Georgia’s long-term unemployed about to be abandoned
Unless the state Legislature reverses course quickly, 22,000 Georgia households are going to be stripped of badly needed long-term unemployment benefits by the end of June.
The money may not seem like much — an average of $244 a week per household. But for Georgia families that already have had to survive months without a regular paycheck in the worst economic environment in 80 years, it’s at least something. It helps put food on the table.
But with only four days left in the 2011 session, state leaders are oddly reluctant to take action that would save those benefits.
It ought to be a no-brainer. The money at stake — Georgia’s share would come to an estimated $175 million — has already been appropriated by Congress. Other states with high unemployment rates have already taken steps to accept their share. Georgia leaders have to demonstrate their own willingness to accept it by passing a small, technical change in state law, but so far, they’ve balked.
The question is why.
Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal, notes that as a member of Congress, Deal voted against extended unemployment benefits and is philosophically opposed to them. As governor, Robinson says, Deal is “studying the issue very closely” but hasn’t decided yet whether he would sign the necessary bill into law.
“We’re fine with the Legislature moving forward on it” while the governor makes up his mind, Robinson said. But Deal will neither champion nor oppose the move.
As head of the state Department of Labor, Labor Commissioner Mark Butler is responsible for administering unemployment benefits and looking out for Georgia workers. But through spokesman Sam Hall, Butler is also taking an oddly passive position.
“The commissioner would support whatever the governor and the Legislature decide to do on the matter,” Hall told me Wednesday.
Of course, it’s not just the long-term unemployed who would benefit from the program. The $175 million at stake would be used to buy groceries at local stores. It would be used to pay rent to landlords, or perhaps fend off foreclosures that in turn would help keep neighorhood property values from plummeting. It would also generate millions of dollars in state income tax revenue.
If the money is rejected, none of that happens.
Despite all that, neither the governor nor the labor commissioner want to be seen as supportive of the idea. They don’t want to be perceived as opposing it; that would make them look heartless and cruel. But given the ideology that dominates their party, they also can’t be seen as advocating assistance for the long-term unemployed.
So they choose to “study the issue” or pretend they have no role. They dump the responsibility on legislators, many of whom are no doubt making the same sort of political calculation as their leaders have. They too don’t want to be seen as killing the program, but many may be perfectly willing to let it die.
Choosing to do nothing is still a choice, however. And it will still have consequences, both for those who can’t find jobs and for the politicians who lacked enough courage and spine to take action.
If legislators follow the example set by the governor and labor commissioner and no action is taken before the session ends, 22,000 hard-up Georgia families in communities across the state will lose their financial lifeline come June 30. They and their extended families and friends will have every right to feel betrayed by state leaders who were elected to serve them, but who chose to serve themselves instead by doing nothing.
– Jay Bookman
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590 comments Add your comment
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:09 pm
Re, USA manufacturing. For the culprit, look no further than the unholy trinity: EPA, OSHA, and Unions.
I’d look at George H W Bush, who sold us out to the Globalists, and Bill Clinton and George W Bush, who helped the Globalists consolidate their victory.
We may be the largest consumer market in the world but that won’t last, if we don’t have jobs. The thing that gets lost in the unemployment statistics are people who will never make as much again, as they once did, those who work less than fulltime hours (not by choice), and the explosive growth the last 10-15 years, in “temp jobs”.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:09 pm
Del
Agreed. Little known fact that most people don’t think about: As a country, we spend billions and billions fighting counterfeit products coming into our country. The money that’s spent usually comes from the government and is used to protect intellectual property rights of companies. If we didn’t give foreign companies our products to manufacture legally in the first place, it would be that much harder for them to counterfeit them.
We’ve gotten to the point that we’re giving away far more than what we’re getting back in these deals. I’m sure it could be shown that most major empires throughout history have begun their demise when they were no longer self-sustainable and became dependent on outsiders for more than what they could produce themselves.
