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Obama to announce Veterans Job Corps

Frolicking Dinosaurs

Frolicking Dinosaurs

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President Obama plans to announce details Friday for a $1 billion Veterans Job Corps that the White House says will put up to 20,000 veterans to work over the next five years on projects to preserve and restore national parks and other federal, state and local lands.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on Thursday described the program as “a bold new effort” to lower the high unemployment rate for post-Sept. 11 military veterans, which stood at 13.1 percent in December. The government estimates that 250,000 post-Sept. 11 veterans are unemployed.
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Obama to announce Veterans Job Corps - The Federal Eye - The Washington Post

This sounds like a wonderful idea to me. What do you think?
 
:doh


every guy or gal getting out of the military is told at TAPS that they rate 6 months of unemployment even if they (like the vast majority of them) are going to school, and that they need to make sure they apply for it. this significantly tilts our "unemployed veteran" numbers upwards. I don't know a single buddy of mine who got out who has been unable to find work.


we are currently cutting weapons and gear. but we have a bunch of money to stand this up?

priorities = backwards. the military is for killing people and breaking things. it is neither a jobs program, nor a green energy unicorn slush fund.
 
Frolicking Dinosaurs said:
Obama to announce Veterans Job Corps - The Federal Eye - The Washington Post

This sounds like a wonderful idea to me. What do you think?
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Sounds like a great idea to me. The VETS deserve jobs. We also need a National program that builds jobs. That is why I don't understand why Renewable Energy implementations at a local level are not a priority. Build jobs, build infrastructure, improve economies, reduce pollution, with no apparent downsides, except for cutting Big Energy out of the money loop.
 
i've only read cursory information on the program... and I left with the feeling that the jobs to be made available are of the unskilled labor sort.
hard to get excited about a veteran jobs program that will primarily entail a man/woman... and a shovel.

some will take the job to put a few bucks in their pocket... many will feel that doing nothing on unemployment will be better than running a shovel all day... and the majority will just move on to find jobs more fitting to the skill sets they acquired while in the military.

overall, I think the program is geared more towards election politics than anything else.... I give it a "meh"
 
This is what a President should be doing!!!!!:applaud

The following was contained in his State if the Union address:

"Already, the Obama Administration has helped 600,000 veterans and their family members go back to school on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and hired more than 120,000 veterans to serve in the federal government. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden have worked with the private sector to secure a pledge from businesses to hire 135,000. And President Obama worked with Congress last fall to pass two new tax credits for companies that put veterans to work."
 
So...the government will tax everyone another billion a year (every year) to add 20,000 new jobs for vets that the government couldnt afford previously in an election year effort to boost popularity. At 50,000 a year per job, we could employ EVERYONE. And all we have to do is dump the debt from those programs on future generations.

The lid is off the jar, baby...its election time! Yes!!!
 
cpwill said:
:doh


every guy or gal getting out of the military is told at TAPS that they rate 6 months of unemployment even if they (like the vast majority of them) are going to school, and that they need to make sure they apply for it. this significantly tilts our "unemployed veteran" numbers upwards. I don't know a single buddy of mine who got out who has been unable to find work.


we are currently cutting weapons and gear. but we have a bunch of money to stand this up?

priorities = backwards. the military is for killing people and breaking things. it is neither a jobs program, nor a green energy unicorn slush fund.
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Man if someone had told me the military had unicorns I would have signed up!
 
1 billion? No thanks, as usual with our President, almost every solution he proposes to fix a supposed problem is a chunk of taxpayer money and more federal intervention.
 
I think it's important to the debate to include the fact that the veteran unemployment rate( 7.5) is lower than the national average (8.3)
 
Thrilla said:
I think it's important to the debate to include the fact that the veteran unemployment rate( 7.5) is lower than the national average (8.3)
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We have an all-volunteer military force in the US. Not taking care of veterans as made recruiting a much more difficult task and, since spots must be filled, it results in a less educated / qualified military force. This is not something we can afford to keep doing. I'm all for anything that will help attract and retain quality personnel. I consider that a matter of national security.
 
Deuce said:
Man if someone had told me the military had unicorns I would have signed up!
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You didn't know that? Where you been? Libbos are soooooo uninformed! :rofl
 
Frolicking Dinosaurs said:
We have an all-volunteer military force in the US. Not taking care of veterans as made recruiting a much more difficult task and, since spots must be filled, it results in a less educated / qualified military force. This is not something we can afford to keep doing. I'm all for anything that will help attract and retain quality personnel. I consider that a matter of national security.
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We have the most educated soldiers in the history of the nation currently serving in our ranks. I'm not understanding your point.
 
Frolicking Dinosaurs said:
We have an all-volunteer military force in the US. Not taking care of veterans as made recruiting a much more difficult task and, since spots must be filled, it results in a less educated / qualified military force. This is not something we can afford to keep doing. I'm all for anything that will help attract and retain quality personnel. I consider that a matter of national security.
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I just got out of the Army, and let me tell you, they don't even remotely have a problem with retention or recruiting. With the quality of the economy right now, and the drawing down of the wars, they are looking to drastically reduce the number of soldiers in the army, and are using every opportunity to get rid of low quality soldiers. The Army's budget is 5 times what it was 10 years ago, to say that we need more money and more benefits to retain soldiers who are currently competing to remain in the army is preposterous.
 
I'm all for helping vets -- especially the unemployed. But $1 Billion to create 20,000 jobs? I'm no math whiz but that price tag seems a tad high.
 
