With 1.2 million people losing their unemployment benefits we'll have thousands more homeless

[1776Forever]

22 Days After Congress Cut Unemployment Insurance, Still No Movement
By Annie Lowrey 6/23/10 1:53 PM

http://washingtonindependent.com/88085/22-days-after-congress-cut-unemployment-insurance-still-no-movement

It has been 22 days since some unemployment insurance recipients stopped receiving benefits, as the extenders bill — also known as the jobs bill or H.R. 4213 — took considerable time and cuts to make it through the House, and has stalled in the Senate for nearly a month now. ...

In the meantime, 903,000 unemployment insurance recipients have stopped receiving extended federal benefits. The National Employment Law Project has been blasting out one story a day from an unemployed worker facing poverty due to the joblessness crisis and Congressional inaction. Here’s today’s, from a broadcast radio worker laid off 18 months ago in Birmingham, Mich., the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the country:

"I had a radio show in Detroit for 15 1/2 years. I was let go recently due to budget cuts. When I found out I was going to be let go, I offered to stay for LESS than one-half my pay but I was told even that was too much to satisfy the budget cuts. A few months later, the company hired me back to do a part-time show paying $15.00 an hour for 25 hours a week. When I found out about this opportunity, I was ecstatic. Although it wasn’t a full-time job, it was income coming in that my family desperately needed to survive. However, this opportunity soon fell through…I was devastated.

I can’t find another job. I send out hundreds of applications a day, no call backs. Radio stations use voice tracking, which eliminates the need for real human beings. The full-timers tape the weekend shows so there aren’t even part-time positions anymore. And to add increased strain on my family life, my husband is now unemployed as well. He has an MBA and worked for years as an engineer.

During these past few years, we’ve lost 2 houses; it’s been awful. Unemployment insurance has helped keep food on the table when I had no clue where my family’s next meal was going to come from…and without the COBRA subsidy, I would have gone this entire time without health coverage. However, with my COBRA subsidy ending in July, I can’t afford health insurance for myself or my family….it’s too expensive."

The impasse has Democrats incensed. Yesterday, for instance, Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.), Kay Hagan (N.C.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) led a fiery press conference on the matter. “Continued obstruction in the Senate could lead to 20,000 layoffs in Pennsylvania alone and poses a threat to public safety and schools,” Casey said. “Despite majority support, states around the country are facing harmful real world consequences because a minority of senators are blocking funding.” Democratic Sens. Casey, Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) argued for immediate passage of the bill on the floor yesterday night. Still, no movement yet. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to be able to move the bill this week.

........

As we know now this bill did NOT pass. I know a lot of us on DU are going to loose our homes and have no where to go now. I went through that 2 years ago. I hope these legislators who did this understand what they are doing to this country! It is not that a CEO from Wall Street is loosing a few mil, it is that families are being torn apart! Lives are being shredded! Our way of live is falling apart at the seams! What we are seeing is the collapse of our country! As Ed Shultz said tonight "What the Hell are they thinking?" God help us all! If you don't think you are next think again!

[RKP5637]

1. There is a psychotic sickness stalking this once great nation. It's not like

jobs are just ever so abundant everyplace. Many of these people won't be happy until they see much of America groveling for existence in the streets. This is one F'ed place IMO. Let's give some more money to wall street and some more Too Big to Fail outfits.

[1776Forever]

2. It is true the GOP is at the root of this but Damn it our Representatives need to shout it out

from the rooftops! They REPRESENT us! Thank you to all who are trying as mentioned in the article and to Congressmen Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich.

[RKP5637]

4. Individuals such as Congressmen Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich are true

heroes in today's insane world. Much of congress lives in an insular world far from ours.

[Kablooie]

22. As long the Republicans have the filibuster available, the sickness can never be cured.

[saracat]

3. But not to worry. OFA has free Iphone apps!

:)

[SunnySong]

71. Thats Evil... I love it.

[madrchsod]

5. where is our FDR?

[1776Forever]

7. Where is help going to come from and will it come too late? n/t

:hide:

[RKP5637]

27. Been wondering the same, I have a hollow sinking feeling about all of this and

the future of our country. The gap of opportunity for kids today has become enormous.

[Bitwit1234]

6. Don any of you people read SciFi Books well

Andre Norton, who passed away recently, wrote some darn good books about stuff like this. Where people were jobless and homeless and lived in squaller. They hid from "elite" who had the money and so on. They were used as chattel. It seems to me that is what we are headed for. Next social security will go and all those seniors will also be thrown into the homeless pot.

