Two Colliding Forces

I had an interview today, and I think it went well. I've been down this road before; and I've almost always been disappointed. So, I'm choosing not to get my hopes up, obviously. Still, this is probably in my "Top 5" interviews since I've been out of work ... so that's a positive thing (and, I'd enjoy the work, too).

However, I came out of my interview to read that the House of Representatives rejected the pending extensions for unemployment insurance. I don't *think* this impacts me, at this point (I've already moved into the next tier) and, obviously, I'm hopeful I won't need the benefits much longer; but it's still a staggering blow.

I'm not overly political -- at least, not here in the blogosphere. But, I have to wonder what could be the motivation to reject the extensions? At a time, when unemployment is still 9% (yes, below the 10.6 high this past January; but nowhere near the historic sub-5% rates of 2006) and when underemployment is still nearly 20%, it's hard to see how pulling the extensions away will "spark" any recovery.

The cynic in me fears we're looking at a whole new set of foreclosures and bad loans. I'm certainly not an economist; but I can't help being concerned about the future, obviously. A recovery does seem to be on; it would be nice if it could continue unimpeded.

So, quite quickly, my fairly optimistic feeling, from having a good interview, was instantly tempered by what I can only term "short-sightedness." It's a shame that we constantly feel the need to have things get worse, before we give the attention needed to improve them.