Sen. Bunning blocks unemployment benefits extension

Originally posted by Southern Guardian

Originally posted by Carseller4
More sense? Are you serious? Bunning suggests using money meant for economic recovery

Money meant to maintain and create more jobs. You cannot expect the problem to be solved by taking the money maintaining and creating other jobs to fund those people without jobs.

The original Stimulus Bill extended unemployment benefits at that time. It would not be a stretch at all to use the unspent money from this Bill to do it again.

The DEMOCRATS don't want to. They don't want to help the unemployed.

Originally posted by hangedman13
reply to post by Grumble

 

Money for nothing? So what was all that money I paid into unemployment? How about some real effort to improve to job market? I worked on circuit boards and such so I have a slight problem with burger flipping

Yes, money for nothing. You do no work and get paid. And it is a transfer payment program, like welfare. There is no money in the bank that you paid in over the years. It is a giveaway.

I am highly educated and have worked in high level jobs, and when the chips were down I never had trouble finding a restaurant job. If you have a problem with burger flipping, I don't want you to see a dime of my money.

Originally posted by Grumble
I am not going to read all the pages in this thread, but for those of you who think you must have your unemployment benefits, I have a few questions for you.

Are you willing to take any job? Garbageman? Waitress at Denny's?

You have already been getting free money for nothing, and it has even been extended multiple times. What gives you the right to demand more?

Is your income your responsibility?

I have applied for minimum wage jobs and can't even get those. I have over 30 years of working experience. Getting free money for nothing? I, and others like me, have paid into the system all those years. I have never in my life been without a job. What gives you the right to say we don't deserve help when we lost our jobs through no fault of our own?

Originally posted by Carseller4

Originally posted by Southern Guardian

Originally posted by Carseller4
More sense? Are you serious? Bunning suggests using money meant for economic recovery

Money meant to maintain and create more jobs. You cannot expect the problem to be solved by taking the money maintaining and creating other jobs to fund those people without jobs.

The original Stimulus Bill extended unemployment benefits at that time. It would not be a stretch at all to use the unspent money from this Bill to do it again.

The DEMOCRATS don't want to. They don't want to help the unemployed.

Aright dude I am confused...

All year I heard that the socialist democrats are trying to turn America soft by nannying
folks to death.

How are they going to make this nation lil Russia if "they don't want to help the unemployed"?

But then your post above is contrary, so which is it?

Originally posted by Night Star
I have never in my life been without a job. What gives you the right to say we don't deserve help when we lost our jobs through no fault of our own?

Cause it is easy to talk smack and ignore reality...

These people look to the Somalia style self government as the ultimate benchmark of American freedom, lots of guns, no taxes, private water, road tolls, no food regulation,
no public schooling, licensing to speak of and the working slavery initiative now adopted by modern day mega corps.

I would first ask why would you care what this fellow thinks in the first place?

anyhow good luck to you, I am happy to have my deductions go to my fellow countrymen
in their time of need.

What gives you the right to say we don't deserve help when we lost our jobs through no fault of our own?

I am not against helping those in need. I am against entitlement mentalities.

Your paying into "the system" was concurrent with others drawing from it. The system is not set up like a bank account where your deposits are credited. The system is set up like welfare, a transfer payment program. The money you draw this month comes from the money I deposit this month. (Business) taxpayer charity for you.

The system was not set up to provide this help over an extended period of time. It was always supposed to be very temporary in nature. In effect, you have already received far more than the system promised.

To directly answer your question, I am not saying you do not deserve help, and losing your job "through no fault of your own" has nothing to do with it. The bottom line is, I do not have the obligation to feed you. That is your responsibility. I should ask you the question, "What gives you the right to demand my earnings at the point of a gun because you have failed to provide for yourself?"

These people look to the Somalia style self government as the ultimate benchmark of American freedom, lots of guns, no taxes, private water, road tolls, no food regulation,
no public schooling, licensing to speak of and the working slavery initiative now adopted by modern day mega corps.

