For once, “Republicans” in the U.S. Senate actually behaved in a manner consistent with their limited government rhetoric … voting down an $18 billion extension of “emergency” extended unemployment benefits this week.
Six “Republicans” previously voted with Democrats in favor of a three month extension of the handout – which would have cost taxpayers $6.4 billion.
Free market advocates (rightfully) cheered the decision …
“It is refreshing that Senate Republicans have found the backbone to stop Harry Reid’s attempt to jam through a massive unemployment insurance extension spending increase without making the necessary cuts to pay for it,” said Nathan Mehrens, president of Americans for Limited Government (ALG). “It is time for Congress to have an honest discussion about Obama policies, including Obamacare and runaway environmental regulations, that are exasperating this long-term unemployment crisis, rather than just passing the buck on to future taxpayers.”
Amen …
Perpetually extending “emergency” unemployment benefits is incentivizing dependency – or in the words of former Barack Obama economic advisor Larry Summers “providing an incentive, and the means, not to work.”
First approved in 2008 by former president George W. Bush and a Democratic-controlled Congress, the “emergency” benefit extension enabled recipients to draw unemployment checks for up to 99 weeks instead of the pre-recession limit of 26 weeks.
For our previous thoughts on this issue click here and here …
Anyway, rare props to the fiscally liberal wing of the GOP (including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham) for voting the right way on this bill.
75 comments
When Lindsey found out that there would be a shortage of hotdog makers and house boys he voted to get their asses out and work.
Didn’t those guys get special visas to come from Jamaica to work here?
Yes, but he’s obviously tired of imports. Probably raises the risk of AIDS for him too.
Ja-Ma-Ka
Ja-Ma-Ka
#Respect. I think you meant to say he got those asses out and worked ’em.
Do this, and the like. and we’ll take the Senate, in 2014…
Not if everyone’s starved to death…especially those children you care so much about.
Ain’t nobody starving to death…unless F*#kin Idiots, like you, get your slaves so addicted to government handouts, the whole system collapses.
And: You are not giving anyone $#!* anyway, excpept other people’s money. . Move people starve because of pieces of S#!* like you, and Obama, than any blocked welfare (extended unemployment) check..
How ’bout tell your lord-god Obama to get off his golf-playing, always-Vacay, @$$…and fix the economy he’s F#*k#d up. We need Bush-level growth, not the Bull-S#!* you democrats are responsible for…..
Bush growth…Fraud, failure and bankruptcy pay well for CEOs
Commentary: Have you fed your Cash-Eating Organism today?
Richard Fuld had a $66 million payday in 2000 because, well, he was a great chief executive officer, now wasn’t he?
Though the Internet bubble popped and the Nasdaq peaked in 2001, he made another $105.2 million. In 2002, he bagged yet another $28.7 million; 2003, $52.9 million; 2004, $41.8 million; 2005, $104.4 million; 2006, $27.3 million; 2007, $40 million.
His tab for eight years of CEO work came to $466.3 million.
You may still remember the name of his company. It was called Lehman Brothers. In 2008, it set a record as history’s largest bankruptcy, setting off the nuclear reaction we now call the financial crisis and cementing America’s future as a socialist state for giant banks and corporations.
Fuld is among the cast of characters enumerated in a retrospective report released by the Institute for Policy Studies: “Executive Excess 2013. Bailed Out, Booted, Busted: A 20-Year Review of America’s Top-Paid CEOs.” Before 2008, he made the list of America’s top 25 highest-paid executives for eight years in a row.
“To be in the top 25 for eight consecutive years before you crash and burn the economy, it’s just unbelievable,” said Sarah Anderson, one of the report’s authors.
Her study analyzed 500 corporate executive positions that have been listed in The Wall Street Journal’s annual executive pay surveys over the past 20 years.
When she began this research, she expected bailed-out, booted and busted CEOs would make up maybe 15% of the sample. But no, it tallied 38%.
“These poorly performing chief executives either wound up getting fired, had to pay massive settlements or fines related to fraud charges, or led firms that crashed or had to be bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis,” the report says.
• CEOs whose firms received taxpayer bailouts or ceased to exist held 22% of these 500 slots over the past two decades.
• CEOs who were forced out of their jobs made up 8%. (This is not bad work, if you can get it: The average golden parachute was valued at $48 million.)
