Baylor Forum Offered Nothing for Unemployed

The president held a summit on the economy, left at lunch. He said he would catch up later on any talks he missed.

"We will read the summaries," President George W. Bush promised during what he called "a great show" at Baylor University, down near the Texas ranch.

So here is a summary of the state of Joe Velotta's economy: In a couple of weeks, he may have to start living in his car.

It's a two-seat Mazda, 14 years old, but Velotta is single with no kids and figures maybe he could take it if he has to. Eviction from his Queens apartment is in the offing. Velotta, a communications equipment installation manager with three decades of experience, couldn't pay rent the past two months because his unemployment benefits ran out. Congress has not seen fit to extend them, believing the extension it passed in March was sufficient.

It wasn't.

The Labor Department says about 700,000 laid-off workers, Velotta among them, had already exhausted even those benefits by June. The National Employment Law Project puts the estimate higher, at about 900,000. By year's end, if nothing is done and the sluggish pace of job growth doesn't quicken, a million or more Americans could be without jobs or unemployment checks.