I received more than 300 letters from those who submitted letters to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support .

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support held a hearing on June 10 titled: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment. I asked readers of Rochester Unemployment Examiner to send me letters they wrote to the Committee that they also wanted to have published.* Below are a few of those letters. I’ll be posting other letters on a regular basis.

While you can no longer submit letters to House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support hearing, you can send your letters to me at mike@layofflist.org and I’ll publish them at Rochester Unemployment Examiner or at http://layofflist.org. Your stories are important and hopefully some of the clueless ones in Congress read them to see how their actions, or inactions, can harm Americans from all corners of the nation.

I want to thank all of you for including me in your letters to the Hearing. I will do my best to reply to each and every one of you.

As you can see from the following letters, this jobless recession has affected people of varied careers, education, and backgrounds. While many Americans will be enjoying their summer vacations and hosting backyard barbeques, there will be millions who won’t be enjoying their summer because their congressional representatives have abandoned them at the worst possible time.

Here are those letters:

From KB in AZ:

I am an award-winning human services professional who enjoys helping people, communities, and agencies expand their capacity to the fullest.  It has been my calling for most of my life.  I am ABD having completed my doctoral dissertation though I ran out of money before I could do my re-writes.  I did all of this because I wanted to learn as much as I could to be the best I could be as a community development professional.

My graduate education was primarily funded by student loans and I want to pay those student loans.  However, I was laid off 2 years ago when the economy went bad.  Since then I have been applying for positions of all kinds…kitchen work, janitorial, office work…it doesn’t matter as long as I don’t have to feel like a freeloader.  In the past 2 years I have lost my car and almost had my mobile home foreclosed on.  In a rural area where I live with no public transportation there is very little hope of working, so I have submitted resumes all over the country.

Thanks to the program that allowed for a re-packaging of my home loan (I have lived here 20 years) my home was saved by lowering the payments.  The payments and home insurance were made using my unemployment, now that the unemployment has ended, I don’t know how I will keep paying the mortgage.  I am 58 years old and my husband of 36 years is 72.  His disability insurance pays the bills but not the mortgage.  I never in my life thought things would end up like this.  I want to work but nobody will hire me.  I have even tried to be a VISTA volunteer and no one has picked me.

I am at my wit’s end.  I send out 10-20 resumes a week.  I have revised my resume several times using tips from employment agencies.  I have a resume for doing kitchen work, office work, and then my professional one.  I know there are people in the country with children who are having an even more difficult time of it and I make a daily list of things to be grateful for.  Still, it seems to me that given the great numbers of unemployed, it would make sense to extend a Tier 5 until the economy gets better.  Or, even better, create jobs that could help America through these hard times.  I would work just for living expenses.  At this point, it is hard to believe that I was chosen as Executive Director of the year for the State of Arizona by my peers.

Please try and think of ways to take advantage of the skills and knowledge that those of us who are unemployed have.  We can help get through this if you let us.  Thank you for reading my story.

From AMS in PA:

My name is AMS and I am from northeastern Pennsylvania.  I am 38 years old and have been unemployed since April 2008 after being separated from my job as assistant manager with a regional sporting goods retail chain.  Currently, I am in my third week of Tier 4 Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and without more weeks of Tier 4 or a Tier 5 added, my benefits will end in early or mid-July.  My primary background is in public relations and communications – I was a journalism major in college, graduating with honors from a small liberal arts school in 1994.  None of the above seem to be very good fields in this economy.  I also have good professional experience in customer service and retail.  Prior to being separated from my company in 2008, I had worked since I was 17 years old, including summer jobs in high school and college and parttime work in various campus offices as an undergraduate.

Over the past two years I have applied for numerous jobs in various fields, both fulltime and parttime.  In addition, I have registered with several temporary agencies.  One of the most frustrating parts of the job search process is the lack of communication from employers.  Many applications are done over the internet, and applicants rarely hear back from the employers.  It has also been indicated in the news lately that companies are unwilling to hire workers who are unemployed or who have been out of work for a long time.  This is just wrong.

In addition to an extensive job search, I have accepted any parttime, seasonal work that I can get.  I have helped at a local college in their campus police office during back-to-school time and also with their home athletic events.  I have also worked at our local visitors center during the busy Christmas holiday season.  Unfortunately, the visitors center was unable to hire as many workers this past winter due to budget cuts, so I was unable to work there during the 2009 holiday season.  I have been able and available for any work offered to me.

A scary part of this situation is being a Type 1 diabetic without health insurance.  My 18 months of COBRA expired October 31, 2009 and I was unable to obtain medical assistance from my county government because it was determined that my $280.00 weekly unemployment benefit was too high.  Taking care of my diabetes without insurance and on a very limited income is very hard, but I am doing the best I can.  My diabetes is under control – all of my doctors would agree that I am handling it very well and am employable.  I am so afraid that if I have no money coming in and can’t afford to take care of myself, I will end up in the hospital, or worse.  All I want to do is get a decent-paying job with good benefits including healthcare.  However, I am aware that in the near future I may have to accept parttime or temporary work until something else comes along.  In the meantime, I need some kind of income to live on.

I am currently living in a small two-bedroom apartment with my parents, who are in their 70s and both have physical problems of their own.  They live on a fixed income of social security and a parttime job that my father has as a campus police dispatcher at a local college.  I would love to be able to contribute to my household financially, but unfortunately right now that is not possible as I am just able to pay my bills and other expenses with unemployment funds.  I have tried to cut back financially, but there are certain bills and other expenses that must be paid.  I am worried that if my unemployment ends in July, I will not be able to pay bills or afford my medical expenses, nutritious food, gas for the car to get to possible job interviews, etc.  This will cause a very big strain not only on myself, but also on my parents, who do not deserve this after working very hard all their lives.

Thank you very much for reading my story and those of the others like me in this country.  We need your help right now in this difficult time.  Respectfully submitted, June 8, 2010.

From RM in WI:

I have been unemployed now for almost three years.  I realize that I may have used up all of my unemployment benefits but I’ve only been getting a little over $200 a week.  My husband is retired and receiving social security.  He was forced into early retirement at the age of 62.  I have been trying everywhere, including over a 30 mile radius within my area of living to try and find work–any work.  I’m usually an office clerk with data entry skills and knowledge of computers but the jobs I’ve been applying for have been part-time housekeepers, hotel clerks, all night dispatcher, etc.  I cannot find anything in the field I’ve worked in for over 30 years.   I’ll take any kind of work if I can just FIND ANY!  I can’t get an answer back from some of the places where I’ve applied and when I do and I go in for an interview, with the looks they give me I know I’m not wanted there.  I turn 61 this month and I know that it’s turning a lot of people off as far as hiring me.

If I could find a good job, I would not retire next year but would keep on until at least 66 or maybe even 70 years of age.  I feel I am a good asset to any office but that’s not what some people are seeing.  I know they are looking at someone who they consider “over the hill” and not worth a second look, much less a chance to prove themselves.

I really need and depend on the emergency unemployment.  It helps us to pay our bills and buy food and our medications.  My husband’s social security check will not do it alone.

I’m asking that you PLEASE allow more emergency unemployment to come my way until I can find a job or am forced into retirement and social security next year.

The State of Wisconsin needs to allow this to happen for not only myself but so many others.  I’m asking, and I’m not too proud to beg, that you help us.

Thank you for your time,

From GV in NY:

Chairman McDermott

Please Help and extend benefits.

I have been unemployed since February 2009.  My work history speaks for itself.  Educated, motivated and eager to find a job that will improve my life and stop dwindling down my savings, which slowly empties day by day just to live.  Do you have any idea what it takes to find a job that will pay the bills as they use to be paid, and have a little to spare.

Here’s the rest of my story 61 years old soon to turn 62 and going broke day by day.   The jobs are not plentiful and are paying nothing, but you continue to give to banks, fight the wars, and give money to other countries when you cannot support the unemployed??  I like the bonuses that Wall Street continues to give out.  But AIG is the worst of them and you gave them money but will not help us.  Please explain? So next for me will be food stamps and welfare?  Why do this?  I hope you realize just how many people are still unemployed, please don’t sugar coat the fact that the economy is getting better, it is not.  Say hi to Louise (Slaughter) I voted for her & she was a friend of my Dad’s.

From FP in NJ:

My name is FP, I am 35 years old and I have been unemployed since December, 2007.  I was a licensed title insurance settlement agent and have been my entire adult life.  I was laid off because the company I was working for had begun to downsize due to the failing economy.  This company eventually closed its doors for good.

In the midst of searching for work, my husband was laid off from his job due to downsizing.  This company eventually closed its doors for good as well.  This left us in a very bad financial situation as we were both unemployed at the same time and there were very few jobs to choose from.

This led to the foreclosure of our very first home which we are in the midst of negotiating with the lender for a short-sale.  We are being sued by our homeowner’s association because we have been unable to pay our association fees.  We have countless collection agencies calling and hounding us for money that we don’t have and we can barely afford groceries.

My husband finally found a job in September, 2009 but to our dismay, several months later, he was forced to take a pay cut due to the failing economy.

So, at this point, there is only one income coming into our house which is now significantly less than it was when my husband started his position.  The cost of living is rising and paychecks are decreasing.  I can not find any work and have been applying to every store, fast-food restaurant, company, etc. that I can think of.

We can’t apply for government assistance or food stamps because my husband has a job and according to them, “We make too much money.”  Well, we’ll see about that when you are passing us by on the street.  Oh, yeah, we’ll be the ones living in a cardboard box!!!

You have no idea how much it would help if additional unemployment benefits were given to those of us who have already exhausted our 99 weeks.  Don’t you want to see the economy improve?  Extend unemployment benefits for those of us who have nowhere left to go but downward.

From MM in AZ:

My name is MRM, I’ve been an Arizona resident since February 2009.  My work history comes from California, I have yet to secure employment in AZ.  I got laid off from Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. Dec. 31, 2002.  After that I could not find an employer willing to hire me as an FTE.  They avoided a head-count/benefit increase due to the beginning of the faltering of the economy that finally caught up with the rest of the country.   Employers avoided hiring FTEs by using contractors, temps and off-shoring jobs.

I am an Executive Assistant and temporary jobs were unavailable to me in 2008.  I moved to AZ early 2009 in hopes of finding a position in a smaller venue.  I’ve had 2 interviews despite submissions of hundreds of resumes.  I was laid off December 31, 2007 from a contract position of 16 months through Adecco working at the Bank of America Concord Tech Center in California.  I managed to survive on unemployment benefits until they were completely exhausted March 2010.  Since then, the help of friends and family have kept me from homelessness.  That will end very soon, they have families and their own needs.  Two of my sisters who work for the City of Los Angeles have 6 furlough days per month between them, including losses in pay for the days that they do work.  They are unable to help me, as they are stumbling themselves.  My younger sister who is on the Social Security Disability Ticket to Work Program, moved in with me so we could pool our resources in order help one another survive.

I just qualified for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program benefits last week, Food Stamps May 7^th , which were supposed to be issued today for June, but my worker still had the hold on them pending receipt of additional paper work that I provided May 12^th.  I am still awaiting the decision on AHCESS healthcare benefits June 16^th.

My parents came to this country to make sure we were afforded the opportunities their country lacked.  I was born and educated in America, upper middle class.  All of my siblings and I have 4 year college degrees.  I’ve 20+ years of work experience and I’ve been reduced to poverty.  My younger sister went back to school to get her Bachelor’s Degree and she too can’t find work, despite more than 20 years of finance and teaching experience.

I would like to close with a quote from a local AZ newspaper last week:

“We now have one trillion reasons to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On 5/30, those 2 wars cost one trillion for operations alone, not even counting the interest on the debt of that borrowed money, or the healthcare cost for returning vets.  It is an amount so incomprehensible that it can only be understood in terms of what it could have bought, rather than missiles and destruction. For one trillion dollars, we could immediately give everyone of the 15.4 million unemployed people in the U.S. a 50K job and still have 235 Billion left over…” Eric Stone, Mesa, AZ

From FO in NJ:

TO WHOM IT CONCERNS,

I HAVE BEEN OUT OF WORK SINCE AUGUST 2008 DUE TO DOWNSIZING. I AM ONE OF THE “99ER’S” WHO IS ABOUT OT LOSE MY UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS IN A FEW WEEKS. I HAVE SENT OUT 1000′S OF RESUMES WITH LITTLE OR NO REPLY. “I AM TOO QUALIFIED, I AM NOT QUALIFIED ENOUGH”. I AM GOING CRAZY. MY CREDIT CARDS ARE AT THE LIMITS, I AM BEHIND ON PAYMENTS IN SOME. MY CREDIT SCORE IS HORRIBLE. I AM ABOUT TO BE KICKED OUT OF MY APARTMENT. I HAVE NO FAMILY AND MY FRIENDS ARE IN THE SAME BOAT.

I WILL BE LIVING IN MY CAR SOON WITH MY CAT BELLA. PLEASE EITHER CREATE A TIER 5 EXTENSION OR FIND ME A JOB. I HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE FOR.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME,

FO AND BELLA

From KCS in CA:

My name is KCS, I have been laid off since 03/2008. I worked for (company) for twenty three years, the ten last years as a District Manager. I have been on over thirty five interviews, some people say that I am over qualified others say they thought I would not take the pay. I would take anything right now because my gas, phone and electric are all off right now as I speak.

I have never asked for anything free and I lost my job for no reason but the company had to cut back and sixty two of us are all out of jobs now of our faults will be homeless in two more months if nothing happens I look for work every day even Saturday and Sundays. And if they do ok this extension it needs to be retroactive so that we who have lost so much can get caught up.

PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE HELP US AND PASS A TIER 5 EXTENSION.

From RW:

I have been unemployed since December 31st of 2008. I’ve been drawing unemployment checks since then. I received a letter yesterday saying my benefits have expired and after talking to a representative today it was confirmed. I thought a bill was passed so I could receive benefits for “99″ weeks? There was a big deal made of it like it was the next coming.

Now, I can’t pay my utilities or house payment which I’ve struggling to do even with the benefits.

I’ve tried to reduce my house payment 3 times now and keep getting rejected. The first time I was told I had too much money in my checking/savings. At the time, I had around $4500. That was all the money I had in the world. They said as long as I had enough money to make 3 house payments, I didn’t qualify for a loan modification. After paying general bills and house payments, 2 months later, I was down to $2000. Again, I was rejected saying I don’t have proof of earnings sufficient for a modification. I’d sent them all my unemployment info. The last time I tried, I received a letter from them saying they recommend I sell my home. I owe $80000 on my home that was valued at $450000 just 2 years ago and now is valued at $200000. Even if I decided to sell, people can buy a brand new home for the same amount and….where would I go. I worked all my life since graduating HS and paid taxes to ensure something like this wouldn’t happen to me when I get older and look what’s happening. I can’t find a job at age 62 and am at the mercy of others who really don’t care what happens to me.

And, not even mentioning health insurance which has to be paid. I was aided by Cobra which, by the way, just ended this month also so I have to pay the full premium which I can’t afford.

I could go on and on but I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.

I guess my question is what happened to the “99″ weeks of benefits that were supposed to be in effect?

Thank you,

From SD in FL:

I am sending the following suggestion instead of telling my story which I am sure is fairly typical.  I am now 58 years old and have worked steadily since the age of 19.  Two years ago I was laid off from an administrative assistant position with a property management company primarily due to the downturn in the building industry.  When I began to look for work, I was faced with age discrimination and a general lack of job openings.  I have now run out of unemployment benefits.  My suggestion is as follows:

Since the latest jobs report last month indicates an increase in hiring that is largely due to the Federal Governments’ employment of census workers, I believe the answer to the unemployment problem lies with the Federal Government doing what government has historically done in the past—create jobs programs which will put people to work, and give the jobless paychecks instead of unemployment checks. We are spending money on the unemployed anyway so why not get something back?  I see government jobs programs as win-win situation—the unemployed get their dignity back and the government gets workers to do things like clean up beaches in the Gulf and so many other things that need to be done.  Considering that there are so many professional, highly skilled, well educated people who are out of work, they surely must have something to contribute.  Only government can and should do this.  Instead of preaching to private industry to create jobs, the Federal Government should set an example and start the ball rolling.

