Well, Congress is in the process of messing up once again. The current federal extension of unemployment benefits is set to expire on 12/31/11. That means that an unemployed individual will not be eligible for an extension unless he or she applies for it no later than the week between 12/25/11 and 12/31/11. Any person laid off after 7/1/2011 will be ineligible for it because the state normally pays 26 weeks of regular benefits.
Any simpleton can see this would be an utter economic disaster. Not only would many relatively long term unemployed be cut off depending on timing, but those losing their jobs any time in the latter half of the year would be cut off after the regular state benefits end (and some states are even cutting the number of basic weeks below 26).
This is a catastrophe for a 70% consumer driven economy. One of the most fiscally irresponsible things imaginable. Unemployment insurance is one of the most cost effective programs in existence. A federal Department of Labor economist I spoke with estimates that it provides a 130% return on each dollar of cost as it is completely re-injected back into circulation. It obviously can also save jobs through purchases at businesses that might be teetering on the brink of going under without such spending. It also relieves states, cities and towns from providing costly assistance to those who had otherwise been relying on unemployment benefits to pay for basic living costs.
Our Congress must be a collection of imbeciles who cannot relate to or cannot see what is happening all over America in order not to realize the immense priority this extension legislation should be given. Which in turn would mean that they have no right to hold their elected positions. They are there to serve their constituency, not to contribute to our floundering economy.
As I see it, this legislation is such an emergency that it should be proposed and enacted as a single piece of legislation with no ridiculous attachments. Just put it to a vote and vote on it immediately - and I mean right away after these "representatives of the populace" return from their Thanksgiving adjournment.
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The above is sort of a macro view of the positive aspects of an unemployment insurance extension for those blasted by a 9% unemployment rate (actually around 18% when you consider underemployment, "fake consultants", part timers looking for full time jobs, etc). But one must look at the micro human-side of the equation. One must view the situation from the standpoint of someone actually in the situation in order to fully comprehend it. There are so many variables - some so cruel as to be almost Machiavellian.
Suppose you were laid off on 6/15/2011, while your neighbor held on to his job until 7/15/11. Assume you both live in a high unemployment state. You would be eligible for an unemployment extension because your regular benefits expired before 12/31/2011. Your neighbor would not since he got regular benefits into 2012.
In the same scenario, one neighbor might get an extension while another was ineligible due to a timing issue involving as little as one week. Everything depends on when you first applied. Heck, one could have delayed applying in hopes of quickly landing a new job, only to have it come back to burn him.
Now, if one had been relying on a $425 weekly unemployment check to pay rent/mortgage, utility bills, groceries, property tax, heat, auto gas and any number of loan payments - what happens when it's cut off? What do you do? Raid your diminished savings or 401(k) retirement account? Sell your possessions on e-Bay or Craigslist? Sell your house? Move back in with your parents? Take a job at McDonald's (as Chicago Mercantile Exchange inhabitants suggest)?
I guess responsible people would try to renegotiate every financial contract they've entered into. Would cut down on cable service features, suspend needed car maintenance, buy generic brands and anything else than could think of. But what happens when you've cut to the bone and you need to fill up your home heating oil tank in February to the tune of $650? Where do you get the money? One answer would be to apply for federally funded fuel assistance or apply for aid from your city/town welfare office. (Another example of misguided supposed savings from ending unemployment extensions).
There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans on the way to this set of circumstances. It is just a matter of time. Some earlier, some later - but all in the same boat. Their lives will shortly be drastically changing. And Congress is dangling the lifeboat just outside their reach. This collective body with a less than 9% approval rating is farting around with these people's very existence.
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So here is my philosophy on the "Passage of Time". A concept unappreciated by any bureaucrat, any elected official, any participant in the judicial process and many others. A great value must be placed on the swift implementation of what should have happened from the "get go". It is often simply too late when something that should have occurred from the beginning is accomplished retroactively. There is no appreciation of what transpires in the meantime. (Sorta like "justice delayed is justice never achieved"). This is why I left my position as an administrative law judge/appeal referee for a government agency. They could never understand nor comprehend the devastating impact on families when it took many weeks to get benefits they should have gotten from day one as a result of the ill-training of the initial decision makers. They simply couldn't see what difference it made if they ultimately received what they were entitled to. They couldn't correctly value or perceive the basic fact that a person's life could be destroyed in the intervening time.
I'm completely sure they will pass unemployment extension legislation. But they won't accomplish this basic step until much later - maybe some time in February of 2012. They will make it retroactive to 1/1/2012. By that point, my "passage of time" effects will already have taken place. It will be too late to stave off what already happened to the individuals impacted. The devastation will have already occurred and can't be corrected. Their screw-up will not be able to be reversed.
In preparing this piece, I spoke with the Washington, D.C. offices of my two Senators and Representatives. I simply asked all four what their stance was on extending unemployment insurance beyond 12/31/2011, given the high rate of unemployment. Three offices promised to respond in writing but failed to. The office of one Senator immediately presumed I was unemployed (although I am not and never said I was). This office sent me an e-mail filled with nothingness and political vapor about the Senator supporting whatever is decided by whomever.
And this is why I feel confident that Congress is about to betray us once more. They are either not cognizant of the ramifications of the issue or are unable/unwilling to answer a very simple and incredibly timely question. And these are the very people who are there to serve and preserve the interests of the electorate who are the victims of the behavior of Congress. I'm sure they are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving and planning their unencumbered Christmas celebrations.
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