"There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless.' There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard."
- Arundhati Roy
[Jesus] proposed a transformative vision of God. God isn't the one who condemns the poor and weak. God isn't the one who favors the rich and righteous. God isn't the one who ordains the rich to be in the castle and the poor to be in the gutter. God is the one who loves everyone, including the people the rest of us think don't count.
- Brian McLaren
Here are articles on the fate of the unemployed from Mother Jones & the Washington Post.....
"When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy."
| Fri Jan. 3, 2014 3:00 AM GMT
Job applicants line up at a new Target store in Albuquerque As these charts show, the United States is looking at the worst long-term unemployment crisis since soup kitchen lines peaked during the Great Depression. Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months are often hit with major financial and personal hardship. Around 10 percent must file for bankruptcy, more than half report putting off medical care, and many say they have, "lost self-respect while jobless." But who are these Americans who have lost their benefits? Some reached out to Mother Jones. Here are their stories:
Name: Anonymous
State: New York
"My benefits run out this week. I'm thoroughly petrified…I am the nice girl you went to high school with who was in the advanced classes, graduated with an A average, and went on to college. I'm the girl who always worked through high school, college, law school, and grad school. I never thought I would end up a welfare mother, but here I am. I want you to know how I got here and why I can't get out. I want you to realize that your nasty comments on social media about the losers demanding entitlements and benefits and hand-outs as compared to your 'hard-earned money,' hurt more than you know. Those comments may also be hurting your friend or colleague or relative. I'm not alone in this situation. I do not want benefits, or hand-outs, or entitlements. I want a job. I want to be able to pay my own way. I want to be self-sufficient again and earn the money I receive through hard work. I don't want to lose my house or have to talk to another debt collector. But in the meantime, I am grateful that some of our lawmakers saw fit to protect the vulnerable in times of need."
Maureen "Momo" Kallins
State: Washington
"I am 65 years old. For three years I worked as the General Manager and the Business Manager of a small public access television station in Washington State. I lost that job in January 2013, which supported half of our household. (I have two sons, 26 and 24, and I live with my husband.) I was awarded unemployment insurance of less than half of my salary that month, which was extended after six months. I have applied for numerous jobs but never even get an interview. A friend of mine in the film business said recently, 'When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy.' Presently I am adding to my video resume and trying to build a business. I sincerely hope that the members of Congress can agree to extend these benefits and throw us a lifeline."
Name: Carol Watterston
State: Nevada
"After being laid off after seven years [at my job], I have now been unemployed since November 9, 2012. I job hunt for full-time employment everyday. I've been to multiple interviews and nothing has worked out. I've even attempted going back to school but I have bad credit and can't afford it…I'm already struggling to pay my rent, my bills, my car insurance and feed myself and my pets. I have never been one that expects or wants any kind of charity, and this situation I'm in is degrading and shameful, but I have to do whatever is necessary for survival. However, I have a lot more than other people on this planet. I have a roof over my head, I have food in my fridge, I have a car, and I have a very supportive family, which I'm thoroughly thankful for."
Tara Dublin
State: Washington
"I was a very popular DJ on the radio in Portland. When I lost that job, I could not find another job in local media. The radio station that fired me has not replaced me. As a single mom of two sons (15 and 10 years old), it was imperative to me that I show my kids that we don't roll over and die when bad things happen; we fight. And I've been fighting for the last four and half years. In the time since I lost that dream job, I've had small opportunities, but nothing long term. I'll get a voiceover gig just when a bill is due…I worked holiday retail sales at Nordstrom but wasn't rehired for this season, and despite applying for every retail and waitressing job I can find, I have yet to be hired. I'm on the verge of losing my house yet again, and I am terrified, I don't ask for a lot out of life—just to be in a job that makes me happy and pays my bills."
Name: Anonymous
"I lost my marketing communications specialist position in April and have not landed a job in nine months of looking, despite working at it diligently and investing in expensive job-hunt strategy and technique classes. I am 61. I believe my age and the reasonably good salary I was earning were factors in losing my job. I was replaced by a 20-something who could be paid a lower salary. I just do not get the assertion I see in so many news stories that eventually, long-term unemployed people just stop looking for work. Who can afford to do that? How can they live?"
Name: Jeff
State: Indiana
"I have an associate degree in hotel and restaurant administration. Right now I live in an old mobile home in pretty bad condition, but at least it is a sheltering place. I do not have a high standard of living, so really my only worry about not having a job and losing my unemployment benefits is becoming homeless. I only have rent, car payment and insurance, utilities, and food as expenses. I also worry about my three cats because I don't want to see them suffer because of what is happening to me. I have pretty much been taking care of myself since I was 13, and the thought of not having a roof over my head is terrifying…I do think Congress needs to extend benefits, because people are suffering and it would be a catastrophe to let all those who are hurting slip even lower."