[1776Forever]

8. Not without us trying our best to keep our country and families together. Even the sheep will wake

up eventually when they have to move out of their corrals. :yoiks:

[RKP5637]

31. I hope so because anymore many Americans seem a bunch of dumb fuc*s about

anything and everything. I've never seen such a clueless herd of cattle as many Americans today.

[lunasun]

63. or they will blame it on the sheep already out of their corrals

do not count on a lot of sheep waking up until they are on the slaughter belt or half starved....& too useless to do anything

[KonaKane]

9. An interesting way they are dealing with this on the islands

It's not a new idea but a very old one. In Hawaii there is the idea of "ohana" (family) that has been kicking in to take a bite out of the growing homeless population. Basically "ohana" is a concept that your family is more than just a bunch of people you get together with at Christmas or birthdays. They are there for you if you are in dire need, especially in a time like facing imminent homelessness. In my town alot of people who's unemployment benefits have run out are going to live with a family member until they can get employed again.

It's not a silver bullet by any means, but it helps. Do you have a family member, friend or neighbor who is looking down the barrel of homelessness because their benefits are ending? How possible would it be to take them in for awhile? Even in a small place an accomodation may be made for a short time.

This is not an excuse for the government to cut off benefits and toss the problem to the public - but it does compel some consideration about our options in dealing with a looming disaster.

[1776Forever]

10. Very true and if you do have family or friends to help you out you are truly blessed. As we know

some do not have.

[KonaKane]

11. That's right - and its for them that the government needs to step up the most

and keep these benefits going. It's unconscionable to me that we are still financing two ridiculously unnecessary wars coming up on a couple of trillion dollars now, and we tell Americans who need the help that there just isnt the money.

[bobbolink]

13. And people without "Ohana" can jump off the pali.

Some "aloha".

[KonaKane]

30. Strawman much?

Aloha.

[bobbolink]

41. Raygun much? Thank you for your consideration.

[KonaKane]

47. You made the "leap" to tossing people off the pali, not me.

I would suggest you resist that urge in the future and stay on topic without going lolo.

[bobbolink]

54. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Talk about a leap..... my words are right there, and everyone else can see I made no such suggestion that people SHOULD be tossed off the pali.

That is all that is left for those with no family when your only solution is to tell people, like Raygun did, to rely on family.

Stop twisting my words, and look at what you are really advocating, and how you are ignoring those at the very bottom.

[KonaKane]

56. You beating a path away from your own insinuations at record speed.

Maybe this is a lesson for the future: stay away from ridiculous strawman leaps and focus on the actual conversation. Not some one, you know, that you imagined.

[bobbolink]

59. When someone else chooses to take ones words and twist them into a "strawman" of their own making,

the only lesson to learn is to stay away from that person.

You are showing your own character here

Welcome to my ignore list.

I suggest you do the same.

Have a nice life. bye now.......

[KonaKane]

60. I mentioned ohana, and from that you drew that I wanted to pitch "familyless" people over a cliff.

That was no twisting of anything. Anybody who saw your comments knows thats what you did. Perhaps in the future you won't let your anger and righteous indignation get in the way of your sober honesty and better judgement.

[Hannah Bell]

16. i don't think this concept is unique to hawaii or hawaiians. or that you've said anything

everyone on this board doesn't already know about that "option".

yes, it's good to have family or friends when you have no income. but that situation strains relationships. especially if it goes on indefinitely.

no adult wants to be dependent on others.

[maryf]

18. no adult wants to be dependent on others

the loss of dignity is brutal when one feels obliged...even in families...

[bobbolink]

24. This is usually the first thing said to someone who becomes homeless... "Don't you have family?"

I guess we should all answer.... "OH! Yes, you are right. I totally forgot. Thank you for reminding me." :crazy:

This is nothing more than the same old effort to make it an individual problem rather than a societal problem, which means there will be NO effort at solutions until we change this meme.

It is a Raygun tactic that still lives among "progressives", and finally needs to be put to rest.

Nobody, especially people who are in pain because of being unemployed, homeless, etc., should be put in the position of having to explain to anyone "I can't go live with my parents because my dad repeatedly raped me when I was a child", "I can't live with my grown children because my son-in-law always yells at me and I am afraid he will hit me", etc etc etc.

It is past time to understand we have a societal problem and it is up to all of us to work for the very best solutions.

[KonaKane]

34. "Ohana" isn't just about blood ties. You can be ohana and not be genetically related

In fact, it speaks the connectedness of all of us.

Instead of angrily spitting back at anything that doesnt come from your drawer of platitudes, maybe take a breath and consider there are many kinds of solutions for a terrible situation. We need them all.

