Senate Democrats Plan Fast-Track Fix To Reinstate Lost Unemployment Benefits

[Purveyor]

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2014, 06:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Guardian

Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning to fast-track legislation to extend unemployment insurance, a move that would provide a lifeline to more than a million jobless Americans who lost their benefits five days ago.

The bipartisan bill provides a three-month extension the the federal benefits program, a temporary fix designed to allow Congress to work on a solution for the long-term unemployed, who have seen their support vanish.

The benefits, which apply to people who are unemployed for longer than six months, were left to expire on Saturday after a bipartisan budget deal on federal spending for the next two years failed to include a reauthorisation of the program.

In a clear sign that Democrats plan to make poverty and inequality major issues in this year’s Congressional mid-term elections, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, told a reporter in his home state of Nevada earlier this week that the bill will be put to a vote when the Senate reconvenes on Monday.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/02/senate-democrats-bill-reinstate-unemployment-benefits

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Sadly, I doubt they will be able to get 'anything' to pass in the House.

[SCVDem]

1. At least they have a house. nt

[GoneFishin]

2. As long as it is not bundled with TPP, which is the only way Republicans would go along with it. n/t

[grahamhgreen]

16. Nice range-finding. Need to watch for that one!

[GoneFishin]

21. I confess to not knowing how fast-tracking melds into the process, but the timing

of two "fast-track" references regarding two issues at opposite extremes of the political spectrum made me wonder if there are some dots to be connected.

[jtuck004]

3. Maybe they could fast track a diverson of the $1.4 trillion being paid to thieving banks

who then line their already bulging pockets (filled with the profits made from foreclosing on over 5 million families, among other acts) with the profit, and use it for a jobs or training program for the unemployed. Give them some resources to help them figure out a way to not be pawns in this stupid game between politicians pretending to do something useful.

[seabeckind]

4. Ditto that

They need a plan to fast-track fix to reinstate lost employment.

I disagree with the training business. If there isn't a placement after the training it's a waste of everybody's time.

[jtuck004]

6. You are presuming that is training to work for people who have already failed to invest in their

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2014, 05:00 PM - Edit history (1)

business. Worse than useless.

The best weapon your enemy, your opponent, your challenge has, is *your* mind, and that is the thing that is holding most people back. A whole country that has been trained to look to someone else for approval or assistance. But training for what has already failed is useless. We have to do something different, and obviously can't depend on the people who run business, or the politicians (and supporters) they own. You can't eat hope, and you sure can't pay your bills with it.

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage
of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.
Albert Camus

Perhaps they need a new base to start from, One way might be training in cooperative principles, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Principles

In 1954 a priest in Spain, under a dictatorship no less, trained some folks in cooperative methods, and after finding no jobs they could do for current employers, borrowed some money from their neighbors and bought a business to operate. Today it's Mondragon Cooperatives, 14 million profit a year, their own bank, hospital, and doing much better than the rest of the country.

http://www.context.org/iclib/ic02/gilman2/

A few hundred people, trained in this, could work across the country, bringing together people who want to work, helping them pool their resources. It's what unions used to do, back in the early part of the last century, before they started sucking up to business people, and it helped people survive and some to become independent. And there are thousands of cooperatives today, bringing in billions of dollars. One just needs to start.

And from that the group could figure out what they need to learn, or buy, or create to help get themselves free of where they are now. Won't work for everyone, but it could help millions. There are 26 million people vying for 3.9 million jobs as we speak, and the odds may well be worse than what is on paper. So there is room for different approaches.

They are going to learn another way. Or die.

[Blanks]

7. That's very interesting stuff, but the wiki article didn't display for some reason. eom

[jtuck004]

8. Fixed. Thank you. n/t

[seabeckind]

9. Very inspiring but hardly relevant

Last edited Fri Jan 3, 2014, 10:09 AM - Edit history (1)

to conditions today in this country.

The area and time when this cooperative was started was rural with few people. The time would have meant that those people were very self-sufficient, mostly growing their own food and communal family structure.

And then to jump ahead 50 years to what they had accomplished and imply that it was because they did self-training? Seriously?

I'm sure if you looked you would find hundreds of similar situations in this country. There were quite a few cottage industries started during that period. And some have become very successful. Or rather they were until they were eaten. Almost like a hostess cupcake.

For an improvement in our current situation where, as you point out, 26 million people vying for 3.9 million jobs, it seems to me that some gov't programs similar to those employed during the 30s with a tax burden shifted to the people who have benefitted so much from the current situation would be much more in order.

Like a new rural electrification program, we could do a broadband communications network or maybe a highspeed rail system ala the interstate highway system. Maybe some wind and solar farms, etc.

You know, kinda like the democratic platform...in 2008.

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. Yep ...

