Unemployment: 200,000 A Week Losing Benefits

President Obama is perfectly willing to twist arms and crack heads to ram through his fascist health and banking policies, but when it comes to providing unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed, he plays helpless.

June 2 was the day that special Federal aid for those unemployed for more than 26 weeks was cut. Since that time, 900,000 people have already lost their unemployment insurance (average amount per month, $1200). That number will go up to 1.2 or 1.3 million by July 1, and keep climbing. These people will be mobbing the welfare offices and food pantries in short order.

To give an idea of the numbers by state, wire reports today say that 98,000 people on unemployment in Ohio will lose their benefits by July 1; in Michigan, it will be 87,000 by July 3.

Recall that 46% of those on unemployment are "long-term" unemployed, i.e., unable to find a job for more than 6 months.