Edit: Can anyone repost this in the morning? I accidentally published too soon.
"Every day Americans don't receive unemployment insurance is another day more American workers and families will slip into poverty. That's not only a human tragedy; it's an economic blow our country can't afford." --Senator Sherrod Brown
BUT the unemployment extension will be further delayedat least another week; meanwhile the unemployed are:
Creditors call every day all day long, the worry has put me into a deep dark depression, I can't pay my bills or feed my kids like they're accustomed to, and I'm scared out of my wits. I have thought about killing myself, but my kids stop me as they need me.
"Scared out of my wits" is one of 1888 unemployment stories that have been posted on About.com. More few excerpts from some of the most recent tales follow after the jump.
My unemployment extension expires next week, and I do not know what I will do. I will be homeless and I will lose my car since I will not be able to make the payment on it or pay my rent. I have been unemployed for over a year now, and despite my broken heart of my mother dying and being audited, I am now being faced with no income at all due to the self-centered Congress who only care about themselves and their luxurious lives, cutting off the unemployment extensions for people who have been unemployed through no fault of their own.
I have been desperately seeking employment, looking everywhere, submiting resumes all over the place, registering with several employment agencies who put me through 3 hours of testing only to come up with the same results - nothing, not even a phone call. Then, when I call them to ask if there is any work, they give me a sarcastic response and say, "we don't have anything and we know you are available, why don't you call us when you are not available." They are so rude I can't stand it!
Why is it that our government is so overly concerned to help out other countries but provides no help at all for its own people who live here that are Americans? It makes no sense at all. I am devastated!
Not Enjoying It I feel helpless, needing a hand out with and people looking at me strangely for apparently being in need. It's crazy for anyone to think that most of the people that were employed now enjoy not being employed. I have a family and 4 kids - unemployment does not put me in the position to take care of them or myself!
Educated and Homeless: I am writing on behalf of my cousin. She has been unemployed for about one year and a half. She has her Master's degree. She has her resume posted on 2 major job search websites, is always on the computer searching, and is signed up with a few temp agencies. She received her last check the fourth of July weekend, and she is homeless.....The reason why I'm writing is because being unemployed not only affects you but also your entire family. My cousin has always taken care of her mother - paying all of the rent & helping with utilities. I am letting them stay at my house. I have never asked them to pay for anything.
Never Enough: It's terrifying being unemployed. My brother and sister-in-law have paid my mortgage for the last 14 months, or I'd be out on the streets. I've also had to file bankruptcy, and now my credit is ruined. There is never enough money, even with unemployment benefits, especially since I'm single and have no one else to help pay the electric bills or telephone bills.
No free ride: To read about the Senate that may not pass the bill is devastating. I now have to move from my beautiful home, packing everything and moving in with family at my age after a meaningful career. No unemployment benefits will affect the grocery stores, vendors, Time Warner, Con Edison, food stores, and will cause more unemployment when less supply equals less demand. It's not a threat. It's a reality.
I have paid my taxes for decades while CEO executives are collecting 700k bonuses and outsourcing jobs. Wait until the 1.4 million aren't filtering into the economy with any money anymore. Where will the mortgage brokerage and utility and grocery stores and clothing stores go? It's frustrating that others do tax write-offs and don't pay the basic bills we pay as upstanding, honest people of the United States.
It sucks being on unemployment. People feel like you are lazy because you aren't working when that's not even the case! I just can't get a job.
It's hard only having just enough for rent and nothing else. My two kids don't get to go out like normal kids because I have no money because I have no job, and now I have no more unemployment, so we will be homeless!
I have been working since I was 14 years of age. I am now age 55 and have been divorced since 1990. It is absolutely ridiculous that they want everyone destitute. I used to be middle class, and now I am at poverty level. I never have considered myself a violent woman, but they are irritating a lot of people now! Do something to help!
