Experts expect 'massive human suffering' if GOP lets jobless benefit expire

[turbinetree]

By Emily Singer -July 15, 2020 3:53 PM

The $600 weekly unemployment insurance boost is set to expire on July 31.

Economists are sounding the alarm about the upcoming expiration of a $600 weekly unemployment insurance boost that Congress passed in reaction to millions of lost jobs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. They warn that letting the extra benefit run out will lead to more suffering, including the possible loss of millions more jobs.

The $600 weekly benefit is currently slated to expire on July 31. Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for months to extend the payments through the end of the year; House Democrats included such an extension in the virus response bill they passed on May 15.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to take up the bill, in part because he and other Republicans — including Donald Trump — object to extending the payments.

"July the 31st is when this expires, and I promise you, over our dead bodies this will get reauthorized," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said back in April.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

https://americanindependent.com/unemployment-insurance-expiration-coronavirus-mitch-mcconnell-senate-gop-congress-covid-19/

-Snip-

Graham, along with Sens. Tim Scott (SC) and Ben Sasse (NE), even tried to block the $600 boost when the Senate was first voting on the coronavirus relief bill, saying it was wrong that some of the lowest-income workers would actually earn more in unemployment than they did from their salaries when they worked. All but two GOP senators voted to strip the added unemployment benefit from the bill in March, though their effort failed.


Let me say that these three cretins make over $18,000 a month and take that pay from the same taxpayers that they hate, and they are trying their damnedest to continue, maintain and create more poverty in this country.....................

[DBoon]

1. Massive human suffering is the GOP's platform

"... over our dead bodies this will get reauthorized," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said back in April.

They shouldn't tempt fate with statements like this.

[DSandra]

41. +100

They are the spiritual heirs of Southern slaveowners.

[jpak]

2. Defund the GOP

Vile swine

[madaboutharry]

3. These republicans are twisted and evil people.

Exactly right, turbinetree. They earn their salaries from the taxpayers of this country and yet they treat them like garbage. How they get one single vote is beyond me.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. You want a reality number?

Well,you are going to get one,this comes from the Nevada office of Business and Economics as of little over a week ago. First,if the Moratorium on Rentals and Foreclosures is allowed to expire on September 1,Homeless population could increase by 260+k to 372k people if that happens.

BTW,that bullshit about people making more on Unemployment than working,that came from the likes of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich . We could go all the way back to William Buckley as another puker of that statement on PBS way back.

[turbinetree]

5. Yepper spot on................

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. And that's just one relatively unpopulated state.

I've seen truly staggering totals for the entire country regarding looming homelessness.

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Nevada has one of the lowest

Home ownership rates of all the States. Most of the Foreclosure Homes of 2006-2012 were bought up for pennies on the dollar by Mnunchin and his friends. A Real Estate jockey we know,claimed Mnunchin and Friends built two Rental Companies and stocked them with over 10k of these Houses. And he said that is a conservative estimation.

A demographic person once said,Las Vegas turns over once every seven years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. I had no idea.

I do know from a college geography class I took several decades ago that Nevada and Utah are not only side by side, but are as different from each other as if they were on separate planets.

[Wellstone ruled]

27. To a certain

extent. Both were founded by the Same Religious Zealots and those same persons left on hell of a mark on our State. As we move more and more to a dark blue Dem Government,there is hope. Lived in Utah for some time,it is a through back to 1847. Anytime you have a area of your State Called Dixie,you have Social issues. More Confederate Flags and crap in Southern Utah than the whole of the South.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

29. Oh, dear.

Utah is one of the five states I have never been to. Not because I've avoided it, but just haven't gotten there.

I have concluded over the years that if I ever go there, it will be for a brief trip just to say I've been. The more I learn about the state, the more I learn of the Mormon religion, the more horrified I am. I recently finally got around to reading Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer, and it made me more and more anti-Mormon. I have, at various times in my past, known LDS, and even though on an individual basis they are pretty nice people, they really are members of a cult.

But tell me more about Nevada. What religious zealots were involved there? Were they also LDS?

[Wellstone ruled]

30. Yes Nevada was founded by the Mo's

and Krakauer's book was right on for the most part. There is a Anti-Morman Web Site run by the Grandson of Ezra Taft Benson was the one time Prophet of their Church. The fellow was being groomed as a future Prophet as a young man but ditched the Church . Sorry do not have his name at hand. Google search will keep you in info for many months to come.