Mary Elizabeth
March 30th, 2011
8:09 pm
Just a quick “thanks” to all you of you who took time to write me an encouraging word or a word of humor an hour or so ago. When I post, which isn’t that often, I really don’t mind disagreement in points of view expressed to me. I just ask that those who are SO opposed to my authentic opinions not throw personal insults at me when you state you disagreeing views.
Thanks again to all and have a nice evening.
That’s not too much to ask, now, is it?
And, Joseph, speak for yourself about your “sh*t” only. Somehow I just can’t think of my thoughts in that context, even with humor.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:11 pm
You’re overlooking the hole they’ve opened for someone else to fill.
That could be true. I’m just looking at past performance and the current participants. That does not always indicate future performance, but it does give you a base idea.
josef nix
March 30th, 2011
8:14 pm
Mary Elizabeth
Aw, why not!
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:15 pm
“I just ask that those who are SO opposed to my authentic opinions not throw personal insults at me when you state you disagreeing views”
Humor always helps, but a friendly bit of advice: grow a thicker skin or you won’t last around here. The bets offence is to not respond. The bomb throwers are just looking for a big boom. Don’t give it to them.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:15 pm
The thing that gets lost in the unemployment statistics are people who will never make as much again, as they once did, those who work less than fulltime hours (not by choice), and the explosive growth the last 10-15 years, in “temp jobs”.
AMEN!!!!!!! My better half just lost a mid $30k managment position, and got another one that pays less than $15k. Nobody figures those type statistics into the employment reports. Lose a million jobs that averages $50k a year and gain a million jobs that average $20k and we’re still a net loser in the grand scheme of things.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 30th, 2011
8:15 pm
Long term unemployed? How can that be, when your Idiot Messiah saved the economy, ended the recession, and created all those green jobs?
Idiot Messiah: Failure.
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:16 pm
“just looking at past performance and the current participants”
Yes, but even so…it’s not going to happen fast, but barring any more meldowns, the potential is there for it to happen. Even if slowly.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:17 pm
The bomb throwers are just looking for a big boom.
I don’t even give them credit for throwing bombs. That would indicate a mastery of basic manufacturing to even be able to construct a bomb. Some of them fail to show even a mastery of being able to construct fecal matter without instructions or help.
josef nix
March 30th, 2011
8:19 pm
SoCo
@ 8:15
Which is why I take all the glowing reports with a grain of salt…it’s downward mobility and that’s not good…
Tucker
March 30th, 2011
8:19 pm
“Georgia’s long-term unemployed about to be abandoned”
At this point there’s not much excuse for being long-term unemployed, barring disability. The recession has officially been over for nearly two years and businesses are hiring workers. Some of the LTUs probably won’t take jobs they feel are beneath them, others maybe just like getting paid to sit @ home and watch Oprah.
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:19 pm
“Some of them fail to show even a mastery of being able to construct fecal matter without instructions or help”
No argument there!
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:19 pm
the potential is there for it to happen. Even if slowly.
I can see that, but I believe it will be slower than pine tar sap in December. Where my skepticism comes into play is those incidents or barriers i.e. well-contributed politicians that would get in the way.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:20 pm
josef
Add a few extra grains and a wedge of lemon. It makes things much better to handle.
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:22 pm
“well-contributed politicians that would get in the way”
Well, I don’t think they’re going to do much in the way of getting companies to stop sending jobs overseas…but I can’t see even the dumbest of them trying to seriously do anything to stop a company from actually hiring more people here.
Jay
March 30th, 2011
8:22 pm
I wish that were true, Tucker. But here in Georgia, the unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, and the real one is considerably higher, which is why the extended benefits are available here.
Kamchak
March 30th, 2011
8:23 pm
Some of the LTUs probably won’t take jobs they feel are beneath them, others maybe just like getting paid to sit @ home and watch Oprah.
Somebody is probably talking out their ass.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 30th, 2011
8:23 pm
I wonder how many Americans Doggone hired this year.
