not taken out of our pay! You are entitled to nothing in life. Life is “earned”. I have not heard of anyone in this nation dying of starvation or exposure. Posts are talking about utilities turned off, yet they are still posting on th internet. Perhaps we should be spending our free time looking for work or feeding our families, or picking up pop cans instead of wasing it on an unemployment web site. This victim mentality is shameful, and until you realize you are not a victim, things will turn around. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. I am unemployed as well, and have no extensions. Some of you have been unemployed for over a year. Move to get a better job. They will not come to. Instead of hoping and praying, remember the world does not revolve around you. Put on your best face, dust yourself off, and hit the bricks tomorrow. Tell the government to stay out of our lives, it only farther entraps us as a victim and an welfare state.

64. Tony Walters
    October 30th, 2009 @ 9:05 pm

    Greg,
    God, unfortunately, has nothing to do with your unemployment, or employment. To think that is naive at best. If you think its time for a revolution greg, I say start one. Your rhetoric is almost treasoness. At best, you are a blowhard. Try a revolution, I need a hobby…

65. Tony Walters
    October 30th, 2009 @ 9:15 pm

    On a final note, instead of thinking about the food you want and miss, think about what you NEED. 5 bucks buys a helluva lot of rice!

66. R-ky
    October 30th, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

    My name is Mitch McConnell you can call me at 202-224-2541 any time bud!

67. Mia
    October 30th, 2009 @ 9:25 pm

    10 percent of the population is 30 million people Mitch McConnell. That is right, 30 million people are on their fat asses bitching and moaning about their lack of jobs and enjoying the millions that are given to them.

    I hope the next round of layoffs does not include you becase what goes around comes around. And your superiority will eventually come back and bite you in your ass.

    Good luck to you Mitch.

    I got laid this morning, did you?

68. Kathleen
    October 30th, 2009 @ 10:38 pm

    I lost my job a year ago and still have not been able to find a job. We do not own a home, we rent. We have no insurance (can’t afford it to be taken out of my Husbands check) We share one car that we paid $300 dollars for. My husband rides a bike and bus to work. I apply to numerous jobs every week, even though the ads are even getting scarce as well. We have no luxuries or frivolous expenditures. We have two children that depend on us. This bill needs to pass now! They need to stop wasting time on this health care. It is secondary to our basic needs and when you are suffering, wondering how you are going to eat, stay in your house, etc. It just angers me to think of these people holding this bill up lounging around in their paid for homes, eating their fancy meals, driving their expensive cars, enjoying their “family” vacations, buying their extravagant clothes and looking forward to a festive Holiday Season, while the rest of us suffer at their feet! Do something now and pass this bill!!!! We need the unemployment extension!!!!!!!!!!

69. nancym
    October 31st, 2009 @ 1:19 am

    I don’t really want to waste much breath on a reply to the MOST clueless person I’ve run across in months on this subject. But just for the rest of the people here, I’ll say this– Tony Walters, you are that totally clueless person.

    Everything you’ve said in your comments illustrates just how little you know about what’s going on. For example, many ARE picking up pop cans, just in order to get enough money for gas to be able to go looking for work. Many don’t even have that $5.00 you speak of, because they’ve been out of benefits and not job since July. And they ate plenty of beans and rice before that. Kinda hard to move to another state with less than $5, and then what state would make much difference, or be affordable to set up a new place? And yes, people are on the internet who have lost their utilities, plenty of them–it’s called the library, or a friend’s house, where they have to go in order to apply for jobs, the only way that most companies will even look at a resume now. And maybe you haven’t heard of the thousands of people who have become homeless who now live in tents all over the country. No one dying of exposure?–it’s not the dead of winter yet.

    You’re not even aware that in some states the unemployment tax IS taken out of an employee’s pay. But it doesn’t matter, since that tax was set up as INSURANCE, just for times like this, when the ratio of available jobs to jobless is 1:6–probably another thing you were totally clueless about. And for the first time since this data was recorded, the average number of weeks of unemployment has surpassed the basic 6 months that the states provide for regular benefits. And then there’s the other statistic, that the largest percentage of the unemployed in history are middle-class college graduates and professionals, and a large portion of those are over 50.

    And the worst part of your cluelessness, is your incredibly short-sighted remark about the government needing to respond to the needs of the 90% of the employed and not to the other 10%. (You’re probably also completely unaware of the actual unemployed/underemployed rate, which is at least 16% now, according to the government’s own figures.)

    I don’t suppose it even dawns on you that such a huge chunk of the population without work is not just a risk to those unemployed, but a giant risk to those like yourself. Any foreclosed homes in your neighborhood yet? I bet that helps your property values! Or how about crime, any concerns about that when millions are no longer able to feed their kids or give them shelter? Or how about your area businesses, seeing as many customers lately in the stores? And then there’s your tax base, not as many as usual paying into the coffers lately? Taxes going up, are they?

    Before you open your mouth EVER again on ANY subject, just make sure you know more about that subject than what you’ve displayed here about the unemployed, or else you will again be seen to be an utter fool.

70. Capitalism kills
    October 31st, 2009 @ 2:12 am

    We need to organize. We need civil unrest, sit ins, marches yet we continue to blog how mad we are. Do you think the British would have let us form or own government if we blogged about how unfair it is? I agree we need to get motivated and show how hungry we really are. The time for politics has passed, now is the time for action. We as a society secretly behind their backs jeer Republicans and the wealthy but then compete with each other and jockey for position to get a bigger crumb off the loaf. These people think we are fools because we act like fools. Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but a world to gain. KM

71. Capitalism kills
    October 31st, 2009 @ 2:35 am

    Response to Tony Walters. Give a man a fish he eats for a day, Teach him to fish and then exploit him for a lifetime. Are you kidding me most Americans are not poor because of not doing their fair share its because the rich have designed a system where any valuble service or goods rendered by the employee are then capitalized by the owner. Repeat this explotation of labor on every employee and this is how they amass their wealth. Not by working for it and physically puting in $15 million goods or services into the real economy. And yes we are victims. Victims or Reaganomics, Trickle-down theory,Vodoo Economics whatever you want to call it. How do You justify giving $700 Billion TAX PAYERS dollars to the wealthy after already giving them 8 years of tax breaks. And then saying NO to $2Billion to help those who are suffering the direct effect of their Greed. Yes we are victims and we need help before we become criminals.

72. Arthur Swenson
    October 31st, 2009 @ 2:45 am

    Your a bunch of lazy slackers, get off your butts and work you bumbs. I work from home where theres a will theres a way. your just all welfare losers lazy turids.But If you need a hand out fine send Me a letter stating why and how much not over 5 grand. I’ll post it off as I work and have it to spare first 200 only

    Arthur Swenson
    278 whibur Rd battlefild park no 8
    Scylervill NY 12871

73. jennifer england
    October 31st, 2009 @ 3:01 am

    People who lost jobs at our firm used to make 85,000 a year as PM’s and now get 513 a week .. Whoo Hoo.. I can see why they would just kick back and want their unemployment which is 1/4 of their prior income. This way they can lose their houses and their health insurance twice as fast

74. Tracy Mc
    October 31st, 2009 @ 5:03 am

    Yes,we are milking the system. That is because our jobs are going to other countries. Go into Walmart and pick up any item and it will say “Made in China”; call a customer service line and you will get Rahad from India; buy a new car and find out it was made in Mexico.
    Other countries have put out politians in their pockets and stolen jobs from this country. Now the politicians and the corporations that own them want to blame the unemployed for losing their jobs.
    If Bush had only been in office for 4 years instead of 8, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Better yet, if Bush had never been elected.
    He is sitting on his opulent ranch enjoying his destruction of this country & his ignorant daughters have jobs as anchors on the Today show.

75. John
    October 31st, 2009 @ 5:05 am

    Lazy? Three million jobs have evaporated since Barack not-that-Hussein Obama and his fascist pigs took over the Presidency. And you have to ask if job seekers are lazy? How is anyone supposed to find a job when jobs are disappearing? If jobs were being created then, yeah, I’d say an extension would cause laziness. But, that’s not the case.

    If you include all the unemployed, all those who aren “too discouraged to look,” and all those holdng part-time jobs but who want full-time work, the unemployment rate is over 17%.

    No, we’re not lazy. There’s nothing out there. And don’t give me any “recession” bull, either. This is a depression.

    And let me tell you something else: I didn’t vote for Obama, nor will I ever vote for any other liberal. So, I don’t own the problem with our government. Yet I and every other conservative has been victimized by them.

    The left just had to give the lower classes houses. They just had to loan them money under Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, as though what was a priviledge for the rich was a right for the poor. And when the economy turned, those poor homeowners went broke, defaulted and took down the whole country. Then, the liberal media turned around and blamed the rich.

    Meanwhile, I and millions of others have spent ours lives living in apartments. Now, my tax money, and every other apartment dweller’s tax money, has bought those poor homeowners their houses. But I will never be able to live in a house of my own.

    No, I’m not lazy. I’m angry, bitter, frustrated and discouraged. This country’s liberals have destroyed America. It’s not that they sent us up a creek without a paddle; it’s that they took away our boat because we were too “fortunate.”

    Every pinko who thought the world owed him something has gotten his government handout. Well, I paid my unemployment insurance premiums. I want my damn money.

76. jackie sokol
    October 31st, 2009 @ 5:09 am

    I saw vote them out of Washington & just drop the bomb. Problem solved!

