Please take the time to read and sign the following petition. 5000 signatures are required for this petition to receive the attention of the White House. Your signature will go a long way to helping out millions of long-term unemployed. Click on this link to view the petition.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Extend unemployment benefits past 99 weeks for ALL long-term unemployed Americans – for the 99ers and ANY “exhaustee”

Very soon an estimated 10 million Americans and their families will have exhausted all 99 weeks of their unemployment insurance benefits (or whatever their State’s maximum qualifying weeks were). Please extend these benefits past 99 weeks for ALL long-term unemployed Americans, especially for the “99ers” and any “exhaustee”, until there are enough jobs available. Because of age or physical imitations, many can not be expected to pick up a shovel. Many have already been without any income at all for a year or longer and barely subsist on food stamps. The 99ers and “exhaustees” can no longer wait for 14 million jobs to gradually come online over a protracted period of time. We’ve waited as long as we could.

http://bud-meyers.blogspot.com/2011/09/official-white-house-petition-for-99ers.html

Where are the jobs? That question is on the minds of millions of Americans who have lost jobs during the Great Recession. During this historically lean jobs creation period, finding a new job often requires thinking outside the box. And you can’t think much further outside the job search box than “workamping” — also known as work-camping.

“The RV’s kitchen slide broke in Eutaw, Alabama, which is in the middle of the middle of nowhere. We managed. We were stuck in the mud in Clarksdale, Mississippi during a launch party for the anthology, Delta Blues. The tow truck driver who pulled our rig out of the mud jackknifed it and broke out the pickup’s rear window. Guess I can add my broken wrist to the list of oopsies.”

That’s how Suzann Ellingsworth described a couple of days in the workamping life she shares with her husband, Dave, as they drive their RV through the southern and plains states looking for work.

According to Workamper.com, a workamper is “an adventurous individual who has chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines ANY kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping. If you work as an employee, operate a business, or donate your time as a volunteer, AND you sleep in an RV (or on-site housing), you are a Workamper. Workampers generally receive compensation in the form of a free campsite, usually with free utilities (electricity, water, and sewer hookups) and additional wages.”

Calling it a “wonderful lifestyle” seems a bit over the top for some workampers. After communicating with Suzann for more than six months and observing the Ellingsworth’s ups and frequent downs, it’s obvious that workamping is not all fun and games, at least for those who hit the road in need of a job to survive.

Most workamper jobs are of the minimum-wage variety. Workampers generally don’t receive unemployment insurance benefits, severance pay or any warning that a job is about to end. Workampers face many of the same job insecurity issues as the millions of Americans who have been downsized due to job outsourcing, financial mismanagement and slow consumer demand for products and services, except workampers are purposely more nimble and have been conditioned to pack up and move to where the jobs are. “We have to be mobile to land a job,” said Suzann. Those who become jobless and live in traditional stationary homes aren’t usually able to move to another city on a moment’s notice.

Since workamping is a nomadic lifestyle, it’s difficult to collect a headcount. Steve Anderson, president of Workamper.com, said the most recent workamper survey is from KOA, but it is dated: “Nearly 10 years ago the KOA Corporation gave an estimate that 750,000 were living the workamping lifestyle. Their data was questioned then and at best was an estimated guess. Over the years we have seen our membership remain in the 14,000 range with thousands of others in the dreaming stages of workamping. It is very transitional lifestyle, meaning folks begin and end the lifestyle every day.”

“More people are turning to workamping as a way to earn money,” said Jaimie Hall Bruzenak, RVlifestyleexperts.com founder and author of Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider’s Guide to Working on the Road. “I would say it is mixed, though. Some are the traditional retired couples who want to either earn a little money or get a free site while having the chance to travel and stay in beautiful places. There are also those who have been hit with the downturn — either they don’t have enough retirement income to live on or perhaps lost their jobs and look to workamping as an alternative way to make a living. There are people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who choose this lifestyle. My late husband and I were 47 when we started.”