Not true. I am anti-gun control, pro-tax within reason, pro-public water, anti-toll road, pro-heavy regulation of business, pro-public school, and I am disgusted by the ways our mega corps are doing business. You could call me a 2nd Amendment liberal.

anyhow good luck to you, I am happy to have my deductions go to my fellow countrymen in their time of need.

Are you a business owner? If not, they are not your deductions. Unemployment is paid by employers. As a former business owner and employer, I can tell you that unemployment taxes are a major disincentive to hiring, and of course with the recession and all these extensions, taxes are going up. That sound like a good plan to you?

I have friends that will stay on unemployment as long as they can because it is a vacation until their old big paying jobs come back.
Check out this site and plug in the city you want to work in.

www.indeed.com...

If they take away unemployment it does not matter if you have a great paying job right now. It will spill over to you when this country spirals out of control. When people have nothing left to loose watch out. It is the only thing holding this country together WAKE UP.

reply to post by Southern Guardian

If Sen. Bunning grew some and suggested cutting the military budget and aid to Israel to fund the extension? We dont live in the cold war anymore. Israel has been a burden to this nations foreign affairs... why on earth do we continue to pay billions?

Well we may not agree much, but I actually agree with this.. but then, that's the problem with drawing political lines and attaching tittles to our selves isn't it?

During a major economic crisis, it makes 0 sense to spend hundreds of billion on wars that no longer (and never did) serve a purpose. we did what we needed to in Afghanistan -- now we need to leave. Iraq is just a financial black-hole, we need out. I THOUGHT this administration would get us out, something I was looking forward to.

And do we need Israel anymore? No, I don't think so.. not with us occupying Iraq, and judging from the size of our bases and embassy, I assume we will never leave.. cut Israel loose.

And do we reaaalllly need troops in Germany? How about Britain?? Japan??

I don't think so.

If we had a government that could manage it's affairs appropriately and understand priorities, I would maybe trust them more to take over something as important as health care.. as it is, extending or cutting off unemployment is based on politics (like everything else) .. I firmly believe in helping someone up during hard times, but not carrying them and catering to them all the while.

They had to end sometime.

I have been sitting here considering what is going on. I think the problem is , they don't need us anymore. We have become expendable. Why pay us to do what they can get in other countries for less? Why pay us to build roads when China will do it for less? Why run a factory here making cotton cloth when China will do it for less? So it leaves the gov saddled with feeding us, giving us a small amount of funds to just pacify us until the country can run without us, then boom, jerk the rug out and let us fight each other, kill each other, for food and shelter. They don't need us.

I live and work in Georgia, and my husband and I are both hotel auditors, our jobs have been comprimised during this reccession, we both were cut hours, even though we have looked for other work, and I mean everywhere feasible, we have not found any other job to take. So we are living practically nothing as is. If either of us get laid off, unemployment is the only possible way we could even keep our home. In a very short period of time we would be homeless. I know my story is not unique.
This just scares me to death. I have so many family members now who are on unemployment, extended too. The only thing they can do right now is go back to school while drawing, there are no jobs.

reply to post by Night Star


sir the minimun wage jobs in this area of Ga are all sewn up. There are certified nurses working in Mcdonald's. A local business here which is nothing but a bunch of inflatables for kids to play in, got so many nurses they decided to open a daycare, not a lot of folks able to take their kids out to play these days so they came up with another idea to keep from everyone loosing their jobs again.

I have, since having my hours cut to part time, been to every restraunt, every dept store, even car lots, anything, and have not heard one callback, and I have years of management experience, clerical certificate, I am a notary of the public, I feel I am very employable, but the positions are just not open!

Hey, to everyone who's populated this thread with rhetorical nonsense like "bailout wallstreet, but tough s--t to the working class American" as being Bunning's attitude, let's not let a little thing like facts get in the way of a good old political smear fest.

www.votesmart.org...

Bunning's voting record where budget issues are concerned. The man has some serious integrity. He was one of the gross minority who voted against TARP (Second Economic Package 10-1-08) He voted in favor of the first economic stimulus package in Feb of 2008, saying it was important to get help to the taxpayer and hopefully the government would get their act in gear to fix the underlying issues quickly.