And there are more than a few bridges and public building that could use a sprucing up.

And yep, kinda like the Democratic platform ... in 2008. Maybe, Democrats will go for it this time? At worst, if President Obama (or sitting Democrats) were to propose such initiatives, it would give Democratic candidates something very concrete (pardon the pun) to campaign on and something for republicans to show they a$$ on.

[jtuck004]

12. Looks like you might have stopped reading books in, say, about 1900

Might want to catch up on the latest - The United Steelworkers think Mondragon is very relevant today...

http://www.usw.org/our_union/co-ops

And one can whine and carry on about government programs, but if "the government", that is, "us", really wanted to help, they would be paying $1.4 trillion to people for creating jobs and paying for school, instead of thieving banks like they are doing today, banks they have been supporting for the past 10 years.

I prefer to do what I can with what I have, not watch other people die while I stomp my feet and wish for something which is not happening. Besides, I have never wanted to count on the Master to do for me when I can do it for myself.

[seabeckind]

13. Nice try but you missed the USW point

Just because Mondragon was a coop doesn't mean that's the kind of coop the USW was talking about.

I think what they mean is that rather than closing a plant and moving all the equipment out, perhaps a better approach would be to turn that factory into an employee-owned venture. In effect use the eminent domain and tax power of our gov't to change the thing from a cog in a corporate conglomerate which cares only about profit but one which cares about the livelihood of the workers.

An better example of the USW idea would be the Republic Window incident:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Windows_and_Doors

And no, I didn't quit reading in 1900. I read quite a bit about the worker movements in the early part of this century and in the liberal approach to the economy of the depression.

Oh, and I was very good at comprehension and correlation...but never confused correlation with causation.

Addendum: Bit of the libertarian in you I see. BTW, you get enough people stomping their feet and the noise can be heard quite a ways.

[seabeckind]

14. As I thought about it, your comment really got my dander up

Because:

"would be paying $1.4 trillion to people for creating jobs"

That, in fact, is exactly what our gov't has been doing. Exactly. That's the trickle-down idea. We've been giving subsidies to companies that outsource. We have been giving money to the banks in order for them to fulfill their debts to the "job creators".

"paying for school"

That's one thing that really bothers me about the movement in the "right to work" states where they use taxpayer and potential employee's money to provide specialized training for workers in their factories. That thing that long ago was an overhead to the company has been shifted away from the company and allows them to minimize employee overhead. When I went to work for a company I presented myself with the generalized knowedge necessary for that position and then the company provided the specialized training for their operation. In fact, that's how I went to graduate school, paid for by the company with a salary at the same time.

And then there's your invocation of a union. A union IS a cooperative. That is the whole principle upon which it is based. And then to suggest that they should become one? Seriously?

And lastly, "I have never wanted to count on the Master to do for me when I can do it for myself"

That, too, is the basic principle of a co-op. All you do is replace the word Master with co-op. That it provides a way collectively for the members to do the stuff they cannot do individually. In effect you said you could never be the member of a co-op. Or a union. Or, maybe, a democratic society?

Wasn't it Lincoln who had a quote about gov't along those lines?

</rant>

[ut oh]

15. the coop idea or

just generally going for it for yourself, creating your own business.

Given the reality of 'more production/fewer employees' large businesses would have to grow more than I think possible in this environment...

Part of the reason I'm going to try to start a business once I'm cleared to work again (major work injury involving multiple surgeries). It's going to be scary and I expect a lot of work, but it's working for myself vs. working for someone who makes a crapton of money off my efforts, while my pay is stagnant or reduced (yeah... been there...no thanks).

Though even in a coop, you're going to have some stratification I'd suspect due to still having the requirements of someone to run/manage operations while others are the 'do'ers'.

I suspect the numbers are much worse as well given many who have just simply given up and therefore are no longer counted.

[grantcart]

17. Singapore has a small payroll deduction for employers and workers and when someone becomes

unemployed they are eligible to start the next Monday at a training center where they get a wage during the training period until they are re-hired.

When I was living there in 1980 I was shocked when the front page of the paper had huge headlines stating that effective immediately there would be a 15% increase in minimum wage and that a second and third increase would take effect over the next 2 years. The labor minister stated frankly that they wanted all of the low wage labor intensive employers (for example tire manufacturers) to pack up and leave, the faster the better (they were going to lose these jobs to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia anyway).

They had already contacted computer chip, high tech medical device, and optics manufacturers and put into place training programs at the community colleges so that as soon as these people had finished a training program (that the future employers had a role in developing) they immediately had a job, and the first 90 days might have been partly subsidized by the fund as well.

There are many problems with Singapore and its political culture, but they had a very clear labor policy and the result is that per capita GNP in Singapore is now higher than many EU countries like Portugal or Spain (or places like Mississippi).