From DM in CA:

HEART to HEART……Hardship in California.  We need a Tier V!

Tier V for the long term unemployed should be considered and approved.  It’s necessary, justified and the Democratic thing to do.

I’m a 50 year old female living in CA.  I was laid off in August of 2008 from (company) after a 15 year career in the middle of the recession.  Since then, it’s been unbelievably difficult to find work.  I have sent out about 1,500 resumes.  I’ve made sacrifices and cutbacks and have no industry or salary boundary or preference.  My 99 weeks is about to come to an end and sadly, still no job.  California has been hit hard and unemployment is still very high.  The state keeps cutting back on services and there are many layoffs.  The job market is stagnant, competitive and just discouraging. This feels like a war!  A war against the middle class and average American Citizen!

I had a great job with (company)and didn’t ask to be put into this situation.  I’ve worked hard all my life to not be in this predicament.  I’m not looking for a handout.  These are unprecedented times and this is a matter of urgency.  Weeks if not months go by literally with no acknowledgement or response to our endless efforts of applying for jobs.  During several interviews I was lucky enough to get, 100 or more people applied for the same position.  It’s awfully frustrating.  At this point, it’s a matter of luck!

What did we do to deserve this!

Extending Unemployment Insurance for the working class and long term unemployed would avoid a lot of pain and help us to survive while we keep looking for work and hope that the economy begins to rebound.

Welfare and Food Stamps as my means of survival is unacceptable and ultimately will cost everyone more!

Thank you for your time.

DLM in CA:

Dear Committee:

I’ve been asked to tell you my story in hopes to gain support from the elected officials that I have put into office.  I have read many stories from different sources about unemployment which included internet news, newspapers, unemployment websites, magazines and local area work centers about the numbers that are unemployed.  I’m one of them.

I have been working since I was thirteen years old.  I’m 56 years old at this time, female.  I do understand that some people take advantage of unemployment benefits.  In my lifetime I have not been considered lazy or one to take advantage of the system.  I grew up with morals and values for right and wrong.  I have raised two children on my own with no support from others.  I had started college very young but was unable to finish by my own choice.  I had decided to raise my children and to continue to work.  The most recent company I was working for had to lay me off because work was slow.  I was in a management position and the owner decided she could run the business herself and save money.  I have a wide range of experience in Management and as an Executive in the business industry.  I had decided it might have been my resume that was holding me back from a good position.  Well I paid a professional resume writer to rewrite my resume so it would be more competitive and appealing for the market.  Which did get me a few interviews.

I have applied for many different jobs, from management, customer service, retail, and office personal with no success.  I have used many free job finder services, from local employment agencies, local craiglists, monster.com, and even in different cities for jobs, Usajobs, and many more.  When I’ve had job interviews, I realized that there are other people with more qualifications which included Master degrees, Bachelor degrees and more college education for different entry level jobs which just had one open position.    Today on the local area news people had been lining up about 600of them outside of Campbell Soup Company since 5:00 am to be notified to get index cards to fill out so they could fill out applications later.  It almost turned out to be a riot.  It’s very disappointing and very disheartens when I hear people say that I’m lazy or not looking for a job.   I’ve been going back to college for the past year to further my education to be more competitive for different jobs and looking for fulltime work at the same time.

In the meantime, since I have no income or benefits at this time.  I’ve been selling different things, couch, table and chairs, trying to make any money to pay my bills.  Just to keep things going until my school checks come in, I’ve been living within my means.  It’s scary.   I understand that unemployment benefits are only for a short time but I’ve never had to compete with so many people for the same job.  I’m worried for the long term too.  Hoping that maybe with the education I’m getting I might be able to start a little bookkeeping business.  But, that’s going to take some time and money.   It’s an idea that could work.  There are just too many people just like me in the same boat.  I’ve almost been out on the streets with other people no home or place to live.  Don’t understand why the politicians help so many other people in the world, but think we just might go away.  Well, I’m still here.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. 
Sincerely,

DLM,

Mother, Sister, Daughter, Aunt, Cousin and Grandmother

From SW in TX:

As of the writing of this statement, I am a 59 year old woman who lost her job on January 18, 2009 from a law firm here in Houston, Texas where I worked as a paralegal/legal secretary.  I have been unemployed for a year and a half.  I have been searching for a job daily since I became unemployed.  During this time I have been searching on line on all the job sites.  I am listed with numerous head hunters; I have applied for jobs on Craig’s List and attended job fairs.  What I have found is that there are no jobs.  I have had 4 interviews in a year and a half.  There are numerous other individuals applying for these positions as well.  The office managers for the various law firms have told me that I am over qualified for the positions that I have applied for as they are looking for younger individuals, with less experience who will work for a lot less money.   Although I have indicated that I would accept 1/3 to 1/2 less than I have been making I am still passed over.  I have applied for part-time positions and contract positions but have never gotten an interview and no one has responded to my resume.  Since I am 59 years old and will be 60 years old in October they look at me as being ready for retirement and will probably only work for another few years.  I have been asked on many occasions if I will be retiring when I turn 65 which is only 7 years away.

My savings have run out, I am on food stamps and have a disabled brother that I have to take care of and I have no insurance and have medication for my heart which I need daily and will soon be unable to get because I will have no money at all to pay for it.  My unemployment will be exhausting soon and I have nowhere to turn for help.

My unemployment check is just enough to take care of my mortgage payment but soon I will not be able to pay it and will probably lose my home.  I have talked with Bank of American who holds the mortgage on my home and they have turned me down every time I have spoken with them about a mortgage modification because all I have is unemployment and no job to be able to make continuous payments; although, so far my payments have always been on time.  I can’t even sell my home because of the economy and the fact that my home is underwater.

If we don’t get additional unemployment or some alternative I will be on the street with a disabled brother with nowhere to go since I have exhausted everything.

So far you have subsidized wars, tax cuts, you have made bail outs to auto makers, banks and have sent money to Greece when you have millions of older people here in the US who need help and can’t get it.   I have worked hard and played by the rules and I lost my job through no fault of my own and so have millions of others just like me and we would like to be bailed out.

An alternative for people my age who are being pushed out of the workforce because of our age is to let us take retirement and get our social security so that we will have money coming in.  I have worked all my life and have had no help.  I should at least be able to have money coming in until I reach the age for social security because there are no jobs out there for me.  The majority of people who cannot get a job are older people like me and we deserve some relief.

From GS in PA:

I have been unemployed since December 2007. I have been looking for a full time employments ever since.

Right now, I am living on a part par time job. I work 2-3 days a week 4 hours a day at $7.25 an hour. I had to ask my friends and family to pay my gas bill and light bill. My phone service will be off within the next few days.

I do not even have money to get to interviews. I have applied for over 150 jobs at PNC Bank here in Pittsburgh. I have applied for hundreds of jobs at other companies. I even wrote to four CEO’s of companies to ask for jobs. I have written to several other owners of companies in other states.

I will not be able to go to my friends and family for very long. The unemployment I was receiving helped me keep my bills paid. I have a daughter I have to take care of. I have to feed her, and cloth her. How can I do that with $232.00 dollars a month? Yes, I get food stamps; I get $200.00 dollars a month. It does not last the whole month. I have to ask my family for food, or money to buy food.

Please we need to have a Tier 5 added on. If I do not get a full time job soon, I will be force to live in a shelter. How the US government cans lets us suffer like this. PLEASE WE NEED HELP, HELP US.

Thank you

From EH in NJ:

Committee Members

I am writing to you to tell you of my need for the extension of Tier 5 Unemployment Benefits.

I have been out of work since November 2008 and cannot find any work with diligent effort on my part to find any job—resumes, want ads, Internet, newspapers, applications to any possible opportunities, etc.

My family—wife, daughters and I have managed to subsist only on the Unemployment Benefits we have received.  The expenses for food, shelter, medical (doctors and medications), jobs search, utilities and auto have been eked out.  All of our savings and monetary assets are gone.

Now, with the cessation of my Tier 4 benefits, I have nowhere to turn except to plead my case to you.  Of course, I must continue my employment search.  I implore you to extend these benefits to help us.

You must also find solutions to create jobs and prevent them from leaving our country—and you should start in New Jersey to alleviate the excessive unemployment here.  I am willing and able to work at any possible job that can be offered.

Please consider this plea favorably—I am certain there are thousands of families like mine right here in New Jersey and throughout our country—as we have nowhere to turn.

Our fate is in your hands.

From MS in OK:

I want to express my views on the topic of long-term unemployment for those who have exhausted all their assistance.

I among others are seeking assistance from the federal government for help.  I have not had any working income since March 2008, and no unemployment since January 2010.  Although we have bailed out many institutions, assisted other governments, and other needless assistance to a few, the government has not helped the millions who are the backbone of this country.

I had been working on my MBA, worked since I was 13 years old, and supported my family for over 25 years, now I am broke, with no working future in RURAL Oklahoma.  I have NOT received the full 99 weeks like others in other states due to the restriction of the 8.5 % level assistance, Oklahoma is sitting steady at 6.5 – 7.0 %.

Please help ALL STATES, because the unemployed is just that, UNEMPLOYED.  Do not discriminate.  I like others have completed over 300 job applications, and have interview over 100 times, with no success.  Before 2008, in my job career and advancement, I was 100 % on 5 job interviews.  I am not lazy, looking for handouts, but simply want to pay for food, shelter, and try in a simple family life.  Thanks.

From RF in TN:

To whom it might matter,

I was employed as a Program / Project Manager in the automotive industry by a glass company. I led several successful launches such as the Subaru Tribecca, Mazda 6, Hummer and managed many small engineering changes. I was laid off in May 2008. I found a contract job in July that lasted 4 months, then I taught as a substitute teacher (geometry) for four months at a private school. Since then a few interviews, many, many applications and submissions and now my unemployment has run out.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand how our Federal Government can send billions of dollars overseas, spend many more billions on bail outs for those who are arguably criminals, and still more billions on wars we should not be fighting. I guess I know where my 30 years+ of hard work, paying my own way through school, and serving in the Army for four years got me? Nowhere, with little to show and a deep abiding distrust of all elected officials.

The last election is probably the last one I’ll bother voting in as nothing seems to change.

Sincerely

From DB in NJ:

My name is DB and I worked for Builders FirstSource, formerly Blackstone Company for, 4 weeks shy of, 24 years. We were dislocated on December 15, 2008 when the company closed their New Jersey operations. It was a good job, with livable wages, good benefits and excellent people. I literally worked there for half of my lifetime. Would be there today if I had my way.

We were assisted with our unemployment claims at work. I went to the One Stop Career Center the following week and signed up for all available seminars and services which I attended. I started the process for job training. Went smoothly but takes a while.

I started the Computerized Accounting program at MCC on May 27, 2009 and graduated on November 25, 2009. I did very well as the director or my teachers will attest to. I have an exemplary work history and an updated skill set. I have applied for over 200 jobs with no offers. Good jobs I wanted and could do, no “fillers”. Thru school and my PSG group I have met a lot of good people in the same boat.

I want and need to work. All I need is an opportunity and I know I can make a success of it. There are simply too many people for too few jobs, simple as that. Blame whatever or whoever you want, that’s just a fact. I will return to the workforce at my first opportunity. Meanwhile we need the Unemployment Benefits extended. I have never been late much less missed a bill payment in my life. I am a responsible, play by the rules type of person who just needs assistance until he can find an opportunity. And I am busting my butt to get that opportunity too. Please also consider some type of jobs program too.

Warmest Regards

Please visit Rochester Unemployment Examiner to review unemployment information, data and details that you don’t find in the main stream media. You can also add comments about your current situation and what you think needs ot be done to improve the job market and unemployment benefits system. I hope to see you there.

*Due to issues such as software compatibility, the letters posted here may contain some minor formatting edits to improve readability.

Long Term Unemployed

Due to receiving more than 200 letters thus far from those who submitted letters to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support , I need to create multiple posts.

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support is held a hearing on June 10 titled: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment. I asked readers of Rochester Unemployment Examiner to send me letters they wrote to the Committee that they also wanted to have published here.* Below are some of those letters. I’ll be posting other letters as I receive permission.

There is still time to write; you can submit letters to House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support is holding a hearing until the close of business on June 24.

I want to thank all of you for including me in your letters to the Hearing. I will do my best to reply to each and everyone of you in a timely fashion.

From JB in MA:

Dear Chairman McDermott and honorable committee members.

I respectfully urge you to consider extending unemployment benefits for as long as possible for 2010.

I have been unemployed since November 2008 and have no prospects for employment.

I worked as an IT manager for a company for 30 years who moved our production facility over seas and has outsourced IT support to now be handled by the corporate facility in Tulsa OK.  Our company once employed 130 and now is reduced to 35 through what is called a reduction in force program.

In an effort to see employment and to make myself more employable I have taken the following steps to enhance my chances of success.

- Attended UMass Lowell College using my own money to finish my degree

- Attended Valley Works unemployment center seeking help in my jobs search

- Registered with an employment agency in Boston

- Registered with an employment agency in my home to of Acton

- Assisted in the development of a networking support group with my Church, Acton Congregational

- Posted my resume at several job seeking websites

- Networking through Classmates.com

- Networking through LinkedIn

- Sent emails to all of my friends and former business associates asking for help

As a result of these efforts for the last 19 months, I receive few responses form online submissions and the few I do receive seem to have eliminated the jobs posting or have found the posting to expire.  I have done extensive job searching through USAJOBS.COM hoping to land a government job.  Many of the positions require very specific talents or require a security clearance which one cannot acquire on their own.

Having to also pay for my health insurance which is required by law is depleting our savings.  We are now taking the steps that we have feared for several months now by listing our house for sale in an effort to make ends meet.  I am 54 years old and have worked hard all of my life and have never been out of a job.  It’s very difficult to look into my wife’s and daughter’s eyes and tell them that I’m doing everything I can to find work, but to no avail.

Please help me and others like me who are hard working honest Americans trying to do the best we can.  I know how great this country is and I’m confident that things will turn around but folks like me need help.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kind regards,

From BJ in CT:

Dear Chairman McDermott:

I am compelled to write you in thanks for your strength and dedication in the effort to resolve long term unemployment.  I was so hopeful for the first time in months when you announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on possible policy responses to long-term unemployment on Thursday, June 10, 2010. Please know that I, and everyone I know of that are currently unemployed, are not enjoying our situation. This job market is so tough; that even after 30 years of business and financial experience, I find that I can no longer define myself by what my career was, or the education and experience I have attained, but how I am attempting to survive this economic recession and maintain just an ounce of respect before it squeezes the life out of me and my family.

I am currently in my fourth layoff.  The first was in early 1991 and the third and fourth were within ten months of one another.  All of my layoffs were large layoffs due to company financial difficulties, i.e. lawsuits, bankruptcies, or a company merger, and yet it was the employee that took the financial hit to pay for what most often was the unfortunate decision of a company’s executive.  With every layoff I have undergone throughout the years, I have taken a substantial pay cut just to get back in the workforce.  I have known what it is to work two to three part-time jobs at a time just to make ends meet until I was able to get a job in my educational and professional background.  Working odd jobs is not even an option this time around, because even part-time jobs are sparse.  I am so very tired and worn out from the day to day search for a job that is not out there. In this flooded unemployment, even in applying for a job one may be well qualified for, or for a job that one is over qualified, the result is a disappointment.  Not knowing if you will be able to pay the bills or even keep your home for another week, is a depressing, demoralizing and physical and mentally-draining experience.