@@
March 30th, 2011
8:25 pm
This is kinda funny. I’m thinking out loud…
to myself.
That’s O.K., it’s likely no arguments will ensue between me, myself and I.
Some of the best thinking takes place in my own brain.
(ISH)
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:25 pm
The recession has officially been over for nearly two years and businesses are hiring workers.
Not where I live.
it’s downward mobility and that’s not good…
To turn a cliche around, a falling tide lowers all boats.
On the subject of another Meltdown:
I wouldn’t be surprised, at all, to see another one, in the not so distant future. Nothing, that I can see, has been done to change the behaviors that caused this one. Everything is still the same in the financial world and those too big to fail, are still too big to fail.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:28 pm
Somebody is probably talking out their ass.
I’m not even gonna tell you what my mind interpreted that statement as when I first glanced at it.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 30th, 2011
8:28 pm
…and Fan and Fred are still around, funding failure.
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:29 pm
“Nothing, that I can see, has been done to change the behaviors that caused this one”
but don’t leave out of the equation the power that investors have to NOT buy “too good to be true” investments. They’re going to be a LOT waryier (sp?) in the future.
Kamchak
March 30th, 2011
8:30 pm
Hillbilly Deluxe
Like as not there is investment $ looking for another bubble to inflate.
In the 90s it was dotcom.
In the 00s it was our homes.
In the 10s it could be our children’s education if we are conned into privatizing education.
Easy to sell the idea of growth in the for-profit education model.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 30th, 2011
8:33 pm
…and a whole bunch of that money looking for an investment is being pumped out by the federal government via deficit spending, and the Fed, with the encouragement of the Idiot Messiah.
Mick
March 30th, 2011
8:35 pm
lbb
You really are monotonous with the name calling, in case you haven’t noticed most here are adults…
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:35 pm
but don’t leave out of the equation the power that investors have to NOT buy “too good to be true” investments. They’re going to be a LOT waryier (sp?) in the future.
Hopefully, that’s the case. These things are more driven by the institutional investors than the individual investor, though. The institutional people haven’t shown me that they’ve learned anything, so far.
Kamchak
Good point you have there. I’m no financial expert but I see a gold bubble in our future and the speculators are driving up the price of gas again. I’ve always thought the futures markets do very little good and create a whole of problems. People looking to skim $$$ off the top, for doing virtually nothing. Good for them if they hit it right but I don’t think it’s good for the country.
josef nix
March 30th, 2011
8:37 pm
Mick
I would’ve thought that by now LBB would have gotten around to calling him the False Messiah!
josef nix
March 30th, 2011
8:40 pm
Hillbilly
I had to run a spell check on that one! “warier ”
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:42 pm
josef
Someday, I’m going to write my own dictionary. There’ll be English professors dropping out like flies.
Mick
March 30th, 2011
8:43 pm
josef
That would definately be something new….I left the name calling bit in say…..first grade….really always thought it to be juvenile imho…
1811/1801 - 0311/0317
March 30th, 2011
8:44 pm
Headline: “Obama in 2002 – Toppling Brutal Dictator a ‘Dumb War’ ”
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama, as an Illinois state senator in 2002, said that using military force to topple a murderous dictator amounted to a “dumb war” and should be opposed.
The “dumb war” Obama was criticizing was the planned invasion of Iraq and the murderous dictator was its leader, Saddam Hussein. Obama, speaking at an anti-war rally in Chicago on Oct. 2, 2002 said that while Saddam was a brutal tyrant, that was not enough to justify using military force to remove him from power.”
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:44 pm
For anybody interested in the eagles, they are due to start hatching in a couple days or so.
http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles
Mick
March 30th, 2011
8:45 pm
hd
I’m with you on those presidents selling us out to the global economy, instead of them being raised to our levels, we are sinking to theirs…..the dam is going to break eventually…
Mick
March 30th, 2011
8:46 pm
scout
For the love of pete, these conflicts are about as similar as mars and uranus…
AmVet
March 30th, 2011
8:47 pm
And I don’t hate the rich…gently sauteed in lemon butter garlic with fresh baby asparagus and a nice dry Riesling they can be quite tasty..
