some politicians and people in general think that the best way to help the unemployed to get motivated to look for work is to cut off their benefits. you know....that is almost assinine. long term unemployment benefits don't cause long term unemployment...they just ease the crisis and make it easier to look for work. since you're not dealing with crisis every minute you can concentrate on looking for a job. this is not exactly a booming economy right now, despite the pretty picture that obama and his economic people might want to paint. almost 4 in 10 workers have been out of work for more than 27 weeks. there are app. 12 unemployed people for every available job paying above 9.00 an hour. unemployment according to the feds is around 7%. realistically it's around 14-15%. the average duration of unemployment right now is around 38 weeks. a large portion of the long term unemployed are older workers with a high degree of education.
you could very well have ended up as one of them....you still could. the average income of the unemployed was around 35,000 dollars a year when they lost their job. the high end of that median was 75.000 dollars. do you really think they would remain unemployed long term for the sake of collecting 300.00 dollars a week...which is what the average unemployment benefit is? some say that cutting off long term unemployment will make it look as if the total number of unemployed dropped because they will be out of the workforce. no record of them. that's not what happened. unemployment numbers remained steady for january and february with only a small percentage of change. with no real change in job creation, that means the long term unemployed are continuing to look for a job.
here's what i'm trying to say. unemployment is like welfare in alot of ways. people are prejudging on the basis of loud tweets, articles by politicians who are trying to get a headline and a vote and by the righteous voices of people who have never been poor or unemployed or on welfare. the people who have lost their benefits....many of them...will now lose their homes. they will lose their way of continuing to seek employment. they will lose their car. they will lose their self respect. some will become homeless. many will become desperate. none of these will help them or coerce them into finding a job. just like cutting snap benefits and welfare to force the people to look for work doesn't do anything but make a bad situation even more desperate...so will cutting unemployment. the mentality of the argumnt of starve or wok is just ludicrous.
what's wrong with you america? are you so hell bent on saving money and being able to spout self righteous words that you are willing to sacrifice the well being and safety and even food and shelter from your own people? are you so hell bent on proving a president or a group of people wrong that you are willing to have children and men and women fear for their basic needs? are you willing to continue to ignore the fact that many homeless and unemployed men and women do not...let me repeat...do not want your entitlements but had rather be working and independent? are so intent on keeping your party politics in tact that you would choose to ignore the fact that the long term unemployed need...not want...this small amount to continue to keep their head above water until they once again work? a politician is elected to serve the people. they are not elected to pass judgement or make moral considerations. politicians are elected to make decisions based on fact that are in the best interest of their constituents....not ignore a stagnate economy, slow job growth, an increase in new job seekers and the slowest recovery after a recession in decades. at the very least the senate and congress owes it to the unemployed to vote on the issue and give a definitive answer...either yes or no...but an answer. they can't even do that.
as in the fight on homelessness, hunger and poverty in america, the politicians have shown once again that their moral compass and sense of obligation to the american people is broken. their duty to serve their constituents has been violated. their party loyalty is taking precedent over the well being and welfare of their own citizens. as for the employed and the remainder of america, take note....you could be next. for any long term unemployed that may be reading this...you will survive. but never forget. when your ordeal is over, when you hear someone criticize or exaggerate about the issues of welfare and snap or the homeless...never forget. when november comes around....never forget.
see you around town