Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Prolonged aid to the unemployed is running out as 5000 employees of major Wall Street brokerage firms receive bonuses of at least $1,000,000.

This is the madness of which serious social problems take foundation, as they should!

Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out
ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 5:13 a.m. 
Last Modified: Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 5:13 a.m.

Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.

Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid.

Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year, according to new projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group.

Unemployment insurance is now a lifeline for nine million Americans, with payments averaging just over $300 per week, varying by state and work history. While many recipients find new jobs before exhausting their benefits, large numbers in the current recession have been unable to find work for a year or more.

Calls are rising for Congress to pass yet another extension this fall, possibly adding 13 more weeks of coverage in states with especially high unemployment. As of June, the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, reaching 15.2 percent in Michigan. Even if the recession begins to ease, economists say, jobs will remain scarce for some time to come.

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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Irresponsibility is the hallmark of the past three generations of Wall Street and government.

How is your Pension fund doing? Have you checked lately?

California’s Pension Problem: Shockingly Irresponsible
August 02, 2009

The next time a California government worker starts talking about furlough days and pay cuts, remind them about their pensions and lifetime medical benefits. Or, just give them a link to this Judy Lin article from Friday:

California has at least $63 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, an amount equal to roughly two-thirds of all annual general fund spending…

Government workers and their union representatives often say the more generous pensions offset lower pay.

But the latest U.S. Census survey, from 2007, shows the average annual salary of California state government employees was $53,958, compared with $40,991 for the average private-sector worker.

"The pension benefits for public employees in California are extravagant and they are going to bankrupt cities and counties, along with the state," said Keith Richman, a former state assemblyman who said he plans to launch an initiative campaign to change state employee pension benefits.

I predicted California’s pension problem back in December 2007:

Someone must pay for all of these employees and their pensions, sabbaticals, and health care. Teachers’ unions usually ask for more money, but the California State Teachers Retirement System is already worth around $125 billion. It has around 750,000 members and is the third largest public retirement fund in the country. Yet, after health care, education reform remains crucial, and the CTA continues to ask for more money.

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