77. avlavl
    October 31st, 2009 @ 7:22 am

    I wish the government would pass this extention. I’ve been seeking work each and every week to no avail. I also have been seeking work from home to no avail. Those are mostly scams. However, my rent is due, electric, telephone, insurance and here tomorrow is the 1st of the month and I need money. What does one do? I need to pay rent. I need to buy food. The holiday is coming up and I am broke. Having this extentions would enable me to pay my October and November bills, as I am soooo late with them. Please, please, extent the benefits not only for me, but everyone else in the same boat.

78. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 7:52 am

    Kathleen,
    Sounds like life to me! You are not a victim. Class envy is a bitch and if you complain about all the stuff your neighbors have, and what you dont have, you will never be happy. Be thankfull for your husband, your children, and that you woke up this morning. March your butt down to the welfare office, apply for foodstamps and Medicaid until you find a job, and keep looking, keep looking, keep looking.
    Tony

79. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 7:56 am

    Mia;
    Thats what I am talking about. Wonderful that you got “laid” this morning, and what did it cost you? Probably set the tone for the rest of your day. Some one loves you, which is wonderful, and it costs nothing. Appreciate what we have, instead of what we dont have, and you will be set free.

80. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:04 am

    Nancym;
    Point taken on a few of your “Woe is me” official talking points. Instead of vomiting up numbers and statistics, tell me how you really feel. You wont hurt my feelings. When the anger wells up in you and makes you almost want to cry, capture that feeling, remember me when you want to give up, get furious and realize you are still alive and in control of yourself. Prove to me that I am wrong, and find the old you, the proud, confident you, and make your life better.
    Tony

81. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:09 am

    Nancym;
    You sound like a lapdog for a socialist state. I did not say the government shouldn’t help us, I said they other things to worry about than us. I AM UNEMPLOYED and on UNEMPLOYMENT, so this experience is not foreign to me. Again, your situation sounds like plain old, woe is me, ordinary life. Quit the victim act, it doesnt look good on you.

82. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:15 am

    Swenson,
    That is CAPITALISM! Brilliant…
    Tony

83. Tony Walters
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:17 am

    Tracy;
    Seems to me, I was working under Bush, and UNEMPLOYED under OBAMA. The proof is right in front of you. Open your eyes and you will see it.
    TOny

84. MOLLIE
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:23 am

    My unemployment ran out in August, my husband drive’s big trucks for a living and frieght has realy slowed down so his pay checks have been cut in half, bringing home $200.00 a wk the bills are piling up fast. I was getting $135.00 a wk on unemployment versus $300.00 a wk working. I would love to find work but there are more people than jobs here. We just got a loan modifaction and now our first payment is going to be late. I hope they do not cancel our aggreement now. We ( AMERICA ) can help everyone but the tax payers. SAD

85. THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO CLUE!!!!
    October 31st, 2009 @ 8:48 am

    I worked 29 years as an engineer for GM!!!!! LAZY!?!?!? Who the hell is this Jesse guy??!?!?! Ever since our plant closed down Ive been looking for a job. I have found absolutely nothing, sure there are plenty minimum wage jobs available, but why would I do that when unemployment pays out better. Doesnt make sense. Still unemployment checks arent even a quarter of what I was making! And on that note, Why do you think more peope and more people are foreclosing on homes, filing bankruptcy, etc….The government needs to help these people, people who proovided for their families and cannot provide any longer, NOT the CASH for CLUNKERS!!! WHOS BRILLIANT IDEA WAS THAT!!! LETS MAKES THIS COUNTRY MORE IN DEBT!!!!

86. Arlene
    October 31st, 2009 @ 9:21 am

    Whomever thought up this question should be drawn and quartered. One might ask that question if the unemployment rate were 4 or 5%. But it is not. It is close to 10%. I live in a state where the unemployment rate is 11%. The area where I live in has an unemployment rate of 12%.

    We absolutely love losing our credit and begging the federal government for help….not. My credit is SHOT. I have never been in this situation in my life…..and I am over sixty.

    Why doesn’t Jesse ask this question in front of unemployed people. Then the unemployed will clean up what is left of Jesse.

    Good ole GOP talking points. Their approval rate is at 20%. Wonder why.

87. Arlene
    October 31st, 2009 @ 9:26 am

    @Tony Walters. STFU already. Are you Kkkkarl hiding behind a screen name.

    What an unholy spammer you are. But that’s ok. There is a thing called karma. It is very patient and never forgets.

    Go ahead and make fun of the unemployed, you moron. Get a go**am life instead of spending all day on a board spamming. No dates? Hm, wonder why.

    You are so spouting GOP talking points. Too late. The party is d e a d.

88. julie
    October 31st, 2009 @ 9:51 am

    I exhausted my benefits in August, I am a divorced mother of two and have recently become a full time nursing student…..still seeking employment and have had no luck. I am out of options….Christmas will be here soon, my kids don’t stop needing and wanting because I have no resources. I really hope this extension goes through SOON!!

89. Betsy
    October 31st, 2009 @ 9:54 am

    I too have been impacted by this. I have a Business degree and since being laid off, I have applied for jobs in my field and when that turned out to have no opportunities. I reworked my approach and even applied for part time work and still no luck.

    My benefits have ended and now I have found myself seeking Doctors advise on why I can’t sleep, can’t eat and most of all have feelings of depression.Oh and by the way now I can add why can’t I pay my bills to the list(Thanks US Senate)….Please pass the extension let me know that there might be some silver to that
    “Silver Lining”

90. Janet
    October 31st, 2009 @ 11:14 am

    I have been out of work for three (3) years. Because I am over 50 I have a problem securing employment. I have had only had 4 interviews within that timeframe.

    I know many other individuals who are out of work at least one year and are also finding work. The longer you are out of work the harder it is to find employment. Employers think there is something wrong with you if you can’t find a job within 6 months.

    My benefits have run out three weeks. The NY Department of Labor is having us file claims for the weeks we are out of work and will provide retroactive benefits when (and if) the extension is passed.

    I can’t believe the Congress is fideling while Rome is burning. They refuse the extend benefits and spend more time fighting over Health Reform. Congress needs to wake up.

91. HopeFromCA
    October 31st, 2009 @ 11:14 am

    Tony Walters,
    You think you are helping others with your posts but you are not. You are trying to make yourself feel better by putting down others that are in the same situation you are. You do the talk but you don’t do the action. One example is you say the unemployed spend too much time on the internet and not looking for work but you have more posts here then anyone else. If what statements you post works then why are you still unemployed?

92. Paul
    October 31st, 2009 @ 11:51 am

    I know know about the unemplpoyment extension making anyone lazy. When I was working a saw lazy workers then also. I have been trying get a job since April 2008. I cannot tell you how many resumes, cover letters, etc I have sent out or sent to recruters that call – if I can even understand them. I gotten to the point I just say yes & ask for a E-m confirmation of our conversion with the job description. At least this way I know what I said yes to. It seems it goes into some blacl obyess because you really hear back from anyone. And wehn I do, it’s someone saying that that found some closer to what they were looking for that or that I am over qualified (even if I was lucky enought to get a intervie & the hiring manager stated that I would be a great for the position) – nice way of say I am too old – I just turned 61. I ran out of benefits & it is scary trying to keep my home, my kids in school, pay taxes, put food on the table, pay bills, etc. No one wants to hear your problems, charge cards just raise all the rates, etc.
    Don’t want me to get lazy that lets STOP OUT SOURCUING OUR JOBS & GIVE ME ONE OF THEM!! I worked all my life for what I have & now everyone is trying to take it way

93. American as apple pie
    October 31st, 2009 @ 11:53 am

    Yeah i love sitting on my a**, eating rotten bananas and watching Jay Leno.

94. kim
    October 31st, 2009 @ 11:55 am

    This stalling in the senate is all BS. There are ppl starving & losing their homes & credit. There is NO excuse for this & at election time our voice will be heard! I am one of many who feel this way & I am not lazy by ANY means. something HAS to be done & quickly.

95. mike
    October 31st, 2009 @ 12:24 pm

    This extension will help me keep my car. 13%unemployment rate where I live. Its hard to get a interview when ur competeing with hundreds whom also applied for that minnimum wage position.

96. Michelle
    October 31st, 2009 @ 12:53 pm

    Milking the system? You have got to be kidding me. There are those of us who already depleted their savings, cashed out their 401K and playing “throw the bills up in the air and the first ones that hit the floor get paid first. Whom ever is of the opinion of people “milking” the system – Have YOU ever been unemployed and on unemployment? Have YOU ever had to fight to keep your house? If you had been, you’d be of a different opinion. The majority of my block is UNEMPLOYED. I can easily count that out of 20 people I know, half are out of work. Obviously you don’t have a CLUE what it’s like to worry every day about keeping what you worked hard for. And by the way, unemployment doesn’t pay much! We won’t be eating steak anytime soon! I have resorted to cheap cuts of meat to throw in a crock pot! Why don’t you research the depression, and see if you can pick out what really looks familiar. Oh, and by the way, on top of all that, my husband is on disability for an injury going on a year. 2 surgeries for a shoulder repair. He’s an electrician. This may end his career if they can’t do anything else with it.
    Get off your high horse.

97. romanmel
    October 31st, 2009 @ 12:56 pm

    Will those on unemployment benefits become “lazy”? That was the question… Oh, I don’t know, did the US banks become “lazy” when they received trillions of dollars in so called stimulus payments? Did GM become “lazy” when they were bailed out? Did AIG become “lazy”? I have a better question for you eggheads to ponder… Why is it that our 401k’s declined in the same scope to the amount being doled out to the banksters?

