Unemployment Benefits run out for many

clipped from www.nytimes.com Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year, according to new projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group. payments averaging just over $300 per week, varying by state and work history Calls are rising for Congress to pass yet another extension this fall June, the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, reaching 15.2 percent in Michigan employers pay into a state insurance fund, and workers who lose jobs draw benefits for up to 26 weeks. During recessions, Congress has often paid for extended coverage President Obama’s stimulus plan offered an additional 20 weeks in states where unemployment surpassed 8 percent, if they adopted new federally recommended rules South Carolina did not make the changes, and benefits there are running out

What happened to the 'New Deal' type stimulus jobs to rebuild our nation's infrastructure? The WPA (Works Progress Administration) of the 1930s even paid for writers to catalog the way our nation ate - recording traditional recipes etc. to 'make work.'