"I'm not sure yet it's sunk in with the political class (outside of economists) how horrible the prospects are for bringing the unemployment rate back to pre-Great Recession levels any time soon. And by soon, I don't mean November 2010. We're talking more like November 2015 or November 2020." -- David Kurtz about a Brooking Institute report
I worked in a factory for 21 years and just before the recession we were all laid off and the company closed its doors. I got no pension because the company went into bankruptcy and paid its creditors first and no pension to its former employees!
...I am 52 years old and have looked for work all over my city. I now am at my wits end because my unemployment benefits have run out and do not know where to turn to next.
I am single so no husband or partner to rely on! The senators who say we are lazy and do not want to work have no idea at all what it is like with no money & no medical. I am scared, but not lazy!!
The unemployed are in free fall. We cannot survive until 2020 with our nation's broken, meager safety net....shamefully even that safety has been absent for 2.4 million Americans for the past month while the Senate dithered.
We don't want to have to be recipients of unemployment benefits that we have to beg for; we want jobs.
There are still 14.6 million unemployed Americans. Can you contact the President, your Representative and Senator again to let them know that now is the time to turn their efforts to fixing our broken economy? Michael Thornton at the Rochester Unemployment Examiner provides this helpful tip: "Send your representative a fax using FaxZero.com....[Y]ou can send up to two free faxes a day."
Looking for a Light at the End of the Tunnel
Being unemployed is a huge hardship.
....Thanks to friends and family I kept my home, and with unemployment, I was able to put food on the table, now our government has decided we unemployed are not worth saving. There will be more and more heartache, foreclosures, and bankruptcies now. How very sad.
I have worked all of my adult life, paid taxes, and lived by the rules.
What has this Country come to?
Update on Senate Inaction on the Extension
Senator Reid is purportedly finally scheduling a vote on the unemployment benefits extension for next Tuesday. By that time, almost 3 million Americans will have been without the unemployment benefits they need just to survive. Yet, no time for hoopla because the Senators haven't even seen the legislation yet, the Republican Senators from Maine will again need to be convinced to vote "yea" on it, and changes from the House version will mean it has to go back to the House for approval.
THE NUMBERS:
- 9.5% unemployment rate - 14.6 million unemployed - 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 - 2.4 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...and it still isn't known if it will/when it will pass. - 2 to 4 million are ineligible for benefits due to being unemployed more than 99 weeksWhat has this country come to?