The talk of extending unemployment benefits is only for those who have not collected 99 weeks, those who have collected 99 weeks do NOT get the benefit of these extensions. That being said each month that goes by tens of thousands are now 99ers who CANNOT receive additional benefits. I have also read that according to the u.s department of labor they DO NOT track 99ers. Estimates vary by a large range that show that anywhere between 2-5 million unemployed have used up all 99 weeks. 6.3 million of those jobless were long-term unemployed (27 weeks or longer). My take is that by the first half of 2011 if employment does not pick up they will be extending those 99 weeks to 110+ or even more. Just to absorb the new labor force coming in there has to be 150k-200k new jobs created EACH month. Most the jobs created over the last decade during the biggest boom cycles in the economy will be lost forever, NO one seems to comprehend this, they think that they will able to spend billions and billions of dollars and create jobs out of thin air, this is just a laughing matter at this point. The only way this economy has learned to grow is through asset bubbles, there isnt any organic growth left in this economy.