Do not get me wrong,loved the Wonderful Scenic Beauty of Southern Utah. But,if you are not a Mo,it gets rough if you are a out going person. You will be told to your face by at least one,you ain't one of us and we don't want you here. Heard that crap just once to often and we were out of here within days.

[Victor_c3]

19. Scary thing I read a week ago said about 30% of mortgages holders were late last month

And 36% of renters weren’t current on their rent as well.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/07/08/32-percent-of-us-households-missed-their-july-housing-payments.html

During the peak of the bush recession, only about 12% of mortgages were delinquent.

When that additional $600 a week disappears and the eviction restriction lapses, real pain will begin.

[Wellstone ruled]

20. For us,not a problem.

But,for two of our Kids,it is going to be one hell of a slug. When one works base plus commission,or straight Commission,and the consumers are not coming through those doors. Things get ugly.

[Victor_c3]

24. I feel very fortunate myself

I haven’t worked in 5 years due to disability from my military service. My two daughters are 9 and 11 and won’t have to worry about jobs, housing and such things for about a decade.

My ex wife could really be in dire straits when the alimony/spousal maintenance I pay her expires in 3 years. I’d feel sorry for her, but she’s the one who left me after 14 years of marriage to pursue a relationship with an old middle school crush

[Wellstone ruled]

26. Unoffically Retired seventeen years ago.

I say that because I flunked Retirement five times since.

We are okay,but we know many Retirees who took in the shorts during the Bush fiasco and they never fully recouped their losses only to get smacked once again since February of this year.

My spouse finally said no more of this Working Crap. Okay dear,so after fifty two years,kind of getting use to this. Sucks that the Covid is lurking. But,mask up and hat and gloves,we will make it.

[LizBeth]

7. Cut the payment in half to 300, extend unemployment to end of year I think there is only 4 months

in unemployment. I am putting out apps, but I cannot go back to my previous job. Too high risk, especially with everything opening and spikes in states surrounding me.

[BamaRefugee]

8. NO CUTS for me! Cut the million other things that only benefit millionaires and let us live!

[LizBeth]

9. That is like Sanders progressive saying no ACA, destroy and will build another.

If they do not cut it, I am good with that and you are right while that continues to be Democratic position. Lots of places to get the money. Regardless, something needs to be done and unemployment needs to go beyond 4 months.

[BamaRefugee]

10. If you begin your bargaining at 50% of what the current amount is, you'll wind up with maybe $125 !

Begin the bargaining at $599

[LizBeth]

11. They put out they would consider 300. Call them on it.

[BamaRefugee]

12. "would consider"....means they'll pretend to think about it for a few seconds before saying no

[LizBeth]

13. Maybe, maybe not. But the next two weeks will be heavy duty pressure from Democratic and Republican

people across the nation. I think they will have to do something. And we will see what happens.

[BamaRefugee]

16. Agree. And $600 is totally affordable, they're lying, as always.

[Progressive dog]

15. Thet want human suffering as long as

they can blame it on their opponents. The Trump enablers are crossing their fingers that with Putin's help, they can escape with money and without jail time.
My thoughts and best wishes are with the prosecutors who have been accumulating evidence for years.

[captain queeg]

17. When the moratorium on evictions ends things are going to get real bad real fast

I’ve read numbers of 30% of people missing their housing payments, be it rentals or mortgages.

[Victor_c3]

22. Yup, same thing I read too.

Source:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/07/08/32-percent-of-us-households-missed-their-july-housing-payments.html

That’s going to be devastating. At its peak, the bush recession saw a mortgage delinquency rate of about 12%

The impending economic crash that republicans are eagerly pushing us towards could be significantly worse than anything since the Great Depression. The only thing that got us out of that was a progressive president.

[Calculating]

18. It needs to be 300

600 was too much and a lot of people were making more than they made working.

[Withywindle]

21. And if a few people are, so what?

It just goes to prove that wages are too damn low. $600 a week isn't making anybody rich - people still have to eat and have bills to pay whether they're working or not.

[GulfCoast66]

31. And so what? It was Nancy's Brilliant Strategy.

My wife and I each make double the average household average. But we have both been poor. We have no personal dog in the fight. But sure as hell have a societal dog in the fight.

The Only way to insure that so much of the fruits of capitalism do not only go to the ones with capital is mandating it. Otherwise the working class will be reduced to working poverty. Like we have now. We used to insure that the working class had a fair deal. Had the original minimum wage been tracked to inflation it would be over $20 an hour. That’s the minimum wage, mind you.