Pinkie said:
I'm all for helping vets -- especially the unemployed. But $1 Billion to create 20,000 jobs? I'm no math whiz but that price tag seems a tad high.
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well, to be fair, the 20,000 number represents direct attributable jobs... but it doesn't include indirect job creation.

the shovel manufacturers will probably have to hire more workers to produce more shovels to accommodate those 20,000 shovel operators.
workglove manufacturers will have an addition demand for gloves as well....
etc etc etc
 
Frolicking Dinosaurs said:
We have an all-volunteer military force in the US. Not taking care of veterans as made recruiting a much more difficult task and, since spots must be filled, it results in a less educated / qualified military force. This is not something we can afford to keep doing. I'm all for anything that will help attract and retain quality personnel. I consider that a matter of national security.
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not sure what any of that has to do with vets already being employed at a greater rate than the rest of America... but ..ok
 
The 1 billion dollar price tag is a bargain actually..and there is no way it ends up costing 'only' a billion. If it is straight salary, its 50k...but then you have to add in health benefits, insurance (we are talking about government employees here) and retirement. While the fed across the board has hiring freezes and is contracting positions to cut DOWN on jobs and debt, the president is now proposing 20k new government jobs. And how long do we fund these positions?

Im a vet...great...thanks for caring about vets. Sorry it took an election year for you to do it...but still...welcome aboard, Mr President. Now...how many votes are you planning on buying with this initiative? And while I love taking care of other vets...does this mean we should spend another few trillion to employ everyone? Fullfil the promises made to vets, but the reality is that a lifetime of employment is not and never has been one of those committments. The government provides employment assistance, training and retraining programs, etc. Where does it end? And if you are a civilian...are you REALLY supporting this initiative or is this just another case of a democrat president ****ting on a piece of bread and you swallowing it down and asking for seconds, not because you like the meal but you loooove the chef? (and I'll save you the hassle...no...I dont oppose this just because Obama has proposed it...I have consistently stated there needs to be across the board cuts in federal spending INCLUDING with the military)

General Lynch was the commanding General of IMCOM up unitl just recently. He declared that by damn no program was too expensive for our soldiers and our families. Heres the problem. We have expanded the Army Community Service organization now with a mirrored program...the SFACs. We also have contracted and pay for Military One Source, Army One source, we have created Survivor Outreach Services, Wounded Warrior services, Resiliency Campuses, again...all redundant services. The problem. Every program is now being cut. It is not sustainable. For three years we have run programs with barely funded pay budgets but no unfunded budget allocations, which means we have the bodies to provide the services, just no or reduced resources to provide for the soldiers and their families. I believe in the mission...but every one of those new programs comes with administrative departments and ever increasing cost obligations. Really...if you need to expand survivor outreach services and services to wounded warriors...there are already mechanisms in place. Allocate appropriate resources...dont create a bigger machine.
 
Thrilla said:
well, to be fair, the 20,000 number represents direct attributable jobs... but it doesn't include indirect job creation.

the shovel manufacturers will probably have to hire more workers to produce more shovels to accommodate those 20,000 shovel operators.
workglove manufacturers will have an addition demand for gloves as well....
etc etc etc
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Even so, the price is too high. If we used $1 Millon to create 20,000 jobs, each worker would earn $50,000 a year.
 
Pinkie said:
Even so, the price is too high. If we used $1 Millon to create 20,000 jobs, each worker would earn $50,000 a year.
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I know it sounds crazy, but why not creat private sector friendly policies that enduce job creation by the private sector?
 
I think this program is for the very serious cases or incidents of veterans that are unable to find work. I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about homeless veterans. Extreme PTSD is something I am very ignorant about, but as I understand it, the homeless veterans can only function on a military base. Assimilating to civilian life is increasingly more difficult, and not to mention the emotions that are tacked on when you aren't working.

These men and women had bullets flown at them, seen their brothers and sisters blown apart, and heard men and women scream and agony. Yeah they are trained for it, and yes they prepare for it, but everyone's experiences are different.

This is what I am talking about. We bitch and complain about how much money we are spending on veterans!? Are you guys human? Some of you guys are the most selfish bastards I have ever witnessed. These people deserve our help.
 
sookster said:
I think this program is for the very serious cases or incidents of veterans that are unable to find work. I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about homeless veterans. Extreme PTSD is something I am very ignorant about, but as I understand it, the homeless veterans can only function on a military base. Assimilating to civilian life is increasingly more difficult, and not to mention the emotions that are tacked on when you aren't working.

These men and women had bullets flown at them, seen their brothers and sisters blown apart, and heard men and women scream and agony. Yeah they are trained for it, and yes they prepare for it, but everyone's experiences are different.

This is what I am talking about. We bitch and complain about how much money we are spending on veterans!? Are you guys human? Some of you guys are the most selfish bastards I have ever witnessed. These people deserve our help.
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If you've noticed, a lot of us here ARE veterans. As I stated in my previous post, the Army's budget has increased 5 fold in the past 10 years. More money is not the solution to this.
 
sookster said:
I think this program is for the very serious cases or incidents of veterans that are unable to find work. I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about homeless veterans. Extreme PTSD is something I am very ignorant about, but as I understand it, the homeless veterans can only function on a military base. Assimilating to civilian life is increasingly more difficult, and not to mention the emotions that are tacked on when you aren't working.

These men and women had bullets flown at them, seen their brothers and sisters blown apart, and heard men and women scream and agony. Yeah they are trained for it, and yes they prepare for it, but everyone's experiences are different.

This is what I am talking about. We bitch and complain about how much money we are spending on veterans!? Are you guys human? Some of you guys are the most selfish bastards I have ever witnessed. These people deserve our help.
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Very few of those folks are going to even show up for these jobs. Epescially, after they find out their going to be operating a shovel all day.
 
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