On August 28, 2010, I will have completed Tier 4 of the unemployment extended 99 weeks of benefits.  I realize that 99 weeks is a ling time.  Oh do I know what a long time that is, however, in this recession, it is not necessarily long enough to land a job.  Unless the few slim leads I have for employment come my way in the next few weeks, or without congressional action in the very near future, I will have to decide whether I should continue to use up what little I have left of my 401Ks, or to sell my home of 45 years.

In your announcing of the hearing on long term unemployment you stated “If we can afford wars, tax cuts, and bank bailouts, then we can certainly afford to maintain programs for workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.  But we also need to think about additional steps to help those trying to return to work.  An increasing number of Americans who have worked hard and played by the rules are now finding themselves with no job, no savings and no support.  We must not abandon these workers and their families.”  That statement convinced me that you sincerely are one of the few that understand what the unemployed are going through.  You understand that unemployment insurance is critical and should be extended as long as it takes to get Americans back to work.  The cost of not extending unemployment provisions beyond recent attempts until all Americans in need, are back to work will be substantial – in the form of increased foreclosures, less money flowing through communities, and reliance on other public benefits – and will slow down the economic recovery that will bring us jobs. We need jobs that will not place us in the same situation once again, or in low paying jobs that are being offered to replace the higher paying jobs we were laid-off from; or in what ever industry that happens to be hiring at the moment.  We deserve to obtain jobs we can be proud of because we worked hard at building a career.

The fact that keeping the unemployment benefits extended until all Americans are back to work will add to the government’s budget deficit is a mute point. The cost of not providing the small amount of unemployment that I and others are getting just to keep a roof over our head and put food on the table will be substantial – in the form of increased foreclosures, less money flowing through communities, and reliance on other public benefits – and will slow down the economic recovery that will bring us jobs. Until companies stop the streamlining of their operations to incorporate automation, and cut financial corners to keep their bonuses — America will not be back at work and long-term unemployment will continuing to rise.

Relative to the vast complexity and devastation of the unemployed Americans, little media coverage has been made on the subject of long term unemployment.  Most of what has been published or broadcast has been misleading or just inaccurate.  I have attached are a few articles, statements regarding US Job Development, an e-mail and my current resume that are more accurate as to what is reality, and I believe speak for themselves.  In reading what others have documented on unemployment and job development, may help those that don’t understand to understand that it is not the lack of trying that keeps the unemployed from getting a job; and “extending unemployment benefits does not simply encourage those out of work to continue to accept government aid rather than take any job”.  However, it is all the surrounding circumstances that are beyond our control that is keeping us unemployed.  I have attended job fairs and offered to work for free for the first three months in order to prove myself.  All I got from the recruiters were blank stars.

Please be true to your word, “Our first step to respond to long-term unemployment is obvious  — continue the emergency federal unemployment programs to prevent millions of workers from losing their benefits”….and our lives. I do pray that all those that hold the future of all those unemployed will look at the whole economic recovery and make the right decisions that will truly help those that at this moment have little to no control of their own life’s destiny.  Please make sure that millions of struggling Americans do not face continuing joblessness coupled with an end to any benefits — the small income that has kept us afloat so far; until we can find a job that will pay the bills but will not place us in the same situation again.  Keeping our unemployment safety net is more crucial than ever.

I respectfully thank you for your time in advance.

Sincerely,

From MG in in TX:

To Whom it may concern:

My name is MG, and I am currently unemployed.  I worked hard my whole life, but was laid off in February of 2008.  I have not been able to find another job since then.  I have relocated with my family to San Antonio, TX and have been actively looking for employment for about a year.  I have submitted several applications every week but have not received many call backs.

We are a family of 4 living on a single income.  We have young children who currently do not have health insurance because we are “over income” for a family of 4, yet we cannot afford to put them on private insurance.  We are struggling to put food on the table and pay our monthly bills.  We have maxed out the few credit cards we have just to get by from pay check to paycheck.  The time I was receiving unemployment we were getting by just fine, but since I have exhausted my benefits, we are struggling to make ends meet.

I have not given up on looking for a job, but it would be helpful if unemployment benefits could be extended.  I know there are many other families in the same or worse situation as me so I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read my story and take my unemployment extension into consideration.

Thank you,

From AS in PA:

I signed for the last of my Tier IV yesterday, today I am filled with fear of what’s next?  I lost my job of twenty three years to Mexico on July 2nd,2008. I have worked all my life and this is very hard and depressing. Some days are harder than others, but I go on.

I am 63 and no one wants me. I was very good at my job and I felt very good about myself, now I feel like my life is over. No hope of any future. I can’t see how I can keep my house and how do I rent without an income enough to pay the bills there also.

People(Americans) are living in their cars and shelters. This shouldn’t be in America. We build other countries, feed them and give them free medical services. I have no insurance. I couldn’t afford the original Cobra payments, they were almost 600.00$ a month. I applied for medical and food stamps this week. I never in my life had to resort to a handout. If a TIER V would be passed I could continue to try to find work and pay off my bills and maybe stay in my home a little longer.

Thank you for listening

From AN in RI:

I am a 58 year old single college educated woman.  I have been unemployed since November 2007 due to a re-organization in the company I had worked at for 13 years.  I was making $60,000/year and had purchased my first home 3 years previously and had a perfect credit rating.  I have been sending out hundreds of resumes since being laid-off and have had approximately 2 interviews.  I’m sure you can understand that at my age companies are very reluctant to hire me.  I have worked over 40 years and never thought I would be in the situation I now find myself in.  I have lost everything!  I have no savings, have had to use my 401k to pay my mortgage and utilities and now can’t even collect unemployment.  I have nowhere to turn.  So, my “American Dream” along with millions of others has dissipated and will never return.  We will never be able to catch up on what we have lost.

Our government’s priority was to give billions to the big businesses, banks and Wall Street and we, the American people who are desperately suffering have been abandoned.  How sad is this?  Can the politicians making these decisions even remotely understand what they have done to the millions of Americans who have lost everything?  I think not, they will never be in our situation and will never know what it is like to be without a home, food or health care.  The politicians have too much power and money and they think its fun to play their political games with our lives.  The government seems to have plenty of money to help out other countries, but when it comes to helping their own people who are suffering on a daily basis they constantly let us down.

This country has never been in a recession as we have seen in the last 2 years and even though the news media claim the economy is getting better, that is just a hoax to make the American people believe the steps that have been taken are working.  If the real numbers for unemployment were revealed, this includes the people who have fallen off unemployment and still have no jobs and the over 400,000 temporary jobs that were filled for census taken were not counted, then it would show the true disaster of our economy.

Thank you,

From LB in MA:

I did everything I could find a job for the past 17 months but was unable to find one due to my hearing-impairment and employers’ unwillingness to accommodate my disability in job interview and hiring processes. When hiring managers made their hiring decisions, they decided to pass me over for somebody who could use the phone rather than finding ways to accommodate me at work.

Employers who were hiring somebody to fill a job that does not require phone told me they were looking for somebody who had more years of work experience, worked less than two years or had arbitrary standards to screen me out of a job.  In job interviews, hiring managers were too picky to hire me because of economy and asked me difficult situations question instead of looking at my work references and hire me! I had several job interviews two weeks ago and wrote a nice thank you notes to each hiring managers; however, they did not hire me as of today.

I am a client of a vocational rehabilitation program in my state and my vocational counselor placed me in a job placement program.  I also registered with three Career Centers, went to all relevant workshops on how to be a successful job seeker, and attended support group meetings for job seekers.

Although I heard of news that economy is picking up and people are being hired, these good news did not apply to me and I am not a lazy job seeker who used unemployment checks to lay around and be lazy as some misinformed people like to believe.

Oh yeah, I heard of a Congress person (Kathy Dahlkemper, D-PA)  who tried to hire people to work for her office and did not receive much responses. I would like to say one thing. If I live in her district and find a job in her office that does not require the use of phones, I would have applied for a job, and if she is willing to accommodate me when she contacts me for job interviews and is willing to give me a chance to work for him, I would be working for her today!  If she knows of a colleague in greater Boston, MA area who is looking for the same, please tell her to send me an email for a referral.  Please make sure this person is willing to accommodate me and is willing to hire a person with disability.

Please tell employers to start hiring job seekers with disability and change some standards a little so people with disability could get a job and meet their business needs!  And please tell Senators and Congress people to approve of benefit extensions for 99ers and all unemployed people who were unemployed through no faults of their own.  We were not lazy people who failed to find a job!  We were victims of bad economy and greedy people in Wall Street!

From AN in FL:

I live in Florida…I actually am subsisting in Florida.  I was laid off from job in Dec.07 and have spent 99.9% of my life trying to get back to work since then. I am willing to take ANY job but, they are simply none available here in the Venice/Sarasota/Bradenton area.

I have heard that our unemployment rate is 13.3% but the church that I volunteer at so I can obtain free bread and canned goods believe the correct number is about 18%.  We are in serious trouble those of us 99ers.  I have been homeless 3 times in the past several years and am about to become that way again very soon.  I was also “forced” to live in a domestic violence situation because I had no money and no place else to go.  I am a 46 year old female who has lost every possession I have spent the last 25 years working for.  I am down to 2 suitcases of clothes because the storage facility auctioned off my belongings when I fell behind on my unit payment last summer when it took the state of Florida so long to process our retroactive payments.  I have no children and I kind of wished I did because I would be eligible for more government help but since I am single, over the age of 40 and have no dependants, there is simply NO help for me. I am currently out of options and out of hope.

I have put out nearly a 1000 resumes and I have received little to no response and I have a good background and an excellent resume.  And the strange thing is, I worked for the past 17 years in a very desirable field…medical insurance billing and coding.  Why there are none of these jobs available in my area has me completely baffled.

I have tried so hard to remain positive but, I am out of patience, food, options and hope.  I feel like nobody is listening to people like me.  I have always worked hard, paid taxes and voted and now it is if I do not exist in the eyes of anyone, much less my beloved government.

I would love to organize a protest but, I haven’t the money to do so.  I have signed so many petitions, called and written members of the Congress and Senate and I have even e mailed the White House directly again today…What else can I or should I do.  I wish I could tell Congress and the Senate my story directly…perhaps, they would listen to me.  I just want a job so, I can get my own small apartment again, buy a little crummy used car and buy food without having to use food stamps. More than anything, I want my dignity back.

Sincerely,

From DP in FL:

Dear Chairman Jim McDermott and the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support of the Committee on Ways and Means:

I have been unemployed since June 8, 2008, and am now a “99er”*.  On that day we (the employees) discovered that the owner of the real estate title insurance company, where I had worked for 20 years, had emptied all the bank accounts (escrow included) and disappeared.  (Flagler Title Company, in West Palm Beach, FL.)  At the request of our underwriter (CTIC), the company was closed and put under receivership.  There were approximately 30 people still working there and none of us got paid for the last two weeks we had worked, as there was no money left to pay us.  Because of a selfish, greedy boss, I lost my job and now because of selfish, greedy, unscrupulous people on Wall Street, I have been unable to find another job.

I had very little in my 401K, at the time my company was closed, as the option of getting one had only been offered to us about three years earlier.  Had to use these funds to move as the house I was living in was going into foreclosure.  Thank goodness I don’t have any credit cards, but do still have student loans from the late 1990s, which I currently cannot pay.  Can’t even pay the $338.00 income tax due on my unemployment from last year (2009).  I wonder how many others can’t pay either, leaving the government with LESS income to solve the deficit problem?

I received my last unemployment insurance check (99 weeks) on April, 1, 2010, for the weeks of March 14-27, 2010, leaving me with no income at all after that.  Up until then unemployment was paying for my rent, utilities, a few groceries and a little gas for my car (my car, thank God, is paid off, but I can’t afford car insurance) and to buy stamps, envelopes, paper and ink to print resumes and mail them.  My youngest daughter lives in St. Lucie County, FL, with her fiancé and daughter, but they can’t afford to support me while I look for work and they only have a 2-bedroom place so there is no room for me.  My oldest lives in Colorado Springs with her husband.  I can’t afford to move there, let alone buy the whole new wardrobe I would need for the colder climate.  As far as that goes, they have been there since Sept. 2007 and she was just able to find a job herself a couple of weeks ago (she was not collecting unemployment).  Thank goodness her husband had a decent job before they moved there!  Now it wouldn’t make much sense for me to move from someplace where it is hard to find a job to another place where it is also hard to find a job, would it?

I have close to 40 years of clerical/secretarial experience and have applied for hundreds of jobs (gave up counting applications a long time ago) and not just clerical, but retail jobs, and even jobs I knew I didn’t have all the “qualifications” for.  Hoping that one of them would give me a chance to prove myself.  Usually don’t even get a “thank you for your interest” reply.  Sometimes I’ve wondered if they even received my application/resume. A few times I have gotten “thank you but we picked someone with more experience”.  What?  More experience – you mean you picked someone older than me?  I doubt that!

Since I am not there to see and hear what is said and done, while the prospective employer is looking through resumes/applications, I cannot swear that my age (58 next month) or the fact that I am unemployed, is the reason why I’m not getting interviews or replies.  But I am making an educated assumption that those are the reasons, as I know several of the younger people I used to work with have gotten jobs since Flagler was closed, been laid off from them and were still able to find another job.

I did get a call for a State of Florida job in a different county (Sumter), but when I called back, found out they wanted someone who could start immediately, because they had spent almost a

month going through 100+ applications for that one job.  Since I would have had to take the time to relocate, my name was taken off the interview list.  Would have been a great job if I had gotten it, but didn’t even get the chance to try!

Had one other interview at Wal-Mart but was never called back for the second interview (they say they do two, before deciding who to hire).  When I called them back, I was advised they were not doing any hiring at that time.  Those are the only two job offers I have received in almost two years.  Finally around the middle of this May, after re-applying 4-5 times, I got a call from Publix Super Markets and was hired for a part-time cashier job (no more than 20 hours a week, but 20 hours NOT guaranteed).  However, at this particular store their clientele is mostly “seasonal”.  The “season”, in Florida, ends around Mother’s Day.  So now I am lucky if I get 11-15 hours a week.  This most certainly does not pay my rent nor pay for much else.

Recently I’ve found out that employers are not even considering the unemployed for hires.  Their excuses range from:

“If they (the unemployed job applicant) were that good, they would not have been let go”, to the unbelievable “we are tired of getting too many unemployed applicants so we wish to concentrate on stealing good help away from our competitors”.

Also: “Recruitment experts say many companies believe it could take longer to get ‘passive applicants’ up to speed in professions that require constant training. They also say people who have not been laid off are believed to be the best and most valuable in the fields, reports ClickOrlando.com”.

Very shocking!  I say, “If the company is closed down, which a lot were, it doesn’t matter how “good or valuable” you were – you’re gone – along with everybody else!  Also some companies get rid of the highest paid employee’s first cause it saves them more money, and they don’t have to lay off as many of the lower income people so can keep the “production” lines going.  After all production is what makes the company money.

While receiving unemployment I was unable to get food stamps, because, according to them, I made too much money on unemployment, to qualify for food stamps.  Since I stopped receiving unemployment I was able to get an “emergency issue” of food stamps for only five months and will have to reapply for them in Sept.  However, can’t pay my rent with food stamps

I was served with a 3-day notice, by my landlord, at the end of April, prior to starting eviction proceedings because I couldn’t pay them for the last two weeks in April.  If evicted I will have to live out of my little Hyundai Accent and would have lost all my possessions because I don’t have money for a storage room.  Luckily I was able to find a program (HUD HRE) which “helps the homeless or those threatened to become homeless soon”, to help me with my rent.  However, they only do it for three months and you have to be approved for the first month then re-evaluated for the second and third months.  I have already “used up” two of the months and only have one left.  If I can’t find another job in the next couple of weeks I will still be facing eviction.  My landlords are really nice people, but they have a mortgage on this duplex and need the rent to pay that.  So I can’t blame them.  I am really scared of the possibility of having to live out of my car, because I am a female and the car windows would need to be open, at night, since it is very hot in Florida during the summer.  Don’t even know where I would be able to park my car where it would be safe, can’t afford a camp ground site!  And without a refrigerator I would not be able to purchase “perishables”, with or without food stamps!  I do have a small charcoal grill I could cook on but charcoal, coolers and ice costs money.

