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In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee and council member Cecilia Rouse urged Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits for millions of Americans who are out of work, citing a new report that argues not doing so would have dire consequences for the U.S. economy.
The council’s report, which details how a failure to extend the aid would affect people on a state-by-state level, says nearly seven million Americans could lose coverage by the end of next year and that 600,000 jobs are at stake. Goolsbee contended the gross domestic product would be six-tenths of a percent point lower in December of next year if the benefits are not extended, slowing the nation's recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.
According to an earlier report by the National Employment Law Project, some two million workers nationally could lose benefits in December if they are not extended, an estimate the CEA also uses. The U.S. Joint Economic Committee estimates failure to extend the benefits program "would drain the economy of $80 billion in purchasing power and result in the loss of over one million jobs over the next year."
"The data is quite clear from many outside sources that people on unemployment insurance, when they lose the unemployment insurance, there's a very significant drop off in the amount of consumption spending that they do," Goolsbee said. "If you're going to have millions of people just before the holidays losing their benefits and then multiple millions in the months that follow losing their benefits, the impact on consumer spending is significant."
The CEA report focuses on the temporary extensions that began in June 2008. Rouse said that in 42% of households, the unemployed worker was the sole wage earner, so the extensions had benefited more than 40 million people, including 10.5 million children.
"It's quite an important source of income for these families," she said.
Republicans have said they are willing to back an extension of the benefits, provided it is paid for with budget cuts elsewhere. The impasse over the benefits, which the White House says have long been considered emergency spending that does not have to be offset, comes at a time when the nation's jobless rate remains stubbornly high.
Many economists expect Friday's unemployment report to show November was the 19th straight month with a jobless rate above 9%.
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NO! Didn't you get the memo? The GOP's answer is NO!
The CEO of MondoCorp needs his Bush Tax Cut extended so he can buy another Bentley first!
Hmmm... What is wrong with this picture?
These right wing Scrooges are DEMANDING that in order to help out those most in need we ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY have to PAY for it out of this side of their lying lips...
And out of the other side they REFUSE to answer HOW the upper 2% tax cuts are going to be PAID FOR!
What's that...? You mean they're not going to be?
Why would we BORROW another 70 BILLION on our Chinese VISA card?
Why middle class America is not OUTRAGED is beyond comprehension along with the MSM refusing the force them to declare their scheme publicly!
In Sowell's latest piece, he talks about how the IRS data from show that 206 people reported annual income of a million, or more. Then tax rates skyrocketed and 5 years later there only 21 people reporting annual incomes of a million or more.
Funny, but after Congress enacted tax cuts, suddenly 207 reported annual incomes of a million in 1925.
The government collected less than $50 million in capital gains in 1924, then suddenly collected over $100 million in capital gains taxes in 1925.
Same thing has time and again all these years sense. The rich don't work like the middle class. Their money money works for them. Raise their taxes and they just put it in tax exempt securities, bonds, etc., etc. etc.
The $700 billion is specious. It makes political sense, because the willfully blind and the naive want to believe. Makes no economic sense. Never has.
So go ahead with political histrionics and demagoguery, but Obama knows the facts and will fold. He will sacrifice millions of Americans to unemployment and pay them for their trouble to help support his big government agenda, but he can't risk 9.6% unemployment for 2 more years and expect to get elected. Obama even knows he can't BS is way out of that.
BTW - Pretty pathetic when 6/10% of Obama's GNP is dependent on unemployment checks after spending a trillion on stimulus, doncha think.
Bob proudly proclaims: Same thing has time and again all these years sense. The rich don't work like the middle class. Their money money works for them. Raise their taxes and they just put it in tax exempt securities, bonds, etc., etc. etc."
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Good point Bob, looks like a good way to start reducing the deficit would be the elimination of tax exempt securities, bonds, etc., etc. etc. right Bobber?
If you had a clue you would understand that tax reform is one of the salient points of the debt commission.
Seems most of the criticism of the debt commission is coming from the left. Kinda funny, huh?
Bobber?
If you can't come up with anything better than that and you are desperate for a snark, maybe you should plagiarize Feisty and send her some pop corn or something. Geez
I wouldn't waste my time on Bob. He obviously is or thinks he is one of those that are above the common American. I always wonder how they become convinced that they are relevant to the class they wish they were in. Not knowing when you are being used and abused is the sad thing. Like the Tea Party.It was honorable until it let itself get hijacked by Army, Koch, and the GOP in general.
GOP motto: Tell a lie, make it big, tell it often, and they will believe you. I hope you never lose what you think you are owed.
ARealist,
It is you that are afraid of losing what you think you are owed.. You think the Govt owes you just because you Breath. Always at the Expense of someone else. I am sorry that you have such low Self estem that you can't get rich or dont think you can. Pathetic that the Democrats and the lies they have told you are keeping you Finacially Enslaved to them.. All for your vote..
ARealwaste,
Yet, you wasted time anyway.
If you were going to waste time, shame you didn't have the intellectual capacity to refute anything.
In Other News:
The Nigerian government will charge former Vice President Dick Cheney in a massive bribery case involving $180 million in kickbacks paid to Nigerian lawmakers, who awarded a $6 billion natural gas pipeline contract to Halliburton subsidiary KBR when Cheney was running the company.
