>>A number of dot COM'ers who are unemployed (some homeless) complained about having to pay taxes on the stock they owned even though it was worthless. One guy interviewed owes 1.98 million dollars, has no job, and no money in the bank. I bet he is glad he put his heart and soul in a .COM business and devoted 16 hours a day seven days a week into it. Now the IRS may want him and others to go to jail. That will solve the jobless/homeless issue we have for dot COM'ers. A good solution at that!<
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>You know, I'm curious as to why there haven't been more reports about this. I forget the name of the tax rule that caused incredibly hugh tax bills because of stock options, but the reports about the effects have been very minimul.
>There were a couple stories around Apr 15th and that was it. I haven't heard about anyone going to jail over it. Just the stories of people owing 250,000 and up, with no chance of ever being able to repay.
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>>According to law if you are unemployed for more than six months you are no longer unemployed. Tell that to someone who is out of work! In January unemployment insurance paid to Californians out of work will increase. But that only applies to those laid off after December 31, 2001. If you were laid off prior to that you do not need the money. After all, unemployment insurance will not even pay half your rent up here. <
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>Hey, I resemble that remark. I was on unemployement for the summer. It was $20 short of paying my rent. I believe the statistic I saw, was that CA is the 2nd most expensive place to live, yet pays the least for unemployement. Nice mix. I was also interested to read an article on MSNBC in early Oct describing how the unemployment figure is calculated. It is not an actual percentage of people out of work. Its an extrapolated figure from a survey. I think unemployment is much higher than the 5-6% figure that keeps getting mentioned. It also happens the survey is performed around the 10th of the month, which is why the Sept stats didn't include the 11th fallout.

Perry;

Having enjoyed the many ups and downs of the economy since 1960, I can tell you a more realistic figure for unemployment is 25% above the stated number. This would include those who have been out of work for more than 6 months, who are not included in the so called unemployed figures. Many people in Silicon Valley are reporting it takes a year to find a new job.

Our company just sent us some good news! If we are laid off the Cobra plan will allow us to "pay for our own insurance". It will cost about $900 for a family of four. That will allow about $60 a month remaining from unemployment insurance for all other expences. That sounds reasonable - if you are employed that is. I have a feeling that medical insurance is not on the priority list of the average unemployed person.

Tom