The man has been one of the very few politicians in Washington to actually put his damn money where his mouth is, regardless of who's been in the White House with their hand out saying "gimme, gimme!" He was also one of the first men in Washington to stand up with Ron Paul and say "You're damn right we can't spend our way out of this." He was in favor of letting the failing banks fail, screw Fannie, Freddie, and AIG.

This is a classic example of a man with principles and strong conviction who many of the members I see emasculating and smearing him in this thread have been begging for in government in virtually every other thread on the topic of government overspending. He said from the very beginning that he would approve an actual JOBS BILL that created jobs for AMERICANS, protected jobs held by AMERICANS, and supported the struggling AMERICAN workers, including those who are unemployed. What he refused to approve was a bill that did nothing to protect these American workers. He's practically begged the adminsitration to do something about China's illegal practices and undercutting of the US dollar in international trade, which he believes is a large part of our employment malaise right now... with zero results. He feels, and I agree, that this so-called "jobs bill" was small part "help the people" large part "fill the pork barrels and grease the federal debt holder's palms."

As far as his "tough (poop)" comment towards democrats pushing him on his vote... so? How is that any different than the reaction both parties have been having towards the will of the American people over the past couple of years? We the People (WHO SUPPOSEDLY ARE STILL RELEVENT) did not want TARP... it passed. We did not want the Fannie/Freddie morass... we got it. We did not want AIG... we got them. We do not want the deficit limit raised... it was raised. We did not want Iraq to continue... it goes on. We do not want this abysmal health bill... and it will probably be rammed through. It's about damn time somebody started standing up to the other politicians in Washington and said "Here, sit and spin on it!" when they complain about a coleague's vote which they don't approve of.

Originally posted by Grumble

These people look to the Somalia style self government as the ultimate benchmark of American freedom, lots of guns, no taxes, private water, road tolls, no food regulation,
no public schooling, licensing to speak of and the working slavery initiative now adopted by modern day mega corps.

Not true. I am anti-gun control, pro-tax within reason, pro-public water, anti-toll road, pro-heavy regulation of business, pro-public school, and I am disgusted by the ways our mega corps are doing business. You could call me a 2nd Amendment liberal.

anyhow good luck to you, I am happy to have my deductions go to my fellow countrymen in their time of need.

Are you a business owner? If not, they are not your deductions. Unemployment is paid by employers. As a former business owner and employer, I can tell you that unemployment taxes are a major disincentive to hiring, and of course with the recession and all these extensions, taxes are going up. That sound like a good plan to you?

Just my luck that you seem to be the only fellow with such distinctions...

Yes I am

Taxes would not have to go up if we started using tariffs as they were intended, couple
that with cutting half of our military bases, releasing prisoners guilty of simple possession, cutting military aid and getting out of IRAQ and ASTAN...

I bet we could find a cool trillion ++ there -

My point is I do not see people like adversaries, I believe america is built on fraternity
and I think our people should be taken care of when they are screwed in such a manner.

Its easy to talk down on people while you are safe and happy... Also very easy to forget what happens when enough people get desperate, you will pay a premium with policing and penalizing, it costs 30,000ish to house 1 prisoner.

Go to the third world, thats what you get when people cannot provide, I'd rather pay for food, not the bars.

edit to include placing those saving in a general fund

[edit on 27-2-2010 by Janky Red]

reply to post by SaturnFX


It's commendable that you're trying to explain this simple concept to him my friend, but you may as well be trying to teach a cat to drive a semi.

There are times when it becomes painfully obvious that a person is incapable of seeing anything but their own dogmatic fun-house mirror view of the world.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
Hey, to everyone who's populated this thread with rhetorical nonsense like "bailout wallstreet, but tough s--t to the working class American" as being Bunning's attitude, let's not let a little thing like facts get in the way of a good old political smear fest.

We the People (WHO SUPPOSEDLY ARE STILL RELEVENT) did not want TARP... it passed. We did not want the Fannie/Freddie morass... we got it. We did not want AIG... we got them. We do not want the deficit limit raised... it was raised. We did not want Iraq to continue... it goes on. We do not want this abysmal health bill... and it will probably be rammed through. It's about damn time somebody started standing up to the other politicians in Washington and said "Here, sit and spin on it!" when they complain about a coleague's vote which they don't approve of.

