sf wrote:
> Janet Bostwick > wrote:
>
>> There is no doubt that there are many unemployed people milking the
>> government programs. . .they have been taught this as a way of life
>> from birth. They know more about cheating the system than I could be
>> taught in a class. What hurts me is that all the honest,
>> hard-working, deserving people get lumped in with them. And, when
>> the programs get cut in some way, it's the honest folks that get
>> punished because they don't know how to work the system. Meanwhile,
>> the others go on as before.
>
> I think everybody knows someone who works the system, but I don't
> paint everyone who draws it with the same brush. It's always a
> grasshopper and ants story. Those who cheat will never get anywhere
> (unless they're at the other end of the spectrum-rich people who
> cheat) while those who don't will make it sooner or later.

There's also a problem with the underlying assumptions of the
unemployment system. Folks work decades to build their careers. Then
they get laid off and go on unemployment. While on unemployment they
look for jobs that pay similar to what they used to make. In today's
economy there are jobs that went away forever and there just aren't any
new ones that pay similar and are in similar fields. Who wants to lose
thirty years worth of hard work and advancement just to take a job that
pays worse than unemployment?

One of the 99 weekers who saw their unemployment run out, that's who.
One who lost everything, went bankrupt and now can't find a job in their
field because folks wtiha bankruptcy on their record are not welcome, no
matter that the layoff is what triggered the bankruptcy. In a good
economy there are good jobs to be found. In a bad economy there are no
good jobs to be found.