• CEOs who led companies paying significant fraud-related fines or settlements comprised another 8% of the sample. (Most of these settlements totaled more than $100 million
Nearly 40% of the top-paid executives were bailed out, booted out or busted.
You’re a F*#kin idiot if you choose the Disaster of Obama’s miserable economy over the Bush years of prosperity…
You Ignorant Son of a B*t#h#$ got away w/ your Bull-$#!* claims for 4-plus years…but there is no where to hide now. Your god-Obama is a Total F*#k up…and only the truly Stupid are denying that….
Who here gets pay like this when they are fired
Then have the nerve to expect a tax cut
Stanley O’Neal, Merri
l Lynch:
$160 million, including more than $129 million in stock and options.
O’Neal takes the fall for failing to adequately control the firm’s
credit and market risks, which resulted in a stunning $8 billion-plus
write down in the third quarter.
Philip Purcell, Morgan Stanley:
$43.9 million plus $250,000 a year for life after being forced out. He
angered a group of shareholders who had already called for a break up
of the firm by reorganizing management and promoting some executives
who were seen as loyal to him. The dissident shareholders won out.
Richard Grasso, New York Stock Exchange:
Took $140 million in deferred compensation and the disclosure of that
payment sparked a furor that led to his departure. The pay also
provoked an investigation and lawsuits, which are still being worked
out. Grasso has vowed to fight.
Douglas Ivester, Coca-Cola:
Took $120 million when he stepped down in 2000 in his mid-50s. The
departure was deemed a “retirement,” but Ivester had presided over a
period of stagnant growth, declining earnings and bad publicity.
Robert Nardelli, Home Depot:
$210 million. He fixed up the home products retailer using techniques
he learned as an executive at General Electric, but by 2006, he was
starting to seriously irritate shareholders. The final straw was when
he told the board to skip the annual shareholder meeting and prevented
shareholders from speaking for more than a few minutes. He was ousted
in January 2007.
Bruce Karatz, KB Homes:
Gets up to $175 million. The former chief executive of the home
building company resigned in November 2006 after an internal
investigation into whether he and other executives backdated stock
option grants.
Stephen Hilbert, Conseco:
Took an estimated $72 million. Hilbert bought GreenTree Financial in
1998, just as the subprime lending business was about to go topsy
turvy. The purchase left Conseco, an insurance company, with big write
downs and ultimately contributed to its 2001 bankruptcy. The company
has since reemerged from reorganization.
Michael Ovitz, Disney:
$140 million after less than two years on the job. A former big-time
Hollywood agent, Ovitz was recruited to Disney to work under Chairman
Michael Eisner, but the two couldn’t play nice. The pay was disputed
in a Delaware court, which decided in 2005 that the board didn’t
violate its fiduciary duty in awarding that much severance.
Hank McKinnell, Pfizer:
$198 million, including $78 million in deferred compensation he built
up in 35 years at the pharmaceutical company. Pfizer shares sank 40%
on his watch, which ended last year. The company had to cut billions
in costs and fire thousands of employees, and said it wouldn’t see
revenue growth until 2009.
Jill Barad Mattel
$50 million severance package Mattel was losing $1.5 million a day
Mattel’s stock price which reached a high of $45 in March 1998) traded at $11 in February 2000.
Under pressure, on February 3, Mattel’s CEO Jill Barad resigned
but received a $50 million severance package
Frank Newman, Bankers Trust:
$55 million. A former deputy Treasury secretary, Newman was brought to
Bankers Trust to restore confidence after the 1994 derivatives
scandal. He made aggressive moves into technology banking and lending
(buying boutique Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997). But that push plus a big
position in Russian government bonds, put the bank on the brink.
Newman left in 1999 after selling the company to Deutsche Bank.
Carli Fiorina Hewlett-Packard
$20 million in severance board of directors discussed with Fiorina
a list of issues that the board brought back in Tom Perkins
and forced Fiorina to resign as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.
The company’s stock jumped on news of Fiorina’s departure.
Under the company’s agreement she was paid slightly more than $20 million in severance
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The enemy is Obama. STFU about all else. He’;s F*#k#d everything. You are like FITS. You consume yourself w/ a bunch of extraneous players..because you cannot admit your lord-god Obama has FAILED….