I don’t know about other states, but in Florida, there is very little help for you, financially or otherwise, if you don’t have dependent children living home (18 or younger or 19 if still in secondary school), you aren’t disabled or you aren’t at least 62 years old.  You can’t even get Medicaid.  So right now I don’t have health insurance. I wasn’t able to get COBRA, because the group policy, where I used to work, was canceled June 1, 2008.  You have to have an active policy in order to get COBRA.  Section 8 housing, in Martin County is full, they aren’t even taking applications right now, and the low income housing apartments they offer have a five year waiting list.

I honestly would rather be working and supporting myself, this is something that I have done since I graduated from high school and moved into my own apartment and also after I was divorced in 1985, with two children to take care of as well.  I am NOT lazy as many unknowledgeable people claim the long term unemployed are!  I would even rather be able to collect my Social Security, instead of having to depend upon unemployment!  At least that would be a “definite” income instead of a “maybe”, even though it would be a lower amount than I was getting through unemployment.  However, I can’t even consider that for a little over four more years.  This “not knowing” whether or not I’m going to have money for rent and food, or if I will be able to find a job in time to keep from being evicted is very frustrating and very stressful.

Frankly I am very disappointed and disgusted with everyone in Congress right now, I don’t give a darn what “party” you are a member of, I don’t intend to vote for any incumbent in November!   I am sick and tired of the bickering just to “show who’s the boss” and the needy of AMERICA being ignored while the needy of other countries are getting billions in hand outs, even though the money goes to their corrupt governments and will never be seen by those, in their countries, who need it the most!

Economists are telling you that you need to get people back to work and the economy “flowing” before you can even consider balancing the budget and getting rid of the deficit, since working people spend money and pay taxes, non-working people cannot.  When there are more people working and paying taxes you will have much more money to whittle away at the deficit!  They will be buying so businesses will hire more, more purchases mean more sales taxes which will help the states as well, so they don’t have to borrow from the federal government.  Sometimes you have to go into debt to “get the ball rolling” and start making profits.  Just look at Bill Gates (Microsoft),  Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (founders of Apple) and other entrepreneurs who have made it.  They all went way into debt, spending their savings, borrowing money from others and maxing out their credit cards, before finally getting their corporations up and running, for profit.  (After all, America is a large “for profit” corporation, just like their companies are.)

Also economists, the CBO and the BLS all say that unemployment insurance payments help the

economy.  For every $1.00 of unemployment paid, anywhere from $1.63 to $1.90 is returned to the economy in the form of purchases or payments to companies. (groceries, electric, water, etc.)  So how can that possibly be bad or wrong?  The economy is getting more “bang for the buck” with unemployment payments than they are from the moneyless long term unemployed, the health care bill AND the bailouts to Wall Street! I thought that was the government’s goal, to get the economy rolling again.

All of you know, as well as I do, that there just aren’t enough available jobs for everyone who is unemployed and needs one, nor are enough “new” jobs being created fast enough to fill that void, and it is reported that it will be quite a few more years before there will be enough.  So please tell me, exactly what, the long term unemployed are supposed to do, in the meantime, to take care of themselves and their families with NO income at all until enough jobs are again available in three, four, five or more years?

Long term unemployed Americans and the American economy need a Tier V or more weeks added to Tier IV, at least through the end of the year, since the projected estimates say that things are not going to be that much better by the end of this year.

As we get nearer to the end of the year and see how things are progressing, then another decision can be made and hopefully BEFORE things get to the point where unemployment has run out again and people end up, once more, with nothing at all left to live on for months at a time and still no job prospects!

In the meantime lenders need to be pushed to loan money to businesses and individuals, to help jump start the economy, as they are not doing this now.  Instead they are lending and trading to each other, holding the profits in their coffers in order to make it look like their companies are doing better and enabling them to keep their ridiculously large salaries and bonuses.

Frankly I am very upset with, and feel cheated by, the wealthy bankers and hedge fund types who have abused the taxpayers by paying ungodly bonuses and THEN accepting billions in bailouts from the taxpayers just to use that money for still MORE ungodly bonuses and making their businesses look good, instead of making loans to individuals and businesses to help jump start the economy!

And we need JOBS!  Companies are not going to start hiring if there is no business to create profits, no matter how many tax incentives they are offered! Why should they hire someone and pay them a salary, pay into unemployment and match Social Security (even a portion of it) and whatever else companies have to pay per employee, just to have them sitting around staring at the walls, which is what the new employee would be doing with no business to create work for them to do.  Personally, I wouldn’t want a job where there is nothing to do all day but sit around feeling useless!  I prefer to work for my salary!

Production and manufacturing need to be supported and encouraged.  Companies also need to be discouraged, in some way, from sending jobs overseas.  American workers may also have to come to the realization that they will have to take less pay then they used to make, but it should still be a living wage (not minimum, which I don’t see how anybody can live on that), i.e. instead of $75,000.00 per year, they may have to take $60,000.00 or $65,000.00.  Actually I think a majority of the long term unemployed have already come to this realization!

Education also needs to be supported.  Too many teachers are being laid off and schools closed down causing severe crowding in already over crowded classes!  This situation and homelessness is seriously hurting the current generation of American children!  We need to take care of the “here and now”, so that there will be more people better able to take care of the future generations!

Human resources and prospective employers need to be re-educated about the benefits of hiring the older worker.  Older workers are more dedicated, honest, responsible, dependable, loyal, focused, organized and mature.  (You may check out this link, if you’d like to see the 12 benefits of hiring older workers:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/hiring/article167500.html).

But most of all, the long term unemployed, who have none or only partial income,  need to be helped and NOW, until more jobs come back.  They have nothing left, even their hope is disappearing.

For myself and all the other long term unemployed in America (99ers*), I pray that you do something quickly to help us until we can find new jobs.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

*“99er” – a person who has reached the end of whatever Tier of federal unemployment was offered in their state and no longer have any unemployment to claim and have still been unable to find a job.  Most now have no income whatsoever.  Some have been able to find part-time or piecemeal work, that does not pay their bills.  Many are now living in tents, in their cars or on the street searching in dumpsters and garbage cans for food.

From PL in TX:

To Congress:

My position was eliminated in September of 2008.  I have worked since I was 15 years old, paid for my own college education, got a full time job immediately upon graduation even though the pay was only $12,000 a year.  That was 33 years ago.  Through hard work and persistence I was able to move forward with a successful career that allowed me to buy a home, pay taxes, get married and have 3 children.

I am not extravagant in my spending, nor have I ever been.  I do not own a home or a car any longer.  I now live day to day looking for jobs that do not exist.  In the past 22 month I have applied for over 505 jobs from something in my field to grocery clerk.  My former associates are working longer hours and scared to death they will lose their own positions.  These are good people that work for fortune 500 companies that do not care about quality, they care about Wall Street and their golden parachutes, just like Congress.

Companies have flown me to Tampa, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Minneapolis, Memphis, yet the positions remain unfilled.   Two weeks ago I had a telephone interview where the HR recruiter actually told me that while they were interviewing, they were not hiring as they were in a hiring freeze.  It is common knowledge that the majority of jobs advertised are only there because the company will lose the requisition if they don’t leave it open, but they have no intention of filling these positions.  Lest you believe that I am above working for Target,  Lowe’s, Safeway, etc…check your attitude, I’ve applied at all of them.

Through my heavy networking, I have also discovered that employers now do not want to hire the long term unemployed.  They are hiring current workers who have big rolodexes, if they can persuade them to leave there current employer.  So now, the long term unemployed are labeled as undesirable.  Congress has abandoned us as well.

I have2 weeks of unemployment left, which was never enough to cover rent and utilities and I am 2 months from being homeless.  I am maintaining a positive attitude and persevering despite the fact that Congress and Nancy Pelosi have turned their backs on those of us who need help the most.  I have LIVED physcal responsibility all my life, not just recently.  Taxpayer’s money was spent on ramming healthcare reform through and now approved $150mm on trying to sell it to us again, money is being sent overseas to help foreign governments,  $60 billion being sent to fund the military.  I am too old for the military to even consider me.  There is no such thing as a “jobless recovery”.  We are not in recovery, and it will only get worse for those of us that have paid taxes for years and are now left to twist in the wind.  Please explain to my children why they will have no place to sleep and nothing to eat.  We don’t need a war on US soil, Congress has instigated warzone, all the while making sure that they get a raise every year.

From CM in CA:

I have been unemployed since June 26, 2008.  I am 61 years old with 31 years of working at the same company before I was let go.  I was terminated involuntarily after returning to work from three days in the hospital (TIA as a result of working conditions) and two weeks on disability.  Three days after I returned to work, I received a phone call from my manager who lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa saying I was terminated.  On the day I was to return to work from a vacation day, I was admitted to the hospital.  I had requested a vacation and had received an e-mail telling that I would be the only person packing books, binders and files for a departmental move to another floor and I complained.  After all this time I still I am still in shock and wondering why I was terminated because I never got a satisfactory answer from management or Human Resources.  The Human Resource Manager in Los Angeles mysteriously took early retirement about three months later and the firing manager was demoted out of management four months after I left.

The stress from thinking about not having the answers to why I lost my job, hoping I don’t end up back in the hospital (blood pressure being high because since going to hospital I’m on blood pressure medication), thinking about having money to pay the basic necessities of life, being unemployed for this long and not being able to find a job keeps me up all night.  During this time of not sleeping, I am on the computer checking my messages with the different job sites that I have registered, posted and sent my resume to and checking the unemployment job site that I had to register on (caljobs.ca.gov).  I have seen the sun rise a lot lately.  It’s not healthy but what can you do when you have so much on your mind.  And when I do get to sleep I wake up every two to three hours.

I started out in 1977 in the Word Processing Department and after two years promoted to an Executive Secretary with having working knowledge of word processing skills.  I was also a senior transcriber (dictation from cassette) and with the title change in corporate America became an Administrative Assistant.  In those days on the job training was the best training you could get from the older or more experienced workers in that particular department.  In my recent experience in looking for employment today in the workforce seems like you don’t need older workers with knowledge but younger workers with BA degrees or you have to be bi-lingual which I have neither.  These jobs are not technical jobs but the same jobs I did when I started as Executive Secretary in Actuarial, Information Technology, Auditing and Contract Development.  I didn’t need a Bachelors Degree or speak another language except English (which was a must) but with working knowledge of the administrative skills and the opportunity, I was able to work in each of these different areas of one company.

On August 18, 2008 I attended the EDD Initial Assistance Workshop (IAW) which was supposed to provide me with reemployment services information.  The service was supposed to help me plan my job search and shorten my time I remained out of work.  Through this workshop I ended up attending Inglewood Community Adult School (WIA Program) for math skill building starting on September 29, 2008 to November 20, 2008.  My math skills were a little low after being tested and if I wanted to attend school through the WIA program and pass any entrance exam test I would have to upgrade my math skills.

At South Bay One Stop Business & Resource Center on September 2, 2008 I inquired about the SER’s Senior Community Service Program (SER-JOBS FOR PROGRESS NATIONAL, INC), funded by the U.S. Department of labor on June 2, 2008.  They focused on the needs of mature workers 55 years or more for unsubsidized jobs in the private sector through training in community based organizations.  I met the age qualifications, the income qualifications and the resident of the county qualification but was told that I was overqualified according to my resume.  They told me to leave my resume in case other opportunities came but have heard nothing.

I took advantage of the Workforce Incentive Act (WIA) training program being offered at the Resource Center and went to school for Medical Record Coder.  It was a nine month course including a two week internship that ended up lasting a year (January 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010).  During this time I used all my UI benefits and extensions.  I was not advised upon signing up for this training program that it would be taking away from my regular UI benefits.  My benefits were stopped and started four different times for a month at a time for phone interviews to verify going to school even though you could only go to an approved government WIA training programs.  Now that I have finished the training and completed two weeks of internship, I found out that no one will hire you unless you have two years of prior experience and a certification (CCA or CCS) that cost around $350.00 to even be considered for a job in that field.  Money for school is advertised all over the media, e-mails and advertisements to change your career into a new growing profession which was supposed to be the Health jobs.  But with no prior experience I can’t apply for those jobs and I have wasted a year and half of UI benefits which includes the Workshop that I had to attend that led to the WIA training.  After finding out about not being able to be considered for hire as a medical record coder, I started applying for jobs at my old profession as Administrative Assistant.  I had one phone interview in response to an Admin job but never heard back from them.

I would have been out on the streets by now with my car repossed and wouldn’t be able to get to a job if it wasn’t for the 4th Tier.  The 4th Tier has saved my life thus far and a 5th Tier would help keep me from going from unemployed to homeless.  When I signed up to go to school I didn’t know I would be using up all my UI benefits.  I am able, qualified and willing to work now.  If jobs are coming back like they say they are, then why not have Tier 5 to give people the opportunity to continue to look for work.  I have been crying, praying and sending out resumes.  I don’t sleep at night and when I do I wake up every two hours worrying about my situation that I was put in through no fault of my own.  I am living on the bare necessities of life and soon I won’t be able to afford them.

I AM SCARED.  PLEASE HELP US.

From SE in CA:

Dear Senator McDermott,

This is my first time ever writing to a Senator, but I feel that is very important that you and other politicians really need to hear the voice of the people.  I am a 43 year old single mother of three children, and have worked since the age of 16.  I worked as an Administrative Assistant and was laid off in December 2008, due to lack of funding and budget cuts.  I have DELIGENTLY looked for employment, and although I have had several interviews nothing has prevailed for me. I am willing to work for less money, as a matter of fact most of the jobs I have applied to are paying less.

I have moved into a less expensive house, and have had to cut back in every possible way imaginable.  I have just received my last unemployment check, and do not know what I am going to do, where I am going to live, or how I am going to be able to provide for my three children, at no fault of my own. I exhausted my 401k before even applying for unemployment hoping that I would be able to find a job.   I wrote Congressman Buck McKeon, and explained to him the importance of extending unemployment benefits beyond 99 weeks, he wrote me back and basically told me there are jobs and get one!

I have been reading several articles stating that both Republicans and Democrats seem to believe that 99 weeks is long enough to be unemployed, but there are no jobs created  for the millions of Americans who are unemployed and still out of work.  I don’t understand how you can take a recess or a vacation and not make sure the Americans that are unemployed will be able to receive a check to provide basic necessities for their family.  I  have read many horror stories about Americans who have exhausted all benefits and do not have any source of income.  They have medications that they cannot purchase, and no way of going to their doctor’s appointment due to not having money for transportation.  What about the Americans who are 50 or older that are having trouble getting employment because employers are able to hire college graduates or younger people and pay them less?

Americans that have worked like myself for 20, 30 or 40 plus years and at no fault of their own they lost their jobs.  Our elected officials  tell them that after working all of those years 99 weeks of unemployment is enough. How dare them, and shame on them!  I really hope and pray that you make a stand for the American people by extending unemployment not just for 99 weeks, but until Congress can create the jobs that were taken from us. Please consider adding Tier V, and thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

From LS from MN:

Title of Hearing:  Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment

This is my story being unemployed for the past two years.  I have always been an independent woman working since the age of 16 being responsible and raising a son on my own who will be 19 years old coming up in August 2010.