I believe that the hourly contribution to the fund was something like .15 per hour. It was a very small amount but created a huge trust fund that could be drawn on when needed. (They also had a similar, but more expensive, hourly deduction that created a mortgage account so that everyone working could obtain a mortgage after a few years employment at very low rates. There is little private property in Singapore but workers could purchase 99 year leases on government subsidized housing condominiums when they are as young as 25).

I once was having a beer at one of the pier restaurants and a young guy in his late 20s sat down next to me. It was Friday. I struck up a conversation with him and he said that he had spent 3 years in jail and was released just the day before and wanted to enjoy a beer at this pier which was a common place for him before he was caught. He didn't seem to have a care in the world. When I asked him what he was going to start his new job on Monday.

[seabeckind]

18. A story which supports my position

much more than jtuck because:

"they immediately had a job"

and

they did not have "26 million people vying for 3.9 million jobs as we speak, and the odds may well be worse than what is on paper"

What this story is actually saying is that Singapore has a skilled labor shortage and that it is most likely because their gov't has refused to allow the outsourcing game. Instead it has cultivated its workforce for the 21st century and does not play the laissez faire game, as you say "a very clear labor policy" set by the gov't.

But I think we should leave Spain and Greece out of any comparisons. They both suffer from an extreme lack of revenue and have totally different economic bases.

[grantcart]

22. What I found interesting is that the country had a viable Labor Policy.

We can't have a labor policy because we can't have intelligent discussions, with one side living in a mythological world where YHWH is going to make the climate whole again.

Every country is in a different position and we should develop a long term policy that is most consistent with our long term interests. We should do the same in developing a Sustainable Environmental policy and so on.

It is difficult to do so when one side is sucking out all of the oxygen by yelling "Gays", "Benghazi", "Birth Certificate".

[seabeckind]

23. Dovetails with the Krugmann thread

on DU:

KRUGMAN: 'We can’t have REAL debates, because the cockroaches and zombies get in the way'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024270393

And then there's the one on HuffPuff about Klein wanting to spin off another forum.

We desperately need an intelligent forum to have discussions about policy and recommend changes in direction...one protected from the screamers, trolls, and knuckledraggers who get all their intelligence from Rush.

But it goes back to how do you destroy the greatest country the earth has seen in centuries? Other than read British history, the same way you eat an elephant...one bite at time.

The Fairness Doctrine. I agree it badly needed updating based on the advancement of technology but tat was an excuse to dismantle it.

Glass-Steagel: I agree it badly needed updating but...

Newspaper/journalism paradigm: I agree it...

You get the idea, one bite at a time.

"...in the Libyan fable it is told
That once an eagle, stricken with a dart,
Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft,
'With our own feathers, not by others' hands,
Are we now smitten.'"
--AESCHYLUS
525 - 456 B.C.

Perhaps a good place to start might be to require an update to corporate charters for public companies, one I have proposed before, that every employee has an implicit ownership in the company accrding to tenure. And has a voting representative on the board.

Next reverse the Reagan executive order that gutted the Sherman act. Do we know anybody in the Executive branch who could do that?

[jtuck004]

19. If we were smart, we would understand that it is our neighbor's well-being that keeps us strong.

Instead we push all the individualism bs, and here we are, circling the drain.

You have all these people hopping up and down about people coming across the border here, and yet I was reading the other day about a city in Mexico where the middle class is rising, and employers are paying for people to finish school and for training so they can put them in jobs that pay much better than the low-wage stuff they are famous for. Those people have absolutely no interest in coming here, except on vacation

Your experience in Singapore should be instructive to us. We certainly have the ability to do much better, and to look forward and see that our massive waste of human resources is going to hurt us terribly. Yet we, as a country, seem bound and determined to just let it happen and then simply complain about it.

I worked for a Singaporean company (Creative Labs) here, and when you mention cultural problems I think back to the time the owner and his lackeys walked through, and a female agent was told to lower her head and get back on the phone, that "women didn't look at those men".

Such issues aside, at least their women will be able to feed their families. Ours aren't told to look down by an employer because of the difference between men and women, but more because most don't really give a flying rat's ass about the worker, and just want production. And way too many are free to look up all the want, on their way to empty food banks.

Thank you for that.

[WilliamPitt]

5. You need to add the link

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/02/senate-democrats-bill-reinstate-unemployment-benefits

[Purveyor]

10. Done and thanks. I hate it when that happens.

[Old Union Guy]

20. That's fine, but how about fast tracking creating some jobs? n/t

[Mass]

24. 3 months and nothing to actually help long term unemployed people find jobs and dead on arrival.

But as Schumer said this morning, we will beat the GOP on this.

What a moron. What about proposing solutions with a chance of passing and HELPING.