With jobless benefits ending, agencies struggle to fill gap

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The wealth redistribution continues as government attempts to keep the United States economy afloat through whatever means necessary..

How much of this holiday spending spree is being supported by taxpayer money through extended unemployment benefits? Here we have taxpayers virtually purchasing Christmas gifts for the families of people who have lost their jobs.. This money goes straight into the coffers of retailers and banks who, while refusing to hire, are racking up record profits quarter after quarter..

It is obviously both unfair and unsustainable for the 52% of Americans who work and pay taxes to to prop up the 48% of Americans who do not work.. We all know that the true, non-manipulated unemployment number is much closer to 20% than it is to 10%

The Bernanke run Federal Reserve Bank has already stated that it will take years for the unemployment rate to return to "normal" levels close to 6% which is likely actually more like 12%

We, Americans, are expected to meekly accept yet another jobless recovery. Government will slowly bury the number of unemployed through data manipulation as they did after 2001.. Fewer and fewer people work for a living in this country from year to year.

A jobless recovery is one thing.. expecting taxpayers to continuously foot the bills of the unemployed through confiscation of their hard earned wealth through taxation is something else entirely..

It is our economic system, from top to bottom, that is diseased.. Our economy remains nothing but a ponzi scheme still based on the massive accumulation of ever more debt to prevent it's bursting. It matters not whether that debt is accumulated by dumbed down American Sheeple or by the United States government it is the ABILITY to forever borrow MORE money that drives the economy of the United States.

Now we are very close to making unemployment checks an entitlement also.. Even Republicans dare not speak of NOT continuing it, apparently forever, they only beg that it is "paid for" through cuts in other government spending.

It is STILL more debt! Our government HAS NO MONEY! They must borrow every dollar they spend, including for unemployment benefits.

As I have said for a long time now.. the MOST important thing about extended unemployment checks is to make sure these unemployed Americans can continue to make high interest rate payments to banks and retailers for overblown mortgages, car payments and credit card use. It's ONLY money for the banks and retailers.. a part of the continuing bailout mentality of Washington.

It has NOTHING to do with supporting our fellow Americans who have fallen on hard times.

As I'm fond of saying Follow the Money..

Please see the related article below and try reading between the lines a bit.. If you prefer you may click here for the source post..
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Friday, November 26, 2010

By Kevin Caufield

countyreporter@newstrib.com

Allison Ryan

svreporter@newstrib.com

With benefits set to run out, the unemployed may find themselves short on aid both from Congress and the local agencies that typically fill the gap.
“It’s getting to be slim pickings,” said Andrea Walters, executive director of United Way Illinois Valley, referring to the strain on local agencies. “It’s getting a little scary.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an estimated 124,400 Illinois residents are expected to lose their unemployment benefits by Jan. 1 after the House of Representatives last week voted 258 to 154 to extend benefits through February, falling short of the two-thirds margin needed to pass the House under special rules allowing an expedited vote.

LOCAL SAFETY NET WORN THIN

Before the recession, people without jobs could turn to a handful of local agencies for help in hard times. Unfortunately, state-funded agencies such as Business Employment Skills Team and Dislocated Workers Center at Illinois Valley Community College have exhausted their funding for people in need.
“Our funding has been fully obliated at this point,” explained Pam Furlan, executive director of BEST. “We might be able to help a little, but we’re just tapped out.”
Nearly all of the federal money from the recovery act already is being used to help fund college retraining programs for formerly unemployed workers. (Once they begin college, they can no longer be counted in the nation’s unemployment rate.)
Furlan suggested those who find themselves cut off from unemployment should look for seasonal work at local retailers.

“We just don’t see a lot of hiring activity right now and that might be their only option,” she said. “We’re trying to get grants and apply for more funding, but at this point, people should try to find whatever job they can and hope that it turns into something full-time.”

Tri-County Opportunities Council also is prepared for funding to run out for some programs by the end of the year. And with the state’s uncertain financial future, those grants could be cut next year.

