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That’s nice that you were able to manage the situation. Of course, you had the benefit of a spouse’s income, plus you had a savings plan. People that are unmarried don’t have that option or other salary to fall back on. It’s also less likely that they have enough savings to live on. But that’s not even the point here.

The point is...you claim that receiving unemployment benefits disincentivizes people (meaning ‘other’s...not you) to look for and find work. You also fail to understand the plight of those ‘others’ when they may not have another spouse’s income to rely on, while you make only 1/5 of what you’re used to making.

Here’s a clue....IF you could get hired for a job making 1/5 of your former salary, it wouldn’t be enough to live on. The chances of even getting that job are slim to none, since the employment application usually asks how much you made at your last position and if you are honest, they won’t hire you. They’ll figure you’ll bolt as soon as you find something better (rightly so). If you lie and say you made less, and they check, you won’t get the job.

Now...unless you made $100,000 a year, 1/5 is not going to be enough to live on. I only made $50,000 a year. 1/5 of that would barely just pay my rent. Even at $70,000 a year, 1/5 of that would only be about $1,200/month. Great if you have another income to fall back on, or if you’re living with mommy, but not so great if you’re on your own. Get the picture?

I’ll say it again. In normal times, these claims would be valid. These are, as you already know, not normal times. The fact that you’d even have to consider taking a job making 1/5 of your normal salary attests to that fact. Between the number of applicants per job, the overqualification and previous salary factor and the age discrimination factor for those of us over 50, it’s a bleeding nightmare out there. And it’s getting worse, not better.

All I’m saying is....stop and think about others that are not so fortunate as you are before you make blanket statements that, even if you didn’t intend to, condemn those of us that are still unemployed through no fault of our own.

Be a compassionate conservative...not just the faux cliche that the left throws out there and uses against us due to our fiscal conservative policies.

XenaLee, I understand completely that these are not "normal" times (or perhaps they are, and the previous couple decades of false prosperity were the aberration), which is exactly why I have take extraordinary measures and have done things I never dreamed I'd have to do, in order to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads.

But what's the answer then? Are you suggesting that the Federal government just keep subsidizing unemployment extensions forever, given that the economy will never return to the previous levels of debt and bubble-driven faux prosperity?