I got into a heated discussion at the ball game the other night about this topic.. basically my feeling is that 2 years should be more than enough time to find employment, might not be your long term option but enough to fill the gap between long term jobs..

There was another gent there.. lets call him Larry.. whom got canned for attendance at his manufacturing job, suddenly developed panic attacks and now is playing the system.. his unemployment benefits just ceased and he was whining about his income being reduced just to his "disability" payments.. which aren't permanent as of yet.. funny how that works.. he can coach little league.. fish and hunt.. yet can work because of his panic attacks..


To be fair.. I know a couple of programmers, former employees, that are struggling to find work.. and call about once a month wanting to be hired and can't find field related work.. my comment about every month is to take a job outside their field until things pick up or move to where the jobs are.. now they will be forced to make a decision..

All in all.. I can't see a single reason to extend it again..

Anyway... your thoughts.. on the topic.. looking for a rough opinion demographic.

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the hubby was downsized out of his job & signed up for unemployment for the first time in his life. for him, the extensions couldn't have come at a better time. he got his benefits for a year & a half. he felt 'lucky' that the gov't kept extending them but certainly didn't expect it to continue. he's managing a small car dealership now which is no steady income but...we're grateful for what we got from the gov't & understand it was time to stop the extensions.

Dang, I thought unemployment ran out after 6-9 months tops. Doesn't the employer pay a large portion of the unemployment checks?

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It's tough. In today's world, you may have a great paying job. Then you lose it and are forced to take a job that pays LOTS less.
I know a man that was "downsized". He was making 80 grand a year, had a wife and 3 kids. Suddenly out of work, and no prospects that would pay him even close to the wage he had worked his way up to get. (This was 25 years ago) He ended up with his old employer offering him his old job back........at HALF the pay.
You work hard at a place for years, they use you up, then discard you when they don't want you anymore.
There's no easy answer. Some "MILK" the system as long as they can. Others are really trying and still can't get work. Unfortunately, the system can't tell the difference between the two.

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whats this 2 year bleep ... my stepdad has had it for 6 months and it got canceled - and hes been in his job a long time. A architect/contractor - ya the building trade has pretty much dried up.

CNN link 

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, saying that Senate Republicans have allowed short-term political concerns to trump the needs of the jobless.

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I know it's just anecdotal input, but I take the train into Boston for work and there are quite a few homeless people looking for loose change outside the station. Lately I've been amazed that some of them look to be about 20 years old, and newly homeless. I'm all for personal responsibility, but a system in which people fall through the cracks before they even have a chance to "grow up" and learn the system seems kind of harsh.

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