Last week I attended a luncheon and sat across from a man who has a bachelor's and a law

[Atticus]

degree. He is far from an uneducated man.

The table talk turned to the economy, local government lay-offs and the social cost of the recession. After some pretty neutral and "polite" comments from several people about how tough things were, the lawyer contributed the following:

"Well, they'll never improve the economy until they clean up this unemplyment compensation cesspool. Did you know that if you've already been on unemployment comp for two years, all you have to do to get a one year extension is make a phone call? Yeah, they ask you if you've applied for work and, of course, you answer 'Yes' and then you're set for another year on the dole!" Here, he paused to flash an ironic smile at everyone and then added:

"AND,---did you know that 87% of all those on unemployment comp SOMEHOW find a job within 10 days when their checks finally stop? Those are the FACTS, people!"

For two very good reasons, I merely rolled my eyes at a fellow liberal and left.

First, as is obvious from his remarks, this gob of spit is not the least bit interested in what is true or factual. There would be no rational debate; no give and take; no thoughtful consideration or courtesy if I had disagreed with his pronouncement. There would only have been smirking arrogance, a repetition of his nonsense and feigned sympathy for my "liberal aversion to the truth."

The second reason I retreated without comment?

This Teabagger is one of the people who decides if I keep my job.

So, with some of the money he allows me to earn---I sent $100 to several VERY liberal Democrats in tight races against Teabaggers.

[MadHound]

1. Just goes to show you the state of higher education in this country.

Some schools will let any idiot have a sheepskin, and frequently do so.

[Lex]

2. I have a BA and law degree and I disagree with him 100%. nt

[Hamlette]

5. me too and I work at the state unemployment office and he's an idiot

99 weeks is the max and in some states it is less than that. Plus, we audit you and if you can't prove job contacts and a number of other things, you not only get kicked off you get stuck with an overpayment and are ineligible until the overpayment is completely paid back.

What this guy doesn't know about unemployment you could power a million Palins. He's an idiot. Sorry you have to work for him.

[The Second Stone]

3. He doesn't know what the heck he is talking about

unemployment is about one quarter of wages and not enough to live one for any length of time. It is better than nothing, but not a substitute for productive work.

[Hamlette]

6. plus you get no "other" benefits

you should hear the frantic parents who are freaked about losing health insurance for their families.

It's sad enough to melt your bosses heart. Let him come answer phones at my office for one day.

[JamesA1102]

4. All that is needed for evil to succeed

is for enough good men to remain silent.

[Canuckistanian]

7. Yeah, but sometimes silence pays the rent

So things will remain quiet for a lot of people.

[Scuba]

12. Agree. It is important to make sure the lies are not allowed to ....

... stand unchallenged.

Still, I have sympathy when your job's on the line.

[JDPriestly]

8. The unemployment benefits last for the length of time that it usually

takes a person to get another job. That is not because the person is not trying while they are unemployed. That is because it takes quite a while to get a job once you are out of work.

The length of time that you can receive unemployment benefits is now being extended periodically because it is taking people longer to find another job.

There is no mystery here. It's the way the benefits are planned. Sometimes you get a job before they run out and sometimes you do not get one until long after they have run out. But very often the benefits run out when a person is about to get a job because that is how long it takes to get a job on the average.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

9. I Have A Bachelor's And A Law Degree..........

...........and thanks to Bushonomics, a few years ago I found MYSELF having to file for unemployment benefits. So I can tell this blowhard first-hand that what he's saying is unequivocally WRONG.

First of all, I had to fill out a lengthy form explaining why I needed unemployment. This is where most people give up. Then they send the form to your former employer for them to respond. Then your former employer has a right to have a hearing on whether or not you're even entitled to unemployment. And after that hearing, they're entitled to a SECOND hearing, and then appeals after that if they're really dead-set on not paying you any money. A good percentage of the time, applicants get denied at Stage 1, just on principal (I guess they want to see if you want it badly enough to appeal their denial or something--mainly because most people aren't savvy enough to even TRY to appeal the ruling). And that just gets you to Step 2.