98. Jay Arrington
    October 31st, 2009 @ 1:14 pm

    Let’s see 35 yrs. of work with an average contribution of say a minimum of 8k per year into the system for unemployment comes to about 280k. There is not that much milk in the world, and besides you don’t qualify for checks if the government determines that you are not actively seeking employment.

99. Jessica Morelli
    October 31st, 2009 @ 1:24 pm

    Tony seems to think he is better than everyone else who is unfortunate enough to have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Why the attitude? I guess he thinks he is working harder than anyone else in the universe to get a job. But he hasn’t gotten a job yet has he? Hmmmm. I guess he isn’t really trying hard enough or isn’t too indigent yet after all he does have a computer and access to the internet.

100. Erik
     October 31st, 2009 @ 1:53 pm

     I’ve been unemployeed since early 2008. I have not been lazy looking for work as I am a certified IT professional with over 10 year experience and the competative nature of the IT industry is making it more difficult for me to find a job. I am 48 years old and feel that companies are looking for younger people to fill the possions that I am surely more qualified for. Now that my unemployment has ran out I am searching for jobs that pay at least what I was making on unemployment, less than half what I was making. I am continuing to further my education while not working and unemployment at least helps my wife, my kids 10 and 12 and myself barely stay afloat.

     I’ve been applying at home depot, lowes, and other areas that I have no professional experience but obviously over qualified. I don’t even get responses from those companies.

     As far as lazy it hasn’t change the way I look for employment whether or not I’m collecting unemployment benefits. It just adds to the stress of possibly losing my house and who know what happens after that. There may be those who are milking the unemployment but I would guess that the majority whould prefer to have more security with a full time job then wondering if and when unemployment will run out.

     I frankly am becoming more resentful towards the GOP with their ammendments to the bill and feel that they always have to get their 2 cents in even though that is all its worth, 2 cents. The Dems are obviously in control and the GOP had their time so I feel its time that the

101. joe
     October 31st, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

     to the staff and friends at sublime bloogger..go get fucked!!!! you can say that and make this a subject because i bet your all employed..step into our shoes and try and live your life on unemployment benefits or lack of benefits and then tell me that we’re lazy!!! so making comments like the one says that we’re lazy is ridiculous.think before you post a fuckin stupid question like that…..

102. Gary
     October 31st, 2009 @ 2:17 pm

     7,000 people a day losing benefits. 150,000 already have lost benefits. Here is a list of the republicans still saying no. Unbelievable! Everyone pass this list along. And post it!

     The real lazy ones are:

     Sen. John Barrasso [R, WY]
     Sen. Christopher Bond [R, MO]
     Sen. Jim Bunning [R, KY]
     Sen. Thomas Coburn [R, OK]
     Sen. John Cornyn [R, TX]
     Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC]
     Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY]
     Sen. Lindsey Graham [R, SC]
     Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT]
     Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK]
     Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R, AL]
     Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]
     Sen. Roger Wicker [R, MS]

103. Tony Walters
     October 31st, 2009 @ 3:05 pm

     Thank you to all of my friends. Good luck in the soup line.
     Tony

104. paul
     October 31st, 2009 @ 3:32 pm

     Lazy? Lazy? I am on at least 12 search sites. Have had my resume done professionally and applying for at least 20 jobs any where in country! How dare you say I am lazy and get hungry? The person who states this, should worry about his own job, as he may be one of us too! Yea, its great to get a small amount of money that 1/3 of what I was making. How insulting that someone who has a job says we are lazy. Do you want me and others on the street, that you walk over? If you have a suggestion for me and would offer me a job I would take it.

105. B. Taylor
     October 31st, 2009 @ 3:53 pm

     I am looking for a job everyday. It is very frustrating going into a fast food restaurant or Subway(Extreme Pay Cut)and only seeing Mexicans behind the counter. I was born in this country and now I’m being told that I have to learn how to speak spanish in order to get the job. You have got to be kidiing me!!! I think it’s time the government steps up and reforms immagration laws!!!!!!! Make them pay taxes!!!! Make them pay to take english lessons!!! Why do we cater to peolpe coming from other countries illeagally or not, and ignore the one who are protected under the Constitution. on a side note, I know a women from mexico who is collecting wel-fare from 3 states and she says all Americans are stupid. They take our money and our benifits and send it back to mexico.

106. Sick and tired
     October 31st, 2009 @ 4:46 pm

     I have a classic story to tell, but before I begin I’d like to say a word or two to this ass hole who’s made several comments about the unemployed. His name is Tony Walters. I’ve noticed every comment you’ve made about every one else on this site has been insulting. I am so sorry that you feel threatened as a human being. For you to get on here and throw the first bone about millions of unemployed Americans is beyond me. I view you personally as a hateful human being. I honestly hope that you believe in karma, because for what you put out into the universe verbally or physically it Will come back to you…believe me. Every dog has it’s day sir mock my words:) your day is on it’s way. Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house.Now on to the next one. As for me. I have been unemployed since early February 2008. I have been looking for work faithfully and no luck so it seems. My benefits exhausted early September 2009 so I have been without any money since then. I now have no money. Not a dime to even get on a bus to get to an interview. I had to give up my vehicle because I can no longer make any payments on it. I am seriously in the red with all of my expenses. I can barely eat. I have had to turn to family and friends for help. That only lasts for so long. Every one I know at this point is in the same predicament as I am. Now, I am not really able to ask for any more help. It is a struggle every day for me to do just the simplest of things like EAT:) keep toilet paper in the house. Keep soap to bathe with. Now for the classic story. Today I received a call from an employer I had submitted a resume to. They asked me if I could come in today to meet with them….or possibly start work today. Well my heart just dropped, I couldn’t say yes because now I am deeper in a whole. I have no money for bus fare, I no longer have a vehicle to get any were. I am up shit Creek. I unfortunately had to tell the employer no I wouldn’t be able to come in. At this point all of my self esteem and self worth have completely went down the toilet. I feel hopeless and helpless. I am one of the millions of unemployed workers who just needs that continued light to shine until things turn around. I urge all that are unemployed to get out and start marching in the streets for our right to survive, This is our human right. I will be marching soon if this bill isn’t passed by the end of this coming week. I have also signed a petition that was created to help fight to have the unemployment extension bill pass as soon as possible. Please sign it. Your signature really does count.
     go to: http://www.petitions.com/petition/unemployment

107. Mark
     October 31st, 2009 @ 8:49 pm

     I sincerely hope that all of the posters on this site do not become apathetic or lose interest in politics once this bill is passed or we get gainful employment, the republican party has shown nothing but disdain and contempt towards the laid off american worker how anyone who has lost their job and have been forced to rely on unemployment benefits could ever vote republican again, well it would just be easier for me to figure out the meaning of life.

108. AngelBR
     October 31st, 2009 @ 10:11 pm

     ABSURD!!! Now we are considerated LAZY !!!

     It is BEYOND ANY IMAGINATION!!!
     Then, I ask myself: “What might these Republicans are thinking”??? Might they are imagining that the jobless population are auto-destrutive people who prefer to live under the government aid then have a decent salary and a productive professional life… Waiting for a extension, WE HOPE FOR JUST SURVIVE into this actually “twilight zone scenario”…
     Since January 2009 I have applied for cents of all kind of job without descrimination, as a skilled manager, professional with a wide resume in different work fields, 2 years ago, when I applied my resume online I received 5 to 6 calls a day, today, nobody call me, even under qualified job I have applied and nothing… However, as same as many I did not give up, I still fighting into this unfair job competitive and catastrophic battlefield”.

     As result, the lack of self-respect drove me to meet a sickness that as a 57 years old I had not had met yet. Also with low sel-steem my health is so poor, consequently I have expended a great part of this “benefit” in medicine and paying the Cobra.
     For all these reasons, I really would like to be just a minute inside of these Republican Senator’s mind at the time that they are voting against the Unemployment Benefits Extension.

     Unfortunately I can’t, but I am sure that they have feelings, even no mind… I feel so sorry for those Republicans concepts and ideologies about LIFE and DEATH. Instead of defending the American jobless population rights of survive under this recession, they have been using their “short work time” to vote pro Afgnistan and Irak WAR EXTENSION TIME. In favor of SENDING MORE TROPS to these countries, what means “pro-people die, not live”. Yes, they don’t find money to Extend people’s life. The pro-life programs like Obama’s health care for all, are out of contest. Under their social concepts, the US taxes money must have been used in DEATH PROGRAMS. What kind of mind they have? I imagine that they are aware that feeding the inimies battlefield only generates and spread more HATE FRAGMENTS on the EARTH.
     Hate that soon or late comes toward innocent people…
     The money necessary to feed our population will never be compared to the millions and billions of money that has been expended with the Army Forces, especial Military trainning, and the development of powerful wepons and Aircrafts… It means NOTHING!
     Everyday I prey for God to bless and iluminate Obama’s beliefs and ideologies. It is known that his govern is a mixed of a fresh scent of peace, new ideologies and a strong concept of justice for all. He is able to listen and change. Everybody knows that it is impossible to fix all this mess left by the last President in less then a year. Knowing Obama’s I am sure that he will not let the jobless population abandoned. The Extension Benefits will pass very soon my friends!!!