[bobbolink]

40. You have heard from many people the drawbacks of the Raygun era stuff you are promoting.

Make it a personal attack on me if you wish, but it is time to move beyond this old personal solution stuff that hurts poor people.

Aloha.

[KonaKane]

48. Where are you pulling Raygun out of this?

He had nothing to do with ohana....in fact he held it in contempt if you look at his past and his behavior in office.

You have truly jumped off the pali of sense here, yourself.

[bobbolink]

53. You posted a personal attack, and you may apologize for that.

Look, all Raygun did, and I'm sure you are aware of this, was deny that government and society had ANY responsibility for people who were suffering in this society. He and his RW henchmen kept pushing the idea of "personal responsibility" and that it was the job of families, NOT government and not society, to help those who fall through the cracks. If they die, well, then, they die.

That is exactly what you are advocating. Going back to relying on family, no matter what.

I posted the fact that some families are DYSFUNCTIONAL, and you don't respond to that. Nothing. Silence. Others replied to you that families can do only so much. Silend. You don't want to hear that. You have your solution for others, and any evidence to the contrary is ignored.

So, am I to gather from that that you think it matters not if the person has to go back to a family where s/he was repeatedly raped by a family member, where s/he is in danger of abuse, etc.? Do you really not see the obvious... that Everyone. Knows. They. Have. Famiily. PERIOD. They don't have to be reminded of that... as Hannah pointed out to you, EVERY culture relies on family! If people can't or won't go to family, there it is likely there is a very good reason for that, and it is not up to you to pressure them until they have to "confess" the pain that their family represents to them.

Really, you tell me I have no sense, but what you are pushing here makes NO logical sense at all.

All you have to do is to put yourself in the shoes of another, and you can see what is needed, and it isn't the Raygun "go to your family" crap.

This society is falling apart, and if this society doesn't help those who have fallen down, then it is a society rotten to the ccre and needs to fail. The sense that is falling off the pali is that people who call themselves "progressive" can't see this obvious fact, and have already forgotten the damage that was done by Raygun's policies, and just keep repeating them.

[KonaKane]

57. You consider the Hawaiian concept of Ohana a personal attack?

Wow. That's just....mind boggling. What else do you consider a personal attack? Breakfast cereal commercials? The milk truck driving by?

[lunasun]

64. what u said plus what if your extended family

is in poverty too. Some landlords restrict who is on lease.
Not every one has family members with houses with spare rooms or basements. If they did have it - don't you think they would try to help ? !

[bobbolink]

67. You would think "progressives" would understand that, wouldn't you?

What has become very clear is that muddle-class "progressives" think everyone is like them.

They are unable to put themselves in the shoes of others, and recognize what the lives of other people are really like.

Its not just sad... it is tragic.

[lunasun]

70. really to be pitied> for their overbloated small world view

and I am sure they think everyone wishes to be just like them:eyes:

[KonaKane]

79. Actually you are guilty of your own charge.

Assuming that everyone who is in difficulties, everywhere, is the same as they are in your locale, and that they have only the same recourses.

Very small minded.

[KonaKane]

78. You'd be amazed at the creativity of ohana when it comes to helping each other.

Being in a similar boat need not be an obstruction. Sometimes it's actually an asset.

[KonaKane]

32. I didnt say it was unique. I said it was in the tradition here.

Try to resist the urge for snark when someone tries to post something helpful or hopeful.

[Hannah Bell]

33. it's the tradition everywhere. there was no snark in my post, just a statement of fact.

[KonaKane]

36. Actually its not the tradition everywhere.

I have lived in sections of the nation where they would sooner watch you die on the street curb than lift a finger to help you.

You are speaking from ignorance or snark, or a combination of both.

[Hannah Bell]

38. you are speaking of the present, not the *tradition*. i'm speaking of the tradition.

helping family & friends is traditional everywhere.

the logic of capital destroys all such traditions; they become too costly.

[socialist_n_TN]

42. "the logic of capital destroys all such tradition:

they become too costly."

Never any truer words spoken. Lay the blame where it ALWAYS belongs. Every fucking problem we face can be laid at the feet of the capitalists.

[KonaKane]

46. Can't refute that. Which is why I think it is truly destined for dissolution.

I've said this before, and been called unrealistic. But nothing will crash capitalism faster than the its own excesses.

[KonaKane]

45. The tradition IS the present, ma'am.

[Hannah Bell]

50. i'm not about to split hairs with you.