I was let go from my company on May 27, 2008 and still no job in sight.  I no longer have been eligible for any unemployment benefits since February 16, 2010.  I have had no income since that time.  It is June 11, 2010 now and still no job insight and no income.  The last 4 months depleted my savings because of zero income.  Being unemployed has created a tremendous hardship financially and emotionally.

I no longer was able to make my house payment of approximately $500/month.  I have had the mortgage for 17 years with never a late payment.  Doesn’t sound like much, but when you run totally out of money you cannot even pay the smallest payment.  This is the first time I have been harassed by my mortgage company and it isn’t any fun when you tell them over and over again that you are unable to make the payment.  Your self-esteem is shot down while bills keep piling up.

I have searched for a job extensively.  In the interview process, being an administrative assistant, they first call to give you a telephone interview, if you pass that, you receive a first physical interview, if you pass that, you receive a second physical interview and then you wait to see if you landed the job, while consistently applying for new open job postings.  I have been told they receive 200 – 400 or more resumes for each single job that has been posted.  I have tried for many jobs outside of my field as well, but because I have had no experience in that particular area I was not considered as they had more than enough candidates who have experience looking for a job.

I am an older woman who lost her job at the age of 49 and I am now 51.  I have applied for at least a minimum of 3000 jobs in two years time.  I feel fortunate to have received interviews, but it doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t been given a job offer.

So, not only being reduced to poverty, this situation has caused me to develop high stress and anxiety wondering whether I will ever land a job.  Also, you really find out who your friends are as so many people abandon you because you are not successful and refuse to believe that you haven’t been able to get hired.  People that are not in the situation have no idea or concept as to how bad it is to land a job in today’s economic situation.

Being from Minnesota, Minnesota did not qualify for Tier IV either.  I am no longer in the count for unemployment statistics either.  So, the answer to the question, should there be a Tier V for all long-term unemployment individuals.  The answer is definitely “YES”.

From RT in RI:

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to tell you how the people of this country are struggling this is my story.  I am one of the 99ers that unemployment has ended for.  I have 5 kids one of them is an adult child.  The next one is due to graduate this year from high school.  Not only can I not afford to send them to college.  I am facing eviction soon since I cannot pay my rent since unemployment has ended for me.

I have always worked and never been on unemployment at 41 this was a first for me.  I have a college education and many skills to bring to a company.  I still have been unable to find a job.  When I went on unemployment I had to move my family into a small apartment where we could pay rent since the rent for my other home was too high to afford.  I have spent money and time everyday looking for employment including but not limited to working for Mcdonalds or Burger King.  Having an older woman is not their ideal employee.

Age seems to be working against me when they can hire the younger people for a lower rate.  I have not been picky about applying for jobs that are much lower paying than what I had and yet still have not found employment.  I have never in my life experienced not being able to find a position to be able to support my family or even myself.  I paid into unemployment for years without ever using it and now when I need it most I am unable to get the help I need.

We will be homeless soon since I don’t have the money to pay for the rent on my home which is as cheap as I can get.  My  phone will be turned off soon since I cannot afford to pay that either which means finding a job will be even harder.  Help my family before we loose it all.  A homeless shelter is not someplace I want to bring my children but we will be in one if there is even room before July.

I am greatful to see that the job openings have gone from 1 column to at least a page of openings now it is a sign that things are changing.  But, just because I happened to be one of the people who was unemployed first doesn’t mean I will be the one to get hired first.  WE NEED HELP.  Personally we spend more money on helping other countries that we do for our own.  I think we need to help our own before we don’t have the capabilities to even help ourselves.  Please look at the real stories we are hurting and broke and have gone without even on unemployment.  We would have been on it if there was jobs out there to work for.  Ask us to donate out time while we are on it work for the government while we on it create something productive from this.  But help us none the less.

From TF in MN:

My company Ferrania Technologies closed up shop in February, 2008. I applied for unemployment in March, 2008 in the dislocated worker program. No big deal worked 19 years at Control Data/Ceridian/General Dynamics aerospace divisions from 1980 to 1999. In/out of manufacturing jobs from 1999, located a job shortly after 9/11, found jobs, applied, interviewed with a hundred people and was hired. No problem! College degree, 25 plus years in manufacturing, college & a strong interviewer!!

Then the nightmare’s began lost my job, foreclosed my house, our losing tanning business closed up in February, 2010. Sent resumes out weekly, hundreds, for any type of job from minimum wage on up. Few phone interview’s, even fewer interviews Why?? No jobs, poor economy, now aged to 56, under qualified for few new manufacturing jobs requiring Apics certificate orCPIM. Living on food stamps, wife’s reduced weekly hours & from $60,000 yearly to $920 per month before taxs!!!!

PLEASE HELP WITH TIER V, FEDERAL JOBS BEFORE I LOSE ALL HOPE OF WORKING/LIVING. ONLY THING THAT KEEPS ME GOING IS MY FAMILY & FAITH IN GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From CM in PA:

Please provide the long term unemployed who have exhausted their benefits additional weeks or a Tier V.  We are in dire need.

I will turn 57 years old this month. I am in that most vulnerable group of unemployed who are “too young to retire, too old to hire.”  Many of us have had to use any retirement savings to make ends meet and we will never be able to recover financially from long unemployment – that is if we are able to at least keep what we haven’t get lost.  I have not had any income since March when I exhausted my benefits in PA.  My unemployment was the only income that I had and with that help I was able to pay my bills – it was a lifeline.  Since March, I missed two loan (home mortgage) payments and this month will be the third.   I have no other means of income, no job prospects and am a single woman, 56 yrs old and no one to go to for help.

July 1999, I moved back to my childhood home in PA from NYC where I had been living and working.  Just after my dad passed away in November 1997, my mom had two serious falls, one she fractured her wrist & had to have surgery and was in a cast for several months and the second she suffered compressed fractures of the spine & again was hospitalized and in a back brace.  I moved home because it was getting more and more difficult for her to manage alone.  Although she suffers from osteoarthritis her mind is sharp and I did not want to see her living in a nursing home where I believe the quality of the last years of her life would be diminished. With no wealth and a fixed income, the option of me moving home was the best. I was able to find a good job relatively easily and was employed full time with benefits beginning September of 1999.  For 5 and ½ years I commuted 90 mi RT to Pittsburgh. I was able to make contributions to a 401K and buy a used car.  I was employed as a Departmental Administrative Assistant for a high technology firm in a Research Facility supporting PhDs from all over the world.  During my time with this company, my mother continued to have falls, broke a hip, broke her pelvis, had several surgeries and was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease and underwent Chemotherapy.  We have no immediate family so the burden falls upon me.  I spent 15 hrs a week commuting, working a full time job, taking care of the home (inside and out), cooking, shopping etc. and was my mother’s caretaker.  I mention this to show that I am a responsible, hard working person and not a bum like some would like to paint the unemployed to be.  When the position ended there was no extended unemployment, just the regular 6 months UI benefits and the recession had started kicking in.  I was not able to find work for 14 months.  I send hundreds of resumes and applied for as many jobs, I was signed up with every temporary employment agency in the area and made it a full time job to look for employment in and out of PA.   I had good references and excellent skills and experience yet I received no offers of work not even for a week temp job!  I couldn’t even get part time work doing anything. All of the interviews that I went on I was either overqualified for or was interviewed by someone who was at least 15 years younger than myself – as were most of the employees.  I finally secured a temporary administrative assistant position with a major employer in the area at one of their locations to replace someone on sick leave.  I was there for about 5 weeks & luckily during that time I found a permanent job in Pittsburgh beginning July 6.  I was the Education Coordinator for the firm and I enjoyed the job very much. I worked at this position for 1 ½ years. The company was sold and my position was eliminated.  I have not had any luck finding a job since. I believe that in addition to the economic downturn, I have experience a great deal of ageism.  I have send hundreds of resumes, applied to hundreds of companies as well as being registered with temp agencies. I have not been able to find work or earn any income.

During my first long unemployment I had to cash in my 401K to make ends meet (remember I had not unemployment benefits after 6 months).  Over the past 2 years, I have had periods of no income and have had no work or income since March 2010.  I managed to keep a good credit rating but now that is not the case having missed 2 home loan payments with another coming due in 14 days.  My mother and I are living off of her fixed income which consists of Social Security and a very small pension that my dad provided of under $300/month.  We were not able to pay our spring property taxes.  I have no health insurance and my car is 10 years old (I bought it second hand) and over 128,000 miles.  I need new brakes and tires for the next inspection.  My mother is house bound now and severely crippled by arthritis. She also had a heart attack the summer of 2008 and at 90 years old, she is very frail and fragile but still has a good mind. I will not put her in a nursing home while she is so lucid especially since we have no money we wouldn’t have much input on a facility.  As I mentioned, I maintain the home, inside and out, do all cooking, shopping, etc.  Living 45 miles SE of Pittsburgh, the commute to the city is long and expensive and many employers use this as a reason for not hiring me. In addition to where I live (once a prosperous manufacturing and steel town now depressed and a shadow of its former self) I have several strikes against me – age and long period of unemployment.  I also have no health insurance and that is scary.  My dad died of colon cancer and I am unable to afford a colonoscopy.  In a way, it doesn’t matter because without health insurance I couldn’t afford treatment anyway.

My hope is that my mother can live out most of her natural life in the home she lived in since 1953 when I was 2 months old.  She is surrounded by her things, her cats and a quiet environment and feels safe and secure here.  She would not do well in a nursing home environment as she is a very private and solitary sole.  In the beginning I did apply for jobs in other states thinking I could somehow manage commuting on weekends. That is now out of the question for many reasons and besides, I don’t have the resources to relocate and keep mom at home.  I have researched work at home jobs but haven’t been able to find anything that matches my skills & their needs.  I have applied to all the employers including colleges in the area but being a small town, I believe it’s who you know that gets you a job and beside there is little to no opportunity here.  I am beyond hopeless and discouraged and now totally stressed and depressed.  I don’t know what will happen when I default on the home loan – I guess I will lose the equity in my home – the only thing I have left.  I don’t know what I will do when my car finally dies as I live in an area that is car dependent. We have no family to go to for help.  It’s just the two of us.

My parents both lived during the Great Depression.  Actually my mom’s family lived next door to the late Congressman John Murtha’s family and they became friends.  My dad was one of 11 children and one of the older boys born to Italian immigrants. He was one of the first in our town to enlist during World War II.  He served for 5 years and came back and worked at a local manufacturing plant, Latrobe Die Casting. until he retired. During the time my dad was in the service, his father died. He didn’t marry immediately so when he returned from the war, he immediately went to work and his salary went to provide for his mother & younger siblings.

My mother went to work when I was in second grade so I could attend a private school and get a good education. She worked for a local dentist.  So as you see, I came from a family who knew hard times and the value of work.  I get so offended when people refer to the unemployed as lazy.  I physically outwork every woman I know and am a jack of all trades.  I do it all except electrical.

I need help to get by until the job situation improves.  I realize that the odds of me finding a job this year remain bleak.  I will never be able to recover from the hole I am in but at least while receiving unemployment I was able to pay my bills and some of the stress was eliminated.  I dare not think too much about the dire straits I am in.  I am a victim and there isn’t much I can do to change my circumstance. My future is bleak.  I have written so many letters to my Senators, other Congressional members, the President, media and advocated for unemployment through social media. I am burnt out from all of this which basically amounts to a lot of wasted time and energy. It is emotionally draining and to not have a voice is beyond frustrating. I can sometimes feel the stress hormones raging through my body and I know my health is suffering.  I can’t afford to visit my dentist or eye doctor for regular check-ups.  Everything gets compiled, late fees are incurred, health deteriorates, etc.  Why my government chooses to ignore me and others who are in dire need of help is beyond reason, it is morally wrong.  We are made to beg for help yet two wars were financed with my tax money.  The vast sums of money spend on defense and the wars, support for other countries, tax cuts to the wealthy and money paid to subcontractors in Iraq, and wasteful spending yet Congress bickers about helping their own people who are jobless through no fault of their own?  Actually, some of the fault is with the same folks opposed to benefits for the unemployed are the same ones who supported the last administrations failed policies that put us here. It is reprehensible. It’s our country too yet we seem to have little impact on anything anymore.  Congress doesn’t listen to us.  They live in a bubble that is Washington and there is too much influence from special interests and too many decisions made to get reelected.  The word hardship only applies to others as most will never know the concept. This is wrong.  You take care of your own first!  How can this country ever recover if people aren’t working and contributing?  Now isn’t the time to be overly concerned with deficit. Now is the time to get people back to work & in the meantime help those who through no fault of their own are jobless.  Don’t let us slide into poverty.  I am sure there are some deadbeats but I believe you won’t find that among those of us who are over 50.  At the very least, I think Congress needs to take a look at that segment of the long term unemployed.  We are a group within a group.  The younger workers will survive and have plenty of time to recoup but not the over 50 worker.  And people like me who are single – can you imagine? And take into account many of us are caregivers for our elderly parents.  It would cost the gov’t a lot more if I put my mom in a nursing home.  Too much time has passed with nothing being done to alleviate the pain of being unemployed, too little has been done to create jobs, and it is wrong to be ignored and tossed aside by our lawmakers.  Why Congress seems to think this is not a priority is beyond rational thinking.  Seed money for start-ups can go a long way in creating jobs.  Getting people back to work and until there are plans in motion, we need help. I have never asked anyone for help and I find myself pleading with Congress now. The older worker needs some protections. As it is now, we have nothing. Even job retraining is sort of a moot point for many of us because we are highly skilled experienced workers.  Where are the tax cuts to hire the older unemployed worker?  Many employers don’t even want the unemployed to apply.  And this is a big country and we all can’t live in the same place so telling people to relocate is kind of irrational as well.  What are we supposed to do if we own a home and can’t sell it?  Where do we get the money to move? What do we do with our elderly parents if we are caretakers? And what guarantees do we have is we would relocate? We could be out of a job in 6 months and then what?

If Congress doesn’t act soon to add additional time or another Tier for those who have exhausted all benefits, many of us will be done for good.   I am positive there are ways to fund this extension.  Not one penny should be spent on any programs until we get help that we need in the form of additional unemployment benefits. Where is the unemployment money the IRS mismanaged and put into general funds?  Why aren’t the responsible for paying us back?  And to the Republicans who are screaming about the deficit, I am repulsed. Many voted to fund two wars that are costing our country a fortune.  How dare they be so arrogant! And to those in Congress who voted for tax cuts for the wealthy – you owe the jobless an apology for your failed policies and that of the last administration that led to this mess.

Any benefits the unemployed receive are used immediately and grow the economy.  We use it to pay for goods and services. Every economist agrees that unemployment is a form of economic stimulus.  It is mere greed and misguided thinking to deny us help citing deficit reduction.

I also would like to add that you need to do the right thing and do it fast.  We need jobs, we need tax incentives for hiring the unemployed over 50, tax cuts for the wealthy need to end now and special incentives must be put into place to hire the unemployed! We spend an ungodly amount on defense in this country to protect the citizens yet you fail to protect the citizens by not helping the unemployed. We can’t have a country of have and have not’s – it will cease to be America.  Furthermore, there will be more jobs lost due to the lost of unemployment benefits. By not putting those funds back into the economy, the local grocery store and other service providers will earn less and more jobs lost. The countries will lose our property taxes and state’s social programs will be stressed as well.  It doesn’t make any sense to use the unemployed as a pawn.  We need help now.

Thank you for much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Please visit Rochester Unemployment Examiner to review unemployment information, data and details that you don’t find in the main stream media. You can also add comments about your current situation and what you think needs ot be done to improve the job market and unemployment benefits system. I hope to see you there.

*Due to issues such as software compatibility, the letters posted here may contain some minor formatting edits to improve readability.

Due to receiving more than 200 letters thus far from those who submitted letters to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support , I need to create multiple posts.