109. James
     October 31st, 2009 @ 10:21 pm

     Lazy?? Good for nothing??? Why, when the repubs caused the last great depression, we didn’t have these govm’t handouts. A man would sell apples on the street corner to support his family. people would simply go hungry and do without. when they marched on washington looking for a handout, we mowed them down with machine-gun fire while they slept in their tents, and everyone cheered!!! Boy those were the good old days!!!! Vote repub this election, and they’ll bring ‘em back you shiftless bums!!!

110. Rick
     November 1st, 2009 @ 12:14 am

     The really sad thing is people always forget the republicans caused this mess is the first place. You don’t have to be deep into politics to see throught history when ever republicans have control we end up in a recection, this time and I can’t for the life of me understand how put the worst republican in charge not once but twice!Now my wife and I went from $130,000 a year to running out of UI benafits, lost health car on us and the kids, 401k is gone, savings is gone, anything of value sold, to fighting to get help from FIA (welfare) with no sign of finding a job in sight. I have applied for so many jobs I am certain that I have ran out of new job listings in my area and applied for the same jobs several times over with no responce. If we could afford gas we could march on Washigton and put the GOP out on unemployment. With the number of out of work it would be bigger than anything Washington has ever seen even the rallys during Vietnam. If any of you want to suggest the people that have used all of there unemployment are lazy I would love to see you say that to the face of anyone of us because it may very well be the last idiot remark you ever make! That is just as bad as a republican with a Bush bumper sticker complaining about high gas prices!!!!!

111. Renee gamez
     November 1st, 2009 @ 5:55 am

     This has been the worse time of my life. I have been seeking employment for months and when there is no work how is someone supposed to survive? I have five children and christmas is coming i have been off unemployment for almost amonth my bills are stacking up and shutoff notices are rolling in i am desperate for something to give i cannot believe someone is accusing people who are unemployed for becoming lazt this is absolutely ridiculous i am a women am i 44 the chips are already stacked against finding employment and i have searched non stop[. Why would anybody with children not look for a job!!!

112. karen
     November 1st, 2009 @ 6:52 am

     I am not one bit lazy! I lost my job in Feb. 2009 after 16 years in the newspaper business. My husband is 100% disabled. My son and his family live with us because they can’t afford anything else at the moment. I look for work everyday even though I am 57 years old. I am either over qualified for some or to old for others or maybe not enough experience. I am on my umemployment extension and it will soon run out. Then what?

113. Rickmick
     November 1st, 2009 @ 7:42 am

     I am one of the so called people that are milking the unemployment instead of getting a job. I am an 8th grade educated person as you can probably see by my writing. I am not a dumb person either. I can repair my own LCD or plasma TV’s, repair computers, build web sites in php or html. I can edit the files to make the web site do what ever I want it do. I can plumb a house, I can wire a house, and list goes on. I choose heavy equipment worker when I was young. I worked hard and learned how to read blue prints, set grades, and layout a job site. Within about 5 years I became a superintendent. I continued working hard and working my way up. I became an estimator and did all the estimating for a large construction company. I then went to work for a large development company as an estimator and project manager without any supervision. After about 1 year I became V.P. over excavation. I still bid all the jobs, managed them, set budgets in the accounting software and managed 27 employees. The Company had about 20 LLC when the economy started falling and they were robbing Peter to pay Paul from all the other LLC. They finally had to close the doors along with all the other construction companies in the area.

     Now here I am with an 8th grade education, 55 years old, and trying to get a job. When they see my resume, with not even a high school education, to them, I am stupid. Even though, I could probably do their job better then they can. When I apply for a low paying job, that does not need an education, I am over qualified. Now, I have lost my truck. I will have to move out of my house. I have sold everything of value trying to keep a roof over my head. I owe 1300.00 dollars on my other car and now I am 2 payments behind on it. The IRS is threatening to come take what I have left because I owe them 2600.00 dollars for the past two years. I did not work for almost 40 years to get what I had, just to lose it because you think I am lazy. The only thing I regret is not getting a high school diploma. But, I was also born into a very poor family and back then there was no money for school. Most of us had to find jobs at a very young age.

114. Alex
     November 1st, 2009 @ 8:15 am

     I have been laid off for a while now. I have a Bachelors degree and graduated in the top ten percent of my class. Now not even Wal-Mart or McDonald’s will hire me. There are no jobs around here. Last week there was an open interview for a job as a server. There was at least 100 people applying for one job as a server! Does this gives you the impression that people are getting lazy? Not to me.
     Maybe instead of writing our stories here we should send them to those who represent us in government. Maybe every unemployed person should send his or her story to their representatives. Maybe that would get the ball moving.

115. Kevin
     November 1st, 2009 @ 8:26 am

     People don’t be worrying about this it will get passed down at the employment security commission they are saying another is in the works it has enough votes to pass most everybody is on it except a few but the president is waiting to sign off on another 13 weeks for high unemployment states. Be patient food is almost on the table.

116. Jay Arrington
     November 1st, 2009 @ 9:01 am

     Hey Tony, you should be ashamed of yourself, but I guess if you were working “UNDER” Bush means you have no shame just like he and anyone that “WORKED” for him did not. Hate and prejudice are always hiring, so why are you unemployed? You shouldn’t be unless of course CEO isn’t available. I am not a vengeful person but I would not give you a glass of water if you were burning in hell.(and you probably will) By the way can you actually see yourself in the mirror and what had you done to ‘EARN’ life, and room and board from your parents?

117. Capitalism made me a peasant
     November 1st, 2009 @ 9:33 am

     How is it lazy when I paid into the Unemployment system all those years when I was gainfully employed? You must be some Capitalist whore that also thinks real estate price will keep going up indefinitely.

118. Brandon
     November 1st, 2009 @ 9:37 am

     Okay sure some people will be lazy,but thats everywhere don’t confuse them with the majority of the people receving these extensions.We bailed out the banks and big corperatinos IE Ford ,GM and Crystler so to be critical of helping out people in need that are fellow americans is ingorance also to tell people that are unemploymed they are lazy how can anyone make an essetment like that , that show your lack of education because no way a educated person would ever asess a situation without seeing it first hand not by hear say or by a blog.

119. Brandon
     November 1st, 2009 @ 9:47 am

     also i saw someone named tony talk about only 10% is unemployed sorry to burst your bubble but its a lot higher then that ,lack of education shows again unemployment stats are only the ones who filed for benfits and are approved try to find true statics before you throw out your numbers also the spending of this money goes right back into the ecconmemy so I would love to here more of tony’s eccomics he has all the ansewers lol i shake my head also you are board then go to a local college sit in a ecconmics class to try to understand this better lol i bet you would last 20 min before you would make a another ingorant comment then people will look at you like you have three heads

120. Carolyn
     November 1st, 2009 @ 11:35 am

     I am 60 years old and let me tell you it is not easy to get a job. I acutually was told by a company that they were looking for a long term employee. I hope if we do get an extension that I only have to use a few weeks of it. I’m tired of being home and though I don’t have children to feed I could still use a few more weeks to in hopes of finding something so I can pay my rent on time.

121. yourdream
     November 1st, 2009 @ 11:54 am

     unemployed since sept 08-difficult to find anything in Fl-moved to Md and although there are many jobs advertised there are also 300 applicants. Can’t afford to stay in cold country for the winter so back to Fl-for what–warmth and more disappointment-sucks-pass the extension

122. Rich get richer
     November 1st, 2009 @ 12:05 pm

     The government said that banks were too big to fail, so they were given billions in interest free money. Goldman-Sachs took the money, invested it and is now paying out 700K in bonuses to every employee this year.

     Families who apply to buy foreclosed housing, are being denied loans. Instead, investors are buying foreclosures with cash, and then turning around and selling them instantly for fair market price. Why would a bank give out a loan, when it can get cash?

     Unfortunately, everything that has been done to stimulate the economy has back-fired. Extending unemployment stimulates the economy instantly. The stock market has plummeted for the past couple weeks. I can’t help but wonder if it is partially because people are running out of their extensions that has made the consumer confidence plummet, Now who was it that said that unemployment is just a hand-out?

123. gayle
     November 1st, 2009 @ 2:37 pm

     Frankly, NYS and our senators has been remarkably proactive on this, so going off on them is preaching to the choir, but without passage we are all in a world of hurt. This is a list of the senators who have continued to attach unrelated amendments so keep this legislation stalled. No doubt they have never gone without. THEY ALL HAVE EMAIL: LET THEM KNOW THIS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.
     Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) [6.8%]
     Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO) [9.5%]
     Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) [10.9%]
     Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK) [6.7%]
     Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) [8.2%]
     Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) [11.6%]
     Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) [6.8%]
     Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [11.6%]
     Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) [6.2%]
     Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)[6.7%]
     Sen. Jefferson Sessions (R-AL) [10.7%]
     Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) [7.4%]
     Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) [9.2%]
     They hate hearing from angry constituents, let alone other state constituencies. They even hate it more when they get letters, and voters in one state tell voters in another.
     AND DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE LEADER OF THE PACK SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL. HE LOVES TO HEAR FROM EVERYBODY.

124. Jay matterson
     November 1st, 2009 @ 4:24 pm

     It’s absolutely absurd we’re even having this discussion. Will unemployment benefits extension make people lazy? [B]HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY SURVIVE OFF OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ALONE?![/B] I’ve struggled to find steady work for almost two years now, for all the reasons other people have already stated. I’ve cut back on everything possible. I’ve only made it this far because my unemployment benefits have been supplemented by credit cards, savings, and my 401k; all of which are no longer available because they’ve been maxed out/cashed out.