Get your head out your @$$…Our country can no longer afford $#!* like you…F*#king up….
Republicans block two unemployment aid bills
Senate Republicans block Obama’s jobs package
GOP bill blocks food stamp
LOLGOP Congressional Candidate: Spousal Rape Shouldn’t Be a Crime
Like I said: We’ve eliminated slave-holding and Nazis as a threat…Ignorant insider, dumb@$$ extreme leftwing terrorists, who refuse to admit reality are a LARGE threat to this country…you prove that…
Is it time to take out country back again????
Yes it is.
Too bad you can’t with morons like this LOL
GOP Congressional Candidate: Spousal Rape Shouldn’t Be a Crime
GOP congressman Trent Franks: It’s hard to get pregnant from rape
Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
I don’t think that “Republican” got elected, you Ignorant F*#k…but your Terrorist PRESIDENT did, after he told his idiots to vote for REVENGE..and they did.
Now Americans are suffering w/o jobs, prices are high and incomes dwindling. On top of that, the middle east is in chaos and and your failed god, is taking vacations and p!$$ing on the people who actually Build this country…
Yes it is.
Too bad you can’t with morons like this LOL
GOP Congressional Candidate: Spousal Rape Shouldn’t Be a Crime
GOP congressman Trent Franks: It’s hard to get pregnant from rape
Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
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Chris provided facts and examples. All you can provide is blabbering foaming at the mouth idiocy. Counter a factual argument with facts or STFU.
You F*#kIn idiot…he’s talking about some people getting paid well.
That’s none of the government’s business, except that GREEDY Obama is unloading the Treasury to pay off his leftwing D!*#ksuckers…like you….
Ain’t nobody starving to death…
Thanks in large part to programs like SNAP, WIC, free school lunches for poor kids, Social Security, etc., which fund a huge amount of needs that private charities, food banks, and churches can’t do on their own.
Oh, wait, you constantly bitch about those.
Thanks mostly to WORKING, PRODUCTIVE Generous, AMERICANS you immoral Piece of $#!*…
You and Obama TAKE only…you Contribute NOTHING but other people’s money and hatred for decency…
(ALG). “It is time for Congress to have an honest discussion about Obama policies, including Obamacare and runaway environmental regulations, that are exasperating this long-term unemployment crisis, rather than just passing the buck on to future taxpayers.”
Yet, letting polluters like Freedom Industries, Kingston Fossil Plant, BP and countless others to clean up their own messes has worked out so well? Basically, be grateful you have a job, but hey, sorry about your kid’s cancer.
Yeah, I hear the gulf eco-system has totally gone to shit since the big ole leak and Rush Limbaugh was totally wrong.
Oh.. wait — jk.
Rush is usually wrong 95% of the time you damn whore!!
Yeaaah, let’s see, who is charge in West Virginia? Could it be Democrats – since the dawn of time? Why yes, yes it is, but hey, it’s all Bush’s fault…
Since you love history, it was under Reagan. Anne Gorsuch the 4th EPA administrator that reduced the cases filed against polluters, relaxed Clean Air Act regulations, and facilitated the spraying of restricted-use pesticides.
Gorsuch and the EPA have nothing to do with this incident – this is a failure of West Virginia state regulators and Freedom Industries, pure and simple:
“…The terminal with the leak — which hadn’t been inspected by state officials since 2001, when it was owned by a different company operating under more stringent rules — was bought by Freedom Industries last month, state officials said. It was previously owned by Etowah River Terminal LLC, a company that effectively operated as an arm of Freedom Industries even before the two firms officially merged at the end of December…”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/freedom-industries-west-virginia-chemical-spill_n_4598230.html
I think that was Christie on that one. See who is charge of W Va at that location ? Ever heard of Halliburton and the fracking machine ? Burning water ? Grasp at your straws since that all you have, HA,HA,HA !!!!
It’s amazing how dumb the ALG was in referring to environmental regulations on what should have been a discussion solely about the fiscal policy of eternal unemployment benefits and its potential fiscal consequences on employment, budgets, & corporate competitiveness globally.
Fuck the unemployed.
Every American is on his own. No way I’m going back for a wounded soldier.
Cool story bro.
I can’t take credit for it – I stole it from the Republicans.
Clear back in October 2008 Joe had a three letter word for it J-O-B-S.
