How phucked up is that? Close to 22MM people are/were collecting unemployment benefits and all these illegal people are still working. Legals are another story. Why on earth a government grant working permit to foreigners where his own citizens can not find a job and/or become a burden to US financials system with unemployment checks? How FUCKED UP IS THAT? Legal workers????????? OPT (Optional Practical Training); This is the visa given to any foreign student graduating from any college in US no matter what the degree is. Why is this still given? Because lobbies in DC are making sure the colleges are getting money from overseas' rich families who wants to see their kids getting educated and got a job in the US for a short time and come back. American workers can not find the same job file for unemployment become a burden to US gov. How stupid is that? Work and Travel visa: Hundreds of thousands of foreign student come to US to workin hotels and restaurants for min wage. So that these companies can save tons at the expense of people looking for a job and if they can not rely on public money (Unemployment checks). American workers can not find the same job file for unemployment become a burden to US gov. How stupid is that? H1B: Anybody working with OPT can apply for H1B visa thru their employer for 3 years of this working permit. Employee is happy, getting paid lots compared to his poor country, employer is happy saving tons cuz the salary is lower than american counterparts. Americans can not find a job file for unemployment become a burden to US gov. How stupid is that? read on and yeah I am proud of being an American so on and so forth http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fears-grow-as-millions-lose-rb-1408637055.html?x=0 CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Deborah Coleman lost her unemployment benefits in April, and now fears for millions of others if the Senate does not extend aid for the jobless. "It's too late for me now," she said, fighting back tears at the Freestore Foodbank in the low-income Over-the-Rhine district near downtown Cincinnati. "But it will be terrible for the people who'll lose their benefits if Congress does nothing." For nearly two years, Coleman says she has filed an average of 30 job applications a day, but remains jobless. "People keep telling me there are jobs out there, but I haven't been able to find them." Coleman, 58, a former manager at a telecommunications firm, said the only jobs she found were over the Ohio state line in Kentucky, but she cannot reach them because her car has been repossessed and there is no bus service to those areas. After her $300 a week benefits ran out, Freestore Foodbank brokered emergency 90-day support in June for rent. Once that runs out, her future is uncertain. "I've lost everything and I don't know what will happen to me," she said. The recession -- the worst U.S. downturn since the 1930s -- has left some 8 million people like Coleman out of work. Unemployment has remained stubbornly high at around 9.5 percent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in June 6.8 million people or 45.5 percent of the total are long-term unemployed, or jobless for 27 weeks or more. Before the recession began in late 2007, the unemployed received benefits, usually a few hundred dollars a week, for 26 weeks or around six months after losing their jobs. Under the federal/state programs, which are administered by state governments and partly funded by taxes on business, only full-time workers are eligible for benefits. Within federal guidelines, benefits and eligibility vary from state to state. As the downturn left more Americans out of work for longer periods, Congress voted to provide funding to extend benefits to as long as 99 weeks in some areas. Some critics say this adds to the country's large fiscal deficit, and may even discourage job-seeking. FOOD BANKS FEAR STRAIN An attempt to pass another extension has become bogged down in partisan political bickering in the Senate. Relief agencies fear that failure to extend benefits will strain their resources and may worsen the U.S. housing crisis. "This will put a great deal of stress and strain on our organization, which has already been working hard," said Vicki Escarra, chief executive of Feeding America, which has a network of more than 200 food banks. In the year ended June 30, Feeding America distributed 3 billion pounds (1.36 billion kg) of food, a 50 percent increase over the past two years. The benefits debate has pitted the majority of Democrats against most Republicans and some conservative Democrats. When the House of Representatives passed a $34 billion benefit extension on July 1, 11 fiscally conservative Democrats voted against it. The Senate may take up the issue again in mid-July, but Republicans like Senator Tom Coburn have argued any extension must be paid for with cuts elsewhere. "Even then he (Coburn) is not sure if that's a good idea," said John Hart, a spokesman for the Oklahoma senator. "The longer the unemployed have benefits, the less incentive there is to find a job." Most economists argue that cutting benefits could slow recovery, describing benefits as direct economic stimulus because almost every penny of it gets spent. In a June 28 client note, Goldman Sachs said if all additional U.S. stimulus spending expires, it could slow the economy up to 1.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter 2010 to the second quarter of 2011. The note added that extending unemployment benefits and a $400 tax credit would "substantially mitigate" that impact. 3 MILLION CUT OFF IN TWO MONTHS During the Senate impasse, from the week ended June 5 to the week ended July 10, more than 2.1 million Americans lost their benefits. Another million will join them by July 31. In Ohio alone, where unemployment stood at 10.7 percent in May, more than 83,000 people lost their benefits in June. Sister Barbara Busch, executive director of non-profit housing group Working in Neighborhoods in Cincinnati, 65 percent of the people who come seeking help with their mortgages are unemployed or underemployed. "I fear once the benefits run out, I suspect we'll see a new wave of foreclosures," she said. "I just hope I'm wrong." Ohio is a bellwether U.S. state in elections. The state's Democratic attorney general Richard Cordray said blocking extending jobless benefits was politically motivated ahead of the midterm elections in November. "If people lose their benefits they will blame the congressional majority and the administration," he said. "As unappetizing as it is, that would appear to be the strategy." Senator Coburn's spokesman Hart said suggestions the Republicans were playing partisan politics were "ludicrous." "The Democrats say that because they want to avoid making the hard decisions," he said. Alonzo Allen, 55, a former aid agency worker in Cincinnati whose benefits will run out in September, spends two days a week volunteering at the food bank in Over-the-Rhine and the other three looking for work. He said he worries about the one-bedroom apartment he rents and how he will feed his dog Ginger, who is the "only family I have." "If the benefits stop, I'll be out on the street and I'll lose all my furniture," he said. "That's going to be tough." (Editing by Eric Walsh)
Government caters to big business interest. Politicians depends on their campaign funding and listens to their lobbyists. Unemployed Americans do not have the means to lobby their government. this is esp true of those who don't get any unemployment benefits. Money talks when it comes to the government!