For an increasing number of older workers, workamping may offer an opportunity to supplement retirement incomes. According to a 2011 study from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, “More than three in five U.S. workers in their 50s and 60s plan on working past 65 — and 47% of that group say they’ll do so because they’ll need the money or health benefits.”

The Great Recession has cost millions of Americans their livelihoods as it did the Ellingsworths. Dave, according to Suzann, “was a marketing/advertising/IT professional–the first corporate division to fall in any economic downturn, counterproductive as that is.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported for August that 6.2 million workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. Over two million workers have been unemployed for 99 weeks or more – near record levels.

Suzann is uncomfortably familiar with her husband’s job search struggle. “Over the UI period, he sent hundreds of resumes. It netted three in-person interviews, no offers. Words can’t describe what it does to a man to be unable to find work–the grind-down process. Constantly ginning hope that ‘this will be the day’ meets no dice at mid-afternoon. Friends and family members eventually believe you aren’t trying hard enough, you’re too picky, you’re enjoying an extended, paid vacation of sorts.”

It’s certainly not a paid vacation for millions of job seekers. The BLS reported that there were 3.1 million job openings in the US, “well below the 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007.” When the unemployed, discouraged workers, and underemployed (those seeking full-time work, but currently working only part-time), are added together, there are roughly eight people available for each full-time job opening.

Both natives of Missouri, Suzann, 58, and Dave, 56, are the parents of three grown children and grandparents of three. A freelance writer, Suzann was apprehensive about the dramatic change in lifestyle once she and her husband decided to take on the workamper lifestyle, “I’ll admit a serious case of intimidation at the prospect of a so-called real job, having womanned a keyboard in a home office for a couple of decades. Small businesses don’t come any smaller than a self-employed writer.”

The Ellingsworths were forced to sell their home in the fall of 2009. After thoroughly researching what they would need to become workamper road warriors, they purchased a 2002 pickup and a 34-foot-long, six-year-old RV, or as it was dubbed “a Pringles can with tires.”

On January 21, 2010, they packed their remaining possessions and their two rescued greyhounds into the pickup and RV. They had hoped to gradually learn the ropes of operating the large rig, but unseasonable weather, “kiboshed all plans to practice hitching the RV to the pickup, practice driving them on empty parking lots. The first time Dave hitched the two was the day we left. The first time he drove the two hitched was when we pulled out. Even we can’t believe we did that, let alone made it through Memphis early afternoon traffic alive.”

When asked what they miss most about the non-RV life, Suzann replied, “Of course, family and friends the most. The sense we’re abdicating our responsibilities to Dave’s elderly parents, our three grown children, and three grandchildren gets to us. Life does go on–ours now separate from those we love most.”

The jobs available for workampers are generally lower paying and without benefits – often minimum wage, or less if you are supplied with a dedicated campsite, which can include electricity and water. If you pay for a campsite, it can cost anywhere from $350 to $500 a month. Workampers who have a secondary form of income can obtain a free campsite at a national, state, or private RV park by “volunteering” 20-30 hours of work.

William Smith of Happyvagabonds.com, an RV camping and jobs search site, said, “The people who most successful at workamping will generally not rely on workamping as a sole source of income. Compensation is typically on the low end of the scale for workampers. It is not unusual to see campgrounds offer arrangements where the workamper will actually earn less than minimum wage in exchange for their campsite.”

Work-camping.com notes “Many work-camping jobs are seasonal, running from about May to October, though some positions in warm-weather states like Florida or Arizona may be year-round.”

While most jobs are of the minimum-wage variety, Jaimie Hall Bruzenak added, “There are many other opportunities, some of which do pay more. There are sales jobs such as working for Air Photo, where workampers I’ve interviewed say they make $40,000 a year or more. My late husband and I worked as seasonal workers for the National Park Service and made $12-$18 an hour. In a six-month season, we could live on one paycheck and then bank the other.”