Joe had a three letter word for it J-O-B-S.
three letter word
J-O-B-S
Sounds about right coming from a politician from SC… sigh…
Not that I disagree on some of the politicians from SC but you really know it was Biden that made the infamous remark.
Oh Hell Yes
“Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.” –Joe Biden
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/joebiden/a/biden-quotes.htm
So where is JOE ?
Terrible decision… the GOP is just heartless and this will certainly hurt job growth!
PS: Bwahahaha
Dude, I’m not a big supporter of the GOP, but I hope you don’t believe the Democrats help job growth.
Dude, it’s sarcasm… I just wrote that to parody what the Left will say about this.
Dude, I’m not a big supporter of the GOP, but I hope you don’t believe the Democrats help job growth.
Republicans suck . . .
Republicans suck and Democrats suck and swallow. Libertarians do neither. As the saying goes, Libertarians plot to take over the world and then leave you alone.
If someone is unemployed longer than 26 weeks they are not looking for a job. Get off your asses people, if you are unemployed, your 40 hour a week job is to look for a job, network, start a business, etc. People give up to easy, but then again, if given a handout, where is the incentive to look for work?
I felt the same way you do until I found myself looking for a job. I have looked and have been turned down because i was “overqualified” never given the chance to explain I would work for a lot less than what I once made.
Shifty has had the same experience…..
Shifty, your problem is not being overqualified.
It’s just relative that every other person on the planet is under qualified compared to you.
You are Da Man!! :-)
So has veno…but I still think unemployment benefits should top out at 6 months.
I understand and respect the fact of being overqualified, my point is that many people give up and don’t try to look for a job as opposed to going out and looking all day, every day until they find one.
You are overlooking a lot of facts.
1) Many people have been trapped in mortgages that limit their ability to get a job outside of their current city.
2) Even a single person with low housing expenses would have a hard time living on $1,000 a month (the maximum).or LESS in UI
3) Most of the job available are highly skilled, and the workers are semi- or low skilled.
4) It can easily take 2 months from the time you apply for a job until the time you actually start. You are on THEIR schedule, they are not on yours.
You’re looking in the wrong place.
Try China.
i fill out 10 to 15 apps. a day.I am so sick of people saying i have the life sitting home, collecting checks,being lazy.I am spending most of my check,(correction) was spending most of my check ,on gas, and car insurance to get around to fill out the job apps..What ever is left over i spend on food and heat.I shut off cable and phone to save money.A night out for the family is a walk down to the public library.Now without my UI aid, we will be kick out and be homeless soon.
#Respect. Walk to the interview. No gas. No insurance. Might even meet your neighbors.
Spending hours walking everywhere, would eliminate an equivalent amount of time that could be spent looking/interviewing for other jobs or learning a new skill.
Walking into a interview after walking in the rain or hot sun might not be a good way to make a good impression on a potential employer?
Taking the bus might be an option in some cases, but most jobs are not located near the bus lines, and even that requires bus fare. .
The maximum UI pays in SC is about $250 a week after taxes. No one is living the high life on that.
It’s not a matter of the “high life”. Here is the social safety net in a nut shell.
1. UI. if declined >
2. disability – Temp if declined >
3. Disability – SSI if declined >
4. Welfare if declined >
5. SSI – Retirement if declined >
Where does it stop? Should we paying for Taxi Service for unemployed? How about Livery service. Shit why not just buy them all a new car. Gotta have ‘reliable transportation’.
Where does it stop?
You have to BE disabled in order to get Disability. That said, some people get it that shouldn’t, but that could be reigned in without eliminating it for those that truly need it.
You only get SS if you are retired or you are a surviving spouse/child.
Welfare maxes out as well.
Your basic assumption is that everyone that hasn’t taken a job in a short period of time, has no intention of taking one. While there a some people like that, they are a small minority.
Some get SSI DI. nearly a quarter of disabled are on SSI for Alcohol. Sober up.
SSI disability insurance covers everyone that is permanently disabled. Check our laws.
Welfare never maxes out. In some states they may cut you off, but they move to another state and the clock starts over.
Your basic assumption about my knowledge of many personal experiences is correct. If they don’t take a job in a week, they don’t want to work. Partly feel for them in the first week or two. It’s difficult for those that want to work to take a pay cut to accept the first job that comes along.