[KonaKane]

58. Nor are you willing to address the topic. Oh well, so it goes. A hui hou.

[Hannah Bell]

61. i addressed the topic already, thank you very much.

the topic was people going homeless because they can't find work.

not splitting hairs over the definition of "traditional".

my comment was that native hawaiians aren't the only people who "traditionally" help family & friends in hard times, nor is the possibility of staying with family or friends a revelatory concept to the unemployed. my address to the topic was quite clear.

[KonaKane]

77. and you still misunderstand "ohana"

It's not about you being taken in by your blood relatives. Ohana is extended family, based on community. In other words, someone in your community who is having a hard time being taken care of by that community, regardless of whether they are related by blood or not.

You're welcome.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. K&R

[butterfly77]

14. Kicked&Recommended!

[Hannah Bell]

15. yes, we will. and some people will lose their life's savings, their homes,

their friends & their families.

some will likely commit suicide.

some will die earlier than they would otherwise because of poor health, violence, alcohol, or heartbreak.

capitalism kills people.

[The Wizard]

72. Any system left unfettered by checks and balances

will in the end become totalitarian and eventually eat itself alive like "sharks on a feeding frenzy" as Melville put it in "Moby Dick."

[laughingliberal]

17. This is going to hit the already faltering recovery like a ton of bricks.

I think it's exactly what the Republicans want. The worse the economy and the higher the unemployment the better their chances in November.

The reason for their resistance is obvious. But WTF is up with Ben Nelson?

[prolesunited]

23. +1

Exactly. They want people to going into November in agony. Their followers are energized by the
GOP "sticking it to the bums" and the Dems stay home because they are demoralized by the Dems ineffectiveness.

I want the Dems to fight HARD for the millions like me.

[Drops_not_Dope]

19. Or Obama could step up to the plate

and sign an executive order. :spray:

[placton]

26. wow, now I am really laughing

that would not be "incremental change," nor would it appease the GOP

[KonaKane]

81. as you can see with the Guantanamo closure order, its often not enough.

There are ways in congress to stonewall the execution (read that "funding") of an executive order so as to make it ineffectual.

[pattmarty]

20. We are so fucked.

[Greyhound]

21. Once we reach a critical mass, the mask will come completely off and the 'fun' begins in earnest.

We are drifting on an ocean of troubles in a leaking skiff with no rudder, the results are historically inevitable.

As Harper Lee said, "when you’ve got nothing you’ve got nothing to lose" and that's when the parasites start to panic.
:kick: & R

[immune]

39. When there's really nothing left to lose,

people will ship all those worthless corporate debt chits back to the federal reserve and start printing their own currencies. Actually, that's already happening in well over 300 towns and cities all across the fruited plain, but apparently its a big secret right out there in the open. And its working. That's what the federal government should have done decades ago: print national money and throw the money moguls straight out of legislative process, but as that old saying goes: when you want something done right, you usually have to do it yourself.

[madfloridian]

25. I hate to tell you this, but people blame those in the majority.

Especially when their lives and futures are at stake.

The GOP controlling the agenda with 41 votes? Have you tried to explain that to those who don't pay attention to politics?

This is not going to end well.

[Raineyb]

28. You're 100% correct there.

The Democrats will end up being blamed for this. People will wonder what's the point of voting them in the majority if they are so feckless. Frankly, based on the current performance I can hardly blame them.

[SoCalDem]

29. Our son in Seattle is one of them

He is back to waiting tables. Before he was laid off he was a crane operator at a steel mill that ironically, makes drilling equipment.. he was making a pretty decent wage, and then they went to one shift a day, and he & another crane operator were laid off. No need for 3 crane operators when you no longer have 3 shifts a day:(

[JNelson6563]

75. Sorry to hear about your son

I hope things improve for him soon. On a lighter note, your sig line pic made me lol. :hi:

Julie

[Catherina]

35. But the wars will go on. And on. And on.

Your picture is poignantly appropriate. I may steal it for some posts. Rec'd

[lunasun]

65. Well then the poor masses of unemployed will have a job to do

Go to war to eat and take your chances . What a wet dream for the war machine. Of course hardly the 1st time it has happened in this country ...

[Junkdrawer]

37. Final Insult: The Unemployment Rate will go down....

and the same politicians will take credit for that...

[leftstreet]

49. +1

Disgusting, but true

[OhioChick]

80. +2 n/t

[katty]

43. shame be on their heads not passing this-o, the misery&backlash

-this should be PRIORITY #1

[Urban Prairie]

44. The 21st century has truly become a living nightmare for many of us

who were productive and tax paying citizens with jobs that "should" have been relatively secure. But other than those who were affected, few complained or became concerned when blue-collar jobs began to disappear, especially in the Midwest, at the start of the Reagan presidency. White collar workers felt safe and more secure because of their having desirable and employer-coveted job skills and/or higher educations.