Rand Paul wants federal employees to take a pay cut but not members of Congress, like himself.
Now why doesn't either of these news items surprise me.
Hopefully Dennis, the Cheney piece is true.....Paul, nothing new for him.
Our Justice Department is afraid of Cheney so they will sit back and wait for some other entity to do the work!
Chilled,
Here is the link to the story:
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/12/02/rand-paul-pay/
Dennis, keep on top of the Nigerian case against Cheney for us. Hourly updates would be the best.
Let us know what the DailyKos and Media Matters has on it too. Maybe get Michael Moore's input? You know, all the repudiable sources for news.
I bet Dick's pacemaker missed a beat or two when he heard the Nigerians were coming after him.
Dennis thanks for the link!
Papa Paul and his son of course are not based in reality! Not sure about the district that Papa Paul represents here in Texas but there are at a minimum 15 active Military Installations in Texas..... Papa better be careful of what he speaks. Surely at least 1 is in his district but those folks aren't paying attention. Federal employee wages are set based on the locality pay, i.e., Federal Employees in DC make more than the same type of employee in Texas. Cheaper to live in Texas. Location, location! Maybe Senators and Representatives pay should be set the same way. Location, Location!
The 'Let them eat cake' mentality!
JS1,
You really don’t keep up with the news. Cheney no longer has a pace maker. He has a pump that bypasses his heart muscle altogether. And to no one’s surprise he doesn’t have a heartbeat – I doubt he ever did.
Couldn't his unprecedented Secret Service detail roll him into a CIA jet and Rendition his heartless a$$ to Nigeria?
Yellowcake from NIGER, indeed! Plame and Wilson's revenge.
I still think the perfect Christmas gift from daddy's little girl the Lizzard would be a CLAPPER!
Can you imagine just how much FUN THAT would be?
CLAP on... CLAP OFF... let's see if he can hold his breath as long as those he WATER BOARDED!!!
Oh, Feisty, your best yet!
Lets have a big round of applause for Dick Cheney!
Thanks NDD!
A girl can only hope that payback really is a b!tch & Karma's going to bite a great big chunk out of his flabby white a@@!
Link the tax rate for everyone and businesses making more than $3 million to the unemployment rate.
9.6% X 9.9 = 95% You lower unemployment down to 1% your tax rate is 9.9%. That is incentive.
Listening to GOP's Representative Shaddech (sp), the Congressional republicans have no grasp on reality. He should try reading something beyond the GOP obstructionist handbook. According to this guy, jobless benefits do not stimulate the economy; he claims the unemployed do not spend the money, they save it. Sure they do, they do not need the average $300 a week for food, rent/mortgage, gasoline, car, clothing--they hord it. In the past, both republican and democratic presidents and congress have always extended unemployment benefits as long as the jobless number remains high during a recession.
The current crop of republican legislators are cold hearted and shallow; they have no problem extending tax cuts for wealthiest 2% of the population adding $70 billion a year to the debt because according to GOPers, there's no need to pay for tax cuts but as one head line put it today--GOP tells unemployed, Drop Dead. They have no problem charging $70 billion for 2% but when it comes to the $16 billion for extending jobless benefits, they demand it be funded. Hypocrisy, thy name is republican.
They will extend unemployment when it is paid for.
Then the tax cuts should only be extended when they are paid for.
Millions of people are losing everything because of the meltdown created by unpaid for wars, tax cuts, and wall street greed. The guilty were made whole again, even got a bonus, they did not get unemployment, they got paid in full, they were too big to fail. These people are they too small to succeed, is that it, the opposite of "to big to fail" is "too small to survive" I hope the last thing these people sell at the pawn shop is their guns they might want to take Sharon Angle's advice and explore their second amendment remedies.
It was reported today that the FEDS gave the banks 9 TRILLION in bail out! No not Billion!
Do you know how much is One TRILLION?
Let me give you an idea!
If you added a Million dollars for each day dating back 2000 yrs to the birth of Jesus Christ, you still would NOT have ONE TRILLION dollars.
Mind boggling isn't it?
But the Republicans are blocking unemployment to help hurting families who have lost jobs for no reason of their own but because of Wall Street thief! This is wicked!
Remember this when you vote! Unless your rich or just don't give a @!$%# !
God says; HE is angry with the wicked every day!
One Love!
The Doctor
$9000 Billion, or $9million-million.
It is a stack of 100 dollar bills to the moon.
government by thieves, features influential government employees exploiting their posts for personal gain (embezzlement, fraud, bribery, etc.), with the resultant deficit repaid by the native working people who “earn money”, rather than “make money”. Because of foreign (corporate) manipulation, the government is unaccountable to its nation, the country's private sector–public sector corruption operates the banana republic, thus, the national legislature usually are for sale, and function mostly as ceremonial government.
im disgusted by the whole process. It was ok to not pay for bills in the past but now when people really need it IT HAS TO BE PAID FOR. why cant congress take a pay cut?
No, Aaron; It only has to be paid for if it is for those in need. If it is for the Republican's corporate masters, paying for their tax cut is the least of their worries.