Random Nuclear Strikes

How bad an idea was it to extend jobless benefits past 99 weeks?

This bad

In Bloomington, Ill., machine shop Mechanical Devices can’t find the workers it needs to handle a sharp jump in business. Job fairs run by airline Emirates attract fewer applicants in the U.S. than in other countries. Truck-stop operator Pilot Flying J says job postings don’t elicit many more applicants than they did when the unemployment rate was below 5%.

With a 9.5% jobless rate and some 15 million Americans looking for work, many employers are inundated with applicants. But a surprising number say they are getting an underwhelming response, and many are having trouble filling open positions.

“This is as bad now as at the height of business back in the 1990s,” says Dan Cunningham, chief executive of the Long-Stanton Manufacturing Co., a maker of stamped-metal parts in West Chester, Ohio, that has been struggling to hire a few toolmakers. “It’s bizarre. We are just not getting applicants.”

I’ll be the first to admit that over the nearly 11 years that I’ve been with my current employer, I’ve built up a reimbursement package that prices me out of my job field. If something drastic I were to happen, I would make more sitting at home on unemployment then I would starting out near the bottom again.

However, not only would it drive The Wife crazy to have me at home again, but I’d probably drive myself crazy. Especially since I wouldn’t be able to afford practice ammo for the duration and would have to pull from the reserves.

But others, apparently, don’t mind the life of leisure and ramen.

Finals are next week, Philosophy on Monday, and Math on Thursday.

So, I won’t be existing most this weekend. Only my coursework will. Other than an afternoon spent at the Mischief Maker’s Hot-Rod-A-Rama on Saturday, I’ll be “nose in book” for the duration.

Be good to yourselves and each other and I’ll see you on the other side.