$600 a week in unemployment benefits. This can't continue like this.

Discussion in 'Economics & Trade' started by wgabrie, Jul 29, 2020.

  1. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    What type of business did he run?
     
  2. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    and I wish you could write.
     
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  3. roorooroo

    roorooroo Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Skilled construction trades
     
  4. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    A bakery and garden center. The bakery is closed, but the garden center is open.
     
  5. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Im far better than I appear on PF. This website and my 'autocorrect' on my mobile do not get along. And it seems to be just here...
     
  6. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    Try this:
    Go to your PF's Preferences and uncheck "Use the rich text editor to create and edit messages" let me know if that works for you because I use that setting unchecked. See these images for my version of the settings:
    Preferences.png Preferences2.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
  7. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Well, you can believe hearsay but I prefer the facts.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says this (end June 2020 from here):
    Listen to whomever you please - but I prefer the factual evidence from the BLS ...
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
  8. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    Yes, listen to the central bureaucracy. They know best. And, don't listen to the people on the ground, in the middle of it all. Like farmers.

    They did that in Soviet Russia and look at what happened to them with their planned economy and mass starvations.
     
  9. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Bollocks.

    In any public-service, more than likely, the people working there have been trained and are experienced in whatever the subject.

    You obviously know little about how Public Services are organized and delivered ....
     
  10. Quadhole

    Quadhole Well-Known Member

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    The position we find our country in today is a Mess. Created by allowing the BIG BUSINESSES to move to china in 80s - 2010. I even did it with my small corp. Had too, could not compete with big boys. Cut taxes on the RICH and deregulate everything in the banking and investment community and you get THIS ! I can only imagine how many different things the QNON, or right wing fascists love to blame for this situation. Now having pushed the weak Pelosi and Schumer to want MMT. It is a joke...

    Just so GLAD I seen it all coming and didn't listen to financial advisors, or politicians. Stuck with metal, real estate, and some investments. That money gained gets moved out and put into Tangible assets. Just an electrician... but seen this gammit my whole life. The clean cut salesman telling me "what is best for me" F- you !

    Now, to the 600$ (take it away and 30M people struggle). Maybe 5M go back to work if the work is there ? The other 25M equal 20% home foreclosures, cars, and the 32% drop in GDP goes to 50%.... Pick your poison ? What shall it be, a collapsed economy or one paid for by the government. As stated above in my post, this was created in the 80s - 90s, not just the virus. A virus that hit a country with no real wealth. Wealth comes from Grow it, Mine it, Build It... We do so little of this... Devastation is right around the corner. This Admin, Mnuchin, Powell thru pushed by Trump and his boss Stephen Miller are making it look good until they leave. Then reality sets in...
     
  11. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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  12. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    EUROPE IS NOT THE US ...

    This is the end of "something" that began in 2008 with the Great Recession. Americans think the Great Depression was an historical pause that ended with WW2. And that's all.

    If one does not understand history, then history has a way of coming around again. Our recent Great Recession (GR) did have a powerful impact, but fortunately there was no Hitler to give Britain and the US a good reason to declare war. (Which, in fact, they were reluctant to do.)

    We've done the right thing (in Europe) as a consequence of the GR. We've expanded aid to countries to both contain debt and stimulate the economy. It is no magic wand, but with time it does allow EU economies to recover. Because, the no-so-secret remedy of any economic disaster is that people need to understand it is not the end-of-the-world - even if they lost their job. If others are being hired, they renew a confidence that they can be hired again, so they use their savings to maintain their lifestyle.

    Which is key to preventing the whole economy from rushing down the pug-hole.

    But, Europe is not the US. Attitudes are very different, and so means must be different. Americans, I think, are waiting for November to show Donald Dork the well-deserved door. And they will take their chances with a Dem PotUS. Hoping that he can get them out of recession quickly.

    Who, if he doesn't screw things up mightly, indeed will have a chance to put America back-on-track. But, the economy is not everything. We must also take into consideration internal ways-of-doing-things that must change. They must not be repeated or what has happened before will just happen again.

    Upper-incomes (that came unstuck when Reckless Ronnie drastically reduced upper incomes) need to be reduced significantly by higher taxation. The money obtained does nobody any good except for them and theirs. Taxed sufficiently it can be put to work re-educating our people that need it badly in this brave-new-world of the Information Age.

    We must have a national healthcare system that is not a boondoggle for professionals who spent a fortune to get their degree and therefore expect a return of the same order. A free (or nearly free) for all Tertiary Education is key to assuring that the Great Recession does not happen again. The health-profession is a fundamental necessity that must be easily available to all and not just those who can afford it.

    Both of the above key-elements are essential to pulling America into the real-time of what has already happened in Europe. Nobody graduates from a post-secondary degree with a monumental debt hanging over their heads. No such thing as an "ER" exists in Europe! All get the level of attention they may need. (Which is why Europeans live on average four-years longer than Americans!)

    Nobody get skinned financially going to see a doctor with an acutely serious illness. In fact, they recover and go back to work. And nobody quits post-secondary education because they cannot pay the $14K a year average for a degree from a state-run institution of higher learning. Because the tuition fee in Europe is not even a tenth of that amount ... !
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2020
  13. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    A lot more jobs than anybody will own up to are never coming back. My employer is not replacing any of the retiring employees this year because we have been adapting to needing fewer people due to covid. I also know of a handful of businesses just in my little world that are closing down simply because the owners are close enough to retirement, they are going to go ahead and cash out early.
     