But that’s a great thing for them to do. Take that McD’s job at crap wages. Rethink the career path that you’ve chosen. It obviously didn’t work out for you, or maybe you get stuck with a shit company (which there are many these days showing high profits by cutting their labor force by 75% so they can short sell a dying company). Most importantly, consider working for yourself. If there is value in your skill set, there’s a lot more value to you personally by being the boss than there is by being the lacky.
It is stupid to take ANY job just so that you have SOME kind of job, unless you have been unemployed beyond 6 months. Everyone should attempt to get a job with the same or better pay and benefits initially. To take a low paying job when you have the skills to get a much better one, not only under utilizes the person’s potential and income, it reduces the taxes they pay afterwards. The little bit of UI the government would pay for a few months pales in comparison to the income taxes that person would pay if they maintain their income rather than take a 50% or more pay cut for a prolonged period.
We need to teach our kids that they should always have a reserve fund for periods of unemployment because UI will not fully support them anyway.
Just about everyone gets laid off at one time of their life or another, it does not mean they picked the wrong career.
“It is stupid to take ANY job just so that you have SOME kind of job, unless you have been unemployed beyond 6 months. ”
Not in this job market. And why the hell should you get 6 months of free money anyway? Fuck That.
Out.
If you are visiting potential employers and truly filling out 10 to 15 applications a day then you are not lazy.
Nor unemployed if taking the job that’s offered. I’ve worked plenty of shit jobs. You can’t give up because it doesn’t fit your standard of living. You have to adjust your standard of living to fit your pay.
Yea, because collecting checks that are 30% of your former income is a comfortable living. Get a grip you idealistic assclown.
I’m not idealistic, I’m a realist. The assclown part is debatable.
I agree with a cut off of benefits for those who have been on them for 2 years but speaking for myself I received 2 federal unemployment checks when the funds ran out. Someone please explain to me how it is fair for some to stay on unemployment for that long and others don’t get a fighting chance. I’ve looked for work and was even turned down for a trash man because i was overqualified.
All the States have different unemployment payments.I see the Federal Government wants to pay people in certain States a H___ of lot more benefits than others.
I got one week more than you, 3 weeks extension. It was wrong to cut everybody off at the knees like that, some have gotten up to 25 weeks more than me and others of course got a full 99 weeks. Probably even some cheering the loudest over the end of benefits, for the world of conservatism is littered with hypocrites on the public dole.
Matt 20:1-16
If Democrats want to keep some form of extension, it really needs to be at least somewhat reasonable. Maybe when they actually try floating that boat, they won’t end up watching it sink in the harbor.
People forget that UI does not last forever. Many people turn down jobs because they don’t pay what they want.
People forget that UI does not last forever
——
Damn! Forgot *AGAIN*!!!
How much do you work for ?
I made 45k a year in 2008 and now make 35k a year, but that’s better than nothing or living off the Gov.
Key points left out of this article are below
There are 3 to 4 job applicants for every single job opening available – nationwide. ( Very tough to find work)
People seeking work for longer than 26 weeks, are at historic highs (Double that of anytime in the last 80 years)
It currently takes job seekers on average 35 weeks to locate a job.
The 99 weeks described in the article were phased out long ago. (Current cap is at 73 weeks- and that is for two states Nevada and Rhode Island, The majority of states receive a much lesser amount of assistance)
Many people searching for work- have worked, consistently, for sometimes decades, only to be laid off, pensions slashed or removed, and food stamp benefits severely reduced.
Most economists agree that cutting these unemployment benefits will eliminate 200.000+ jobs and shrink the national GDP by .02% .
Also left out are the 1.3 million ( plus hundreds of thousands each week) of families struggling, who’s primary bread winner was laid off through no fault of their own, followed through with an extremely arduous claim process where an adjuster verifies their method of separation, and it would be months before they even are lucky enough to see an insurance check.
echo.one
26 years old
You must be an IROC.
You have to realize, companies pay a premium, just like normal people do for car insurance, for when they lay people off. The ex-employee is the beneficiary, they receive INSURANCE money based upon the premiums. The problem is, in 2008 we entered the worst recession in 80 years, and people were laid off by the masses at the same time the bills came due for two wars. It’s going to take longer to get the high level of long term unemployment- Down.