Entries Tagged 'Unemployment' ↓

This is the 8th time the Republicant’s have blocked a vote.  Big of them. Thune must be saying screw you to all the people who have been looking for a job for months and months and have found nothing.  I gather everyone in SoDak is employed and Thune and the others just don’t give a shit about anyone else.

And they say they are sick of the partisanship. They are indeed the party of NO.

Republicans kill Senate jobless aid measure

By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the Senate have defeated an election-year bill to continue weekly jobless benefits for millions of long-term unemployed workers.

The 57-41 loss was a major blow for President Barack Obama and Democrats. They needed three more votes — for a total of 60 — to stop a GOP filibuster.

The rejected bill would also have provided billions of dollars in new aid, protecting the jobs of tens of thousands of state and local government workers as the country begins to emerge from the worst recession in seven decades.

Democrats have been trying to advance the measure for months as an insurance policy against a double-dip recession.

Despite another round of cuts to the measure aimed at pacifying GOP deficit concerns, not a single Republican broke with party leaders determined to kill the measure for adding more than $30 billion to the deficit.

I said it all along, just because the recession hit us late doesn’t mean it will leave early, in fact, I think it will take Sioux Falls longer to recover, just like in the 1990′s. But don’t take my word on it, just listen to Augustana economics professor Nesiba;

He said that one of the problems particular to Sioux Falls is not so much unemployment – which tends to be lower than in many parts of the country – but “persistently low wages.“

This has been a problem for a long, long time. Even when times are good, it seems business finds a way to keep wages low here.

“There are plenty of people in Sioux Falls that have multiple jobs,” Nesiba said. “Women with school-aged children here have high labor force participation rates. It isn’t because this is such a great place to work. It’s because two or three incomes are needed to get by.”

I can’t even remember in the 18 years I have lived in Sioux Falls that I did not have at least two jobs, at one time I even had four. For someone who is single, there really is no reason I should have to have two jobs to get by.

With a U.S. population of 300 million and a labor supply of about 150 million people, a 10 percent national unemployment rate means you have 15 million people out of work, Nesiba says.

“If you add in discouraged workers who have dropped off unemployment rolls or those who want more work, you get a number like 16 percent unemployment,” he said. “That’s a lot of people we need to put back to work.”

Those are the secret numbers that neither Washington, Pierre or SF City Hall want you to know about.

Nesiba said that even if the country could add 200,000 or 300,000 jobs per month – a rate not seen for a long time – a high unemployment rate is probable for years to come.

“I fear we’re going to have high and persistent unemployment for some time,” he said. “The advantage in South Dakota, and Sioux Falls in particular, is that we have lower unemployment than the rest of the nation. But the question is, how do we create higher living wages and jobs for middle-class people? I don’t see the leadership at the state or city level for that.“

That’s because the State’s and Sioux Falls’ motto has always been, “Business first, citizens second.” They are all bought and paid for. Just look at Pat Costello’s donor list. I hope Sioux Falls residents wake up and elect an honest fiscally conservative mayor and council for once.

I object!

Sen. Jim Bunning continues to object to extending unemployment benefits. On Monday, the Kentucky Republican once again prevented a vote on a bill that would extend eligibility for enhanced unemployment benefits and subsidized health insurance for laid-off workers by 30 days.

If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March. Bunning’s action could cause thousands of people to miss their unemployment checks starting this week, though it’s likely that Congress will pass an extension within the next two weeks that will retroactively cover their losses.

The video of him telling the reporter to get off his elevator is comical (see above). His baseball career below.

I have no words. Just watch and throw up a little.

When are our local and state lawmakers gonna wakeup? Even our half-ass media is reporting this stuff;

The majority of people who walk into the office of the Minnehaha County Health and Human Services need help paying rent because many have recently lost their jobs.

And good thing for our public school system or some kids would not have a warm place to go during the day;

Addressing chronic homelessness should be a priority when tackling the overall homeless problem, Sioux Falls City Council member Vernon Brown said. Establishing services to help the chronically homeless would free up other agencies to help those families with children who need temporary assistance, he said.

I’ll commend you Vernon for your work on this, but don’t you think it is time to build a fire under the Mayor’s and other councilor’s asses to get this moving a little faster? What’s the holdup? The homeless are not just going to disappear if you keep farting around. You should bring this up every single council and info meeting, you should also tell anyone in the media who will listen. I have found the only way to get things done is to keep the pressure on this isn’t about snowgates or indoor pools, this is serious shit.

Funny thing, city hall is mysteriously quiet about this report. No worries, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce chimed in, and if anyone would know about giving good advice about business and the economy, it would be them (as long as you are buying a membership and support higher taxes on food).

Dave Fleck, Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce board chairman and president of Sioux Falls Construction, noted that Sioux Falls’ unemployment is still well below the national average.

But just keep going out to eat, and everything will be just fine in Sioux Falls.

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader;

Sioux Falls unemployment: 4.7 percent

 According to statistics released today by the state Department of Labor, the rate jumped a full percentage point since December, when unemployment was at 3.7 percent. The statewide rate is 4.4 percent, and Rapid City is at 5.1 percent.

 Statistics from before 1990 were not immediately available.

The national unemployment figure for February is 8.1 percent.

Hopefully after seeing these numbers City Hall will wakeup and realize the time is now to make cuts to the 2009 budget, not waiting around for ‘more checks’ as the finance director has indicated. Jumping a full percentage point in one month is not a sign that things are getting better. If we continue to ignore the bad news this is going to end up biting us in the ass.  The tax increase should be revoked also without going to a public vote and all CIP projects that are decorative need to be put on hold and reviewed again in the fall.

It seems Rounds wants our unemployment benefits to run out on purpose so it will force people to work 3 part-time jobs until they can find something else.

Concerned it would cost businesses in the long run, Gov. Mike Rounds said Monday he plans to reject about $5 million in unemployment insurance aid that’s part of the federal economic stimulus package Congress recently passed.

The stupidity behind this is that if people lose there job in South Dakota, and they are a professional and they run out of unemployment benefits, they will move out of state to get work. So are we worried about ‘hurting business’ or ‘hurting our state tax rolls’ Once again no common sense or logic coming out of the Governor’s office. Business first – citizens second.