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support is held a hearing on June 10 titled: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment. I asked readers of Rochester Unemployment Examiner to send me letters they wrote to the Committee that they also wanted to have published here.* Below are some of those letters. I’ll be posting other letters as I receive permission.

There is still time to write; you can submit letters to House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support is holding a hearing until the close of business on June 24.

I want to thank all of you for including me in your letters to the Hearing. I will do my best to reply to each and everyone of you in a timely fashion.

From M.H. in KS:

Re: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment

To ALL members of the U.S. Congress & the President of the United States of America

I am a 57 year old male who has worked for over 43 years.

I have always paid my Income Taxes, and paid into the Social Security System, as outlined by our government.

Like so many MILLIONS of other Americans, through no fault of my own, I was laid-off from my most recent employer of over 16 years, on October 6^th, 2008. I was the Quality Manager of a manufacturing company that went from a 24/7 operation to one 8 hour shift.

I am a divorced father with custody of my 14 year old daughter. (Due to what will be stated in this letter, I MAY be forced to give custody to my ex-spouse…that, I should NOT be forced to do…my daughter deserves better from HER country)

I am not someone who has looked to my government to “pay my way”, and have never approved of what many Americans referred to as the “American Welfare System”.

Again, like millions of other hard-working, dedicated Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of our own, I have found that companies do not want to hire a 57 year old, divorced, white male, who hasn’t worked for over 1 & ½ years. The daily frustrations that I have experienced cannot be put into words. One has to “live it” by being in this position and by reading comments from the “still-employed” Americans, who think that anyone who hasn’t found new employment after this length of time, must be lazy, unmotivated, worthless, looking for the old Welfare scams, and only wanting to be on full-time vacation. If they only knew how far from the truth this is for MOST, if not ALL of us. I have sent resumes, had interviews, made phone calls, have visited companies that aren’t advertising any current openings just to have an application on file “in case” something becomes available…I can’t even keep track anymore of the hundreds (thousands?) of these over the last year & ½.

I have received Extended Benefits through the “Unemployment” system, Tiers I, II, & III, but the State of Kansas did not have a Tier IV, as some other states put into place. I have exhausted all benefits made available to me, and am still unemployed as of this writing.

I was one of the “lucky” Americans, who after working many years, was able to live the so-called “American Dream”, of owning my own home, along with owning 2 vehicles.

Due to the state of the economy, and the decision by Congress to no longer “HELP” Americans such as myself, I was forced to file bankruptcy. I lost my “dream”..our 4-bedroom home..our new car..health insurance (as well as health, in general), dignity, respect, good credit rating, and many, many other things.

Not only did we have to move from our house (our HOME) to an apartment, I now can no longer afford to pay the rent, buy food, pay for gasoline for my “used” 2002 VW, or pay utilities (which includes phone & computer, and they are my last resorts for further seeking of employment). All of this because Congress has decided that I am not entitled to receive any further assistance from my country.

This is while I continue to read of the BILLIONS of dollars my country is giving to foreign countries to assist them through the “disasters” they have encountered… or “bailing out” the Banking & Auto industries with BILLIONS because “we can’t afford to let them fail”…

…What about us???… the Americans who have encountered this “disaster” in our lives…do you honestly feel it’s OK to let US “fail”, and that we don’t need the help of OUR OWN COUNTRY?

H.R.4213 does NOT address the “Long-Term” unemployed, those of us without further available “Tiers”. It only addresses giving the “shorter-term” unemployed an additional amount of time to file for an extension of their benefits. Even this hasn’t PASSED Congress – YET.

While you’re on vacation, or approving your own pay raises, some of us are on the brink of becoming completely homeless…What did WE do wrong??? … and “vacation”? What is that?  I can’t even imagine that “luxury” anymore.

Do we NO LONGER EXIST to the people we elected to Congress to help lead our country. If what I have read is correct, and I believe it is, those of us who have exhausted ALL benefits, are no longer “on the books”, so we aren’t included in the figures/Unemployment % reported to/by the Press. We should be included, not FORGOTTEN!!! What is the TRUE percentage if you INCLUDE us? We ARE unemployed…Why play with the numbers to make the economy look like it’s improving, when in fact, it is NOT for some/most  Americans…Tell the American public the TRUE NUMBERS…we DO exist, even if Congress wants to ignore us, or at a minimum, not want to deal with us.

As we all know, the oil damage in the Gulf of Mexico currently has the main focus of the Press, but please give the “damage” to the American people YOUR main focus…we deserve to NOT be forgotten.

There are internet blogs that I have read that are quite disturbing, and show the true desperation of some Americans. Some have said they are going to commit crimes just to have a “roof over their head” and to have their children become “Wards of the State” so that they will receive care & housing that the parent can no longer supply…Others have stated they are ready to commit suicide so that their children will receive life insurance and/or “survivor benefits” rather than see them forced to “live on the streets”…  How much of this do we need to see actually start happening before this desperation is realized?

PLEASE help us…we NEED your help…we DESERVE your help…we were NOT the cause of the current state of our economy, or the loss of OUR AMERICAN DREAM….

“Jobs Programs” will be a great benefit to the entire country, when & if they work, but that will take quite a lengthy time to re-employ all who have lost employment.

Of course employment several months (or longer) from now is better than “not at all”, but…PLEASE include a TIER V to the Extended Benefits program and add it NOW, and to ALL states…not after 3 months of additional debate, and to only a select group of states, using incomplete data of the TRUE Unemployment %…we can NOT survive that long without help from our country…

I could write for days on this subject, but I know it would most likely be placed to the side without review, so I will end here and state…

… I believe in MY country and hope that my country believes in those of us who needs “her” help….

“… OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE…”

Respectfully & Sincerely

From L.T. in SC:

RE:  Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment

Dear Senator McDermott,

I am writing this letter in response to ANOTHER 4 hour day at the Unemployment Office in South Carolina.  Suicide is becoming more and more attractive each day I survive.

I recently turned 53 and up until three years ago I felt my life fairly blessed.  I started working @ 12 as a babysitter and officially was on the Social Security books in 1973.

In November of 2006 my beloved Mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer & given 6 months to live.  In January of 2007 I lost my job as a Licensed Customhouse Broker, (my original license was issued in 1986 by the then U.S. Treasury Dept., now “Homeland Security), a career I had for over 20+ years.  In April 2007 my husband of 13 years abandoned me.  I’ve lost my home, car, even my pets.  I have NOTHING.  I have little to no family as I was unable to have children and my family is extremely small.  In fact I only really have a Aunt in Maine, (who is also suffering due to the economy) and a sister in Charleston with two children ALSO not able to help me.  If not for the blessing of a friend I would be on the streets!  Literally!  I’m sure you are not aware, (it’s another one of American’s dirty little secrets), but there is NO WHERE for a WOMAN to go, (shelter), unless they are physically abused or have children.  I do not fall under either of the two “qualifications”.  There ARE men shelters.  Can “someone” explain this to me?  Never mind, that’s another issue and not the purpose of this letter.

This being said my last date of “employment” was June 8^th, 2009.  I held a couple of jobs working for “call centers”, (I would describe these positions very close to being operated the same way as “sweatshops”), but other than that I can’t get a job ANYWHERE.  I have moved four times in the past year, (in South Carolina and Florida), living with friends.  No home.  No Job.  No Security.  No family.  No feeling of worth.

Unfortunately having had a somewhat unorthodox career I “pigeon-holed” myself where my skills are somewhat limited albeit I’m pretty sure I could flip a burger.  Did you know that when you apply on-line, (which 98% of places I have applied to require), that McDonald’s does not even offer an application or a place to “paste” a resume.  Instead you answer a 50+ “assessment” questionnaire.  I’ve done so many with so many companies but I think a question such as “Do you think smoking is harmful for your health?” is not only mundane but asinine as well.

So, here we are.  10 million, 20 million, 30 million?  Really, does anyone really know how many of AMERICANS are unemployed?  How many have just given up?  How many HAVE committed suicide?

My experience with the South Carolina Employment Commission, (or whatever they are calling themselves now since the discovery of how inept the offices are), has been overwhelming.  I went from February of this year until May without receiving a single dime.  I myself initiated my four month quest by going into the Charleston, SC office, (where I had lived for 20+ years), to ask WHY I had not been called in for an “eligibility” review.  Out of 16 weeks I was either in the Charleston or Greenville “One Stop” office 14 times!  By the way, The Greenville News, recently had a headline story that aside from the “Commission” being “run amok” the reporter also quoted that of the 1100 S.C. agency employees, 300 of them had returned to work after retirement.  These retirees returned to jobs that were NEVER posted for us regular folk.

In closing I am “grateful” my Mother did not live to see what has happened to my life.  I am “grateful” she will never have to know I had to pawn her jewelry in order to “survive”.  Most of all I am “grateful” she never had to see what America has become.  I grew up in Leesburg, VA..  I know what goes on “inside” the beltway.  I watch CSPAN and see NOTHING going on.

I am pleased to see you are on “our” side.  Of course you are only one Senator and of course you have never experienced, (nor will any of your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren), experience what “normal” AMERICANS are losing or have lost.  This is NOT my America.  Greed and Politics have won.  No wonder the comparison’s to the fall of the Roman Empire.  We’re there!

WE NEEDA TIER V!

Thank you for your time and consideration in reading this letter.  I pray “someone” on your staff will point out MY letter and help me to regain a life and perhaps just a little bit of dignity.

Sincerely,

From N.M. in FL:

URGENT—-URGENT  — URGENT —-URGENT——-URGENT

WE NEED UNEMPLOYMENT AND COBRA 65% DISCOUNT TO BE EXTENDED UNTIL THE END OF 2010

THE HEALTH CARE BILL DOES NOT KICK IN FOR 4 YEARS,

IF PREXISTING CONITIONS WERE NOT BLOCKED FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS  AND PRICING WAS FAIR AND UNEMPLOYMENT WAS EXTENDED OUT UNTIL THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE  WAS DOWN, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET AFFORDABLE INSURANCE- BUT DUE TO THE WAY THE HEALTH CARE BILL IS- I CANNOT AND NEITHER CAN OTHERS.

WHAT GOOD IS THAT?

WE NEED EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT TO A LONG TIER V.AND 65% COBRA EXTENDED IMMEDIATELY.

IT IS URGENT THAT YOU EXTEND COBRA 65% BENEFITS OUT FOR THE UNEMPLOYED. IT IS ALSO URGENT THAT YOU IMMEDIALTLY EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR ALL AMERICANS WHO HAVE OR WILL BE ENDING TIER 4.

TIER 5 FOR ALL IS A MUST AND VERY QUICKLY FOR BOTH.

PLEASE READ MY STORY

I AM 63 YEARS OLD, MY 3 WEEKS OF EB EXPIRED JUNE 5, 2010

(I DID NOT GET THE 20 WEEKS IN FLORIDA, I ONLY GOT 3 WEEKS BECAUSE OF THE JUNE 5^TH END DATE AND TIER 3 CAME IN SO I NEVER STARTED MY 20 WEEKS OF EB UNTIL TIER 4 RAN OUT.)

AND  MY COBRA 65% DISCOUNT EXPIRED MAY 31^ST 2010, UNLESS IT IS EXTENDED TO SAVE US I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO…

WE TOOK OUR SOCIAL SECURITY EARLY ONLY SO WE COULD PAY OUR BILLS AND NOT DEPEND ON MEDICAID HOUSING ASSISTANCE ETC.WE THEREFORE LOST A LOT OF OUR FUTURE IN BENEFITS.

WE WERE PAYING $578.00 PER MONTH FOR THE TWO OF US.

I JUST RECEIVED MY CONVERSION PLAN FOR MYSELF AND IT IS $1288.00 PER MONTH FOR 1 PERSON. MY HUSBAND IS ALSO UNEMPLOYED BUT HE GOES ONTO MEDICARE JUNE 1, 2010 AND MUST BUY A SUPPLEMENT TOO.

I CAN’T EVER PAY THIS $1288.00

THE ONLY OTHER WAY OUT IS TO DIVORCE MY HUSBAND AND GET ON MEDICAID.HOW SAD, HE IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE.

I AM AN INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETIC AND NO ONE ELSE WILL COVER ME. THE INSULIN IS OVER $200.00 A BOTTLE PER MONTH

I USE 2 BOTTLES OF 70/30 AND 1 BOTTLE OF REGULAR- SO THAT IS OVER $600.00 A MONTH PLUS MY OTHER MEDICATIONS SUCH AS ADVAIR @ OVER $200.00 A MONTH AND AVAPRO 300 AT ABOUT $100.00 A MONTH.

I HAVE PRICED THIS ALL WITH A DISCOUNT CARD AND IT COMES TO OVER $600.00 A MONTH. THERE ARE OTHER MEDS, BUT THEY ARE GENERIC BUT MY LIFE SAVING INSULIN, BLOOD PRESSURE AND ASTHMA DRUGS I CANNOT AFFORD.

IF UNEMPLOYMENT WERE EXTENDED OUT UNTIL WE CAN FIND WORK IN FLORIDA, A STATE WITH OVER 12% UNEMPLOYED WE AND OVER 1 MILLION OTHERS IN FLORIDA WOULD BE SAVED FROM DESTITUTION.

I AM NOT ALONE IN THIS PLIGHT, MILLIONS WILL BE BEGGING IN THE STREETS, STEALING AND DYING JUST FOR MEDS & FOOD &HOUSING.

OVER GOVERNMENT MUST HAVE A HEART AND A CONSCIENCE!!!

IF ANY OF YOU TRIED TO LIVE ON 275.00 A WEEK +$25 FOR EVEN A MONTH YOU WOULD KNOW HOW HORRIBLE IT FEELS. WHY NOT TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE AND TRY IT FOR A FEW MONTHS.

IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE THAT ANYONE FROM THE PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS AND THE SENATE COULD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO THE PROUD AMERICANS WHO GAVE YOU YOUR JOBS, BENEFITS, PENSIONS, HOUSES ETC.

WE ARE PROUD AMERICANS, BUT WE NEED HELP FROM THE PEOPLE WE VOTED TO PROTECT US!

THIS GREAT COUNTRY HAS BAILED OUT  EVERY OTHER COUNTRY, GIVEN MONEY TO  COUNTRIES IN NEED, BAILED OUT OUR BANKS, AUTOMAKERS AND BIG BUSINESS- YOU NEED TO HAVE A CONSCIENCE AND HELP THOSE OF US STILL UNEMPLOYED.

YES, IT APPEARS THAT THEM FIGURES OF THOSE COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT IS DOWN, BUT THE TRUE FIGURES ARE NOT THERE, BECAUSE IT IS DOWN BECAUSE THEY CAN NO LONGER COLLECT.

MY UNEMPLOYMENT ENDS IN 1 WEEK, WHEN I FILE FOR MY 1 WEEK, THEN I WILL BE APPLYING FOR FOOD STAMPS, MEDICAID, RENTAL ASSISTANCE AND ANYTHING ELSE I AM ELIGIBLE FOR- JUST TO SURVIVE. I AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS DID NOT PLAN FOR THS- EVERYONES SAVINGS ARE GONE,

OUR LANDLORD WAS NICE INTAKING PAYMENTS, BUT ONCE UNEMPLOYMENT IS GONE, THERE WILL BE NO WAY TO MAKE THOSE PAYMENTS UNTIL I CAN FIND A JOB WHERE I DON’T HAVE TO LIFT 50 LBS AND STAND ON MY FEET ALL DAY( I AM IN NO MEDICAL CONDITION TO DO THAT WITH HEART, DIABETIES, ASTHMA AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE—AND NOW I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO TO DOCTORS OR GET MEDICATION.

IS EVERYONE IN WASHINGTON BLIND TO WHAT IS HAPPENING??