But by the final decade of the 20th century, with the rise of high speed internet, and "free trade" agreements like NAFTA played a large part in the rapidly growing increase in employers choosing to not only off-shore even more blue collar manufacturing jobs, but to also outsource white collar jobs as well.

I seem to remember during the Shrub's first term of office, a conservative professor who was a member of his administration stating that white collar professionals in the medical/legal/technical fields who were angry and became very outspoken about losing their career employment and/or higher paying job opportunities to much lower paid professionals overseas, needed to take the next step and become "idea gurus and conceptual consultants"...:eyes: yeah, right!!

It appears likely that almost any job or small business that is not nailed down here in the US by physical necessity can and will continue to become more and more scarce in the US, due to the now "global" economy, turning what now passes for the shrinking middle class into the global equivalent of being uninsured peasantry, and perhaps tens of millions more unemployed Americans becoming permanently homeless.

[TheKentuckian]

51. "Pragmatic" Democrats had best figure out how to force a package through fast

Finger pointing and cop outs won't cut the mustard, you can bet Bill Gates' bottom dollar.

[totodeinhere]

52. Reid needs to keep the Senate in session 24 hours a day seven days a week until a couple of those

sick, tired old pukes keel over and then we can get that bill through. Innocent victims of this recession who have nowhere else to turn deserve no less.

[Divine Discontent]

55. frustrating kick & rec. as I wrote the other day, people ARE blaming the Dems for not pushing thru

the agenda that a majority of citizens want, which is one that helps protect the people. Screw the F**E#Ring corporations. I'm so sick of paid-off politicians telling us that so-and-so company needs tax breaks, or the numerous Military Industrial Complex companies need another 100 million contract.

I was watching a show on Mark Twain (Clemens), and he was greatly against the USA becoming an imperialist country like the world powers, and mocked Teddy Roosevelt strongly for pushing us towards that behavior - voila - a hundred years later, that is what we ARE known for!

[Ramulux]

62. Its at the point where...

I am wondering what it is going to take for our politicians to understand how serious this economic recession is.

We have millions of people who are unemployed and unable to recieve any government assistance and yet there is no sense of urgency. They seem to be content to just chill and hope that it all goes away. Do there need to be people dying in the streets for them to do anything?

Literally, when will they understand that this is a national emergency. You cannot have a functioning economy with massive unemployment and an increase in poverty levels. The lower class will not be able to buy things and when things aren't being bought, businesses fail and everything goes to hell.

This is one of those things that just boggles the mind. We are becoming a 3rd world country and no one seems to care.

[Raksha]

66. Too late to recommend, but kicking anyway.

[Dover]

68. So there's plenty of money for citizens to bail out the banks and build infrastructure in Afghanista

provide corporate welfare, uncollected offshore tax money, but oops...so sorry. Nothing left for the working man/woman. And no job retraining...no jobs programs, no social safety nets at all.

[CTyankee]

69. I met someone yesterday, laid off, used up her unemployment benefits, living with

one daughter for a while, then the other, so she won't be too big a burden any one of her kids...she has a Master's in social work and has worked all her adult life. Now at 59 she can't get a job which she thinks is because of age discrimination because she always gets the interview based on her resume, but when they see her they think "old."

What a horrible state of affairs...

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

73. My 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits are about to run out.

Since I was laid off, I've had 3 interviews. I met with a recruiter this morning and have a phone interview on Friday. So far, I've had no offers.

It's very frustrating. I've applied for almost 60 jobs and have been going to a lot of networking events.

The last interview I went on (I feel lucky just to get one these days), I was treated like shit. The guy was text messaging as I was answering a question and proceeded to ask me what my husband did for a living (none of your fucking business, doesn't relate to the job or my ability, and, oh yeah, don't think it's legal for you to be asking, douchebag!).

I go to a job support group where I've talked to several people who have been out of work for a year or more. It's not like we're sitting around with our fingers up our butts.

These schmucks who are refusing to extend unemployment insurance need a dose of reality.

Sorry for the rant.

[tazme]

74. What about those jobs "americans won't do"?

And our borders remain open to illegals who continue to drive down wages on remaining jobs,
and we accept it. Why?

Not everyone has a degree and is waiting for the eventual return of jobs that were once here.
Some just need a plain old job...as in manual labor. Yes, hard dirty long hours work. I'd take it
if I could find it.

[earcandle]

76. Yikes, make friends with a rich person? What the fuck? Go to war? NO don't do that, find a way to

use language to get your needs met.  Charge a healthy fee for
those services you offer.  Be the rain.