AP Source: Obama to seek changes in Pell Grants

[Danzig]

a move needs to be made in encouraging kids to attend a trade school as well. college is one route to a good future, but we are facing a shortage of electricians, plumbers, hvac, auto mechanics, etc. it's all well and good to encourage kids to go to school, but some only end up racking up debt with a degree not worth the paper it's printed on. the papermill here in town has been trying for months to hire electrical/instrumentation techs. this is a highly paid position, especially for this area. they haven't found one candidate in months that qualified. and this is the same all over. people are out of work, but people are hiring-but the unemployed need to be qualified!

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Danzig

a move needs to be made in encouraging kids to attend a trade school as well. college is one route to a good future, but we are facing a shortage of electricians, plumbers, hvac, auto mechanics, etc. it's all well and good to encourage kids to go to school, but some only end up racking up debt with a degree not worth the paper it's printed on. the papermill here in town has been trying for months to hire electrical/instrumentation techs. this is a highly paid position, especially for this area. they haven't found one candidate in months that qualified. and this is the same all over. people are out of work, but people are hiring-but the unemployed need to be qualified!

In this area we have a crazy amount of HVAC techs, electricians and plumbers available largely because of the hault in construction, making every contractor and in some cases large developers delve into smaller jobs just to keep busy. Bartering and doing business 'off the books' has also taken off and will be a by-product of the unemployment situation for years to come. But for the first time in 4-5 years I finally see homes being sold (many on short sales) and foundations being dug.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

the papermill here in town has been trying for months to hire electrical/instrumentation techs. this is a highly paid position, especially for this area. they haven't found one candidate in months that qualified.

But, but, but ... you have to live in Alabama?

I think a number of folks remain unemployed because they can't sell their house quickly and and move to a new state.

[Riot]

Foreign aid is only about 1% or less of our budget.

That foreign aid did pay off when the army in Egypt took Obama's calls this past week.

[Nascar1966]

Originally Posted by Riot

But, but, but ... you have to live in Alabama?

I think a number of folks remain unemployed because they can't sell their house quickly and and move to a new state.

You might be right right. Consider this also some folks stay unemployed because they make more collecting unemployment.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Nascar1966

You might be right right. Consider this also some folks stay unemployed because they make more collecting unemployment.

Nobody really "makes more" collecting unemployment. The most you can make, even if you had a rather high salary, is about $300-350 a week. Before taxes. That's minimum wage. If you had a minimum wage job, you make far less. And you pay income taxes on unemployment.

Nobody chooses bare survival over a better paying job. Would someone choose to net $300 a week, if they were a lawyer or an auto line worker, over working at McDonalds for $250 a week? I'm sure they might. And they are entitled, as long as they are using their time to actively looking for work as a lawyer or auto line worker (and yes, unemployment double checks that you have been looking for work)

[Nascar1966]

Originally Posted by Riot

Nobody really "makes more" collecting unemployment. The most you can make, even if you had a rather high salary, is about $300-350 a week. Before taxes. That's minimum wage. If you had a minimum wage job, you make far less. And you pay income taxes on unemployment.

Nobody chooses bare survival over a better paying job. Would someone choose to net $300 a week, if they were a lawyer or an auto line worker, over working at McDonalds for $250 a week? I'm sure they might. And they are entitled, as long as they are using their time to actively looking for work as a lawyer or auto line worker (and yes, unemployment double checks that you have been looking for work)

I guess you didnt read the post about someone collecting unemployment turning down a job at a car dealership.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Nascar1966

I guess you didnt read the post about someone collecting unemployment turning down a job at a car dealership.

There's one. What are the other 8 million doing?

I've no doubt there is the rare abuse. The acts of one don't reflect the acts of millions**

(**unless you are a Muslim, I guess)

[Nascar1966]

Originally Posted by Riot

There's one. What are the other 8 million doing?

I've no doubt there is the rare abuse. The acts of one don't reflect the acts of millions**

(**unless you are a Muslim, I guess)

Did I say everyone was doing it that way? Put words into my mouth. You like to do it to other people.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Nascar1966

You might be right right. Consider this also some folks stay unemployed because they make more collecting unemployment.

No one makes more money collecting unemployment, as it's based on what the person earned before.

Even were a misanthropic statement like this true, and it's a popular meme in right-wing circles these days (if you take support away from the destitute they'll CHOOSE not to be destitute!), I would still support unemployment benefits, for the simple reason that it benefits me (no, I am not on unemployment). Unemployment benefits, like food stamps, are one of the most effective ways of pumping money into the economy. They work because they are immediately spent: on food, on rent, on gas, on car repairs. That money, taxed from corporations and given to those looking for work, goes back to private businesses in the form of money paid for necessities. It's a symbiotic relationship. We live in a consumption based economy. If people aren't purchasing things, our entire economy suffers. When the economy suffers, we all suffer, unless we are the super-wealthy who live off of investment income, and even then we eventually start to suffer, though not to the level the middle-class do.

Tax cuts to the wealthy do not benefit the economy in the same way, as they tend to invest the extra money (because they actually have extra money), rather than spend it to the degree that the unemployed spend their benefits. Unemployment benefits go, in their entirety, right back into the economy. Which is good for all of us.

The other reason for their existence is that they give people an opportunity to look for work in their field, rather than being economically forced to take the first job available. A technician with two kids who has to immediately take a job at Denny's washing dishes because he has no savings is a technician who is not available to go out on job interviews for openings in his field.

And that's the other thing with unemployment- you must, at any moment, be ready to show that you've been looking for work or your benefits will be cut.

I realize for the DTers who don't believe anything Rush and Beck told them to think, this post will be ignored, but I hope it was at least passably informative to the moderates. Very little media attention is given to the economic benefits of unemployment insurance, and they are, in fact, fairly substantial.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Riot

But, but, but ... you have to live in Alabama?

I think a number of folks remain unemployed because they can't sell their house quickly and and move to a new state.

home ownership has become a huge issue, with people unable to move to a job because they can't sell their house. honestly, i don't think it's employment that's the issue, it's geography.