And if you’ve not read my posts, I’m a moderate. I don’t support Medicare for all but a government backed insurance plan with employer participation like France has. Don’t support any of that GBI silliness either.

The republicans do not want to extend the $600 a month for 6 more months because they are scared to death that if the working poor gets used to feeling what it means to not live in economic fear they will agitate and vote for change.

Plus, the average rent for an apartment here in Central Florida is over $1200 a month. Tell me how less than $600 works for them.

Realize they have no jobs to go back too. What, you want to keep them suffering!

Jesus.

[Calculating]

36. Well I also don't want them making more than me for not working

I work for $22 an hour, but currently at somewhat reduced hours(around 30-35 hours per week). $600 weekly is equal to $15 an hour for 40 hours a week, +whatever their normal unemployment gives. In other words, they're making more than me sitting at home while I've been working through this entire thing. Also, not everyone getting the extra $600 is a parent with kids who is living in a high cost of living area. They probably need it, but there are plenty of people without kids or young adults staying at home with their parents who are just investing their unemployment benefits into the stock market creating a huge bubble. Yes, that irritates me. Am I wrong for feeling in such a way? Do I get some money to compensate me for working 3/4 time and missing out on my full pay?

[Luz]

40. Dont be angry with the unemployed. It's not our fault that

Our jobs are gone. You're right. I have been making more than my usual salary for a few months. It's all I have to live on. It runs out in a week or so, and with no job still, I hope the little I've been able to save will last another month or so.
After that I'll have nothing. No money, no job. You will have both.

Don't be angry with us, be angry at those that put us here and GOTV.

[DSandra]

42. I've been working all this time myself but being in employment limbo...

is not a place I'd want to be during this time even if it pays better. Its not their fault that they lost their jobs.

[Lars39]

34. That money went right back into the economy.

[Johnny2X2X]

23. Reps will extend, but not $600

Right now they want $200, Dems want $500. So expect $350 extra a week plus or minus $50. But if it’s lower they’ll be more likely to extend it for longer.

[Generic Brad]

28. Are they trying to lose?

They act as if they are begging voters to permanently vote them out of power.

[sarcasmo]

32. Massive human suffering is on brand for the GOP.

[GulfCoast66]

33. McConnell assumes Nancy will cut the best deal for the people she can get.

And often she does. We liberals hate suffering.

But she need to sit down with Mitch and say $600 or pound sand. And tell him the ads start the minute he turns it down.

If they do not extend it by October we will be in a Depression and Mitch knows it. Around 30% of the liquidity in the economy come from the enhanced UE benefits.

They are already teetering. Crash the economy more and they are done.

[Calculating]

37. What's unreasonable about $300 weekly?

That's literally Andrew Yang's $1200 a month UBI, and they still get their normal unemployment on top of it.

[GulfCoast66]

38. WTF? You think A family can live on $1200 a month?

Do you still live with or supported by your parents? What’s your rent. And income?

In Central Florida $1200 will get you a one bedroom apartments in a decent area. Give that to a mother or father with 2 kids you are in the ghetto with no money left for for food or any fun. Oh, and our unemployment Max’s out at $275 a week. But the less you make the less you get. And good luck signing up. The system is like one from 2002. By design. And every week you have to do in and fill out the 5 companies you have applied for work with names and phone numbers. Oh, and then contact the office to get references. Only you can’t contact them. And the last time I looked they still said Disney and Universal were hiring! While they are laying people off.

And Andrew Yang and his dumb ass UBI got how much support? 1%? Americans want good paying jobs not any fucking UBI. Even Disney starting next year will have no one making less than $600 a week and most a good bit more.

You need to understand the real world. Not the one you are living in. If the extended benefits go away people will be on the street.

[Calculating]

39. As I said above

I'm ok with certain people getting more(IE families with kids in a high cost of living are). I'm not fine with single people or young adults living at home getting the full amount. Me, I work for $22 an hour, but my hours are down to around 30-35 per week during this situation. Having unemployed people making more than that is a bit demoralizing, and I work for a barely profitable small business so it's not like the boss is living the high life while underpaying the employees.

[moondust]

35. POOP Party don't care.

The job of the Profits-Over-Other-People (POOP) Party is to keep poor people poor so they'll have to work for beans.

mmmmm...beans..........