     You think I enjoy waking up in the morning wondering whether or not I’ll still have food in my stomach, clothes on my back, and a roof over my head by the end of the month? “Lazy”?! I can’t f@cking believe I’m reading this sh!t! Unemployment benefits will make people hopeful there’ll be a tomorrow, [b]NOT[/b] “lazy.”

125. Unemployment Benefits Extension Decision to be Made This Week? : Subprime Blogger
     November 1st, 2009 @ 5:48 pm

     [...] Unemployment Benefits Extension; Will It Cause Job Seeks to be Lazy? [...]

126. Shut up
     November 1st, 2009 @ 6:55 pm

     Hell I think all the hell the unemployed have gone through they have every right in the world to be a little lazy. This will help more jobs to become available and for the employer not to give crap pay for the work.

127. HEIDI
     November 1st, 2009 @ 7:19 pm

     OMG WAKE UP PEOPLE THAT ARE SAYING WE ARE LAZY,I HAVE A COLLAGE DEEGRE. IM NOT GOING INTO THE HOLE DEAL WITH TELLING EVERYONE WERE GOING TO BE LIVING IN A CAR SOON WITH OUR KIDS.

     EVERYONE MAKE PHONE CALLS AND TRY TO PUSH THESE SENATERS I BEEN DOING IT FOR TWO MONTHS AND MY BENIFITS HAVE RAN OUT THEN,WE CAN WAIT MUCH LONGER WE NEED HELP NOW

     HELP
     HELP
     HELP
     HELP
     WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

128. Henry Wallman
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 12:21 am

     How can anyone that collects unemployment be God Damn Lazy? You have to have worked to get it, Does anyone actually think that someone would rather get 300.00 an opposed to 600.00 or 900.00 ? NO ! THERE ARE NO JOBS ! The Republican voting fatcats ship all their manufacturing work to China, Because they have there money so screw The US workers, It’s every man for himself. START A REVOLUTION BOYCOT FOREIGN / CHINESE MADE PRODUCTS, AND YOU’LL SEE THE JOBS COME HERE BY THE MILLIONS
     DON’T TALK ABOUT IT DO IT. AND SPREAD THE WORD !

129. FranP
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 12:49 am

     LAZY!!!! I was earning $12k a MONTH and claim $430 a week in NYC, the most expensive city in the USA. You do the math! Our government is run by lobbyists & special interest groups with no care for the people! Wake up America! Ignorance is no excuse in 2009!

130. FranP
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 12:52 am

     PS – How nice that the staff of Subprime Blogger have time to debate this at work, while over 12 million people are job hunting!

131. Pamela
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 5:17 am

     Make us lazy? Give me a break!!!! My benefits have been exhausted and I have been looking at every single type of job that is available that I can do. With so few jobs and soo many applicants, landing any type of job is nearly impossible. Pass the damn extension!!!!!

132. Keith
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 6:22 am

     I do not think that an extention would cause the unemployed to be lazy. There are thousands of unemployed whom have long since lost their benefits — three months ago. In such a case, I find it hard to believe that these people are just being lazy — for three months — without having any income to support themselves as well as there families. The truth of the matter is jobs are still a scarce commodity.

133. ranks
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 7:09 am

     IN regards to people taking unemployment and not looking for jobs well I say if you can survive on that little money then in this economy do it let those of us who have kids and bills that need paid( like the 1150.00 in car repairs)have the few available jobs. I agree in a normal economy you can stress laziness but this is not normal.Quite frankly its is hard to find enough jobs to apply to week after week. I am 36yrs old served in the Army 5yrs,I was at hte same company for 12 yrs after till I was laid off. I knew my job was fazing out so I was proactive and went back to school and got my degree. I graduated may3,2008 laid off Aug 8,2008. I have a wife 3 children,morgage, no health insurance and my money ran out 3 weeks ago. LAZY? I can tell you stories about lazy and worhtless people who still have their jobs because they are friends with the boss.

134. ranks
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 7:40 am

     Yes, there are people who abuse the system but should we punish the whole? Should we do away with the whole unemployment system? Well if we then we need to do away with congress and all politicians because they accept lobbyist money that corupts their ability to govern and vote on bills that help americans.The Republicans said it themselves in response the healthcare ” You can’t trust politicians with your healthcare!” so I guess the Canadian,French. and English governments are more trustworthy!!? LIeberman and Buye(IN)(spelling??) both have family ties to health ins companies. America home of the FREE and broke!!!!!

135. Terry
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 7:53 am

     Are you kidding me??

     I am 62 years old and have worked since I was 16! This isn’t funny…it’s life or death! Who could live only on the amount of unemployement we receive.
     It seems that the only people that are making judgements on this issue are the people who are either still working or have so much money it gives them the time to sit and make false statements about those of us that have the issues.
     Been looking for a job for over a year. To old,overqualified, position filled; i’ve heard it all. I need the extension to be passed yesterday. I will be the happiest person on earth if I get it and then can stop needing it.

     Get real GOP, this isn’t a political issue,its a survival issue.

136. diana19
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:14 am

     Lazy – my husband was employed for years with his employer until 2 1/2 years ago — he worked an average of 50 to 60 hours per week. Now, he is working part-time (4 to 12 hours per week) to help makes ends meet in our home. No, he is not lazy and expecting unemployment. He is working at the only job he has been able to get in the last 2 1/2 years.

137. Teddie
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 10:11 am

     There are people that have jobs that are lazy so this question is stupid. Repuplicans should stop trying to add rediculous ammendments to the bill so that this important unemployment extension can be passed. John Kyl is an idiot when he keeps saying the benefits have not expired. I’ve worked 42 years and have two college degrees and the job market is terrible for all workers especially for older workers over 55 like myself.

138. Eileen D
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 10:28 am

     LAZY!!!!!!How that infuriates me! I want nothing more than to earn an honest paycheck and get off the dole (unemployment)! The job market stinks and there are hardly jobs out there to apply to! I can’t even get contract work! If the extension isn’t passed, is it better for me to be homeless and on a bread line?????????LAZY!!!!!!!NO WAY!I had a good job once upon a time and thanks to the economy find myself caught in this cesspool of unemployment and uncertainty! And to the person that wrote something about getting motivated and still having a computer to do it – well, sitting on a timer at a public library is not my idea of fun!esp when the person next to me might be sucking her thumb – yes, an adult, or looking at porn – yes. I can’t afford the luxury of having the internet at home. Unemployment is a fraction of what I earned. Have enough for a very basic diet and sweat if an extra bill comes my way! LAZY??????????NOT ON YOUR LIFE!

139. Stacey
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 11:18 am

     Will it make us LAZY???? I would love to work. Find me a job and I’ll go work. Where are the jobs? I apply and apply to what I find (not much) and I don’t even get a call for an interview or I’m told I’m over qualified. I had a great job but thanks to outsourcing alot of us lost jobs. I need the extension to be passed. My unemployment benefits ran out over a month ago. If they don’t pass it my next stop is a homeless shelter. I already applied for food stamps about 3weeks ago and still received nothing back yet. I call them and they say I have to wait for my mail. I’ll be dead from starvation before they contact me or the senate passes the bill. The senate had no problems passing 4.6B for dept interior which included congressional staffers raises, or the 6B going to Pakistan for aide. The senate has spent over 700B since the house started this new bill back on 9-22-09. First the senate said they didn’t know where to get the funding now their excuse is will it make us lazy. Come on your helping everyone else sending money to other countries. Shouldn’t you be helping the American people first. I thought it was take care of your own before taking care of other countries problems. I gather other countries are more important to the senate than the people that voted for them.

140. CHRIS
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 11:39 am

     i have work all my life since i was 16 years old now 46 and there not out there ! i done welding ,logging , truck driver ect.. AND MY SON IS 19 AND TOP OF THE LINE WELDER WENT TO SCHOOL FOR 2 YEAR’S TO BE A WELDER AND HE CAN’T FIND DANG JOB ! AND PPL WANT TO CALL US LAZY ! THAT IS JUST WRONG !!!!! I HAVE SWEATED BLOOD ALL MY LIFE TO GET WHAT LITTLE I HAVE AND ABOUT TO LOSE IT B/C SCREW UP WORLD !! SOME PPL SIT UP DRAWING BIG MONEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US LOWER CLASS PPL AND WE THE ONE’S THAT PUT THEM THERE !

141. Julie
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 11:50 am

     Lazy? That has got to be one of the most ignorant, stupid, and thoughtless questions I have ever heard.

     No one on unemployment asked to be on it. No one wants to live on half (or less) of their previous income. The people who even think that unemployment makes those of us who receive these benefits “lazy” should be thankful everyday that they have a job and keep their mouths shut.

     These days unemployment does not discriminate. ANYONE can lose their job. So maybe those of you who are asking this dumb question will be lucky enough to experience what it’s like to not only lose your job, but to really feel what it’s like when you can’t find another one. I think you should have the chance to look within yourselves and find out how “lazy” YOU might become.

