Weekly jobless claims down , but.....

[pscot]

.....The number of people who continue to get regular unemployment checks, meanwhile, rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.63 million in the week ended May 1. That's the most recent data available.

The number of workers receiving extended federal benefits declined by almost 217,000 to 5.14 million in the week ended April 24, not seasonally adjusted.

Extended benefits kick in after a recipient exhausts eligibility for state unemployment compensation, usually after 26 weeks. Lawmakers have extended benefits for up to 99 weeks to workers in the states hit hardest by the recession.

Altogether, 10.07 million people were collecting some type of unemployment benefits in the week ended April 24, down 332,264. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

BNP Paribas said the decline mostly reflects the exhaustion of benefits. The firm said it expects the number to keep declining over the next few months as more Americans use up benefits and Washington moves to let some extensions expire

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/weekly-jobless-claims-fall-4000-to-444000-2010-05-13-85800

[ipaint]

1. People are being culled. Unemployment is still high yet

folks who can't find work are supposed to just slink off and die somewhere when their benefits end. This is hitting the 50 and over age particularly hard.


"This spending is needed, though, and not just for humanitarian reasons (although those are important). Extended claims are also a very effective economic stimulus tool, and one that the non-partisan Congressional Budget office has scored as one of the most effective at creating or saving jobs on a per-dollar-spent basis.

...If there were no extended claims, then these people would have no income at all -- and with savings depleted and credit lines used, they would have zero financial resources. In years gone by, those who were homeowners could use the equity in their houses to tide them over, but in the first quarter, 24% of all houses with mortgages were under water, and an additional 4% had less than 5% positive equity. For those people, borrowing against the house is not an option.

What is an option if they didn’t have extended benefits would be to simply stop paying their mortgage and wait for the sheriff to show up at the door. In many areas of the country, that can take well over a year. However, if everyone were to do that, the new capital that the banks have raised to get out from under the TARP program, and which they have been able to generate due to the very steep yield curve, would quickly be depleted. We would soon be back to the "bad old days" of October 2008. Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) would once again be basket cases on the verge of collapse, and with them the whole world financial system.

It is not that people are not putting this into practice now -- after all, it is the economically rational thing to do if your house is deeply underwater -- but that there would be far more of them doing it. People not being able to pay their mortgages is at the heart of the reason that Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) continue to bleed billions and billions each quarter with no end in sight.

The Ripple Effect

Also, if people had no income or other financial resources, they would not be able to shop for even the most basic needs at Wal-Mart (WMT), which would lead to layoffs there and up and down the Wal-Mart supply chain. Those people would then be getting unemployment insurance until their 26 weeks were up, and the downward cycle would continue.
The point of extended claims is to help break this cycle, not to become a new permanent welfare system. There will come a time when we need to scale back on the extended benefits, but with the unemployment rate still at close to 10%, now is not the time to do so."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/204994-initial-jobless-claims-down-sort-of?source=feed


Millions exhausting benefits with no jobs. Right before an election.

[Paper Roses]

2. Over 50 and hit hard checking in. This is my 2nd week of

exhausted benefits, no check from Uncle Sam any more. Take my age and couple it with a couple of physical problems, and dated skills, I am next to useless competing against folks far younger. I am now trying to figure a budget what will allow me to keep going on just Social Security. It is not much and I know I should be grateful to even have that. I will still keep looking but am not encouraged.

My heart goes out to all who find their world upside down these past few years.

Maybe being old has its rewards during this economic mess. We will not have to suffer through the next generation or 2 of post **** repair.

I notice in my local newspaper lately, that there are more and more foreclosure notices. These people who are in such trouble have worked for years to establish a home and family. Now their dreams are shot to heck. I would venture that things like utilities are on the verge of shut-off. How much worse can it get?

Very soon, I will be giving my kids some furniture I have as they could use it.

I may, at that time, consider taking in a family in need. I don't have much room but I have a roof over my head. For that I am thankful.

Now I think I'll see if I qualify for food stamps. If the government does not care about us, then I think I should do my part in taking what I need. If food stamps will help me and I qualify, great. It may help me enough so that, as I save half my SS check for my Real Estate taxes, I can still get by.

Never would this old lady have believed it.....

I am a non-person now, I no longer count.

[ipaint]

3. Not much comfort but your not alone.

I'm 53 my husband is 57, self employed artist and carpenter respectively, our jobs and income are gone. I can only hope that they can fool enough people with the phantom recovery baloney which may open folks wallets to at least keep me in business. My husbands trade is dead. We are too far away from social security and don't own a home.

Without a weak recovery that would put me back to work at poverty level, we are on the street. My husband is on the last of tier four. There is a chance if congress renews the tier program on time and crist (gov. fl) signs the bill on his desk which renews EU benefits in florida we could end up with a few extra weeks.

After that well...thinking about it seriously depresses me so one day at a time for sanity's sake.

You are in my thoughts.

[Paper Roses]

4. And you are in my thoughts. I'm sure, like me, you make every

economy that you can. I worry all the time. It is not good for any of us to be under this stress. Not only do we worry about our own well being, we worry about everything and everyone we know. We can't do a darn thing about. You are approximately my kid sisters and her husbands age. The company my brother in law works for is surely now going to let lots of folks go. He will probably be one of them. This company has moved them all over the place. They have lost on every move. In California now, and they are very much displaced New Englanders. They spend most of their income on rent because they would never buy there. Even though he is working, one thing or another has wiped them out. My sister is disabled and cannot work and has been denied disability. She is not crippled enough, I guess.

Guess what company he works for? Big in the news at the moment. He is not in any kind of position but wait this out. They will come home somehow if he gets laid off. Back where milk is affordable and eggs are not $5.00 a dozen. No earthquakes either.

What a country.

[sendero]

5. They are "down"...

... because the previous number was adjusted "up". And the "down" amount is a pittance, virtually within the margin of error.

There is no recovery, period.