Thread: Desperation Grows as Unemployment Benefits End

By MICHAEL LUO
Published: August 2, 2010

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Facing eviction from her Tennessee apartment after several months of unpaid rent, Alexandra Jarrin packed up whatever she could fit into her two-door coupe recently and drove out of town. Ms. Jarrin, 49, wound up at a motel here, putting down $260 she had managed to scrape together from friends and from selling her living room set, enough for a weeklong stay. It was essentially all the money she had left after her unemployment benefits expired in March. Now she is facing a previously unimaginable situation for a woman who, not that long ago, had a corporate job near New York City and was enrolled in a graduate business school, whose sticker is still emblazoned on her back windshield.

“Barring a miracle, I’m going to be in my car,â€

I see this growing desperation everyday as I am also unemployed and attend "job clubs" with hundreds of other unemployed. I don't want to sound alarmist but things aren't improving as the lying government would lead you to believe. They are getting worse. I say this because the number of newcomers coming into the jobless clubs far outnumbers the ones regaining employment and leaving the clubs. Yes, I know, this isn't a very scientific method but I see the real effects every day on regular people. The life lines out there are growing thin and something will have to break soon. There is a tremendous anger at the government for getting us into this and continuing it's failure to understand how to correct the situation.

We're going to see way more of these stories as time goes by. And way more of the nasty judgemental comments by people who the sword hasn't fallen on - yet.

I got laid off back in 2001, the time of the tech job decimation when IT and telecom folks were being dumped like loads of trash. At the exact same time, our government raised the yearly H-1B to nearly 200K and left it there for three years.

Now I'm laid off again, I've finished my Masters, and I'm not just going to look for a job, I'm going to try starting my own business. More than one income stream, I mean, and I'm going to think like a contract worker from now on. No loyalty, just do a bang-up job, cash the check, and on to the next.

I got laid off from a government job - no they are not safe lifetime employment! Not when politics and a budget crunch collide - there must be sacrafices. Only one director-level I know of, the rest all low paid worker bees, like that made a big difference in the budget. The six figure folks are all safe and sound, of course.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

We're going to see way more of these stories as time goes by. And way more of the nasty judgemental comments by people who the sword hasn't fallen on - yet.

I got laid off back in 2001, the time of the tech job decimation when IT and telecom folks were being dumped like loads of trash. At the exact same time, our government raised the yearly H-1B to nearly 200K and left it there for three years.

Now I'm laid off again, I've finished my Masters, and I'm not just going to look for a job, I'm going to try starting my own business. More than one income stream, I mean, and I'm going to think like a contract worker from now on. No loyalty, just do a bang-up job, cash the check, and on to the next.

I got laid off from a government job - no they are not safe lifetime employment! Not when politics and a budget crunch collide - there must be sacrafices. Only one director-level I know of, the rest all low paid worker bees, like that made a big difference in the budget. The six figure folks are all safe and sound, of course.

Betsy, I hear you. The six figure folks in government jobs may seem safe but in the private sector they are being thrown out like yesterdays garbage.

The 6 figure gummint jobs are safe for now because most people don't realize. I was at a university, and people understand that vice chancellors make a lot of money, but they were clueless as to the creamy layer of directors and other highly professional exempt people right underneath them. Instead, I see howling about classified workers, who only drain a lot of money because there are so many of them. Most classified workers are just powerless worker bees. In a very few cases they got sweetheart deals in the past, but that era is long gone. I hired on in 2002 and yearly step raises were a thing of the past by then. My salary went up over 8 years, but not spectacularly so. I'd have done better in the private sector except for them outsourcing everything they could.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

The 6 figure gummint jobs are safe for now because most people don't realize. I was at a university, and people understand that vice chancellors make a lot of money, but they were clueless as to the creamy layer of directors and other highly professional exempt people right underneath them. Instead, I see howling about classified workers, who only drain a lot of money because there are so many of them. Most classified workers are just powerless worker bees. In a very few cases they got sweetheart deals in the past, but that era is long gone. I hired on in 2002 and yearly step raises were a thing of the past by then. My salary went up over 8 years, but not spectacularly so. I'd have done better in the private sector except for them outsourcing everything they could.

I refuse to take a gubmint job. To me it's a long road of indentured servitude. A trend that I'm seeing is that folks who lost their job in the private sector are trying to start new businesses. I am one of them. I was also one of those six figure people that were a casualty of the private sector retrenching.

Unfortunately I believe things will get a hell of a lot worse before they get better. I don't have rose colored glasses on. This administration seems to be doing all they can to make the people totally dependent on them cradle to grave. The part that sucks is there isn't a damned thing we can do about it but vote. That is if we can afford the fuel to get to the polls. Personally My house and land is paid off so I can easily survive on less money and I grow a huge garden, I hunt, and I fish. All of which help but to really be completely self sufficient you need 8 acres or so minimum....... Till that's illegal too.