Will More Jobless Benefits Aid Economy?

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JESSE J. HOLLAND

(AP) Unemployed people wait in line at the California Employment Development Department in San Jose,...
Full Image

WASHINGTON (AP) - For a bipartisan majority of senators, providing three months or six months of extra unemployment checks to more than 1 million jobless people is a better way to dig the economy out of a recession than just printing tax rebate checks.

Some economists agree, and undoubtedly, so do the nearly 1.3 million unemployed workers who face losing an average $282 a week in benefits before June.

But there is strong opposition leading up to a Senate vote in the week ahead on whether to add an extension of jobless benefits to a $161 billion House-passed combination of tax rebates and business tax cuts.


Unemployed people wait in line at the California Employment Development Department in San Jose, Calif., in this Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008 file photo. A bipartisan Senate majority thinks providing as much as six months of extra unemployment checks to more than a million jobless workers is a better way to dig the economy out of a possible recession than just printing tax rebate checks. Some economists agree, and undoubtedly, so do the 1.2 million American workers who face losing an average of $282 a week in benefits before June. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma File)


As the economy has slowed, more people have signed up for jobless benefits. The situation can only get worse given the report last week that employers payrolls by 17,000 in January - a job loss not seen since the tail of the last recession in 2003.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080203/D8UIS9400.html

[Faygo Kid]

1. It is unconscionable to pass any package that does not extend unemployment benefits

It's also totally inefficient, as that money is immediately spent right back into the economy.

Nancy Pelosi's tossing in the towel and giving Bush free rein on the stimulus package just so she can claim a "bipartisan" victory is one of the worst acts in her tenure as Speaker.

[Faux pas]

2. Government has no logic. I think jobs would stimulate the

economy. Let's import the outsourced jobs.

[OhioChick]

3. "Let's import the outsourced jobs"

Hear, Hear!

[Faux pas]

7. Thank you very much.

:)

[area51]

4. Companies

Any company that offshores or inshores American jobs should be taxed at a higher rate as a foreign corporation. I think that would help create jobs here in America.

[Faux pas]

8. Didn't they outsource to avoid taxes that they weren't paying

anyway? I LOVE your idea. Wonder how many corporate owned politicians would run with it?

[CatholicEdHead]

5. How about some more non-service jobs that pay well

[dkofos]

6. It wouldn't hurt. What the economy really needs is JOBS.