Unemployment Benefits

Unemployment benefits have been extended and extended and now they look as if they are going to be extended again under President Obama.  How many more times can we reasonably extend unemployment benefits before we truly bankrupt our government?  Under the latest proposed extension, the unemployed would be able to receive benefits for 99 weeks, that's almost two years worth of money being supplied by our government.  It is unfortunate that so many people have been out of work for so long, but at what point do unemployment benefits become a crutch for the people and a detriment to government and its budget crisis.  Even people who are currently receiving unemployment benefits are finding fault with the possibility of another extension.  Our government can not simply keep on handing out money to those unable to find jobs.  The more they do, the more money will come out of taxpayer pockets to pay for them, and the more our country will sink into debt.  While complete austerity measures should not be considered in my opinion, the money that would go towards these unemployment benefits would be better spent on public works projects or investment in technology that would create new jobs.  Our country is currently trillions of dollars in the hole with no practical way of digging ourselves out, yet they can't figure out that spending more money on unemployment benefits will not answer the problem. 

I have run into a number of business owners who are saying that the current unemployment benefits are hurting their ability to hire valuable employees.  They are saying that a good number of the people they would like to hire because of their qualifications, won't take the job because they are making more on unemployment.  So how will extending unemployment benefits actually help the jobless situation.  In my mind, and I am sure to many others, it will simply prolong the period of time before these unemployed people start looking for a job.  In the meantime, our economy continues to suffer.  Unemployment benefits are beneficial, if kept to a minimum so that people can have some insurance when they lose a job and have some time to find a new one.  Otherwise, they do no good.  In talking to a friend in the financial consulting area, he had a good idea which I feel would make the unemployment benefits more worthwhile and beneficial to our country as a whole.  He posited that in order for people to receive these benefits, that they should have to volunteer a certain amount of hours per week.  By doing this and having these volunteer hours signed off on, the unemployed would not simply be sitting around waiting for a job to come along, but they would be assisting in their communities and contributing to the good of everyone.  In essence, they would be getting indirectly paid for their volunteer work.  This to me seems like the most ideal situation, communities receive much needed assistance, the employed can see their tax dollars tangibly at work through volunteer efforts, and the unemployed would not get lazy and think they could continually sit around and receive checks. 

This whole recession has created a mess out of not just our economy, but the economies of countries around the world.  What we need is for our politicians to take a practical approach to working through this mess and finding our way out the other end.  What it seems we have instead are a bunch of horses with blinders on.  All they see is their way of doing things and to hell with everyone else, they will do what they want.  It doesn't seem like they are taking the time or actually making an effort to see what will actually work or not work.  If my friend who is a financial advisor could come up with a solution to unemployment benefits that makes more sense than anything our government has done to date, then how did some of these people in office actually get there?  Before I get lambasted for downplaying the plight of the unemployed, let me say that I feel for them and would not want to be in their position at all.  At the same time, I have a problem continually paying for them to sit around with my tax dollars.  Not that I have any say what my tax dollars get used for, but I do have an issue with this.  Another solution to this problem would be for any unemployment benefits payed out, they must be paid back in full to our government.  I doubt this would ever happen, but imagine the amount of money that would flow back into the coffers of our government if we could make the unemployed pay for their benefits (once they got a job).  Alas, unless this Occupy Wall Street movement takes off, finds a leader, and forces changes to be made, I feel that we will keep on trucking down our current path towards imminent demise.  Today, if you have a job, be grateful for it because there are plenty out there who don't have one.  If you are unemployed, I'm sorry to hear it and I wish you the best but at the same time, I don't think that your benefits should be extended.