During the 2010 winter holiday season, Dave was fortunate to secure 40-hour-a-week employment at an Amazon distribution center — a workamper’s dream job. Amazon is a company that caters to the workamper, according to Jaimie Hall Bruzenak: “Amazon hires as many workampers as they can for work in their warehouses and pay very well for seasonal work, as well as provide an RV site. They have found the more mature workers to be more productive than the younger ones, in spite of the fact that they aren’t as physically able as the young ones.”

Living the workamper life can be expensive. There’s the matter of food (growing food in Styrofoam ice chests offers fresh vegetables), fuel (gas, diesel and propane), vehicle insurance and repairs, communications, campsite fees, and satellite TV. Why satellite TV? “It’s all but mandatory, as [broadcast television] is not available in myriad areas surprisingly not far beyond municipal limits.” Beyond the standard TV fare, “The Weather Channel is the most important channel because we need to keep track of tornados and flash floods.”

Besides the weather, another enemy of the workamper is weight, since each pound of cargo increases the cost of fuel to travel. “We continually jettison items we thought we needed and learned we didn’t, including the sofa-bed that came with the RV. Before anything is purchased, thought must be given to whether it’s truly needed and how much it weighs — weight being a concept unconsidered in a sticks-and-bricks house, but critical to a house that must be towed everywhere.”

The Ellingsworths have met scores of full-time workampers, “Including families with children either home-schooled or enrolled in a respective school system for the duration of the temp job, then moving on to the next. The average age of full-timers is 45-54, which counters the mental image of doddering senior citizens on wheels.”

Prior to Dave’s job at Amazon, the Ellingsworths worked at a seasonal amusement park in Altoona, IA for six months, Dave as a rides assistant and Suzann as a cashier. Then they found what seemed like the perfect workamper opportunity near the Gulf Coast of TX. The site location was perfect; two Wal-Marts within an easy drive, a bookstore, a library, a Dairy Queen and the Texas coastline were alluring close-by retreats. The job was guaranteed until October 2011, with the distinct possibility of renewal. Dave was a park handyman and Suzann was an office assistant. All was going well until they saw an ad for the jobs they were holding listed on a workamper website. While fulfilling their job duties, the Ellingsworths had observed park mismanagement and other irregularities that made them uncomfortable. They decided to leave their positions before the situation deteriorated further. With that job’s sudden end, they headed back to Springfield, MO in May 2011, to regroup. On their way home, one of their beloved greyhounds died unexpectedly and the second one died recently.

Workamping is another option in the pursuit of employment during a relatively stagnant US jobs market. The American workforce is being forced to change dramatically in ways that were not demanded of recent generations. The days of working for a single company all your working life and earning a pension that will support you adequately in retirement are ending. Employers now demand less overhead and more productivity in order to increase profits. Full-time workers who receive higher pay and benefits are being replaced by as-needed, contract, freelance and part-time workers who are offered lower pay and fewer, if any, benefits. Large corporations are shifting profit centers offshore and taking with them the most valuable employees who are willing to relocate, while downsizing those who are less skilled and less mobile.

The Ellingsworths are resigned to living their current lifestyle for as long as necessary. Suzann says, “I can’t anticipate retiring, since there’s no retirement income. The RV is home until it isn’t. We would never buy another house, since we wouldn’t want to lose it. But we’re managing. It is a true day-at-a-time lifestyle.” There are 25 million unemployed and underemployed deciding what they will do next to find a job. Workamping is not the road chosen by most jobless, but for the Ellingsworths and thousands of others it is, for now, the only available road.

Labor Day 2011. Mike Luckovich - GoComics.com

ATV Winches

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Another stark reality is the fact that the jobs market has stalled and job creation has fallen to its lowest level of 2011. The June 2011 employment report contained plenty of bad news; only 18,000 jobs were created, the unemployment rate increased to 9.2%, and hourly wages and hours worked both fell slightly. The job creation revisions for April and May were both to the downside.

