Unemployment benefits story (sympathy or sob)

So, you're basically bailing on your responsibilities when you could've prevented it in the first place by paying for insurance? I want to be clear, I'm really not trying to start a pissing match here, but that's just bullshit. How do you (not you personally) look yourself in the mirror?
I have to have health insurance -- it's not an option for me, but it makes me sick that people do this. That's why we're fucked. We're cleaning up other people's messes. Messes that perfectly capable adults couldn've avoided by sacking up and going without a few things. And don't tell me you can't afford it, because I make next to nothing and I could afford insurance, an appartment, a (crappy) car plus a few bucks towards savings. I budgeted and had things taken out of my check before I could piss it all away. I literally had just $60-80 a month left over after all my bills were paid but that's the price of being frugal.

 

Me? I've always been able to afford it. Even when things got really ugly, I never got so far as to have to cut that. You are preaching to the choir on the issue of people being unwilling to sack up and go without a few things.

But we were talking about people supporting families on minimum wage. For those people who try to do that, it's very possible that food and shelter take up enough that there isn't anything left for health insurance.

And I think we are losing sight of what health insurance is. Health insurance is protection against a catastrophic, life-changing medical bill that would wipe out a person's assets. If you have no assets to be wiped out, you have nothing to lose. People like to use it as a "they pay for all my health care and I don't think about how much it costs" device, but they are paying a premium for that over if they just paid for their basic health expenses out of pocket. For someone really struggling to make ends meet, I don't think taking the the risk that nothing that expensive happens is a choice I'm going to judge them for.

 

I don't know. Maybe that's exactly why you don't cut it -- because if one more thing goes wrong then you're really mega fucked.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/04unemployed.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpMounting Bills And Pessimism


FAIRBURN, Ga. — Frank Sanders can visualize how his tidy, green-shuttered mobile home will deteriorate if he does not regain unemployment benefits.

His living room furniture? It is scheduled to be repossessed. The kitchen? He is already stockpiling canned food donated by churches. The mobile home itself? By next month, he will have spent his last rent money, and then Mr. Sanders, a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his job as a welder last year, is bracing for the possibility of homelessness.

“We’re running low on time,” said Mr. Sanders, a bulky former Air Force parachutist who lives with his disabled wife, Ruth, in this small Atlanta suburb. Their monthly income of $948 in Social Security benefits does not cover her medical expenses, let alone their car, phone, rent, food or electrical costs, he said. “The bills just keep piling up.”

Add to that grim outlook a new concern: This week is the first since Mr. Sanders lost his job in May 2009 that they will not receive $323 in government unemployment benefits. Unless Congress approves a measure extending federal assistance for the long-term unemployed, they will be among more than two million jobless Americans who will lose their benefits by the end of this month. So there is a special urgency to Mr. Sanders’s daily trips around town in his Chevy Trailblazer, applying for jobs at fast-food restaurants, construction sites and retail stores. An artist by hobby, he also paints landscapes on common items — milk jugs, vinyl records, buzz saws — and sells them for $15.

Such hardship is humbling. Raised in a working-class family and employed all of his life until last year, Mr. Sanders went to a food bank for a donated Thanksgiving turkey. “I’m supposed to be the provider, I’m supposed to be taking care of the situation,” he said. “There I am begging for food.”

He lost his job at a factory that welds equipment for bulldozers in Lafayette, Ind., amid a companywide downsizing. His wife’s daughter lives in Georgia, so they moved here this year, hoping he could find work as a carpenter or construction worker, but so far he has not received any offers. For “good luck,” he recently placed a large golden Buddha statue in his living room. But he admits that he is pessimistic. The state unemployment rate is 10 percent. Every evening, he watches C-Span, hoping for news that Congress has passed the extensions, and ends up yelling at the television.

“I’m wondering where the next dollar is going to come from, or the next meal,” he said. “When I’m not looking for work, my day is filled with a lot of pacing back and forth.”

 

Um, did you miss the part where the story said he was applying to fast-food and retail places?

 

Ah.

Ya shoulda used the blue font.

 

If you are 64 years old, you should have 100% equity in a home you own.

The thought of using Social Security to pay rent --- rent! --- is mind-boggling.

 

It was a lot harder to get a down payment for a house 30 years ago. Interest rates were much higher, and banks wanted 20 percent down.

The guy was in the Air Force in his mid-20s. He probably didn't make much money and moved around a lot. And he had moved down to be near his daughter, so, if he owned a home, he probably ended up selling it. And it added that his wife was disabled, with high medical expenses (why isn't she on Medicaid?).

So maybe the guy has had a few bad breaks in life, and is now facing homelessness at the time when he should be thinking about retiring.

 

Story doesn't say. And besides, it's not like he has a lot of options in life. His resume basically says, "Air Force parachutist" and "Welder".

 

Yeah, because lazy people are historically prone to gravitate toward the military and welding. Are you this big a prick in real life or is this just for show. And BTW, maybe your local Subway is the only one hiring because the others aren't blessed with some judgmental lardass coming in 50 times a week to bitch about the poor between bites of a No. 3 combo.

 

The problem here is that things have gotten all mixed up. There should be systems in place that a 64-year-old veteran and his disabled wife should be able to find food, basic shelter and basic medical care. Unemployment shouldn't be doubling as welfare.

 

Look, I don't want to kick a guy while he's down and I have sympathy for him.

But let's not turn this into a pissing match. It doesn't make Junkie or Rick bad people to point out that there may be a couple of holes in the story or to suggest that he may not have planned his future too well or even used his 99 weeks the best possible way.

We've all gotten ourselves into jams. And unemployment is scary. It can be depressing, debilitating, and paralyzing. It's easy to panic and its hard to make good decisions when you have no (or little money) coming in.

It's not easy to plan your future when you can't visualize it.

And, all of this is why people need to plan ahead of time.

So, I hope Junkie & others will continue to participate in the discussion.

And I hope people won't try to demonize folks for pointing out some hard, uncomfortable truths or for having a different opinion.