WHY  IS IT THAT THERE IS FUNDING THAT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE REPAID FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION IF YOU WANT TO GO FOR A COLLEGE DEGREE. BUT IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 60’S AND WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE CAREERS BY TAKING A COURSE FOR YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE LISCENCE OR A REAL ESTATE LISCENCE, WHICH TAKES A MUCH SHORTER AMOUNT OF TIME TO GET AND LESS MONEY  HAS TO BE PAID FOR THESE LISCENSES, WE MUST PAY FOR THEM OUT OF POCKET?

BECAUSE  THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT HELP US PAY FOR THIS AND WE CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY, THEREFORE ANOTHER AVENUE IS SHUT OFF FOR US.

IF THESE WERE INCLUDED IN THE GOVERNMENT STIMULUS WITH THE EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND 65% DISCOUNT OF COBRA, MANY OF US WOULD BE MAKING  MONEY NOW.

I WATCH THE NEWS AND EVERYDAY I SEE MORE ROBERIES, PEOPLE BEING SHOT AND KILLED FOR A FEW DOLLARS FOR FOOD ETC. IS THIS REALLY WHAT YOU WANT FOR OUR COUNTRY??  THE CRIME RATE IS UP AND IT WILL BE MUCH HIGHER AND DESPERATE PEOPLE DO DESPERATE THINGS.

WE DESPERATLY NEED THE 65% COBRA  EXTENDED NOW PAST 18 MONTHS- I END ON MAY 31,2010 AND THE HEALTHCARE BILL DOES NOTHING TO HELP ME UNTIL I AM ALMOST 68 YEARS OLD.I WILL NOT MAKE 68 IF THERE IS NO HELP

AND UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENDED UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR SO WE CAN GET BACK ON OUR FEET-( I STILL BELIEVE IN THIS COUNTRY. WITHOUT UNEMPLOYMENT I CAN’T PAY FOR COBRA.

HELP US!

PLEASE

RESPECTFULLY,

From V.M. in MI:

My situation is by no means unique: I am divorced; 55 years old; have been unemployed since November 2007; can’t afford health insurance and am too young for Medicare; am on food stamps; have used up most of my IRA (for which I’m penalized for early withdrawal),

More than anything, I want gainful employment. I’ve applied for a variety of jobs–from entry-level to professional–and no luck. I’m an attorney and have a master’s degree in business. I’m also an actor, artist, photographer, and writer, and I’ve been doing some freelance jobs, but they are few and far between. I cannot find one meaningful paid job in any of those categories. The paid positions out there are part-time or temporary, have no benefits, and pay very little. Clearly, employers are taking advantage of this situation.

I would be happy working as a file clerk, but rarely do I get an interview and when I do, the interviewers are often half my age and don’t give serious consideration to my qualifications. I never hear back from them. Age discrimination is rampant.

When I hear politicians and others say that people like me are lazy and will be more motivated to find work if there were no more unemployment benefits, I wish that I could afford to move away to a country, such as Canada or New Zealand, that values its citizens and offers health care to everyone.

Why do our politicians not bat an eye when bailing out Wall Street and GM, and keep funding a war that has no end, but abandon those who desperately need an extension of unemployment benefits? We’re not asking for handouts—we’ve paid into the unemployment insurance

I, and millions of others like me, need your help.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

From G.H. in CA:

Senator McDermott and Members of Congress:

I have been unemployed for almost two years. I’ve sent out more resumes than I can count, since losing my job as an executive assistant at a law firm in 2008. I’ve had only two or three callbacks, and only one interview. It is bleak. I am almost out of unemployment. Time is growing short for me. For many people, it’s already happened. They’re defaulting on the debts, losing their cars, their homes, their dignity.

I have solid resume, a broad and experienced skill set, a college degree, and have been working since I was 14 years old. In fact, I held two jobs while also attending high school. I worked full time while earning my college degree. I can work. I will work. I like to work, and see the benefits of my labor. I think that most people do.

The government and industry is failing us. We need the lifeline of unemployment continued until the unemployment rate comes down, significantly. Everybody knows it. There are no jobs.

From M.C. in CT:

I and my wife have been unemployed, out of no fault of my own and have exhausted all our unemployment benefits as of last month or before.  I have lost so much in the last two years and now if you do not add ADDITIONAL WEEKS beyond continuing the programs I AND MY FAMILY WILL BE HOMELESS AND WITH OUT TRANSPORTATION AND CELLPHONES! There are no jobs out there no matter what News stories try to portray!

Look in any major local paper at the job classifieds (nationwide)-1/2 page or 1 page is the norm instead of 10-15 pages in the past! Hundreds attend the few openings!

So please support the American people like you have the Banks/Wall St. and so many big $$ bailouts and wars. As we all know things will get better, but jobs are nowhere to be found now! All you have to do is look at the market diving in the USA and worldwide when the latest JOBS NEWS CAME OUT THIS WEEK!

How can you ignore the AMERICAN PEOPLE who elected you?

It will take support from Congress for the remainder of 2010 and early next year!

Don’t let any Democrat or Republican state that you shouldn’t help because of the deficit or because unemployed people are lazy and milking the system.  I would love to see any of them try to live like so many Americans on unemployment or no funds coming in!

We the good people of America WANT TO WORK!  But we need the help of additional weeks now!

Help us out and expand tier 4 or add a tier 5 to do a long term extension.

THIS IS EMERGENCY SPENDING DIRECTED AT THE UNEMPLOYED ON MAIN ST!

Without additional unemployment benefit weeks added, every day/week/month the # will grow,its already huge but by Election time!~ LOOK OUT!  MILLIONS WITH NO SUPPORT AND HOMELESS.

We have used up all of our 401k,savings-lost our credit cards and credit and can barely feed ourselves.

I have had to go to food pantries and my kids are not eating well and you can see it in their physical look!

PLEASE HELP US I BEG YOU TO BE DECENT AND ACT IMMEDIATELY TO ADD A TIER 5 OR ADD TO TIER 4!

Thank you M, S/J /C and Emily

OUR FAMILY IN NEED!

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support is holding a hearing this week on June 10 titled: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment. I asked readers of Rochester Unemployment Examiner to send me letters they wrote to the Committee that they also wanted me to publish. Below are some of those letters. I’ll be posting other letters as I receive permission.

From M. B. in CA:

I lost my job of 20 years as a Software Manager in July of 2008. After several months of intense job hunting, I realized there were few opportunities in my field of expertise and even fewer opportunities for a 50+ woman.

Believe me age discrimination is alive and thriving in this economy! I enrolled in a Microsoft Application Specialist Certification Program in May of 2009 in order to change careers. My prior skills and experience coupled with the Microsoft Certifications should have given me the leg up to secure a position as an Administrative Assistant or an Office Manager. It is now May of 2010, I’ve sent hundreds of resumes to every open position I can find all of which yielded one interview and no job.

I am on the net everyday for several hours searching for jobs on 5 different job sites and local company web sites. My business profile is on several networking sites and I have reached out to past school mates and coworkers with no results. I meet biweekly with the Job Specialist in my local Career Center. I attend every job fair hosted in the area. I don’t know what more I can do. The fact is I’m a 55 year old professional woman and no one wants to hire me. I am overqualified for entry level positions and too old for a position in my field of expertise.

I have exhausted my savings and my unemployment benefits. I have no choice but to pay the early withdrawal penalties so I can cash in some of my 401K Account and pay my mortgage and living expenses for a little longer. When that’s gone I don’t know what I’ll do.

It’s very hard for me to convey the fear and desperation I feel. During the last forty years, beginning as a teen with summer jobs I’ve always been able to find work. Now everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve accumulated during my lifetime is evaporating before my eyes because I can’t find employment.  All my life I’ve done what society has asked of me. I worked hard, lived within my means, paid my bills and taxes, helped others less fortunate than myself, saved for a rainy day, saved for retirement, and now I’m looking at complete and utter financial collapse because there aren’t enough jobs for everyone that needs one.

Congress must pass the Tier V Extension until job creation matches the demand in this country. I know there are many baby boomers like me, finding themselves in similar situations and because we represent such a large portion of the population the decisions we are being forced to make will impact everyone. As our numbers exhaust their unemployment benefits with still no jobs in sight, our homes will join the millions already in foreclosure. With our retirement funds exhausted before we reach retirement age we will become dependent on government programs in our retirement years. As we default on credit cards and loan payments everyone’s ability to borrow will be impacted.

I agree it is a real concern as to how to pay for the extension of benefits, however I truly believe the financial impact of not extending benefits represents a greater threat to the economy. The economy simply needs more time to recover and create jobs. Please don’t abandon the American Workers in their time of need. All our lives we’ve worked and paid taxes often used to prop up economies in other countries. Now we need to do the same for the citizens of the USA.

From M. W. in MA:

Dear Sirs/Madams,

My name is M. W.and I am a resident of Massachusetts and citizen of the greatest country in the world the United States of America. Sadly my life has become that of a bad movie, or of a stereotype I never thought I’d find myself in. My life changed drastically on October 4^th, 2008 when I lost my job of 8 years with Best Buy.

In my 18 years of being eligible to work I worked for 2 Companies Sears and Best Buy. In both companies I started making very little and worked my way up through my excellent performance to a financial level I never thought obtainable. With Best Buy I had even gotten so far as to make close to 6 figures a year.

Two years before I lost my job I purchased my first home and was one of many foolish Americans who were duped into purchasing a dual flexible interest loan (through Countrywide). When I lost my job it began the sad process of me losing my home after over 60k in payments (my daughters college fund essentially) amongst other painful debts that I’ve accrued in some cruel downward spiral. When I worked for Best Buy I was offered dozens of jobs from the competition for more money but I was foolishly loyal and passed on them thinking that I’d be able to retire doing something I loved.

When I was let go by Best Buy it left me in the vast pool of qualified who were essentially locked out of opportunities. Sure Career Builder and Monster.com appear to have job opportunities, and other companies post job openings on their sites but out of the hundreds of jobs that I’ve applied for I’ve gotten only a handful of interviews. I’ve essentially knocked on doors, walked into stores, handing my resume to a store manager. Just hoping, that perhaps my timing would improve and that I’d at least get face time with someone. Instead what little face time I’ve received has been responded with the same retort, “we’re sorry but you’re overqualified for this position.” And despite my explaining that I was willing to start over and earn my way back I’ve been passed over by internal applicants (which I understand them being afraid of the message they’d send by hiring an outsider during such a difficult time in our country.).

I’m not looking for a handout. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars contributing to state/federal taxes over the years and until recent had never asked or received any type of support from the government. I’ve even had to get Food Stamps during the gaps when I was unsure if I’d get an extension over the course of my unemployment. Even with the maximum reimbursement I’m still making 40% of my last salary and my bills haven’t dwindled to 40%. I am a single father of the most beautiful 7 year old girl. She is an excellent student and just wonderful human being and it pains me to think of the consequences that lay ahead of something doesn’t change. I need this. She needs this. We need this.

Truly,

M. R. W.

Proud father and American Citizen

From M. M. in TX:

My name is M. M. and I have been looking for a new position since August 6, 2007.  I am 55 years old, divorced, no children and this extended unemployment has taken a personal toll on me from which I may never economically recover.  In the past three years, I almost lost my house to foreclosure, but by the Grace of God managed after two failed offers, to sell the house for at least 30 thousand under what I paid for it.  At the moment I lost my job, the housing market began to fall in Los Lunas, New Mexico where I was working.  I went thru my savings to try to continue paying my bills and mortgage and cut back on many things.  Finally in December of 2007 I gave up and moved back with my elderly eighty-six year old mother, sister and her children.

In the past three years several times unemployment has run out and I have been forced to sell all but fifteen boxes in assorted sizes of my belongings because my family could provide a roof over my head but could not afford my expenses and food.  I give them when I have money what I can, but I cannot thank them enough for all they have done for me, for their faith and encouragement.  I could have been out on the streets, but I was blessed to have a wonderful family.

I have applied for hundreds of jobs, full time and part time.  I have a master’s degree in Engineering Management and watched our manufacturing sector shrink over the years.  I am not proud, I have applied for any positions I feel I am remotely or “over” qualified as my father who was a migrant farm worker when I was a small child taught me that honest work is good work no matter what it is.  I have had maybe eight interviews in the past three years and one, well went down to a disappointing finish where I was jerked around for three weeks and then told that the company hired a friend of someone who worked in the company as they liked to use referrals.

In this past three years my credit has been destroyed as I was unable to pay my credit card bills. This very factor will make future employment almost impossible in some areas and reduce my options even further. So now I am being penalized more for something I had no control over..  The second mortgage was not written off like the balance of the first but instead hangs as a $27,000 dollar debt on my credit report.  That one I do not understand as I provided them the hardship information but then Washington Mutual was not cooperative in any fashion causing me to lose the first offer.  By the way, my house was not some fancy beyond my means house.  It was a small three-bedroom house in New Mexico that IF I had been able to find another position, I could have continued to live in, instead of living in a small room filled with my remaining things and memories of a better time.

I have also lost my car, not to repossession because it was ten years old and paid for, but from a hailstorm that came through Austin, Texas and destroyed my windows and frame of the car with golf ball sized hail.  I was unable to purchase even a “commuter” car because I had to use the money to eat.  Oh yes I am on food stamps, but goodness for people who have a steady income, try juggling food on that amount allotted in stamps.  I do not eat fancy and haven’t eaten dinner out in at least a couple of years.  I do the best I can with what I have.

Forget health insurance, as I have not been to a doctor in three years, unable to afford it and in the state of Texas I do not qualify for any health help.  I have lost two teeth and a third one is cracked and there isn’t anything I can do except pray that my health and teeth hold up.  I am sure the level of stress is very detrimental to good health.

I am grateful for the unemployment and sick of reading all the discouraging news articles about how people my age and length of employment may never find another position, will have to take menial jobs or some other awful fate for us.  I will not give up because I am not a quitter, but I am amazed that we can send hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to countries like South Africa for AIDS help but cannot provide medical help for people like me.  I am sick of work visas given to foreigners while many of us are out of work.  I am sick of illegal residents receiving benefits we paid for with our work and taxes while the rest of us scrape by wondering what we will do next.

We are not lazy people enjoying a life of leisure.  We are simply displaced workers who are trying to live and trying to be viable members of society.  You think discrimination doesn’t exist in subtle forms?  Try being a 55 year old divorced woman with a graduate degree who is seen as not an asset to a company but a liability because she may leave for a better job (as though younger people don’t do this all the time), she is too old to train (I have taught myself how to design a website) or she may retire (laughs on that one as she will never be able to afford to retire).

We want jobs.  We do not want charity.  We want to have a name and a face again in society instead of being in the shadows.  We want the truth about what is happening with job creations and if we are still giving credit to corporations who send jobs overseas.  We want justice and to be treated fairly.  After all when we work, we pay taxes, but more importantly we keep America strong and viable.

Thank you.  Respectfully M. M.

From D.S. in CA:

Dear Chairman McDermott,

I am a 56 year old female, a 99 week benefit exhaustee that has had the rug pulled out from under my life and my future. Hope of ever recouping the items lost at my age is looking more hopeless as the months pass.

Through no fault of my own I was laid off in Sept 2007 from my position as an office manager for real estate publishing company. The economy started to take a turn for the worse as I watched over 31 employees loose their job that year even before I was let go. We tried everything to stay afloat but I knew I was soon to be next to be let go… and I was.

Since then, I have sent out hundreds and hundreds of resumes and in 2.5 years have had only 2 job interviews that I was very qualified for but was not hired. Companies are not hiring in or around my town and definitely not hiring in my age group, but that is a different issue… for another day, that I hope will be addressed in my lifetime. The likelihood of ever recouping the items lost at my age is looking more and more hopeless as the months pass.