142. AnnoyedandJobless
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

     So, what we do know is that the Republicans in the senate, and anyone who even asks the question of whether or not we’re all “getting lazy” on unemployment, has NEVER had to try and live on it! Oh, yes, the proverbial fat cow we’re all enjoying is just so darned plump we can’t resist it! Let me tell you how well I personally live now that I’ve got these wonderful riches! I went from buying my first home, the American dream, to being homeless and living in motels (I have no family to take me in!) and campgrounds long enough to find a person who would rent my husband and I (who both lost our construction field jobs due to the economy) and our two cats we rescued during good times from the animal shelter! It’s almost impossible to find anyone willing to rent a room to a couple, let alone with cats! So, thank God for watching out for us on that one, because several times we had to sleep in our car, which was even worse than campgrounds with the cats, especially since there is NOWHERE you can park and sleep without the cops harrassing the living heck out of you until you leave! One incident, the policeman even LEFT BRUISES On my wrists, when he used his hands to simulate handcuffs AFTER he had already patted me down, despite the fact I was wearing tight spandex excercise pants and a thin tight long sleeved shirt, all with no pockets, and all so clingy he could see there was nothing, and by the way the house I was sleeping in front of was the home belonging to me!! (at least it used to!), My address was on my license, and the officers.. both of whom were over 6ft, fully armed weighing over 200 lbs. The officers REFUSED to look at my idea, until after they had man handled me several times, and my husband too, and then sat me on the curb, and KICKED my legs with his boots, hard because when he said to sit on the curb, which I promptly did and cross my legs (not easy for a 35 yr old 220 lb female to do on an extremely low curb!), according to the officer, I did not cross them “correctly”, instinctively crossing them at the knee since he was shouting and I was trying to obey quickly, so had gone with my instinct (I always cross at the knee, which I now know gets you kicked!).

     Only when I started asking for badge numbers, and swearing my parents were rich, and they actually finally checked my I.D., did they let me go! All of this after only parking on the public street curb for 10 MIN. so, yeah, nowhere you can sleep, not even 2 ft. from your own driveway! Yes, this is such a wonderful life, why wouldn’t anyone want it?

     My mustang got reposessed with only $2,000 left to pay out of a $20,000 loan, the bank now gets to keep that too! I got a ticket from an officer after my tags were, get this 2 DAYS overdue, his response to my pleading? It’s a fix it ticket and your record is clean, so you can just take care of it! Oh yeah smart guy, I can’t afford the car payment, barely the insurance at the time, and the car had to be smogged, and needed a repair for that which was at least a $500 repair, and the tags, almost $300!! So, of course, now for the first time in my life I have no license because I didn’t have the $500 that the court demanded to forget about fixing the registration, and the car was reposessed so I don’t even have it, the bank sold it again, probably for peanuts so they can still go after me I’m sure!

     Oh yes, doesn’t this all sound like I’m just raking in the easy life here on my fat unemployment checks? This is all while actually getting the checks, mostly caused by the two, almost three months it took to get the first check, the time unemployment ACCIDENTALLY cut me off, because they thought I might be going to college (which I did when I worked full time, but in our state you can’t on unemployment!), and the two other times I got cut off and then reinstated weeks later, once because I incorrectly marked a box, scratched it out, checked the right box, and attached a note explaining that the correct answer was such and such, but that I couldn’t afford white out and was out! (had to wait for a phone interview which delays your pay about a month on that one, and you have to be sitting by your phone for a 4 hour window, and you better pray you don’t miss that call, or no check!). Oh yes, this is so much easier than if I had popped out babies I can’t support, and went to welfare in our state which would provide me with an apartment at less than $200 a month rent,(housing assistance), and a monthly check of more than my unemployment, and also medical care, and let me not forget food stamps! Which as an able bodied adult I can only get for 3 months every 3 yrs. apparently, which I did use embarrisingly, during the 3 months we had NO CHECK! We were living paycheck to paycheck, especially since we were only in our first place about 2 months when we lost our jobs, so had just exhausted everything for the move and the down payment!!

     By the way, I’ve worked my entire life since I was 16, sometimes 2 and 3 jobs. I’ve been trying to put myself through college at night while working long hours for years, a few classes at a time. Books alone cost over $300 for just one of my classes, but on average about $150 per class! This is why I had no savings, along with the home purchase, and 6 units away from getting my aa, I was told by unemployment that I can’t finish or I get no check, despite the fact that I did it successfully when I worked, and even offered to take internet courses so that I would be completely available at any hour! They still said no, not unless you’ve been displaced by technology! Those are the rules in my state! Stupid!

     Anyhow, so now with no education, and no construction jobs, my husband and I, who also used to be a student, but now can’t finish either, are now fortunate enough to rent a room from a 19 yr old college student working for minimum wage, who’s mother left her a house upon her passing. Now, because my unemployment ran out (and I made the most money at a whopping $988 a month, just a bit less than half what I made working). They ran out the first week of Sept, right after we paid to move in here. So, right after meeting this girl, and moving in, benefits expired, so now I’m behind on the rent, and I hope to heck she doesn’t boot us out, we’ve been going for weeks without food so that we can give her what we have, but it took all month last month just to give her Oct. rent, just paid that off over the last week! My husband makes just under $500 a month on his fat unemployment check! The room we’re renting is $550 with utilities included, thank God, including the internet! Our pc is old, and nobody would pay much for it I assure you! (for those of you morons that have stated different places on the internet that we are all just whining and must not really be destitute since we have computers and the internet, just to let you know we wouldn’t have them if we had to pay for them, or if we could sell this dinosaur for food!!)

     So, now we also can’t pay our car insurance which is due today! We haven’t paid a car payment on the clunker we are now lucky enough to drive that a relative agreed to sell us on payments (of which we haven’t been able to afford for the last several months due to the cost of motels, camping, gas, food, and car insurance and maintenance!). I’m not sure how long the relative will wait, but the good news is, we haven’t given them our new address yet, so they can’t sue us until we talk to them at least, we just have to feel like crap knowing that we’re not fulfilling a promise.. which sucks royally! Of course we want to pay, and we will pay eventually, but can’t right now, same goes for everything! It sucks when you can’t tell people when you’ll be able to pay, because you have no clue if and when the extension will come, or the job. It’s darned near impossible to find a job, when you don’t even have gas to go to the post office a mile away to mail your unemployment stub for the tiny check you still do thankfully receive (which will expire in a couple months as well, if they don’t hurry up, then we’ll die!).

     I don’t have ink to print anymore resumes, and we have about $1.65 to our names combined at the moment, and ink is at least $20 a cartridge. We walked to the post office to mail off for the next check, and haven’t told our new roomie/landlord when and how much we can give her yet. I’m scared to death! His check is just over $200 for every two weeks, and so the most I can give her is $200, then she’ll have to wait another 2 weeks for another $200, and then I have no clue how in the heck we will get the rest to her! This is all with no money left over for car insurance, and very very little $20 about for food and/or gas! I have no clue how we will make it without any help, and with no hope of a job, or a check anytime soon for me! I’m middle aged, so it seems nobody wants to hire a middle aged woman, who’s not bilingual, who has no college degree it seems these days. I can’t get an office job without knowing Spanish, which I took, and got an A in, but still can’t speak, and mcD’s and all the minimum wage part time places seem to think I’m over-qualified (which means too old, and used to making too much money I suppose they think I won’t be happy and will leave them the second something better comes along). I’ve put in hundreds of applications/resumes to places, and attended several job fairs over the period I’ve been unemployed, and driven over 2 hrs to interviews on several occasions, as well as moving from the more rural parts to the more city part of the state to try and help the situation, all of which did not help at all, still no job! My last job I worked for 5 yrs, I quit my old job at which I worked for more than 12yrs (while also taking on part time jobs on the side, and working up to 70 hrs a week at that job), I was laid off from the 12yr job because it was a warehouse job for a restaurant supplier and they had made cutbacks due to business not going well, and unskilled workers like me (also I was the only female), are always the first to go, despite being congratulated constantly for being such a good employee, and on multiple occasions saving the company money with good ideas. Management had told me “keep up the good work”, and what a great employee I was. I worked my butt off coming in even on Saturday, and Sundays, and working more than 8 hr shifts, not taking breaks of my own free will, just to get things done and be a good employee! My last boss ran a tiny construction company, and was unable to afford covering his own payroll when the economy crashed and business dropped off! So, I’ve gone in the past 7 yrs from making almost $40,000 a yr to making $20,000 (the last job didn’t pay much but I was eager to work, and I thought I’ll find something better, and if not I’ll finish my school in the meantime). Then I went from making just over $20,000 to making (according to my w-2, no joke!) $9,000 for the year on unemployment!! (lowered due to the already mentioned accidental cut offs and delays)

     I could’ve taken unemployment when I changed jobs from the 12yr to the 5yr, and made the same amount that I got from the new job at the time, if not more, but my dad (before his accident), always taught me that you always work, and you take any job you can get no matter how humble, even if it’s digging ditches, because there is honor in all honest work, and being a good person means always working as hard as you can with no complaints! He had once lived the American dream working his way up the ladder with sweat, and not a degree, buying his own home (only later to lose it to a bank when he had an accident and ended up in a coma, after working himself half to death for over 30yrs to have it!).

     Something is terribly wrong with this country, and the American dream is dying, one family at a time, one worker at a time. Homeless Americans are setting up tents with nowhere to go, and the cops are cutting them up and arresting people just long enough to destroy their things. Is this America? I can’t tell anynmore.