What it's like being unemployed It's absolutely demeaning, defacing, humbling, and embarassing. It's appalling what these politicians are doing to their own American people just to put more money in their pockets to purchase another airplane or a yacht. It's just sickening!
What it's like being unemployed: It's frustrating, miserable, and leads to depression. I put in applications on a regular basis and have yet for any employer to call me back - even for a fast food job!
It's embarrassing to have to go sit in a state agency facility to get any assistance available. The workers in these places treat you as if it is their money coming directly out of their pockets. They behave as if they hate that you would qualify for anything! It's very humiliating! The job they do is so simple but there is no compasion for another human being.
99ers are people who've been unemployed more than 98 weeks and are ineligible for all benefits. Assistance for these 99ers is NOT part of the Senate/House legislation and they are truly in the worst situation. Some of them recently sent a letter to President Obama. I excerpted it below but urge you to follow the link and read the entire devasting letter.
Excerpts from the 99ers' letter to letter to President Obama.:
We are a group of long term unemployed citizens who have exhausted all available weeks of unemployment benefits....We spend every day sending out resumes and applying for jobs, 90% of the time we don’t even receive an acknowledgement that our resumes and applications were received. We call ourselves the 99’ers. There are well over two million of us, and that number continues to grow each week as more people join our plight. The statistics reported by the Department of Labor, are not accurate. They do not include exhaustees, underemployed and people who have given up looking for jobs.
....The last two extensions of dates have not included us, HR 4213 being the second extension. We have no health insurance, no jobs, and no income. Many of us have gone through all of our savings, and have had to pay penalties to withdraw our retirement IRA’s in order to try and survive. As a last resort, there are people who are selling their blood to blood banks so they can feed their families. This has made our American dream become an American nightmare.
.... What are we supposed to do? We have been pleading with Congress, the Senate and you, President Obama, to help us by adding a Tier 5 or more weeks of benefits to Tier 4 so we do not end up homeless and starving. For some, it is already too late.
The Department of Labor advised us to go on Welfare. Many of us do not qualify for Welfare or Food Stamps. We have no parents we can move in with, and no one who can help us. All of our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. We are humiliated by American citizens who are employed, calling us lazy freeloaders who prefer to live on handouts.
THE NUMBERS:
There are at least 14.6 million stories like these in America right now...probably more because of the end of the census jobs.
- 9.5% unemployment rate - 14.6 million unemployed (may increase this week due to end of many census jobs) - nearly half, 6.8 million of the 14.6, have been unemployed for longer than 6 months - An additional 2.6 million people are unemployed (total of 17.2 million!) and want to work but were not counted in the statistics because they've given up looking for work - An additional unknown number of older unemployed have taken early Social Security retirement or Social Security disability - 2.25 million (and more than 53,000 more each day) are no longer receiving any benefits because the Senate (including our Democrats) failed to pass an extension - 2 to 4 million are ineligible for benefits due to being unemployed more than 99 weeksSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has repeatedly said that Senate Democrats need Byrd's replacement to break the filibuster by Republicans and Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, whose approval -- had he decided to give it -- would have ended the endless debate that has already cut off unemployment checks to some 2.1 million people.
By the time Byrd's replacement is sworn in [the replacement won't even be named until the end of this week], more than 2.5 million people who've been out of work for longer than six months will have missed checks they would have received had Congress reauthorized the stimulus programs it allowed to lapse at the end of May. President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill and subsequent legislation gave the unemployed up to 99 weeks of benefits in some states. With the federally-funded extended benefits lapsed, in most states the unemployed are eligible for only 26 weeks of state-funded benefits.
CALL TO ACTION:
Contact your Senators, the President, and your Representative. Ridemybike's diary from yesterday contains links.
Call Senator Ben Nelson and tell him to stop voting against the extension of benefits at (202) 224-6551. If you have family or friends who live in Nebraska, please encourage them to call him as well. Senator Nelson has said he's voting against the extension because unemployment is not an issue in Nebraska: He fails to see that what impacts the national economy also eventually impacts Nebraska.