This one is quite difficult to comprehend here. It’s understood that there are many people on unemployment benfits over the past year due to the inclement economic outlook. The problem here is that the person cited has been unemployed since July of 2007. Thats a 34 month length of time! As noted, the existing legislation allows for up to 67 weeks of unemployment in order for the person to get back on one’s feet and rejoin the workforce. This person has been on unemployment for double that time – approximately 132 weeks! Now the problem here is that the lingering sentiment has morphed from acceptance of financial assistance to the apparent moral obligation of the government to provide said assistance. Why is this wrong? When the government fails in it’s apparent required obligation to provide for her financial needs, she has to depend on poor ‘ole mom to loan her some money. Imagine that!
The bucket of money hasn’t quite run dry, but a 2 week hiccup is enough for her to run dry. Shame! The system failed her, so dear ‘ole mom has to fill in the void.
Thankfully, someone on the Hill had the cojones to stand up to this abuse of fiscal policy. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is one of the few Senators that has stood up for sound fiscal policy these past few years. Promising to vote down any FURTHER emergency extensions on unemployment benefits unless the costs are offset by spending cuts elsewhere is an excellent tactic to prevent bad policy from occurring. The seats across the aisle are all too happy to string unemployed along forever, allaying their fears of not making their rent or car payments without government assistance. What they always forget to mention is that the available monies don’t exist! With the excessive abuse of legislated expenditures, we currently have an outstanding national debt of $12.8 TRILLION!!!
Sure, it feels good to give money to people who are in need. But where does it come from? We don’t have the money to give, unless other government programs are cut back to the bone. Oh, and this doesn’t even mention unfunded liabilities which are “off the books”, but that’s another story…
The insurmountable Houston Chronicle has some words of wisdom for us:
Rosharon mom Shant’e Kelley says she is out of money and praying for a miracle to help provide for her five children because Congress failed to extend emergency unemployment benefits before taking its two-week spring break.
Kelley figures an extension would have put $576 in her pocket for two weeks and kept her from having to borrow $680 from her mother to pay bills.
“The Easter Bunny didn’t come to my house this year,” said Kelley, who was laid off from her secretarial job at Methodist Hospital in July 2007 and has been looking for work ever since.
Kelley, 35 and single, is among the estimated 33,000 Texans — and 212,000 people nationwide — who did not receive unemployment benefits this week and cannot pursue additional financial assistance. Unemployment benefits provide up to 67 weeks of pay to qualified applicants in Texas, if they have exhausted their previous unemployment financial aid by certain deadlines. Congress, however, has repeatedly extended that period during the nation’s financial crisis.
Democratic attempts to extend the jobless aid just before Congress’ spring break were blocked by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who used parliamentary tactics to delay consideration of the short-term extension. Coburn, with the backing of Senate Republican leaders, is vowing to stop any spending measures that are not paid for with offset reductions in other federal spending.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, is seeking to reinstate the benefits when the Senate returns to Washington on Monday. Democrats need at least one Republican to break with the GOP leadership.
Meanwhile, on nationwide forums such as the Unemployed Friends board, out-of-work people across the country are raging that their elected officials sent financial aid to Haiti, gave government bailouts to huge corporations, and focused on the health care bill while people with no jobs here at home are suffering.
The National Employment Law Project estimates a record 6.5 million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months, but are still unemployed — accounting for 44 percent of all jobless workers.
“I think they do have their priorities out of whack,” Kelley said of Congress. “How could you send money to all these people, and we’re over here losing our houses? I have children — my children need clothes. Do I have to go to Haiti to get help?”
Long-term unemployment is at record levels, far surpassing anything seen since 1948, said a National Employment Law Project official.
“People are in very desperate situations, and they need to plan their lives out,” said Maurice Emsellem, a policy co-director with the organization. “They need to plan for whether they’re going to enroll in education training or enroll in community college. But in order to do that, they need to know, are these benefits going to be there?”
Life was good for Kelley three years ago. She and her husband lived with their five children in a $167,000 home in the Lakes of Savannah subdivision off Texas 6, and they drove a Toyota Sequoia and a Toyota Camry.
But then Kelley was laid off from her Methodist Hospital job, and soon her husband’s construction work at chemical plants dried up. She and her husband later separated. The SUV was repossessed. Her home has nearly been foreclosed on twice. She refinanced her mortgage note, and her credit is ruined.
She pawned her wedding ring for $400, cut off the cable TV and sold other items. She turns off the air conditioning during the day while the kids are at school. She is on food stamps and sought aid to help pay her electricity bill.
Her 16-year-old daughter, who worked as a sacker at a grocery store, provided Christmas gifts for the two youngest children, ages 6 and 3. But Kelley recently made her take a leave of absence from the job because her grades were dropping.
Kelley continues to apply for work every week and has been to more than 20 job interviews but has lost confidence anyone will hire her because she doesn’t have a college degree. She is attending Houston Community College on student loans.
Chronicle reporter Richard S. Dunham contributed to this report from Washington.
Well, this is certainly a shooped image, but it is interesting nonetheless. My, the things people do on the internets these days, eh? If BHO really didn’t like Berlusconi, should he have gone all the way into asking for the help of Chuck Norris? After all, when the boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