Finding employment is so easy, illegals can get a job. Why the unemployed are still unemployed is because they don't want a pay cut.
as I think about this whole issue more and more...it occurs to me that these kinds of unemployed need a reality check. Yes it sucks that you can't find a job, and it could be some time before the economy is recovered enough to make a dent in unemployment, but people really need to lower their expectations of what kind of living they can expect if they are not working for over two years. I mean, you can't expect to be able to keep up on your lease and stay in your house or your apartment, and afford your internet, etc. The country is hurting. It's time to think about increasing our available shelters for the homeless, etc. You better take your diamond ring...you better pawn it babe. It's desperation time. Get out of your leases and go sleep on your brother's floor. Time to swallow your pride and lower your expectations. You can't expect to live comfortably if you're not working for a long time. We realize it's tough to find a job but if you're not working you're going to accept scraping by. I think Obama ought to get that message across.
I can not beleve the replies that I am getting here I don't think 22MM unemployed people are all expecting the same salary as they were getting last year. How not to blame ILLEGALS for breaking the LAW at the first place and blame the very own citizens????? Are you guys on drugs? We are talking about illegals and made-legals here. Also, howcome nobody is expecting wage deflation where 22MM people are expected to accept lower wages. Sooner or later this is gonna hit everyone. Wake up and report the ILLEGALS. !!!!!!!!!! I wish the working permits/visas that I mentioned in my first posting were abolished permanently. HOW STUPID IS THAT TO GIVE JOBS TO FOREIGNERS AND FEED YOUR OWN CITIZENS WITH PRINTED MONEY. This is just CRAZY WAKE UPPPPP BEFORE THIS HITS YOU
It's not the fault of the foreign students armed with computer science PHD's if you can't get your desired job at macdonalds
exactly the truth. how many of these 22M unemployeed people would be willing to flip burgers, press slacks at dry cleaners, do door-to-door fliers, or serve ice water in restaurants? The fact is that illegal immigrants are a major part of small businesses. without them, many small businesses are doomed.
Unfortunately, those standards do have to come down in many cases. This is globalization now when you can communicate or send messages anywhere in the world and they get there near-instantaneously. Where traveling halfway around the world can be done in a day or less. FFS, it's only at best for a few years anyway and not the end of the world...work hard, get yourself back on your feet again, and you'll be OK. What amazes me is that most of these people are just brainwashed into "getting a job" instead of trying to "create a job" for themselves...I mean, they have to have some reasonable skills out there that aren't just "career related." Hobbies, interests, passions...you can find a way there. Work on yourself. Or just give up like that woman did. The illegals? They'll keep coming and going depending on what areas/laws apply.
what is the percentage of foreign students with PHDs and computer science degrees? There are so many foreigners working in USA with Bull Shit degrees. Know the facts and than accuse
You have some valid points. Let me tell u about my experience, I work as a manager in a popular amusement park in Fl. 1/3 of our internship program is represented by international students (work and travel) . Here is the deal, American schools get paid good money for the credits (classes) that students take. I am talking around $5000 for two classes. There is no financial aid or gov't loans here. International students give money to American schools, plus they pay their own health insurance at hefty premiums for young guys in their 20's. They also receive 'work experience' as ride operators, receptionists etc, getting paid min. wage. They pay room and board to our park. They help most of our foreign visitors as guides. (try finding an American that speaks mandarin, japanese, russian that is willing to be paid our wages) I hardly think they are saving money and sending it abroad and most of them go back to their countries of origin. Now, It used to be most of these jobs were performed by young Americans. But now, most of our applicants are over the age of 40. For a 'happy place,' it's not that happy to see old people picking up the trash while you are on vacation. Not to mention they are lazy and clearly not enjoying their jobs. We even get suggestions telling us that only young people should work here.