Last Saturday, 1.3 million Americans were booted from unemployment benefits. If our vacationing legislators don’t do something quickly, millions more will be kicked off.
The Washington Post’s Brad Plummer had the following to say last Friday:
…there are 4 million people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer, translating to the highest long-term unemployment rate since World War II. These people — young, old and from all kinds of demographics — have a 12 percent chance of finding a job in any given month, and, contrary to the theories of Rand Paul Republicans, there’s little evidence that they’re more likely to find work after losing benefits. Cutting off their benefits only causes more suffering for them and more damage to the economy.
We have paid more attention to Duck Dynasty than we have to the plight of fellow Americans who don’t have jobs to support their families. As Americans, we should DEMAND that unemployment benefits be extended for these people who simply cannot find employment in an America whose recession has not hit evenly.
Perhaps those of us in Northern Virginia are just too used to the good times to see the plight of those who might not live on the doorstep of America’s capital city. Sure there are those who bilk the system. There are those who bilk every system, included those who are employed. That should have nothing to with the decision to cut off 4 million people.
No one gets rich off of unemployment. Unemployment checks help stretch mortgages, pay rent, buy some groceries and put a little gas in the car. Unemployment checks are a life-line to those who are no longer getting a salaries. Unemployment checks are even taxed!
Shame on Congress and shame on us if we don’t demand that these benefits continue.
I have mixed emotions about this situation because there seems to be no easy or quick fix. Not too many years ago, an unemployment rate of 4-5% was considered acceptable. Now, 7% may just be the new norm and it may be that will rise over time. Why? The cost of human labor may just be too high.
As we have seen in the auto industry, robots have replaced humans all along the assembly line. And the same thing is happening elsewhere. A year ago, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, a maker of “picker” robots that can be programmed to pick up online orders in a warehouse and shuttle them to their departure points. The company now has 1,382 of the machines in three fulfillment centers, which means it eventually may not even have to hire the tens of thousands of temp workers it brings on for the busy holiday season.
A company called Momentum Machines has developed a robot that makes the “perfect” burger and claims the burger is fresher that the one you get in any fast food place. They say that their robot could replace ordinary line cooks and that the wage savings would pay for the machine in a year.
While research is being done on developing driverless cars, it is easy to see that driverless, long haul trucks (18-wheelers) are not too far in the future. Nearly 6,000 people could be displaced with these “robotrucks”. And in this same vein, the huge agribusiness farms use automated tractors that can be programmed to plow, plant and cultivate fields. Other robotic farm implements harvest many of the crops planted and tended by their robotic “friends”. Medical laboratories continue to become more and more automated replacing laboratory technicians with “robots”.
Or how about this piece gleaned from the Washington Post:
“British researchers have undertaken a three-year examination of whether robots, acting as surrogates, can take the place of humans in public spaces. They want to help senior citizens who may lack the mobility to get out and about. One day robots might wheel around public places, piloted remotely by a 70-year-old grandfather who wants to experience a rally or concert, but has trouble leaving the house.”
So what happens with all these displaced people? Are we to become a welfare state as you have intimated? I don’t think the present political environment and the “Grinchiness” of many folks would even make it possible. However, here is a clever idea being considered in Britain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/free-money-might-be-the-best-way-to-end-poverty/2013/12/29/679c8344-5ec8-11e3-95c2-13623eb2b0e1_story.html
Do I have any answers? No. If I did, I would not be sitting here at my computer carrying on inanely. I do know this; the rich can’t keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer. Think St. Petersburg, Russia, October 25, 1917. “
I remember the Weekly Reader warning us that we would be replaced with robots.
Maybe it’s time for kids in school to decide that they are going to study rather than being content to be on the salad line.
If monkey can be trained to do your job, then perhaps it’s time to take a course to increase skills. If a monkey can do it, its a sure bet that robots can.
This is a difficult topic. Are there people that are riding the system and abuse – yes there is. There are people who have no intention of finding a job and people that are working for cash that are collecting. Something should be done to ensure that people are not riding the system – maybe after the initial 27 weeks they should have to report and do some type of community service or something (this can get complex with day care needs and transportation costs).
Are there people that need the extra support – yes – there are many people in jobs that have been lost to outsourcing, automation or downsizing. Employers are a little skeptical hiring individuals who have been out of work for 99 weeks – is there something wrong with them (whiners, no skills, etc) or have they been lazy – a stereotype that is hard to shake. For the chronic unemployed there is not better stimulus.
Our work force needs are changing – more automation and self service are replacing low skilled jobs. Outsourcing has caused companies to spin jobs out to contractors – even though nothing has changed. FedEx won a lawsuit that their drivers are independent contractors. This is often done to avoid taxes, shift expenses or pay reduced benefits.
Congress will see to it that things like GRAT are extended (without a worry of the reduced revenue) which allows gross amounts of wealth to be transferred with no taxes paid but does not want to continue unemployment because it will cost too much. So how many jobs are created with a GRAT – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantor_retained_annuity_trust – zero (maybe 1/2, the part time lawyer) – but it does create an everlasting dynasty.
I find the whole thing ridiculous. I really object to us paying people unemployment long-term.
I’m all for some type of public works programs, actually. But just giving money to people, so that they can remain entitled to live in a house, is not sensible.
Lots of hard-working people are making less than the woman in the Post article wants handed to her for free.
So what would you have happen to the people who are out of work, Rick? Do you want them on the street?