Damn josef, that is funny with a capital F!
I love the con “answer” to unemployment. Ridiculous underemployment!
Take a guy with a wife and three kids who was making $75K a year at his profession and then tell him the solution is go work for $12 an hour somewhere indefinitely.
Long live the Plutocracy!
RW-(the original)
March 30th, 2011
8:47 pm
For anybody interested in the eagles, they are due to start hatching in a couple days or so.
Maybe we’ll have little Eagles for a Friday night theme.
@@
March 30th, 2011
8:47 pm
Easy to sell the idea of growth in the for-profit education model.
My husband has often entertained that prospect but for now it’s rental property.
One more unit to renovate. Everybody needs a place to live. Not a slumlord, mind you. He’s actually got a waiting list. When renters look at what he’s done, they’re eager. He’s gonna build small decks for the occupants in two of his units. They pay on time and he wants them to stay happy. What’s a little lumber and labor, right.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:49 pm
HD
CNN ran a story on the eagles this morning. I think I remember them saying that the resolution on the cameras was high enough that you could see the cracks in the egg shells when they start hatching. My resolution doesn’t look that high though.
Doggone/GA
March 30th, 2011
8:50 pm
“These things are more driven by the institutional investors than the individual investor, though. The institutional people haven’t shown me that they’ve learned anything, so far.”
Yeah, but on the other hand a lot of them are like sheep. All it takes is one bellwether to lead the way and most of them will follow meekly along.
AmVet
March 30th, 2011
8:50 pm
Everything is still the same in the financial world and those too big to fail, are still too big to fail.
Aye, there’s the rub my friend.
In fact, the headlong rush to further empower the imperious banksters, etc. rolls merrily along.
Thanks in no small part to the guppies who think the last debacle was just a market correction…
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:51 pm
Speaking of Friday, it’s opening day for MLB. I hope Nate McLouth bounces back and has a good year. I’ve always liked the way he plays the game.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 30th, 2011
8:52 pm
Take a guy with a wife and three kids who was making $75K a year at his profession and then tell him the solution is go work for $12 an hour somewhere indefinitely.
———–
Still waiting for the Idiot Messiah’s solution.
RW-(the original)
March 30th, 2011
8:53 pm
Hillbilly D,
Opening day is tomorrow.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:53 pm
Take a guy with a wife and three kids who was making $75K a year at his profession and then tell him the solution is go work for $12 an hour somewhere indefinitely.
He’s good then. Most places pay $7.25 an hour. At $12/hr, he can gross almost $25k. If he’s able to get overtime or time and a half for holidays, then he could even eclipse $30k. He’d show how much of a hard worker he really is then. And then, he’d earn his bootstraps and pull himself up. The End…
@@
March 30th, 2011
8:53 pm
Hillbilly:
Waiting for eggs to hatch is like watching grass grow.
Are the two hummingbirds the babies or the parents?
I’m afraid to look at the owls for fear I’ll see blood and guts being consumed.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
Baseball starts tomorrow, but there’s only a few games. I’m in agreement on Friday as Opening Day….
@@
March 30th, 2011
8:55 pm
And is that a bird t*rd dangling off the twig on the right?
@@
March 30th, 2011
8:56 pm
Move over fatso, you’re hogging the nest.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
8:57 pm
RW
Well, I’m a Cub fan. Their opening day is Friday. I guess it’s fitting they start the season behind.
@@
The 2 hummingbirds are the babies. They should be flying pretty soon. You may not want to watch the eagles once they hatch. They eat dead stuff, too.
AmVet
March 30th, 2011
8:58 pm
Screw those birds! And the damn tree huggers!