We already lost our home in 2008 and now barely hanging onto the car, and by the grace of god my one son who 36 years old has moved in to help with expenses, he’s not thrilled with it and places strain on him and our relationship. Being unemployed is bad, running out of benefits is frightening and indescribable. You know what? It was NOT suppose to be this way when you get to your senior years! I feel I was robbed of being able to continue to work and to look forward to my retirement, and now I will have nothing to look forward to. I loved to work and have done so since I was 16 years old! Living in worry, stress and frustration is exhausting and is taking a toll on me and my entire family.

Since being unemployed I have not been able to afford medical check-ups, medical attention when needed, have not seen my optometrist for a new pair of glasses, have not been to dentist, cannot afford 2 meals a day, let alone 3. I have used up my savings on necessary items such as rent, food, utilities, etc. I cannot afford to buy my Grandchildren a birthday present or an ice cream cone. Life is miserable and when I turned to agencies in the County, there is no help since I do not have a child to link me into the system for help.

Please help us! Please don’t sweep away the millions of people that have exhausted their benefits and please don’t think we are lazy or enjoy being in this situation that we were thrown into.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you recognize that the long term unemployed have been suffering for years and now with NO benefits we are destitute, surely someone in Congress will

find the answer for us soon?

Something must be done to pull all of the unemployed people that have exhausted their benefits from the bottomless pit we have been thrown into, we did nothing wrong. Please do not forget us.

Sincerely,

From C.W. in OR:

My story

Re: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment

I am a 61 year old female who was laid off in November, 2008 from an executive assistant position I performed successfully and loved for nearly nine years in a small insurance company.

I have been searching for work ever since. Initially, I wasn’t too worried because throughout my entire working life, I’d never encountered difficulty finding a job. However, given the severity of this recession and my age, I quickly encountered difficulties.  The situation is so bad here in Oregon that there are sometimes over 100 applicants for a given job, which leaves many otherwise, qualified applicants out in the cold without any consideration. In this climate, getting an interview is as difficult as landing a job.

Within a few short weeks of losing my job, I realized I would likely not be able to find a good-paying job before it was time for me to retire, so I began searching to jobs outside of the admin support positions I’d held all my life. Thus far, I’ve applied for retail clerk, customer service, and many other positions with no luck! I was told just last week that I was over-qualified for an office clerk’s position, despite the fact that I would have been grateful and honored to do it!

I have diligently searched for work every day since being laid off, and moved closer to metropolitan areas to increase my opportunities. I’ve networked, submitted apps online and in person, and applied for many jobs outside my area of expertise. I’ve had a few interviews, but no success.  More often than not, I don’t hear anything and don’t even get an interview. In a few months my EB benefits will run out, and if I don’t find work by then I may be homeless. My savings is nearly gone, and like everyone else, my 401K has been sacked, and there will be a six-month gap before I can apply for early retirement at 62. Never in my life have I wanted to be older, until now.

It’s embarrassing to be on unemployment for such a long time, but I am very grateful for it. I honestly thought we’d have a stronger economic turnaround by now with job creation and growth. But it’s just not going to happen before my and others’ benefits run out. I would ask that you (1) consider extending UI benefits for older, displaced workers who, in truth, no one wants to hire, and (2) consider allowing those of us who are close to age 62 to file for SS a little early. I’d love to find a way to go back to college for retraining, but if I can’t find part-time work to support myself, I’m not sure how to accomplish this.

Please help all unemployed workers by extending UI benefits, as well as the plight of older Americans who are facing an uphill battle finding work in this Great Recession.

Thank you for all you have done to help us and for all you will do for us in the future.

The following letter was written by Cindy Paoletti and here’s her latest update:

The letter/testimony to the Ways and Means Committee has been sent. It had 130 names on it and represented 28 of the 50 states. You can watch the hearing live on the ways and means website this Thursday. It begins at I believe 9:30am eastern time. Now, we all should say a prayer that this hearing will help the hundreds of thousands of people who no longer receive UI benefits. To those that sent me their stories, please dont give up. Although it seems like your lives are over, they are just beginning, for the second time. I responded to some of you, and will not forget what you are going through. I’d appreciate it if you would keep in touch with me and let me know how things are progressing for you. Just remember, you are not alone in this nightmare. We will come out on top! Thanks to everyone that got involved and God Bless.

Here is Cindy’s original letter:

Mr.  Jim McDermott: We are a group of long term unemployed who have exhausted all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.  We have been without any income since March, (some January and February) and are still unable to find employment.  We spend every day sending out resumes and applying for jobs, 90% of the time we don’t even receive an acknowledgement that our resumes and applications were received. We call ourselves the 99’ers.  There are over one million of us, and that number continues to grow each week as more people join our plight. The last two extensions of dates, have not included us.  (HR 4213 being the second extension of dates).  We have no health insurance, no jobs, and no income.  Many of us have gone through all of our savings and have had to pay penalties and withdraw our retirement IRA’s in order to try and survive.  There are people who are selling their blood to blood banks so they can feed their families. This has made our American dream become an American nightmare.

Age discrimination has played a significant role in us not being able to land a job.  Most of us are in our late 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.  That, coupled with being over qualified for any low paying job we apply for is killing the baby boomer middle class. Lately, there have been temp agencies that have told us their clients do not want to hire anyone that has been unemployed for a long period of time.  What are we supposed to do?  We have been pleading with Congress, the Senate and President Obama to help us by adding a Tier 5 or adding more weeks of benefits to Tier 4 so we do not end up homeless and starving.  The Department of Labor advised us to go on Welfare.  Many of us do not qualify for Welfare or Food Stamps.  We have no parents we can move in with, and no one who can help us.  All of our efforts have fallen on deaf ears.  In her legislative briefing last week, Nancy Pelosi actually laughed at the long term unemployed along with her audience of reporters over the faxes, phone calls and emails we have sent begging for help.  We are humiliated by American citizens who are employed, calling us lazy and living on handouts. To have the Speaker of the House laugh at us was not only an insult, but a hard slap in the face.  We believe she owes us a public apology.

The suicide rate has increased almost 75% from 2008. Many of these cases are unemployed Americans who can no longer cope with losing everything they worked their entire lives for, and being unable to support their families.  Our government does not care about us. We have been left empty handed with no safety net for over two months now.  We have nothing left except the necessities we need to continue to search for jobs.  Once our internet connections are gone, our phones are disconnected, and we are out on the streets, we will never see a normal life again.  Many are already in this situation, and it is inhuman that our government could let American citizens fall to this level.  We were all hard working Americans who have worked for over 40 years.  We lost our jobs through no fault of our own.  You’ve bailed out banks and Wall Street, you’ve sent money to Haiti, you’ve spent billions on two wars and no one worried about the budget and the money that was being spent.  Now, to help people that put you all in office, you argue over where the money will come from and force us into poverty.  We want to be recognized as the hard working Americans we once were. You have taken away our dignity, our love for our country and the faith we once had for the lawmakers we voted into office.

The long term unemployed who have exhausted all benefits need a bailout, and we need it immediately. We are no longer in a position where we can wait. We are scared, and at the end of our ropes. Please, do something to help us.  Waiting around for job creation to take place is not an option for us anymore. We have run out of time.  We’ve paid dearly into this country for years;  we should not be treated like we no longer exist.  Please show us some compassion.

Thanks for your time and efforts, Cindy.

The following letter was sent to the Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment. by T.M. in Texas. I have removed personal identification information for privacy concerns.

Today, June 6^th, 2010, I’ve been unemployed for 16 months & 10 days.  I was laid off my job as an office administrative assistant at a great company on January 26^th, 2009.  After struggling, sleeping in my car, not eating, etc. for over 6 weeks while waiting to finally be approved for unemployment I was able to finally get an apartment and buy groceries.  I have sent out thousands of resumes and filled out just as many applications in the 16 months that I’ve been unemployed, only to receive 2 interviews.  The last interview I went to in February, I was told that they had over 600 applicants for the position.  I am told that if the state that I live in has a 3-month unemployment rate less than 8.5%, we will not qualify for a 4^th tier of benefits.  I live in Texas, where the unemployment rate is at 8.3%.  I have 7 weeks remaining of extended benefits before I completely exhaust all the unemployment I’m eligible for.  I’m not sure where to apply for a job at next.  I’ve applied everywhere from fast food restaurants & gas stations to medical clinics & government positions.  If I’m not hired in the next 7 weeks and my unemployment benefits end, I will once again be homeless.

I grew up in foster care, I do not have family to support or help me in anyway. It has taken me all the strength I have to get to where I am today.   I’ve applied for a care credit card, which will pay for doctors office visits, etc. and I was denied.  I cannot get credit.  I have Type 1(Insulin dependent) diabetes and barely make it monthly paying out of pocket for my prescriptions with what unemployment money I do receive, I won’t make it if I’m not receiving income.  The only reason I write this to you is because I am indeed desperate.  I’m desperate enough that I’m willing to accept work anywhere that will have me; the problem is no one is hiring me.  I don’t know where to turn.  Please don’t end my unemployment benefits.  Please send me a job; I’m desperately searching & I do have fine skills, only not as fine as the other hundreds applying for the same positions.  I beg of you to please not discontinue unemployment benefits for me, as doing so would cut off my one and only life line.  I am only 27; I don’t want to die this young.  Please help me.

Best Regards,

T.M. from TX

The next letter is from S.M in Ohio:

Today is Sunday June 6, 2010:    My name is S.M. and I live in Chicago and IL has a unemployment rate of 11.3%.   I will be 59 years old in a few weeks and have been jobless for almost 2 years;   I have had a STRONG and STABLE work history of over 34 years with only 4 Employers including my last job which was a Temp position for almost 3 months.  I have exhausted the last Tier IV of unemployment benefits in March and I am trying to make arrangements through a State “Rent Assistance” program to have my rent for May paid, thereafter I am moving from my 1 bedroom apartment because I can’t afford to keep it any longer and have no source of income but a Pension from my first Employer that is only $205 a month.  I am desperate and very upset that my Government can treat the unemployed with such distain as if it’s our fault we are in this mess; I have applied hundreds and hundreds of times within my Industry and outside of my Industry but to no avail.   I have played by the rules of law and paid my taxes for 34 years BUT when I need help with further extending jobless benefits for those of us unemployed for almost 2 years I get nothing but political games.    I have nothing, what I had it gone and I am virtually homeless trying to find a one room apartment somewhere because my limited family has no room.   I need your help, so many of us are suffering because our Tier IV exhausted in March and many of these States programs have freezes and aren’t any help.  Please help me and help the MILLIONS of others like myself through no fault of our own, have and still are in one hell of a mess!

From A.L. in NY:

June 04, 2010

Dear Committee Members:

My name is A. L.. I am married and have a 3 year old. I live in NY.

The reason for my letter today is I am not quite sure the impact that not receiving anymore unemployment benefits (I am a 99er as we are now called) is fully understood.

Let me share with you the position that I am now in since my benefits have ended. I am 2 months behind on my mortgage payments, electricity payments, cable payments and car payments. I receive daily calls along with letters of threats to foreclose on my home, reposes my car, and cut off my cable and electric. We pay 900.00 a month in medical insurance as my husbands employer does not contribute plus 135.00 for my daughter. I will be canceling our health insurance and pray that we do not get sick. I have high blood pressure and have to take 4 medications daily to keep it under control; this alone is 200.00 a month.

There are no savings whatsoever as that had to be used during the “gaps” of unemployment. I have been unemployed for over 2 years now. I have sent over 600 resumes. I was working at WAMU as an administrative assistant for the mortgage bond traders and was told of my layoff the day I returned back to work from maternity leave.

I have sold whatever jewelry I had. I have no one to borrow from.  My mom who is receiving SS widow benefits helps me with baby food and milk and diapers at times. I do not have anyone to borrow from. Not only can I not find a job, my husband has been looking for a second job and no luck there either. He works in the restaurant industry and during a recession people do not eat out understandably. His hours have actually been cut.

I had to count change this morning, pennies to buy ½ a gallon of milk for my daughter. I have never felt so humiliated and so insignificant in my life. I have worked since I am 14 years old. I have paid my taxes. I have played by all the rules. So this misconception of the people getting unemployment benefits are lazy is so WRONG.  I know that who ever needs help when I was working received help from taxes I paid. I am fine with that. There is not an ounce of help available for me out there. So here I am waiting to lose it all. How is it that we help everyone else and not our own? This is a very serious matter affect the lives of so many Americans and many more to come as their benefits end. I beg of you do not let me lose my home. I need to feed my child, have electric, my medication and water.  I have actually had to mix water with milk for my child in order to let the milk last longer.

We need a Tier V. Please do not ignore us or forget us. The situation I am in is becoming dire. I do not sleep, I am having anxiety attacks, and to have to ask my mom, a widow for baby food, this should not be happening in this country. I have actually had to mix water with milk for my child in order to let the milk last longer.

We bailed out the car industry, the banks, other countries, tax breaks. The money is there, please help the people. We will end up homeless.

P.S. I had to sell my high school ring and some earrings to buy diapers and baby food a few days ago….Tier 5 is VERY necessary.

Sincerely

A L in NY

From B.R. in NY

To whom it may concern or not: Hearing on Responding to Long-Term Unemployment

My name is B.R. and I’m an American citizen and I’m drowning, please help!

I started my work career at the age of 8 in 1966 delivering the Pennysaver paper up and down 4 long streets in the neighborhood where I grew up.  In those days everyone pitched in to help the family. By 10 I was delivering the Herald Journal and by the age of 13 I was working a 20 hour week in the family business .  After graduating High School I enlisted into the ARMY and spent 4 years on active duty. When I was Honorably Discharged from the service I rejoined the family business where I worked until near the end of 2007.

All of my life I have paid into the system personally through social security taxes and income taxes and on top of that the family business paying unemployment insurance (money that the business most assuredly could have used for other matters)- maybe some rainy day money for someone who might be out of work for awhile.

Oh wait that’s right the government has a program for that, don’t they? Imagine someone taking care of their own needs, but the government doesn’t allow for that does it? Unless of course a business should set up their own separate program ( it would cut into operating expenses to do that , but still…).Wait they can’t do that because then you show more profit and the government will take that away from you too.

I don’t know , what could the answer be, how about we develop a system of government that protects the people, protects a guy who has worked most of his life trying to make a life for his family. I guess maybe we tried that too- it just didn’t work out to well. It seems easy enough for you to come up with monies for social services for people who haven’t put a nickel into the system or maybe some unregistered alien who needs some help. Better yet why not just vote yourselves another raise you certainly deserve it .

You people let trade with China become what it is, you people allowed the big corporations in this country call all the shots. I know how the big corporations keep the well oiled political machine going. After all, big corporations are the ones who employ the American people, right? Getting to know me won’t be a benefit for any politician in office TODAY, I have nothing to offer…

Why if things are so tough do you allow extravagances like: Military aircraft being used to shuttle politicians and their families back and forth, while I’m sitting at here wondering if I’m going to be able to keep my home. I know this point has probably been beaten to death but I’m sure that there are plenty of other such events going on as we speak.

Fact is, if this kind of nonsense wasn’t going on maybe there would be a few more dollars around to help honest hard working Americans get a few more months of unemployment benefits. Just enough time for you the elected officials, to do the job you were elected to do and make this nation the prosperous nation it once was.

If you don’t feel that you are responsible for the state of the economy, then please step down and get out of the way for someone who might take responsibility. Maybe I should run for political office it doesn’t seem that hard to do- all you have to do is make a bunch of promises you don’t intend to keep, make sure you take advantage of all the perks offered, work for maybe 6 months a year. I think I could handle it!

All I want is to go back to work, finish my time out, chill with my family and leave a little something behind.

Thanks for your time.”

B.R. in NY

I’ll post additional letters as I receive them.

Please visit Rochester Unemployment Examiner to review unemployment information, data and details that you don’t find in the main stream media. You can also add comments about your current situation and what you think needs ot be done to improve the job market and unemployment benefits system. I hope to see you there.