     There are tent cities all over that keep moving trying to find a place where they can just live, however meagerly. A house is taken by a bank every 7 seconds, and we’re giving them billions in bailouts, which they’re using to tear down a lot of the empty houses they have stolen back! Tearing down houses while the former owners after years of payments now have nothing, and are sleeping with relatives, in their cars, in tents, in r.v.s, and in motels when they’re lucky enough. We are dying out here, and the politicians are acting like we’re living the high life (maybe because they are?), and giving themselves pay raises, and billions in record high bonuses to big business and banks, yet again! Money to companies that continue to fire workers, and rape the American dream with their corruption and greed!!

     I guess they figure that they have us all too poor we won’t be able to do anything, and maybe we’ll just die and go away! We can’t afford food, shelter, or gas, thanks to them, so who can afford a trip to Washington to protest? All we want is jobs, to be good hardworking Americans, like we’ve always been! The rich get richer, and we get poorer! We don’t want handouts, we want help from the government we’ve loved and in many cases fought and almost died for. We worked faithfully for these companies, but now have no jobs, and believed in our country and our leaders, we’ve always been patriots, so how can they abandon us in our hour of need, and give OUR TAX MONEY to the very same people who have tossed us out into the streets, and sent our jobs to foreign countries, and of course the ever corrupt wallstreet fat cats who make money off of money!

     Seriously though, I’d love to trade lives with ANY Senator for a month, or even a week, so that they could feel the pain we’re all feeling! I bet then there would be no more b.s. statements like we’re “lazy”, or “just want a handout”, or that we want “welfare” (which as I mentioned pays more in my state!). They stand there saying “let them eat cake”, by saying that we “just need to get jobs”, when there are none! No cake, dear Ms. Antouinette’s of the Senate!! We’re starving your rich morons, and there are no job!

     Where is my America, the dream my father had? I pray she’s not dead, and comes out of her coma! Wake up leaders, this is like Hurricane Katrina on a National scale, are you purposely trying to commit genocide by starving out the poor? What chance does a person with no education have when people with Master’s degrees can’t find work? Help we need jobs, but meanwhile… this extension is the only chance we have at survival! HURRY!

143. nicky
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 2:09 pm

     take there jobs away see how you like it. not knowing where your next dollar is coming from. get off your lazy ass and treat us like human people. give us the money they are wasting on stupid things like themselves

144. Zildjean
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 2:21 pm

     I think I’ve heard this one before, but it was framed as “Welfare queens, driving Cadillacs to the Welfare office”.

     Sorry, but it was a lie then, and telling me that unemployment makes me lazy is a lie now.

     The Republican response is that all those unemployed people out there (ten percent or more of the population of the USA) should just do whatever it takes to get themselves a job. Move, take a minimum-wage job or two to make ends meet, whatever. This is invariably the response of the rich, who are in desperate need of serfs who will work for minimum wage or less as an Au-pair, or as a gardener.

     I have been out of work for over a year. I have had a few contract jobs that lasted a couple of weeks, but when they ended, I was back on unemployment.

     I spend my days hunting down jobs, calling, calling, calling anytime I send a resume. My unemployment ended in September. I’m flat busted broke. My savings and my 401k are long gone.

     I want to work.

     What does the unemployment extension mean to me? This is no vacation. This isn’t an idle life of luxury and laxity on the government dole. It’s 42 degrees outside and 52 inside, because I can’t afford the heat. I am wearing gloves as I type.

     Yeah, this is the life!

145. Joseph
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 2:21 pm

     I’ve been out of work since Mar 08, my skill set in HR Info. systems has suffered from companies outsourcing and the growing number of unemployed. Having kids & a family…all I can think about is how am I ever going to pay the bills. I’ve never been more involved in politics than I am now…but why is the common man struggling to make ends meet when our government officials and corporate fat cats seem to be so well off. It almost feels criminal and completely unbalanced.

146. Steve Bila (Michigan)
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 4:18 pm

     The Unemployment extension will have nothing to do with Job seekers (like me) to be lazy. I have been applying for work and using up my Gas going to alomost everytemp Agency in my area to get a Job and here I sit since 12/17/2007 with no Job and my unemployment ran out at the begining of September. If there is no Jobs out there to get how is that being lazy if you apply every Day to two or more Job everyday. Yes I sit in my recliner and watch TV but I’m on the Computer everyday atleast twice a Day with no Luck. The People who say Job seekers will be lazy are probably the one who have a cushy Job with no worries!

147. Lloyd McGinnis
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 4:22 pm

     I am looking for work everyday and have for over a year, I could find a job in the super market maybe , but first I would have to sell my house, becuse that won’t pay my electric bill or feed me but it will feed my 5 kids, So yes I can work but can’t eat or live in a house, tried living in a tent when i was in school but didn’t have any kids. If the banks gave out our money we loaned to them well maybe I could sell my home and live in a smaler one intil we get a fair trade act in place.

148. Lloyd McGinnis
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

     HELP,HELP,HELP,HELP, WE ARE STARVING AND YOU ARE GIVING OUR MONEY TO THE WRONG PEOPLE. WALL STREET………………

149. Kamila
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 5:54 pm

     Well, my comment is that I am a 45 yr. old woman who has spent or shall I say will spend $60,000 on my B.A. in Business Administration. I have been on unemployment from two different jobs in the past 18 months and it sucks. I would much rather have a job than 50% of the pay from my last job which doesn’t even pay all my bills. To say this extension could make people lazy is so ridiculous. There could be people out there milking the system, but there are many honestly looking for work and the jobs are not available. This is so upsetting and for the gentleman who wrote it’s on us because of our voting, don’t write something unless you have the facts. We trust our government because it’s all we can do. It is not the peoples fault due to the fact that government knows the situation out there and the job loss. It is my opinion that the persons who write crap must be young and not know that much about life. The extension is to help us hang on until we can land a job.

150. Cheryl
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 6:12 pm

     Looks like it wasn’t passed again, this is HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!

151. MISCHA
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

     I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE ENERGY. THIS IS THE END OF TIMES, WHERE THE RICH GETS RICHER AND THE MIDDLE CLASS BECOMES POOR. I PUT ALL MY HOPES IN GOD. THESE PEOPLE IN THE SENATE NEEDS PRAYER. THE DEVIL CONTROLS EVERYTHING THAT THEY DO. I HAVE FOUR CHILDREN, I COULD NOT SEE THIS COMING. PARENTS TELL YOU TO GO TO SCHOOL SO YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE A J O B. NOW THE CASE IS DIFFERENT. IT SEEMS THAT TO ME IT IS EASIER TO GET A JOB IF YOU HAVE NO DEGREE, OR IF YOU ARE WILLING TO MOVE TO INDIA. WE NEED TO BOYCOTT VERIZON, ATT,GMAC, AND ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES THAT SEND OUR JOBS OVERSEAS. I BOYCOTT WALMART. I DON’T SHOP AT WALMART. WHAT IS LEFT OF AMERICA IS NOTHING, WE USED TO BE THE COUNTRY THAT EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ENVIES, BUT NOW WE ARE THE COUNTRY THAT IS BEGGING OTHER COUNTRIES TO TAKE CARE OF US. THEY WANT US TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR. THE POOR AGAINST THE RICH.

152. Fred Macarthur
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 7:22 pm

     The Clotour vote past today monday the 2nd my understanding is This means that the Senate has voted to end debate on the bill, and within 30 hours of the cloture vote’s passage, a final roll call vote on the bill itself can be brought to the Senate floor. At worst it looks like we’ll see this legislation passed this week, which means back to the House for a vote on the amended bill before it crosses President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. Things are finally looking up for many unemployed Americans out there.

153. matt
     November 2nd, 2009 @ 10:39 pm

     Look the simple truth of the matter is this… There are people out there who are struggling and need to use the system they have paid into for all the years they worked when they were gainfully employed. They have families and children who know nothing of the politics and world affairs of their parents but don’t want to see the stress and sadness in their parents eyes every day this thing drags out.
     Last time I checked Unemployment Benefits benefits were not a hand out nor welfare but an insurance policy you pay into though out your working life. When there are 15-20 million people competing for the 2.5 million available jobs it’s a no brain-er that some will not get the call back.
     I’m tired of hearing the horror stories some report and if things are that bad then they need to swallow their pride and do what they have to do in order to survive. If this means working at a fast food place when you have a masters degree then so be it.
     I think this entire situation is under reported by the media and deplorable. We should even consider rethinking NAFTA and bring our jobs back home, but then when you do this profits will be lost and the big boys and share holders don’t wanna lose money. The consumer that would then buy these good would see a surge in prices to compensate the loss in profits and so the cycle continues.
     The simple truth is that we need to take care of our out of work families, but we need to fix the problem and really create jobs instead of band-aiding a bad situation because in 4-5 months we will still be talking about these socio-economic problems when the 5th extension is being debated in congress.

154. Tracy
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 8:07 am

     I was laid off in June of 2008 because I had a baby and my did not like the babies father…great company. I am a single parent with 3 children and have sold most of the furniture in my house, most of our clothes, tvs, household items, jewelry…you name it…and still have a have had no luck finding a job. I have submitted my resume and or applied to over 1800 jobs since I was laid off and still no job. Times are tough and we do need the help. I can understand why those with a job think we are lazy, because they have a job and don’t know how tough it is…too qualified for a job or the market is so saturated with job seekers that the person way over qualified gets the better paying jobs. I went from $4500 a month to $ 1500 and I am very grateful I have unemployment to be able to continue to pay my mortgage, feed my children and get them to school and the doctors…thats it nothing else no money for ANYTHING beyond that. Please consider that we really do need help and if we could all make it flipping burgers we would but there are only so many open positions. If you have a job, be thankful. Thank you for reading.