Long-term unemployment remained at historically elevated levels as those out of work for more than 52 weeks increased by 34,000 from a year earlier to 4,364,000, or 30.3% of all unemployed. A large part of that 4,364,000 includes 2,039,000 unemployed who have been out of work for 99 weeks or longer, an increase of 105,000 from the previous month. This is the first time since the 99 week statistic has been tracked by the BLS that it has exceeded the two million mark.

99er (exhausted all unemployment benefits) Brenda McFadden, was a corporate travel consultant for more than 20 years, but is finding that the job market can be unforgiving. Has she seen job market improvements? “Not at all. My state is still over 10% (unemployment). It frustrates me to see the U.S. throwing money we don’t have to outside entities, i.e. funding wars and uprisings etc. and yet there are no funds to continue support of the Long Term unemployed during this monumental economic downturn (supporting them would be good for the economy in that they turn around and spend it not hoard it). 99ers especially, are ignored and forgotten and are being swept under the national rug.”

While unemployment is at historically high levels considering the economy is supposed to be in recovery mode, the tragedy of long-term unemployment is especially troublesome. The longer a person remains jobless the more difficult it is to find new work. Many prospective employers often disparage the long-term unemployed for being lazy, having out-of-date skills and not having the confidence to step into a new position.

“And on top of that some companies — including PMG Indiana, Sony Ericsson and retailers nationwide — have explicitly barred the unemployed or long-term unemployed from certain job openings, outright telling them in job ads that they need not apply.

D.V. from Modesto, CA, feels the sting of long-term job rejection, “Unemployment is still above 18% locally and I still don’t even get returned phone calls for minimum-wage jobs.”

The jobs crisis can be especially difficult for older workers. “At the present age of 64 and having been out of work for the last 1 3/4 years, I do a lot less, eat much less, get a special discount at the YMCA, shop on Senior discount days, walk a lot more, try to combine trips to avoid using too much fuel,” opines Thomas Rainey of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “The job market for seniors has always been rather bleak; it seems it has really gotten a lot worse in these last few years.”

Brenda McFadden believes that new laws need to be put in place discouraging discriminatory practices that affect the long-term unemployed. “I would like to see strong legislation and penalties to employers who practice discrimination — age related or employment status — and also see relaxed credit reviews when looking at the unemployed for hire because what may have been good or great credit once may be no longer… doesn’t mean they won’t make a good employee.”

With the number of long-term unemployed increasing, it may be reasonable to think that a great deal of effort is being expended to address the issue. Unfortunately, that is not the case. More time and effort is being spent cutting unemployment benefits than devising job or retraining programs.

Many state legislatures, including Florida and Michigan, enacted legislation that reduces the number of weeks the unemployed can collect state benefits.

State changes to unemployment won’t be noticed until 2012, but the federal unemployment extensions are affecting newly laid off workers now:

Workers laid off through no fault of their own will not be eligible for any of the generous extended unemployment benefits layoff victims have received from the federal government since 2008.

Underemployment is also underreported. According to the BLS, underemployment is “persons employed part time for economic reasons.” Underemployment is a job of 1-34 hours a week. As of June, 8.6 million workers were considered underemployed. When including the underemployed, the “real’ unemployment rate spikes to 16.2%.

Underemployment is hardship for many part-timers, including “Lis Rosser” a 40-something resident of Myrtle Beach, SC. “I would say over the past years 3+ years, I have applied for at least 500 or so jobs, in 5 or more states via on-line/sending resumes, in person, or phone calls to previous employers. The answer is always the same — call back in a couple of months- or we’re not hiring right now.”

“I have been unable to find any full time or permanent work of any kind. I applied for anything from McDonald’s (they would never even interview me), even worked cleaning toilets and vacation rentals last summer, and now work as a pt (part-time) timeshare tele-marketer. No one else will hire me, and I have been with the same company for over a year @ $8.00 an hour plus commission and no benefits. They have laid me off 3 or 4 times during this time, and then call me back.”