Where’s my DDT?
Barry, I suppose you’re unaware that unemployment continues to drop and that job cuts are decreasing dramatically.
I still have grave reservations about the aftermath of the attempted corporate destruction of capitalism, but the further we get away from September 2008, the better.
And I never thought I’d say this, but as obnoxious as you are, you are still a delight compared to the daytime duo of the out-of-control auto-responder and Frank Burns (He ain’t no Eastwood character.)
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:00 pm
@@
Yes, that’s a turd.
Maybe we can find you some Bluebirds to watch a little later. They are very clean birds. They take their turds away from the nest. I can sit an watch them for hours in my yard. I’m easily entertained, I guess.
josef nix
March 30th, 2011
9:00 pm
gotta run…’night all
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:04 pm
“An you know, as long as the right leans on that “liberal media” crutch to explain the lack of popular support for their ideas, they’re going to have a hard time.”
That MUST be why CNN, MessNBC, CBS, PBS etc are all failing in the ratings. Katie getting booted from CBS nightly news, Ed Schmuck being moved to 11 pm, Keith Olbermann being fired, etc..
Yep, the right is having a hard time with the left wing media.
Hey, how are sales at the NY Times, WaPost etc? LOL
RW-(the original)
March 30th, 2011
9:05 pm
Sorry, but the Reds play tomorrow so that’s Opening Day.
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:05 pm
“But here in Georgia, the unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, and the real one is considerably higher, which is why the extended benefits are available here.”
So what you’re really saying is you want people to remain unemployed forever.
RW-(the original)
March 30th, 2011
9:07 pm
Hillbilly D,
That Reds game is against the Brewers so your Cubbies will be a half game up on somebody when they hit the field.
@@
March 30th, 2011
9:10 pm
Hillbilly:
If they don’t take to the air soon, it’s time for a bigger house…separate bedrooms. I’m sure I’ve seen a bluebird. Are they blue?
I sneaked a peek at the owls. They’re ugly little things. The mother looks like a tropical monkey. Some species prefer vinyl, stone, wood or carpet beneath their feet. Owls prefer poop. At least the hummingbirds hang theirs out on the line. I assume they washed it first?
(ISH)
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:12 pm
RW
That may be their best position of the year!!…………If the Cubs play .500 ball this year, I’ll figure they had a good year. They got some guys on the farm that are a year or two away, if they don’t trade them away.
Be interesting to see what Fredi Gonzalez does with the Braves. I think he’ll do well but we’ll see.
AmVet
March 30th, 2011
9:12 pm
Hey guys, a really great story about one of my favorite “little” guys who made it big in the bigs.
http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201103/beloved-baseball-family-gives-live
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:15 pm
@@
This is a bluebird. Like most birds, the male is the more colorful.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bluebird+pictures&view=detail&id=B68C5143BF174DB0EC625035799A859DFD52DCCF&first=1&FORM=IDFRIR
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
9:16 pm
Be interesting to see what Fredi Gonzalez does with the Braves. I think he’ll do well but we’ll see.
This time tomorrow, we should be sitting atop the NL East.
Del
March 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
Many people and well before this so called great recession have had to take steps back and sometimes several steps back to regroup, rebuild in order to move back up. Life isn’t fair, never has and never will be.
godless heathen
March 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
“Some of the LTUs probably won’t take jobs they feel are beneath them, others maybe just like getting paid to sit @ home and watch Oprah.”
Like I said at the top, it’s almost onion picking time down in Vidalia. But we have to import workers to pick the onions? Fortunately, I have a job, but if I didn’t I’d be thumbing down to Vidalia as long as I was able before I took charity.
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:17 pm
“Be interesting to see what Fredi Gonzalez does with the Braves. I think he’ll do well but we’ll see.”