155. Tony Walters
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 8:28 am

     Lets get something straight. I have served 18 honorable years in the United States Army. 3 tours, 2 in Iraq, one in Talibanistan. I am an 11B, Infantryman, E-8, Master Sergeant. I am on unemployemnt because each honorably discharged soldier get 6 month unemployment at separation. We are owed nothing, except that which we sow with our own two hands. The less you stay off the governments tit, the better you will be.
     Tony

156. Lazy Unemployed Person
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 10:07 am

     That’s right, I’m home watching the paint peel from my livingroom thinking how smart I am milking the system. I don’t need to eat more than once a week and hey who needs electric, right, but I got my unemployment check to save me, oh wait that ran out last month so I guess I’m just outsmarting the country, huh???

     Unemployemd people are NOT LAZY!!!!! We are a product of society that needs real help not delays. The GOP is breaking this country by not passing the extension. Most of us who have lost benfits will have to resort to robery, or flooding the homeless shelters. Just wait until retailers start going under because no one can spend money this year then watch how fast the gov acts to pass it.

     What do they care they probably get free turkeys that we all paid for through our taxes while we weren’t being lazy and actually had jobs!!!!

     A-holes!

157. Lynne Wise
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 11:04 am

     Lazy?? Yep, I really want to sit around drawing that whopping $265.00/week we receive in AZ rather than work. I’ve been unemployed since the end of 2008. I’ve applied for so many jobs I’ve lost track and have had no luck. What an insult to be thought of as “lazy” and preferring to sit around living off unemployment benefits. Disgusting!

158. DW
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

     Lazy?! Do you realize how stressful it is to be unemployed? I hide from people these days because I am so ashamed of my situation at age 42. I was hoping to be more secured in my life by now. I lost my house because I was laid off. Don’t you think that I would rather have a job than loose my home that I worked so hard for. Unemployment is not exactly the best secure or desirable situation to be in to make house payment.

159. Andre
     November 3rd, 2009 @ 9:36 pm

     I went from $98k per year to $350 per week. And these Trogs think I will become lazy on unemployment.

     “May The Fleas of a Thousand Camels Infect their armpits”

160. Issac
     November 4th, 2009 @ 10:39 am

     Possibly, with the strict hiring standards and qualifications from most employers, getting a job is becoming more difficult on top of the recession woes, so maybe extending unemployment is the best way to go. Read this article for more information:

     http://www.rwbpress.com/2009/11/04/unemployment-the-result-of-the-recession-impossible-hiring-standards-or-unqualified-jobseekers/

161. Robert
     November 4th, 2009 @ 12:04 pm

     What???? Do they really think all the people who are unemployed want to be this way? the GOP needs to jusr drop off the face of the earth, they are a bunch of scumbags…. Like unemployed people are living the “high” life with the little check they send per week, Lets see.. I was making 4k per week working and now I get (until it ran out) 450 a week.. WOW I can still live my same lifestyle as before so why not sit home and collect payments… They ALL need their brains examined…Bunch of STUPID A** HOLES they are..With them holding this up the “lazy unemployed” people are now going to start a new downturn in the economy because they cant pass this bill so so much for economic recovery… now more people are going to loose their homes, cars and dignity when they have to explain to their children why they have to move away from their friends and family to live in a tent somewhere in the middle of no mans land… GOP GO AWAY….

162. gayle
     November 4th, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

     Frankly, NYS and our senators has been remarkably proactive on this, but without passage we are all in a world of hurt. This is a list of the senators who have continued to attach unrelated amendments so keep this legislation stalled. No doubt they have never gone without. THEY ALL HAVE EMAIL: LET THEM KNOW THIS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.
     Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) [6.8%]
     Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO) [9.5%]
     Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) [10.9%]
     Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK) [6.7%]
     Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) [8.2%]
     Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) [11.6%]
     Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) [6.8%]
     Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [11.6%]
     Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) [6.2%]
     Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)[6.7%]
     Sen. Jefferson Sessions (R-AL) [10.7%]
     Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) [7.4%]
     Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) [9.2%]
     Sen. Mitch McConnell is the minority leader and nothing happens without him. Really, if there’s time to blog there’s time to make their lives a living hell. Their staffs especially enjoy mail from other constitutencies if you have the cost of postage. Seriously, these guys need to be miserable.

     ALSO, if you are on unemployment and running out of places to apply and submit to the Dep of Labor, try this website: http://www.usajobs.opm.gov. You will never get contacted but there are thousands of jobs posted to apply for so at least you’re not stumped looking for things to apply for.

     These will be the same soul-less so-n-sos who will block Healthcare Reform and Banking Regulations. Put them on speed dial. Speaking for myself, I am not laying down for this. They will be sick of hearing from me.

163. Robert
     November 4th, 2009 @ 1:09 pm

     One question. Why are the Democrats playing politics when people are suffering? So long Dems in 2010. Good riddance. Time for change.

164. domenico
     November 4th, 2009 @ 2:12 pm

     for 30+ years i have payed my taxes well over 100k, paid into the ui fund over probably close to 90k, gave to charities roughly 10% of my anual income. and now i need a little help and the gov is holding up to pass the extension over something that does not even have anything to do with the extention?!?!?! I paid into that fund far more than i am ever getting back from it.They should be ashamed of them selved, acting like little children. their childish play “i dont gie you this if ou dont give me that”, is affecting millions of us, making us go hungry, letting us loose our homes. Maybe we all be should be forced to pay into our own private unemployment insurance instead, and only have access to that fund when unemployed.

     the numbers given are just those that are out of work, but the numbers affected are many many more. how many of us have chilren how many of us have families (siblings, parents) that barely scrape by, but are putting off bills so they can help us feed our kids or keep us in our homes?

     15 milion americans out of work,in my opinion you can easily double that number for people directly affected.

     in my situation I have 3 young school age boys, an exwife whom I can not pay child support, a mother who is on social security and has not paid her mortgage last month so she could help.

     I moved here from the netherlands 31 years ago, and love this country. But if you are one of the unlucky ones that may be temporarily in need of assistance, wether you old, sick or unemployed, this country is one of THE WORST in the world. and it truely pains my heart to say that.

     And most of that is due to the fat cats in washington, be it big corporations lobying for their bottom line, or closeminded politicians only thinking about the next election. I truely think that these people have lost the fact that they are there ultimately to better the lives of INDIVIDUALS, the workers who keep large corporations going.

     I dont get angry easily, but this whole thing just pisses me off to no extend.

165. Robert
     November 4th, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

     You really think the Dem’s will be gone in 2010…WISHFUL THINKING MORON….. we had 8 years of Bush’s BS that is why we are where we are today…. your party….the Dem’s are in power now and there WONT be another Republican in office for at least the next 8 years…

166. erin
     November 4th, 2009 @ 3:40 pm

     Add me to the list of people who would like a job more than anything right now. I have two weeks of unemployment left and then I’m out of money. Anyone who thinks I am lazy or living on unemployment probably has a secure job and can’t relate to the experience of me and countless others who have been put in this situation by the economic collapse. Get off your high horse and help us before we all lose everything we have worked for all of our lives. I am sick to death of applying for jobs just to be rejected over and over again.

167. domenico
     November 4th, 2009 @ 5:18 pm

     the senate just approved it but with the Dec 2009 deadline still in place. there for if your benefits ran out this week you would get unemployment until the dec 31st deadline, regarless weather or not you have reached the 13 week limit (plus addditional 6 weeks for states over 8.5% unemployment.) It is expected however that they will extend the deadline.

168. cary jones
     November 4th, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

     is this a joke? i have friends who ahs maasters degrees ad used to make 100k a year. think they would rather be on unemployment???

169. Carl
     November 4th, 2009 @ 6:00 pm

     They don’t create jobs unless they were corrupted for an election. And they have faith in the free market, but we have to compete with slave labor from China and $1 hour elsewhere, so we get only the rich and the poor. HELLO, this is the 21st century.

     Nice job in holding up unemployment guys, but what are you going to do to 1) make us more competitive globally, and 2) stop Casino Capitalism or 3) create jobs for the middle class.

     Last I checked the bailout and TARP cost a LOT more than the money that will go to put food on the table for the people who did not create this mess. Not to mention the “job training programs” really are not good.

170. Sick and tired
     November 5th, 2009 @ 12:50 pm

     Good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the House has just passed the unemployment extension bill! The next step is for President Obama to sign it then we are on our way!!!!!!!!

171. SOO SICK AND TIRED!
     January 26th, 2010 @ 11:48 am

     I am really tired of this extension crap. I am seriously tired of these people moochiing off the system. I know over 10 people on unemployment, who sleep till noon and stay up all night…NOT trying to find a job. FORCE these people to fight for a job…and stop babying them. If you have time to play on the computer, then you have time to find a job. I have sent so many job opportunities to these people only to get the response “i still have X amount of months of unemployment, why work if I don’t have to” This is exactly the problem with America today. I’m glad we are shipping jobs over seas, at least those people want to work. They are busting their hump for cents on the dollar while we are complaining we won’t be able to keep our 2nd vehicles, or our memberships, or little johnny won’t be able to play basketball, baseball and soccer. Well do little johnny a favor you dead beats, teach him that hard work is what gets you $$, not dreams of striking it rich sitting on your arse playing DS, Wii, and Xbox.

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