Virginia pays $378 per week for 26 weeks. Its more than many people get on social security if you want to look at it that way. Some states pay far more.
See chart:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/unemployment/a/weekly-unemployment-benefits.htm
Go to Rhode Island if you plan on being out of work.
I’m in favor of government support of the jobless. That support should be a loan to them though and not a freebie. The money they use during their jobless period would be paid back in taxes on their future earnings.
Well, if it isn’t the Grinch who stole jobs there, BS.
Virginia employers pay unemployment insurance taxes. Not sure what the feds do on extended coverage but you certainly pay taxes on any and all unemployment ‘wages’ regardless of if you have another job or not.
While I thought I would NEVER agree with Rick, I think I can do so here. We would have to hark back to the PWA and the CCC but you know what? Things got done. There are still many roads, bridges, byways, parks and woodlands that were built by these two programs plus who knows how much art work was created/preserved by folks supported by these programs. Think of the work that could be done on infrastructure who could be being paid for DOING SOMETHING WORTHWHILE. It could work. Except for Punchak, I may be the only one who remembers these programs and they were good. Let’s bring them back!
One thing I believe I can add to what George just said is, the infrastructure still stands today. Have repairs been made? Sure–normal upkeep.
I love to go to those national parks where the CCC was brought in. I had the good fortune once to land at Big Meadow at the same time one of those reunion CCC groups did. HOw interesting. Yea, it was before my time but I can read.
It is amazing that we’ve become co callous when it comes to those less prosperous. I think the constant propaganda from the right has worked- the casual observer now thinks that there’s something wrong with those in need- that it’s really their fault. That is obviously the more convenient view to have- we can wash our hands of any responsibility for the poor’s plight.
It’s hard to believe that we can be so dismissive of the needs of the unemployed and underemployed. Food stamps, Head Start, unemployment benefits, health care for the poor in the red states, has all been negatively affected by government in the middle of a weak recovery from our worst recession. Especially hard to understand since most of these things would have a stimulative effect on the economy.
Are we heading towards a huge permanent underclass in America?
@middleman
Are we heading towards a huge permanent underclass in America? – Yes. It started many years ago when we ‘outsourced’ to Mexico and started the mission to lower the lower-middle class to living wages of the rest of the world. Globalization and it started in the US. Sure, it has brought up the living standards of many people in many countries – at the expense of the living wages of those of us in the US. Much of this is also related to Greed.
There is plenty of work but it is different. We have tons of data collected over the past decade or so that needs to be sifted and sorted to reduce to useful information. With all the medical record data and genetic testing results there is likely cures that can be found by data mining. New more effective marketing is possible by looking at all the shopping transactions. Video games can be created to perform crowd sourcing tasks like unwrapping molecules. We may need disability for those who don’t have analytical skills or who can’t communicate very well with computer systems.
“So what would you have happen to the people who are out of work, Rick? Do you want them on the street?”
They end up elsewhere if they can’t afford their homes. Most likely live in an apartment, or crash with someone else for a while. Then someone else buys the home – quite possibly someone who is working hard but doesn’t have a house.
I believe that when you think about it, the idea that people deserve a stable house just because they “once worked”, that they deserve to be kept above the poverty line in perpetuity, is the foremost example of white privilege in effect in America.
George, it seems like a godo opportunity for bipartisanship, doesn’t it? Get people to do work for money rather than just giving it to them.
My observation of the past 20-30 years is that the Republicans consistently block such ideas. They see them as “expansion of government” and fight them every time. I particularly liked the idea that Clinton was touting back in 1992 about helping young people to get through college in exchange for a year or two of subsequent community work. It made a lot of sense I thought; it would help to point America in the right direction. The Republicans made it a priority to beat that down and keep it down. It was seen as a “legacy initiative” or something (much as the ACA is now) and they opposed it as if it were evil incarnate.
The joke is going to be on them. What will they do for teachers? About 3/4ths of the people who would have gone into teaching just a decade ago are no longer interested. Check out declines in schools of education to verify that statement.
A little help getting through college in exchange for a year or two teaching is nothing…other than an investment.
Teachers have been treated so sh!ttily and there really is no other word for it…there just aren’t going to be any left except the bottom of the barrel. Even if the really good ones go into the field, there just aren’t enough.
You reap what you so.
Great plan IF and only if they can get a job. I am all for people working for money.
Teachers, police and firefighters, and especially soldiers … we all supposedly agree how important they are and how noble their profession is, but look the other way when it comes to paying them well.
Some folks even go out of their way to lambast those professions. I am thinking of Wisconsin and that governor whose name I have repressed…Scott …not a rider …..Walker. Yea that’s the ticket.
God forbid those people unionize and have pensions.
“but look the other way when it comes to paying them well.”
I don’t know about other places, but starting pay for teachers in Henrico county with a bachelor’s: 40,000+ dollars.
I’m perfectly happy to take that if I get a teaching position.
Henrico can do a lot better than that.
I bet you don’t go in there and tell them not to pay you so much. I also wonder how much of the VRS is paid by Henrico. Is there a supplemental retirement you can voluntarily join? Do you plan on joining the professional association so that you have tort insurance? I wouldn’t walk into a classroom without it, especially as a male.
The counties will tell you that THEY have tort insurance on you. What they fail to tell you is that it only pays if you are not found guilty of any thing.
That VRS takes a giant bite out of your pay. (and its worth every penny of it also)