ESPN picked the Braves to win the East. Three ESPN writers picked them to win the WS. They have a lot of young talent and some very very good pitchers. Craig Kimbrel is a lot like Billy Wagner and throws in the high 90s. Uggla, Prado, Jones, Heyward and Mccann will all do well.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:18 pm
It’s always good to see a player like David Eckstein, who uses their noteriety for doing good.
JohnnyReb
March 30th, 2011
9:18 pm
“An you know, as long as the right leans on that “liberal media” crutch to explain the lack of popular support for their ideas, they’re going to have a hard time.”
Jay, about the time you posted the above, my boss was calling dinner. So apologies for being tardy, but I must comment.
The Right’s ideas seem unpopular to you because they are against your ideology. The issue is, are they as unpopular as legacy media portrays? Recent voting history says no.
@@
March 30th, 2011
9:18 pm
Thanks, Hillbilly. Very pretty.
Okay…somethin’ just landed on my screen. Which one of you fellas spit?
Enjoy your baseballs. Don’t forget to make the necessary adjustments.
(ISH)
I’m out.
Greedy Old People, Inc., A Magazine for the Privileged
March 30th, 2011
9:21 pm
The new Georgia Tax Policy that is being debated in the GA House of Representatives today will not allow tax deductions for charity or church giving. It is important that you contact your House of Representatives member today and tell them you are opposed to that change in the GA Tax Policy.
…It is urgent that you do this today and send this information to your contacts as well so they can do the same.
H. Ray Newman
State Missionary
Ethics and Public Affairs
Georgia Baptist Convention
6405 Sugarloaf Parkway
Duluth, GA 30097
In other words, charitable giving doth not transcend the need for a tex deduction in order to make it more palatable.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:21 pm
But we have to import workers to pick the onions?
They import people so they can pay substandard wages. If you can’t get people to work for you, then you have to pay more. Isn’t that how the free market is supposed to work? Yes, that increases your cost and you charge more. That’s how the free market is supposed to work, too. Then people decide whether they want your onions enough to pay more for them.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:24 pm
In other words, charitable giving doth not transcend the need for a tex deduction in order to make it more palatable.
I can only speak for me but I’ve never taken a deduction for anything I’ve given to charity. To me, that would be giving for the wrong reason. It’s everybody’s choice what they do, though.
godless heathen
March 30th, 2011
9:24 pm
This country is rich enough such that noone should go hungry and noone should be without adequate clothing and shelter. That doesn’t mean you should sit in your $400,000 home and collect unemployment benefits and feed your rugrats with food stamps until a “good” job comes along. My grandpa once said, “Any job is a good job, some are just better.”
Kamchak
March 30th, 2011
9:27 pm
Then people decide whether they want your onions enough to pay more for them.
Varsity onion rings are expensive enough. Any higher and I’ll just have to forgo the pleasure.
killerj
March 30th, 2011
9:29 pm
AARP doesn,t care,they have all your tax money,Goldman&Sachs doesn,t care they have all your tax money and just think they only ask for more,lets not forget fannie&mac,until you go after the real problem this is what you get,out of control Government that,s all about themselves.Go Tea Party.
Hillbilly Deluxe
March 30th, 2011
9:31 pm
Nite all.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
9:32 pm
That doesn’t mean you should sit in your $400,000 home and collect unemployment benefits and feed your rugrats with food stamps until a “good” job comes along.
Sounds like grandiose hyperbole to me, but I imagine anyone who’s in a $400k house ain’t getting by too well on UB here in GA. Some people are “lucky” enough to find employment quickly after losing a job, but current conditions are not very condusive for finding a job if you’re unemployed.