Living on unemployment benefits or part-time wages can be very difficult, “I struggle to get by on about $150 – $175 a week- net pay, when I used to make $500 – $600 a week, plus full benefits, working for Harrah’s Resorts in Atlantic City. I receive ‘partial’ food stamps here in SC, and that’s it. My ‘health care’ is the Emergency Room. I can’t keep juggling everything, and trying to keep just my cell phone on (needed for work), my car insurance and rent paid, plus gas and car repairs, much longer. Every day I am deeper into this hole, and I don’t know how I will ever get out.”

With the GOP controlling the House, the chances for further unemployment extensions, or job assistance, regardless of the unemployment rate, are slight. Congressional Republicans are more concerned about bashing Obama about the current jobs situation than doing anything to improve matters. Republicans believe that more tax cuts and unfavorable trade agreements will be the cure-all for a long-simmering jobs crisis. And the Democrat controlled Senate is incapable of pushing forward jobs legislation due to GOP (and some Democrats) resistance.

That leaves President Obama and his mighty bully pulpit to stand up firmly and empathetically for the long-term unemployed. Wrongly, Obama completely ignores these long-suffering millions. As an example, during the president’s recent Twitterfesthe answered some jobs questions, but he was never offered a question about what he was willing to do for the long-term unemployed and 99ers who have exhausted all unemployment benefits. The Chicago Tribune picked up on that oversight when they released “Best Tweets Obama didn’t answer.” The best tweet?

Why is so little being done for the 6.2 million long-term unemployed? Why have 99ers been abandoned by Congress and White House? (Full disclosure, that was the tweet of this blogger.)

The GOP seems more inclined to cut social safety net programs in order to continue tax cuts for the wealthy. There are 2.5 million U.S. households earning more than $250,000 a year. These 2.5 million households are given an inordinate amount of congressional attention compared to the 6.3 million households experiencing long-term unemployment. Are the families of the wealthy more deserving of financial assistance than the families of the long-term unemployed? The actions of congress seem to indicate that is the case.

The GOP-controlled House appears fixated on reducing taxes on the wealthy and corporations, cutting Social Security, dismantling Medicare, and repealing healthcare legislation. But when Gallup asked, “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?” the top two answers were the Economy in general at 31% and Unemployment/Jobs at 27%. While Americans sense that jobs are an urgent matter needing immediate attention, the GOP House seems focused on partisan issues of less importance.

The emotional toll on the long-term unemployed can be devastating. Lis Rosser feels that the worst is not yet over for her, “I am afraid I will not survive this. As you know things are getting much worse and I fear the situation has not hit bottom yet.” While Lis isn’t yet hopeless, other long-term unemployed, such as Thomas Rainey, rely firmly on that most precious of emotions — hope. “But I am confident that there will be a light at the end of tunnel for all in need. We will prevail!”

For the sake of Thomas, Lis, Brenda, D.V. the 6.3 million long-term unemployed and the 8.6 million underemployed, it’s vital that their hopes not be exhausted before help arrives in the form of jobs or financial assistance. Unfortunately, considering the recent actions of this congress, expectations should not be high that help will arrive in time. Hopes will fade and the future will feel more terrifying.

Tom Toles - GoComics.com

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The underemployment rate did improve slightly to 15.8% from 15.9%. Underemployment is when someone wants a full-time job but is working fewer than 34 hours a week.

Those seeking full-time work found the job market less friendly than those seeking part-time positions. The unemployment rate for those seeking full-time employment rose to 9.7%, while the unemployment rate for those seeking part-time positions fell to 6.3%. The quoted unemployment rate of 9.1% is a combination of those looking for full-time and part-time work. Working 34 or more hours a week is considered full-time employment.