Name: Anonymous
State: Washington
"I had a baby in July 2012. I was on unpaid maternity leave until November 2012. I was informed that I would be getting laid off in October 2012. I was in a unionized position but I got bumped by a more senior union member. We had insurance through my work. So we went on COBRA for $1800 a month. The unemployment benefits extension was covering the COBRA payment. Now we'll be paying for COBRA out of pocket. And we have another baby on the way. I know I'm one of the lucky ones out there. I have enough in savings and an overall family income that I can make a choice to stay with the expensive COBRA, so that I don't have to deal with this hassle [of changing to Medicaid] mid-pregnancy."
And here are some stories from other news outlets:
- David Davis, Virginia: "That’s one goal, to avoid living on the street or in my car." (The New York Times )
- Adaline Irizarry, New Jersey: "If I don’t get an extension, I’m screwed. I think a lot of people are in that situation." (The Star-Ledger)
- Celeste, New York: "I don’t buy books; I get everything from the library. We go to maybe one movie a year." (Buzzfeed)
- Kaitlyn Smith, California: "I have to keep the house at 55 degrees even though I have two little girls, ages 2 1/2 and 1 1/2." (Los Angeles Times)
- Mary Lowe, Ohio: "We didn't do anything for Christmas—50 bucks for our daughter, that was it." (CBS News)
Obama is off-message on the unemployed
Wednesday afternoon provided a vivid juxtaposition that underscored his on-again, off-again relationship with message discipline.
This is exactly the sort of time when presidential leadership is most effective, when consistent use of the president’s megaphone can focus national outrage and force holdouts to relent. But at the moment House Democrats were having their rebellion, Obama was giving a speech in Raleigh, N.C. — about wide bandgap semiconductors.
“Wide bandgap semiconductors, they’re special because they lose up to 90 percent less power,” he informed his audience as he announced that he was creating a high-tech manufacturing hub in Raleigh to produce such things. “They can operate at higher temperatures than normal semiconductors.”
I’m all for wide bandgap semiconductors, whatever they are. And the broader themes of Obama’s speech — training, technology jobs and broadening “the circle of opportunity for more Americans” — are worthy. In fairness, the president did call on Congress to extend the unemployment benefits — but he gave the topic all of 47 seconds, a third of the way into his speech.
We’ve seen this before on health-care reform, gun control and other subjects: Obama will speak about a topic (as he did last week on unemployment benefits) and then move on before the job is done. But unemployment benefits should be a particularly easy sell for Obama, because Republican opposition to helping job-seekers (unless the money is taken from somewhere else) makes them sound heartless.
The House was debating the 2014 spending bill on Wednesday. The measure was being rushed to passage (as if to emphasize the haste, it was attached to a bill called the Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act) and it was full of goodies for defense contractors and other powerful interests. But the alternative to passage was a government shutdown, and so the measure sailed through with only token opposition.
The absence of controversy gave House Democrats the opportunity to draw attention to jobless benefits.
“I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3824 to end the Republicans’ refusal to extend unemployment benefits that affect 355,000” in California, said Rep. Eric Swalwell.
“I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3824 to end the Republicans’ refusal to extend unemployment benefits that protect 49,965 workers in Michigan,” said Rep. Daniel Kildee.
“I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3824 to end the Republican majority’s refusal to extend unemployment benefits that would protect 137,315 workers in my home state of New York and that number is growing as we speak,” said Rep. Paul Tonko.
Each time, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who was controlling the Republicans’ floor time, was forced to object to the request. At the end, he thanked the Democrats for “the opportunity to renew so many acquaintances with my good friends on the other side and to make new ones.” But Cole also felt the need to defend the Republican refusal. “Supposedly we’re in the fifth year of a recovery and we have extended these extraordinary benefits for five years at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said, repeating GOP leaders’ position that Democrats had to find a way to pay for another extension.
This was an argument Democrats wanted to have.
“Nobody talks about pay-fors for tax cuts for Donald Trump or subsidies to big oil or any special deals for corporate donors to the Republican National Committee,” answered Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “But when it comes to extending benefits to unemployed Americans, we’ve got to find pay-fors?”
Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) called it “unconscionable” that Republicans plan to shut down the House on Thursday for another recess while giving the jobless their “cold shoulder.”
And Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), pointing out that 2.3 million children live with a long-term unemployed parent and 1.5 million long-term jobless Americans have been cut off, called it “outrageous that the House of Representatives would leave town again without taking time to renew this critical program to help struggling American families.”
Outrageous. Unconscionable. Strong words, but valid — and missing from Obama’s speech about semiconductors.
Twitter: @Milbank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-is-off-message-on-the-unemployed/2014/01/15/90e0dcee-7e3c-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html?tid=pm_pop
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