You do not seem to make any distinction between - all those things you listed and THIS; which would actually benefit the people.
Hungry people do crazy stuff, its a snafu of the human condition. I know how it works,
I've seen good folks do bad stuff to keep the kids full and the lights on, but I digress.

In a rare instant where public money could go to the public "good", what does this guy do?

I don't get how you can place this consideration with TARP Burdman???

Goes to show, this same attitude is where I always seem to part ways with my conservative friends. But that is how you roll, again, I just don't get it...

Unfortunately the Un Employed worker base can mount Bumming's finger one by one, I do hope for his sake he is escorted by a truck full of latex, I would not shake his hand...







[edit on 28-2-2010 by Janky Red]

I believe welfare needs to have stricter regulations for the individuals and I am all for it.

Had a family member laid off work for about 5 weeks. He got unemployment benefits during that time.

Not sure how exactly its going now, but I believe he has work.

As long as the people are within a generous time frame and are looking/waiting soon for work, I feel that they deserve it.

But saying no all together? I would have to read more into the issue.

Jim Bunning is known by locals to be suffering from dementia. That's not an exaggeration or political jab- he started going downhill some time ago. I live close to the area in which he was elected in and during his campaign in 2004 there were serious questions being asked on television by the media of whether he was mentally stable. After 9/11 he tried to tell people not to vote for his opponent because his name sounded like a terrorist name, when its an Italian name. His exchanges with the media were insane. He made extreme statements about a number of things. And made statements at times that led you to believe he was off somewhere else in his head. After the questions started being raised, he distanced himself from the media.

This guy, when he shows up, behaves like he has lost his grip on reality. You only need to search the archives of the Courier Journal newspaper for quotes from him for evidence of this.

So it is not in the least bit surprising that given the power to block something as critical to our nation as these benefits, he did so. What does surprise me is that the Republican party hasn't recognized his problem and pressured him to retire for the good of the party. It may not be age related dementia, but there is definitely something not right with him, and its not his political views.


[edit on 28-2-2010 by okachobi]

America.

Land of the free...home of the brave.

Maybe we should rewrite this.

Land of the selfish...home of all greed.

We all share the same values for the most part. We want our country to succeed....

Yet many of you demonize your fellow citizens...those hurt by what has happened to our economy.

These people will do whatever it takes to take care of their family. It doesn't matter if you agree with it or not...

You'd do it if you had no other option...you wouldn't let your kids go hungry.

In this country right now we have three basic groups of people. Those who are and have been working in government and their associated corporations who are making mass amounts of money, living fat and happy without any care off of the backs of hard working Americans.

Then you have the ones out here who are still employed, people who haven't yet been unfortunate enough to feel the full sting of this sunken economy. These are the people who turn their heads and keep their mouths closed hoping to keep what they have, the whole while ignoring the rest of the population who are destitute.

Then you have the ones who are either barely scraping by week to week or have already become homeless. Millions of people are sitting there one unemployment check away from being in the streets. And not welfare bums or criminals....good American people who have worked their entire lives.

This man Bunning needs to be forced to stand tall and answer for his actions. He is literally sentencing innocent families to a life of poverty and degredation. He is putting families on the streets. Never mind the fact that most of these people have paid IN to unemployment during all of the times they have worked.

It's perfectly ok to squander tax dollars and resources on every worthless pork barrell project that comes along, bail out crooked and corrupt bankers and splurge trillions of dollars on a now almost decade long military clucsterf*** in the desert. But when it comes a time that American people are at their weakest and actually need help from our worthless government, they get left in the cold and thrown to the wolves.

"Tough s***" you say? You sir have just commited political suicide. Maybe if we brought back the gallows and started motivating these politicians to do the right thing, perhaps they will begin to pay attention. Any politician who backs this is repugnant, and any American citizen who agrees with his stance is no true American.

And for all of the true neo-con conservatives who would applaud this man, what does it say in that good book of yours that most of you so desperately cling to for wisdom? Anything about helping and loving thy fellow man? Or was that just a line too?