Help Congress Help

Recently President Obama signed an extension for unemployment benefits. Some members of Congress voiced their concern that some unemployed people might be taking advantage of the system and not actually looking for work. I recently saw a statistic that  unemployed folks ages 46 to 50 average 14 months in transition between jobs. People ages 56 to 60 averaged  an even longer 22 months between jobs. These are averages, so some people will experience a far longer time without gainful employment.

I know too many people that want to be working and cannot find a job. Many don’t have any unemployment benefits to help support their basic living expenses while looking for work. They are forced to “dip” into their IRAs and 401Ks in order to make ends meet. These folks have cut back to the barest minimum and are forced to take money out of their retirement. On top of this, they’re slapped with a 10% penalty when they can least afford it.

I commend Congress for helping many by doling out money from working tax payers. Another opportunity to help even more people with little cost to the tax payer would be to withdraw the 10% penalty for deserving long term unemployed people. This penalty was meant as a deterrent, but is now a burden on people with fading hope and burdened with mounting bills and living expenses.

I suggested this idea to my congresswomen in 2003 where I received no response to my letter or emails.  Maybe instead of "talking" about  jobs being her number one concern, Congress could create legislation to ease hardworking people’s burden by allowing them access to savings without an additional 10% punishment.

If you agree, call your Representative in Congress and remind them the unemployed are people. Let your Senator know that they need to support this kind of no nonsense legislation. Let our elected officials know that 15 million people in job transition this is a voting block too big to ignore in 2010.