Working part-time is often a struggle for those who want full-time work. ML from IL is an intelligent, B.A. educated professional researcher, paralegal, proofreader/copy editor and a national manager of customer relations. “I was unemployed for two years. I am now underemployed, working part time but continuing to look for full-time work, and earning 55% less than before. While I’m grateful to even be working, I struggle to financially survive every day. I wasn’t at all sure that I’d get to be at my daughter’s college graduation and wedding because I couldn’t afford the travel expenses without family help.”

ML’s financial struggles include keeping a roof over her head, “I’ve faced eviction twice during the past couple of years, but I am still able to pay rent, barely. It isn’t okay to live this way. I want to thrive, not just survive, but I need full-time, reliable work for that to happen.”

While the employment report was disappointing on many levels, it was particularly abysmal for the long-term unemployed. The number of workers unemployed for 99 weeks or more increased 14,000 to 1,934,000. Those out of work for more than 27 weeks increased by 361,000 to 6,200,000; 45.1% of all unemployed have been out of work 27 weeks or more, which is near a record level.

Navy veteran, software consultant, and licensed realtor Virgil Bierschwale of Harper, TX, has been working on and off for the past ten years. This isn’t because of a lack of effort, but because of various economic conditions ranging from the bursting of the tech bubble to the crash of the housing market. State and federal budget cuts suddenly ended some of Virgil’s software consultation projects. His search for full-time work wasn’t a lackadaisical effort, since he would “Apply for software jobs daily with no interviews.” Has he become discouraged about finding a job? “Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that I have, but I now realize I will no longer find work doing what I successfully did for so many years.

Virgil is the website designer and author of Keep America At Work where, in his spare time, he writes about the loss of American jobs and how to keep more jobs in America.

Virgil’s income has fallen from a high of more than $100,000 in 2003 to less than $20,000 today. His wants are simple; a full-time job and a place to call home, “I currently live in an old shack on one acre of land that I can buy for $70,000. This would be my first priority because it is way past time that I set down some roots and I’ve got everything that I need and want here which isn’t much these days.”

The participation rate — those employed or looking for work — remained at a historically low 64.2%, which signals a weak job market.

Another dubious record is that now it takes longer to find a job, 39.7 weeks, than at any time since data collection began in 1948.

“I have never stopped looking for a job through all my health issues, but I did slow the search down a bit after each surgery,” said Alexandra Jarrin who has been battling homelessness, long-term unemployment and health issues for more than two years. She has exhausted all available unemployment benefits and she constantly lives on the edge of being homeless.

Alexandra has been profiled previously about her work to bring 99er stories to Sen. Bernie Sanders. (99ers are the unemployed who have exhausted all unemployment benefits, which in some cases is up to 99 weeks.) Yet through all her hardships,Alexandra’s job search has remained constant, “I have continued my work search faithfully.”

As is the case with many long-term unemployed, Alexandra’s job search has encountered numerous obstacles. “A few places that seemed interested were no longer interested when they asked for my salary history.” She’s willing to work for substantially less than she has made in the past, but that presents its own challenges, “Once they see I have made a considerable amount of money in the past they are no longer interested. One company wouldn’t set up an interview until I gave them my past salaries and told them how much I wanted to earn. That puts you in a difficult position because you don’t know how they will perceive what you are asking for if it is so much less than you have earned previously. One person asked why I would be looking for a job in fast food when I held a substantial position in a corporation.”

Whether salary concessions, career changes or the need to update software skills, interacting with potential employers often seems hopeless to the long-term unemployed, including Alexandra,”There’s just no good way to appease them.”

What are Congress and the president doing to address a stagnant and possibly deteriorating jobs market? Nothing this year. The GOP controlled House has been directing their energies toward the debt ceiling debate, defunding Obamacare, eliminating Medicare for those 55 and younger, and abortion restrictions. President Obama touts the successes of corporate bailouts, the need to increase the debt ceiling and explaining the role of the US military in Libya.

Yet beyond the poor economy in general what are Americans most concerned about? Is it the deficit? No. Is it fuel prices? No. Is it taxes? No. Unemployment and jobs are the most important issue by an almost two-to-one margin.