  14. OldManOnFire

    OldManOnFire Well-Known Member

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    The median wage in the US is about $34K which is about $16.35/hour.
    $600/week is about $31,200 per year or about $15/hour.
    Last I read only about 1 to 1.5 million Americans actually work for minimum wage.
    Assuming ~160 million workers, 80 million of them work for $16.35/hour or less.
    I don't blame ~70 million workers preferring the $600 over working...it's shortsighted but I don't blame them.

    I think whatever workers were earning on a given date, not including overtime, bonuses, etc., when they became unemployed, they should have been guaranteed this same wage until further notice. Not more or less...just exactly what they were earning. Just keep them whole until things improve.

    Conversely, Trump's $400 offer is about $20,800/year, or $10/hour. The idiocy in this conversation is Trump acts like 30 million jobs are just sitting vacant while people wine & dine on their $600/week windfall...the jobs DO NOT exist! They can't go back to work yet.

    Lastly, I don't buy the anecdotal story in the OP here. The only workers getting the $600/week are those unemployed. There are always plenty of workers to hire who weren't getting the $600...
     
  15. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    So, anyway, I changed my mind on this and hope that people get large, weekly unemployment.

    Of course, President Trump made sure of that right? With his executive order?
     
  16. PJO34

    PJO34 Well-Known Member

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    "A Yale report published in July, for example, found that the extra $600 is not the primary reason people are, or are not, working. Rather, the most important factor in whether people returned to work was the availability of jobs."

    Additionally the Wall Street Journal reported that 82% of economists came to the same conclusion, and commented that the additional $600 was a vital step to keeping the economy from cratering. At this point, it is important to get money into the economy. The best way of doing this is to give money to the people who will most likely spend it immediately.

    People return to work even when they earn more to stay on unemployment because they realize the unemployment is temporary and a job now may not be available later. In addition, most people receive health care through work so no job, no health care.

    We need to stop worrying that some Americans are getting a temporary windfall, and consider the broader economy. If people want to complain, complain about all the businesses who improperly received money from the Cares act. That is where the most abuse occurred.
     
  17. Kyklos

    Kyklos Well-Known Member Donor

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    The jobless rate as reported this month by the U.S. Labor Department is 29 million unemployed at U3 8.4% (unemployment rate for full-time job losses). Dr. Rasmus reports that the unemployed rate conservatively estimated is at 40 to 50 million persons.

    The official U3- 8.4% unemployment rate is about 22.7 million persons too low. Only 44% of the unemployed ever received the $600 dollar benefit.

    Alternative Visions - Labor Day in the Era of Covid.
    September 4, 2020
    Dr. Jack Rasmus, Professor of Economic, Moraga, Ca., Saint Mary's College.
     
  18. DennisTate

    DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This is happening here in Canada as well.

    One of the greatest dangers in this is that there are two factors needed to produce hyper-inflation. 1. A major increase in the supply of money. 2. A major decrease in productivity.

    Very high unemployment benefits like this greatly decrease productivity in both Canada and America.



    http://www.politicalforum.com/index...is-a-good-thing.499686/page-9#post-1067298520



     
  19. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    Two big assumptions, not borne up by the evidence.

    1) Assuming that money will be 'spent immediately'.

    and

    2) That people want to return to work.
     
  20. Melb_muser

    Melb_muser Well-Known Member Donor

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    Bu...bu-bu but as member Dutch said - it is the rich persons duty to live lavishly!! And they can employ so many more people to maintain their lifestyle if employees are at subsistence wages.

    Having said employees educated goes against the grain here.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2020
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  21. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    Then in both cases the objection to low wages and the need for a $15/hour minimum wage is illustrated and validated. The problem is not the $600/week but the low pay as wages have been so flat for 40 years.
     
  22. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    Oh give me a friggin break. Anyone with debt threatening to make them homeless, and making it very difficult to feed the kids, will spend any money they get IMMEDIATELY. You're implying an ABSURD position that people in such a position may be likely to put the money in the bank to earn interest and save for a "rainy day" or to invest in toys. Gimme a griggin BREAK!

    Point 2: studies show that the unemployed do, in fact, want to get back to work!

    You're spouting bullshit talking points.
     
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  23. Have at it

    Have at it Banned

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    I assume you read the entire thread so you want 50% of american workers making minimum (or near minimum wage) how is anyone supposed to get ahead if we are all making the same wage ????
     
  24. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    That is entirely incorrect! You know that, right? You're not a dope so you MUST know that. The whole calculation of the rich is to get RICHER. They don't employ or CAUSE the employment of enough workers in the support of their lavish lifestyle to make any significant difference in the standard of living of the working class.
     
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  25. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    That's an "interesting" invention. It's yours. You assumed and cobbled together the assumptions that I never came close to suggesting. And NO, I haven't read all 48 posts today.

    But let's parse what you said....
    Since the national average wage is about $31k, you are saying that I want to see the average worker earning less. Do you really think that's what I want?

    In post 39 we see "The median wage in the US is about $34K which is about $16.35/hour."

    Imagine a bell curve of that. We know the low end is the minimum wage of $7.25/hr or a tiny bit over $14,000 per year. So the $34k median is $20k more than the low. So what would be the high end of that bell curve? It would be $20k more than the median, or $54k/year. That would be the high.

    As you can see from that, the median income is skewed far toward poverty. And you think I want it lower.
     
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