In Step 2, you are told that in exchange for the pittance you're about to receive, which is usually about enough to get you a package of bologna and some day-old Wonder bread to eat for the month, you are required to actively seek work and actually go out on 2 job interviews PER WEEK. You're even given cards to take with you to the interviews. These cards say the name and address of the business where you are claiming to have interviewed, and the person who interviews you has to sign your card, verifying that you were there (and THAT'S not embarrassing or anything, is it?) And if you don't turn in your cards, or you can't verify that you've gone to the requisite number of interviews, guess what happens. You don't get your pittance.

So here I am, twenty-something years old, 3 years removed from law school, figuring I've got the world by the balls, and all of a sudden I'm unemployed, there are no jobs, and now I have to go begging for governmental assistance. Talk about a slap in the face. The people who claim that everyone on government assistance is a "Welfare Queen" who's fat and happy doing nothing but living on the dole has obviously never had to face the shame of simply walking into that building and asking for the form just to START the process, let alone all the indignations you have to suffer thereafter.

But that wasn't even the worst part of the story. The worst part is the end. What ended up happening was just as I was about to start receiving benefits, they called me and told me that based on my former employer's statement and their subsequent investigation, I had been fired "for cause," and was therefore not eligible to receive benefits, so it was basically, "F you and goodbye."

So there I was, Bachelor's degree, Law Degree, 3 years of experience practicing law, and if I hadn't had loving parents with the financial wherewithal to support me, there is absolutely no question that I would have been homeless. That's why it really upsets me to hear all these A-holes born with silver spoons up their asses talking about how all you have to do to make it is work hard, and that people who are poor deserve to be poor because they're lazy, undisciplined, stupid, drug-addicted, or just generally wastes of human flesh. It almost happened to me, and there wasn't a damn thing more I could have done to play by their playbook.

So if you happen to run into that guy again give him a big "F You" from me. Pompous, self-righteous prick.

[Ex Lurker]

10. in general, I've found lawyers to be no brighter than the average person

you have to have a high tolerance for drudgery and a certain amount of self discipline to get through law school. You don't have to be a brilliant intellect.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. I have a BA and a law degree and I haven't gotten unemployment.

I haven't worked in years either.

The last actual job I had was 9 days temp work in the summer of 2001, typing up a medical doctor's notes at a medical school. They fired me because my BF (Now hubby) worked several buildings away at the other med school & came over and helped me. I had to do some alphabetizing of a bunch of footnotes. He came over and tossed the document into Excel or something and did it, tossed it back into Word.

The idiots at the temp secretarial agency fired me because they said I could not have any visitors. My response, "First you didn't tell me I couldn't have visitors; secondly, he was NOT visiting, he was solving a work related problem for me".

Their response, "You should have called US first."

My response, "I wanted to solve this problem quickly, so I called upon the most qualified programmer/spreadsheet person I know."

Their response, "You should have called us."

My response, "Do your people do actual programming? Have they been doing technical process engineering programming in Basic and Visual Basic for years? And DOS for years before that, like my friend has? Are they experts at Excel? How qualified are they?"

Their response, "You should have called us."

My response, "I see. So when I call the MOST QUALIFIED PERSON I know to solve a work-related problem, thus saving the client time and money, I get PUNISHED. I get punished for taking initiative to solve a work-related problem the fastest way I know how. I see."

I guess I should have sued the bastards. :wtf:


A few years later I looked for a legal assistant job and got one interview in two years.

:wtf: Law degree was good to have the knowledge, but a total waste of thousands of dollars and five years of night school while working full time. And it was intellectually difficult.

However, many kids are good at regurgitation but don't really understand the concepts.

I made C's but had a better understanding of the basic concepts than others did. This was from watching hundreds of trials as a court reporter, being a former legal secretary, and reading advance sheets when I was a kid (Southwestern Reporters) because my dad was a lawyer and my mom typed for him, so I was quite familiar with wills, deeds, divorces, and general civil pleadings.

[live love laugh]

13. Having a degree doesn't make you smart. I had a lawyer for a boss who was an asshole

and dumb as hell.

I have a master's degree, of course a BA. Common sense is not common at all.