How would extending unemployment benefits to 24, 36 weeks or more help the economy?

It's hard for those of us with decent paying jobs and job security to truly understand how bad the job market is right now. Yes, there are people out there that are not wanting to work at McDonald's or Burger King for a few bucks an hour... but a lot of people are out there looking for jobs and realizing no one is hiring. Most places have hiring freezes right now and can't find a job. I have a friend that was recently laid off from his job at a large corporation. He said he would be willing to temporarily work at Taco Bell only to find out they are not hiring. People are being laid off from large corporations which shows how bad the job market is at the moment. its not that people are sitting on their butts doing nothing, its they can't find work!

Another issue which is sort of counterproductive to what I just mentioned is if a person needs to make $50,000 a year to make their ends meet, then a minimum wage job isn't going to cut it for them and they need that time they would be working at the minimum wage job to look for a well paying job.

Finally, you must not have a grasp of the economy. What is going to improve the economy is people that are spending money. If we give people money for a few more weeks while they are on unemployment, then that is more money that is flowing into the economy and making it stronger. Not giving them the money is going to take us longer to get out of the mess. The economy has to do with the amount of money that is in the free market. If I don't have much money, I'm going to hold on to what I have and that is hurting the economy.

Let me guess- you already have the 'perfect job'. Actually anything that keeps people from looting for a few extra months is probably not such a bad idea for the present time. There are millions of people with young children out there that will definitely not take a complete collapse laying down, I assure you. I suppose any significant denial of benefits might be very lucrative for the glass companies. This ain't the good old days no more and you may see fewer and fewer so called "lazy bums" out there.

It's hard to find a job.

There are about 11 million people looking for a job in this country. They need to still be able to pay for their bills, expenses, and payments, or else there wouldn't be any money being pumped into the economy.

Many people aren't just waiting for that "perfect job", they are trying to find any job that they can get.

it recognised that the republican economic disaster is so serious that it will no longer b easonable to expect people to get jobs within 6 months

whata disaster the Bush yers were , wil it ruin the USA who knows ,

Oh course, why not pay you to sit around and get a check. This is incompentency, you are correct. If you pay someone to get a vacation, why not take the whole vacation, eh?

I enjoy my unemployment benefits and I can stay at home play 360 while you guys have to work.Obama Obama Obama

12 more weeks to help obama secure the masses for helping them

Just another one of his welfare ideas. Put them to work on the highways and roads!