The jobs issue has received limited attention in the House, but no legislative action that would help improve the plight of the long-term unemployed. The House Ways and Means Committee has conducted hearings on “How Business Tax Reform Can Encourage Job Creation”, “How Other Countries Have Used Tax Reform to Help Their Companies Compete in the Global Market and Create Jobs”, and the ill-fated H.R. 1745, “Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011″, which included the option for states to cut the duration of unemployment benefits. While these business tax hearings may have some long-term value, they won’t create a single job in the short term.

The economy has improved for some; American companies are reaping record profits, Wall Street players are snagging outsize bonuses and compensation, and government continues its bailout policies of failed institutions. The economic picture is not improving for the long-term jobless. Congress is again in recess, so any action on the jobs crises will have to wait.

Long-term unemployment will worsen and wreck the lives of millions more unless Congress, the president and the private sector take immediate steps that lead to the creation of good jobs. ML in IL stated, “It isn’t okay to live this way.” That also applies to Virgil in TX, to Alexandra in VT and to America as a whole.

Follow Michael Thornton on Twitter: www.twitter.com/layofflist

America’s Under and Unemployed Battlefield

“You cannot choose your battlefield, God does that for you; But you can plant a standard where a standard never flew”-Jonathan Crane

Earl James is one of the underrepresented. Once completely unemployed and past his maximum allowable benefit period he is now underemployed, working part time as a contract employee.

A veteran, 66 years old and still scrapping, still fighting; Mr. James first became unemployed in the fall of 2006 and then again in the spring of 2008 through 2009 and 2010.

“My 99 weeks of unemployment compensation ended in mid 2010, and since my part time work is contract work, the employer doesn’t pay into the unemployment fund, so I won’t qualify for that again if I lose this job for any reason.”

It shouldn’t be this way for Earl James and the countless others like him. A well educated man, a man who has carved out a career, carved out a life.

We need a person like Earl James to succeed, need his hard work to be worthwhile for the sake of everyone who has played by the rules, and everyone who we expect to in the future.

And yet as this man pushes on with unfair burdens pushing down on his back there is a sense of optimism,  ”My personal situation is not totally dire” he explains adding that he is newly engaged and receiving some help from the VA and the SSA.

Still he worries about others struggling to navigate the suddenly hostile landscape of this country, specifically veterans who have given, in Mr. James’ words “part of their lives in defense of this nation and its way of life”.

“When I was unemployed in 2009 and receiving VA health care and unemployment compensation, I was not on Medicare. When I received the VA letter recently telling me I had to show medical deductions for 2009 that would bring my income for 2009 under $29,000 or I would have to reimburse the VA for some services rendered in 2009, it was the same day that the news about GE not paying any taxes on several billion dollars of profit came out.  I became incensed not so much for myself – I am getting by – but for other vets who are not old enough to access Medicare or social security and are unemployed, or underemployed, or for any American in that situation, vet or not, for that matter.”

At a time when all we hear about is austerity some forget those most in need of our investment, assistance, and repayment; Americas children, languishing unemployed, and veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan to 11.5% unemployment among their ranks.

There are those that fight back peacefully though, those who strive to point out hypocrisy and inequity. Among them the 99ers and US Uncut, two groups working together and separately, two of the many factions unified against misguided priorities and institutionalized misfeasance.

Mr. James, who has worked with both groups explains, “US Uncut’s mission is critical to bringing America’s unemployed back into service to our economy” continuing “Without extended unemployment compensation, Americans are left out in the cold, becoming more and more unemployable as each year goes by, and ultimately becoming permanently marginalized, all the while fat corporations like GE pay no taxes”.

This country has been unquestionably broken for a time with people like Earl James pushed to the bend of their knees and the bow of their heads. Every day they fight on a battlefield not of their choosing in the hope that they can bring into the light a standard of fairness. Question is, Democrat, Republican, or none of the above–what are you fighting for?