It says it right here from the article, this is probably the easiest and quickest way to get more stimulus into the economy is to just keep handing out unemployment extensions. Even Sen. Max is saying its going to people who will SPEND IT IMMEDIATELY. Wow is the economy in for a real fucking wake up call. If this is the way they think demand is created and how an economy turns around they are truly mistaken, this is just another way to prop up the worthless economy. The measure would be the eighth extension of unemployment benefits since July 2008, at a total cost to taxpayers of more than $120 billion. The economy added 882,000 jobs so far this year -- but many of those were only temporary positions as the federal government geared up to conduct the U.S. Census. Economists said it will take at least until the middle of this decade to recoup those losses and drive down the nation's unemployment rate, now at 9.5 percent, to a more normal 5.5 percent or 6 percent. About 2.5 million people would receive jobless benefits retroactively, injecting almost $3 billion into the economy once they're paid out. Millions of others will continue to receive payments that would help prop up consumer demand to the tune of about $30 billion more over the coming year. "This bill is about jobs because unemployment insurance goes to people who will spend it immediately," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "That would increase economic demand. And that would help support our fragile economic recovery."
Well, that is easy. Give me XXX amount of dollar and I promise (with a signed contract) that I will spend it by a certain date.. Sign me up.
you don't understand. these unemployment checks don't go to discretionary expenses like mortgages or food. They go straight to the bare necessities of life: lottery tickets, alcohol, drugs.