Who Will Fight for the Unemployed?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/opinion/30wed1.html?ref=editorials

Without doubt, the two biggest threats to the economy are unemployment and the dire financial condition of the states, yet lawmakers have failed to deal intelligently with either one.

Federal unemployment benefits began to expire nearly a month ago. Since then, 1.2 million jobless workers have been cut off. The House passed a six-month extension as part of a broader spending bill in May, but the Senate, despite three attempts, has not been able to pass a similar bill. The majority leader, Harry Reid, said he was ready to give up after the third try last week when all of the Senate’s Republicans and a lone Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, blocked the bill.

Meanwhile, the states face a collective budget hole of some $112 billion, but neither the House nor the Senate has a plan to help. The House stripped a provision for $24 billion in state fiscal aid from its earlier spending bill. The Senate included state aid in its ill-fated bill to extend unemployment benefits; when that bill failed, the promise of aid vanished as well.

As a result, 30 states that had counted on the money to help balance their budgets will be forced to raise taxes even higher and to cut spending even deeper in the budget year that begins on July 1. That will only worsen unemployment, both among government workers and the states’ private contractors. Worsening unemployment means slower growth, or worse, renewed recession.


MORE at the link ---

Who will be there to stand up for,protect,defend and go to bat for the UNpopular,the UNder employed,the UNinsured,the UNhealthy. Who do we have left on our side to help the seniors,the vets(especially once they have returned from duty--some with physical or mental issues),those close to losing their homes,their jobs,their faith in any and all agencies that swore to help them,the politicians who seem to have memory loss as soon as they are voted in or when enough green greasy their grubby paws that they forget who they are supposed to represent. Many of us are already the "UN" people. How long before we become the NON people?????

destroy America.

....the Democrats, of course....they're the corporate party of the people!....all joking aside, someone will have to fight for the unemployed because their numbers will be so great....

....before this depression is over in eight to ten years, the federal government will have to create tens of millions of new jobs because our corrupt, broken, greed-based corporate system is incapable of innovation and job creation without bubbling over....

....go to Mars, build some pyramids or even a network of high speed rail, we need good government jobs for people who wish to work and prosper....

Is it possible for a hobo to ride a train nowadays? I don't really know.
But it sure feels like we are in the beginning of a long slide down.

The Republicans may want the country to go to hell.
It makes it easier to blame everything on the Democrats and gain votes.

homeless people hobos already.

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm seeing more and more out of state plates in my area, north of Atlanta. At first it seemed like just the midwest, but now I'm seeing gulf state plates. I'm in neocon country, and while it may seem like we are *prosperous* in the area, we have high unemployment too. The pukes around here are playing see no evil, etc. about the unemployment problem. The only one actually talking about it is Roy Barnes, the Dem candidate for Governor.

</smarm> I do wonder what the impact of several million new registered lobbyists in DC would be, though...

Glad I checked though...