Road Scholar
March 30th, 2011
9:32 pm
Hillbilly: On a news show they interviewed a farmer dependant on immigrant workers in Oregon. They did production rate studies comparing the immigrants to American workers. The immigrants picked at a rate 4 times the rate of the Americans. Even at the same low wage paid, the cost for Americans to do the same job as the immigrants was 4 times the standard. Most of the Amricans quit after one day!
godless heathen
March 30th, 2011
9:39 pm
They pay onion pickers what their value is. If someone will pick onions for $5.00 an hour and our benevolent government has decided that it will cost the grower $7.25 an hour for you to pick the onions, the grower is going to go with the less expensive labor, and you will be at home unemployed. I bet American citizens can pick onions just as well as Mexicans. But Vidalia onions will cost a bit more than imported Mexican Sweets. But if the Vidalia is a safer food product, grown by Americans, and properly marketed, they will outsell the imported product.
godless heathen
March 30th, 2011
9:42 pm
“but current conditions are not very condusive for finding a job if you’re unemployed.”
Onions are ready.
godless heathen
March 30th, 2011
9:43 pm
“Most of the Amricans quit after one day!”
Why? Physically inferior? Too dumb? Or not hungry enough?
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:44 pm
Southern Comfort
You gonna watch the HBO Auburn/LSU/Ohio State hit piece tonight?
Real Sports reporter Andrea Kremer says in the show, “there is no documentation, receipts, letters, emails proving he got the money.”
CNNSI writer Stewart Mandel asks a very important question: HBO confirmed to us they have no proof that any of these claims are true …” So I ask again, why are they running them?
Seems like some washed up ex-Auburn players are angry. HBO refused to air many other ex-Auburn stars who call McClover and the other three a bunch of liars.
Doesn’t make sense that 4 crappy ex-Auburn players would get paid but not stars like Cadillac, Brown, Campbell, Rosegreen etc..
Anyway, McClovers high school coach came out and called McClover a liar. The folks at RollBamaRoll are calling it a bunch of nothing.
Kamchak
March 30th, 2011
9:50 pm
Why? Physically inferior? Too dumb? Or not hungry enough?
A generation of punk-assed desk jockeys that hasn’t done a lick of physical labor, that’s why.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
9:51 pm
godless
I’ve talked to a recruiter who goes to Cent. America regularly to hire guest workers for citrus growers in FL. They pay $10 an hour. After you take rent, bills, groceries, and other essentials into account, I’d like to see you work and provide for a family in S. Florida on $10/hr…
WOW
I’m not watching it. I believe all major programs throw money at those kids. Bama had one booster in Memphis that got killed years ago who was reportedly the top dollar man at the Capstone. Personally, I think they should all get paid. The schools and NCAA makes millions off of them, so why shouldn’t the athletes get a cut?
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:54 pm
Southern Comfort
I’ll never understand why a student athlete isn’t allowed to make money yet the school can make millions off of one or two stars. I think the four ex-players are angry about not making it big in the pros. McClover even stated that he’d do the interview if HBO would give money to his “charity.” Many other players have come out and called these four guys a bunch of liars.
Anyway, unless something major comes out, ya know like real evidence, I’m just gonna sit back and laugh. I guess when you’re on top, everyone is gunning to bring you down.
Jack
March 30th, 2011
9:55 pm
These “benefits” being bandied about are paid by employers, not the government.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
9:58 pm
I think the four ex-players are angry about not making it big in the pros.
I think that’s usually the catalyst in every single incident where the athlete “comes clean” years after leaving school. When I was in elementary school, there were football players from my hometown that ended up with brand new cars after they signed with both AU and UA. It goes with the territory.
WOW
March 30th, 2011
9:59 pm
Southern Comfort
Yeah, but McClover got caught in a lie a few years ago when he said he was given a car. Turned out he took his Pell Grant money and bought a used car.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
10:00 pm
Jack
Once that initial 26 weeks is up, the “extended” benfits are fully funded by government.
TIme to call it quits……..
Later y’all.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 30th, 2011
10:02 pm
WOW
Haven’t heard about that one. I don’t have evidence to back it up, but I wholeheartedly believe there’s some payola going on in college football. It might not be substantial, but it’s human nature to push the envelope on things.