“We’ve seen a big increase in people looking for help for several months now,” said Judy Fiste, TCOC community services coordinator. By the end of October, the program already had enrolled 575 more households than in October 2009 in the service area that includes Bureau, Putnam, La Salle, Marshall and Stark counties.
Funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, on the other hand, is not in danger of running out, according to Sandra Julifs, agency president and chief executive officer.

United Way typically refers people to other area agencies that provide services, not cash, or to its “Tools for Tough Times” classes, which teach strategies for budgeting and saving money. Those classes have drawn 35-40 people per session.
“People need to make some difficult choices because the agency services are being depleted,” Walters said.

Enrollment is on the rise in aid programs at Department of Human Services in Bureau County, which provides state-supported services such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and medical programs, according to Julie Wager, local office administrator. She cited a mid-November report that counted 7,029 people receiving benefits though the Princeton office, including 1,600 households enrolled for SNAP; that’s a jump from February 2009, when 6,027 were enrolled for services and only 1,200 for SNAP.

HOUSE DIVIDED ON BENEFIT EXTENSION

The good news is, unemployment rates are falling, nationally and statewide. But that trend doesn’t carry over in most local figures. Local unemployment statistics in October mirrored September’s statistics: La Salle County stayed at 11.6 percent unemployment; in Bureau County at 10.4 percent; and the Ottawa-Streator area at 11.3 percent. Unemployment fell slightly in Putnam County from 10.9 percent in September to 10.6 percent in October; and in Marshall County, from 8.4 percent to 7.9.
Statistics are not available on how many of those local residents could be affected if the federal government’s extended unemployment benefit programs end.
Last week in the House, some 21 Republicans joined 237 Democrats voting to maintain extended unemployment benefits, while 11 Democrats and 143 Republicans voted against.
Representatives who voted against insist the cost — $160 billion in the last fiscal year — be offset by cuts elsewhere to prevent the nation’s $13 trillion debt from growing further. Those who voted in favor refused to make any budget cuts or savings to offset the additional expense.

House Democratic leaders told Reuters they would take up the measure again after its Thanksgiving Day holiday break when a two-thirds majority wouldn’t be needed.
Jobless benefits usually expire after six months but, since the recession took hold in 2007, Congress has voted to extend them for up to 99 weeks.
Those 99 weeks have been expiring for a growing number of Americans, and unless Congress acts when it returns from its vacation, hundreds of thousands of currently unemployed people will face the following unemployment changes:
* People currently receiving initial regular unemployment benefits will not have the federal government’s extended plans made available to them after they exhaust their 26 weeks of benefits.

* People currently in the federal government’s 53-week emergency unemployment compensation will be unable to move on to the next “tier.” The tiers are in increments of 20 weeks, 14, 13 and 6. So, for example, unemployed people in the 13-week-long Tier 3 will not be able to move on to the 6-week-long Tier 4.
* People currently in the federal government’s 13- to 20-week extended benefit program will see that program terminate in Illinois on Dec. 11 regardless of how long they have been enrolled.

Newly unemployed people are still eligible for the state’s 26-week unemployment aid program.

An Illinois Department of Employment Security announcement stated, “At this point, it is not clear whether an extension will be enacted or, if it is, when it will pass or how long the extension will be.”
The IDES warning letter only enhances the difficult economic conditions the country has experienced.

The jobless rate has been stuck around 9.6 percent as the nation struggles to emerge from its worst recession since the 1930s. Economists expect unemployment to remain high for years to come.

Nearly half of the 15 million unemployed people in the United States have been out of work for more than six months, the highest level of long-term unemployment since the government began keeping track in the 1940s.

HOW LONG DO BENEFITS LAST?

The maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits include: 26 weeks of regular state benefits, 53 weeks of Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in four separate tiers of 20, 14, 13 and 6 weeks, and finally, 20 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB).
Current federal law establishes the following
cutoff dates for the EUC and EB programs:
* Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) — Must exhaust regular benefits by Nov. 20 to be placed on EUC.
* EUC — Must exhaust an EUC tier by Nov. 27 to move to the next tier of EUC benefits.
* Extended Benefits (EB) will terminate in Illinois Dec. 4. No payments on EB will be made for weeks ending after this date.