What Happened to my Paycheck?

[Molon Labe]

$20 a week. Big whoop.

If it's so much big whoop....why don't you pay mine? I'm sure there are others here who'd love that you don't mind shelling out an extra 20 or so.

[Madisonian]

There are about two million people who were probably about to be out on the street had it not been for unemployment being extended again. Two million people not spending or paying bills would be bad for the economy. I do not agree that it's it's a hammock.

No, it does not work that way.
The money those long term loafers get has to be taken out of the functional economy by way of taxes and borrowing. That is increased federal and state unemployment taxes that are taken from mine and other businesses that cannot go to higher wages, capital investment or new employment opportunities. There is also the administration overhead of the program for both collecting and disbursing the funds. So in all, those 2 million additional people that have been out of work for years do not need their unemployment extended yet again. They need to get off their lazy asses and high horses, get a job and become part of the workforce again.

[Rockntractor]

No, it does not work that way.
The money those long term loafers get has to be taken out of the functional economy by way of taxes and borrowing. That is increased federal and state unemployment taxes that are taken from mine and other businesses that cannot go to higher wages, capital investment or new employment opportunities. There is also the administration overhead of the program for both collecting and disbursing the funds. So in all, those 2 million additional people that have been out of work for years do not need their unemployment extended yet again. They need to get off their lazy asses and high horses, get a job and become part of the workforce again.

I like the way Jim Quinn explained it, he said we were eating our seed corn.

[Novaheart]

What getting a doctors appointment is going to be like if we get what Nova wants:

Dr. office: Hello, doctor's office.

Me, today(1/5/13): Yes, I have the flu and need to see the doctor.

Dr. office: OK, we can squeeze you in March 13.

Why would you see a doctor for the flu? I don't, and I have an HMO. It would cost me $10 to see a doctor. You go back to bed when you have the flu, unless you are some inconsiderate asshole trying to win an attendance award like the clerk at the post office. People who go to work sick aren't doing anyone a favor.

[Novaheart]

The source itself rates the content as "half truth".

I accounted for that in my response. The 'half truth' part was that Medicare estimates are accused of not counting some ancillary government services and that the estimate for private insurers was high. Therefore, I listed the high and the low as a range for each.

[Novaheart]

A friend is a resident specializing in neurology. His comment was that he's very worried about the bills that he's run up in a prestigious med school and the liklihood of ever paying it back because of the uncertainties of Obamacare. (He's not from this area).

Doctors cry poor a lot. Look at their assets at 50. I don't know any poor doctors. Do you?

And unless I'm extremely sick, wouldn't go to one of those urgent care places.

You go to urgent care when you already know what's wrong and what drugs you want.

[Novaheart]

If it's so much big whoop....why don't you pay mine? I'm sure there are others here who'd love that you don't mind shelling out an extra 20 or so.

I'll pay mine and you pay yours. You paid it before, you just had a vacation.

[SaintLouieWoman]

Doctors cry poor a lot. Look at their assets at 50. I don't know any poor doctors. Do you?





You go to urgent care when you already know what's wrong and what drugs you want.

There's that old class envy again. Docs in the past had a different set of circumstances than the young ones coming up.

Sad thing that you need to self-diagnose and dictate what drugs you want. Guess we'll be doing that in the future. Better start getting those health newsletters and reading a lot. Problem is, people who haven't put in all those long hours as an intern and resident start making spot diagnosis. That's why i ended up at the docs. One of my neighbors scared me half to death, insisting I had meninghitis because of the pains in the neck. Ordinarily I would have toughed it out.

Had a relative diagnosed with cancer recently. She fell apart. Turns out even the specialist was wrong, went to an even more specialized doc and learned that she was fine. Lord protect us when we're driven to self-diagnosing or diagnosing neighbors. We're going to be in a world of hurt.

And I don't deny docs making what they make. My orthopaedist seems to be working all the time. He turned up at 11pm at the hospital in Oct 2011 when I had my knee surgery. He had just returned from an outing with his family and still made his rounds. I was having problems with my pain meds and he took care of it. Do I deny him a penny that he makes? NO.

[Lanie]

No, it does not work that way.
The money those long term loafers get has to be taken out of the functional economy by way of taxes and borrowing. That is increased federal and state unemployment taxes that are taken from mine and other businesses that cannot go to higher wages, capital investment or new employment opportunities. There is also the administration overhead of the program for both collecting and disbursing the funds. So in all, those 2 million additional people that have been out of work for years do not need their unemployment extended yet again. They need to get off their lazy asses and high horses, get a job and become part of the workforce again.

You have to apply for work every week. If you turn down work, you can lose your unemployment.

It was discussed in another thread how the longer people are unemployed, the less likely they are to be hired. How can you say they're loafers?

Also, who wants to raise their families off of unemployment checks? That's only about half of what one used to make.

[ReinMan]

You have to apply for work every week. If you turn down work, you can lose your unemployment.

It was discussed in another thread how the longer people are unemployed, the less likely they are to be hired. How can you say they're loafers?

Also, who wants to raise their families off of unemployment checks? That's only about half of what one used to make.

Ah, yes. The Monthly Record of Work Search (.pdf warning).

1. Walk into office/facility/whatever.
2. Ask the receptionist, "Are you hiring? No? Can you fill in the contact information on this? Thanks."
3. Repeat once for current week.
4. Return to ass-print in sofa.
5. Repeat for each week of month.

I'm surprised you don't know this game, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) else I've asked seems to...

As for "less likely to be employed", most hiring managers are at least somewhat aware of the economic climate, and want to see evidence of some kind of activity, even if it's not a "job". Using the time to complete a long-put-off project, or volunteer regularly at a community service provider can be just as good as currently having a job. What they don't want to see is someone who's idle just because they don't currently answer to a boss. That's the type of person who will only be productive while being actively supervised, and a hiring manager can certainly do better than that...