WOW
March 30th, 2011
10:11 pm
Southern Comfort
Auburn has taken a beating from the media since November. I’m not saying Auburn is clean but it is awfully strange that people are out for blood against Auburn.
Ohio State’s coach got caught in a flat out lie and yet nothing happens to Ohio State.
1811/1801 - 0311/0317
March 30th, 2011
10:12 pm
Did someone say France?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYFxGPkPTyw
WOW
March 30th, 2011
10:14 pm
Southern Comfort
This is interesting.
Regarding McClover’s claims to have gone “to a booster that I knew” and asked for $7,000 to buy a car while at Auburn, Junior Rosegreen, a former high school and college teammate of McClover said this:
“Stanley bought that car with his Pell Grant money. I know that for a fact. I was there when he did it.”
- Rosegreen reiterated Wednesday what he said earlier this month in an interview with AuburnSports.com:
“Stanley is bitter with everybody because he blew $1.2 million at the strip club. He went to the strip club three times a week. He was making it rain with 20-, 10-, 5- and 1-dollar bills and now he’s broke. He shouldn’t get mad at Coach (Tommy) Tuberville, Coach (Eddie) Gran and the Auburn Family because he blew his money.”
- Rosegreen on whether or not HBO compensated McClover for the interview:
“He called me after (HBO) first contacted him and left a message. I then called him back and he told me that Auburn screwed him over and didn’t do anything for him. He said he was going to bash them. He said he was going to put something out there saying they paid him. I said, ‘What are you going to put out there on them?’ He said, ‘I’m going to put it out there that they paid me.’ I said, ‘Stanley, you know they didn’t pay you.’ He said, ‘Well, I’m going to put it out there anyways.’
“HBO gave him $20,000. He told (Dillard) Coach Herman Lovett that HBO paid him $20,000 for the interview.”
HBO continues to deny that it compensates anyone for interviews. Lovett could not be reached for comment.
Paulo977
March 30th, 2011
10:31 pm
Harry C
re: Mary Elizabeth’s “the money those state workers would have earned, by working, is no longer available to them to spend on food or rent, or other needs, ” It’s known as the multiplier effect … you did do Econ 101 didn’t you?
1811/1801 - 0311/0317
March 30th, 2011
10:31 pm
Headline: “Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low”
“President Barack Obama’s approval rating and prospects for reelection have plunged to all-time lows in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
Half of the registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office, while 41 percent say he does. In another Quinnipiac poll released just four weeks ago, 45 percent said the president did not deserve reelection, while 47 percent said he did.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52208.html#ixzz1I8lpAu1F
Paulo977
March 30th, 2011
10:38 pm
Obama’s approval rating gallup poll
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/gallup-daily-obama-job-approval.aspx
Cowboy Curtis
March 30th, 2011
10:52 pm
You know…I’m all for helping a man when’s he down….but where do you draw the line? I’m not sure how long these people have been unemployed….but is 12 months of benefits enough? 18? Is there a limit? If a person cannot find a job after 12 months of looking, then I”ve got to think they just don’t want to work bad enough and that the unemployment pays TOO well.
The Thin Guy
March 30th, 2011
10:58 pm
Indeed, we are all suffering in The Great Pelosi Recession. The problem with unemployment compensation and other government handouts is they go to the wrong people. I have known many people who were told they had two choices: quit or be fired for cause. In either case you don’t get unemployment compensation. And I have know many people who were simply laid off, took their unemployment compensation and had a party until it ran out and then got another job. Call it what it is: welfare. The dole. Not everyone can get a job writing for the ajc. Some people have pride.
getalife
March 30th, 2011
11:07 pm
Told you Auburn cheats.
Give the Championship to LSU and take away the Heisman.
Gandalf, The White
March 30th, 2011
11:24 pm
Get rid of the illegals, including those in our Schools and thing will get better.
STOP THE INVASION OF AMERICAN BY ILLEGAL MEXICANS!
This is our country, not Mexico!