GET A HAIRCUT AND GET A REAL JOB!

I have had this song by George Thorogood stuck in my head for DAYS now. So many people are posting things regarding those on unemployment and their need to get off their butts to get a job. This astounds me every single time I read those types of postings, I personally find them OFFENSIVE!

As of October the jobless rate or rather the rate of those collecting unemployment benefits is a staggering 13% according to the bureau of labor statistics. In my estimation it is actually MUCH higher since many have run out of unemployment benefit extensions even with the federal help!

I do take those comments personally mainly because my husband was laid off from a factory where he had dedicated 5 years of his life to 2 years ago. This left us with 75% of his regular income to live on so we tightened things up. I at that point had been out of work myself for 6 months due to my disability so I was absolutely no help to offset the loss.

He was entitled to 2 regular claims with his work history and what he had PAID INTO his unemployment account. Yes folks that's correct YOU PAY for your OWN BENEFITS partially and so does your EMPLOYER. These funds are NOT state funds or federal funds, they come out of YOUR paycheck every single week! For those like my husband who has worked for 20+ years without touching his share of unemployment benefits, you bet he is going to use them now that his employer went into foreclosure.

As a side note this employer was forced to sell the business under the bankruptcy laws in Michigan. The business was purchased and everyone that had been working was FIRED and forced to reapply for a position with the new company as well as those like my husband who had worked there and been laid off, which he did reluctantly since the starting wage was now set at MINIMUM wage and no benefits! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that they didn't rehire him since it would have cost him more to go to work then he would actually earn!

He has complied with every single hoop set before him with the terms of unemployment. He is even now enrolled in college online so it doesn't and won't interfere with the job search or if he does get a job! It doesn't count for help paying for his re-education because its not in one of the preferred schooling area's which include the medical and renewable energy fields. SERIOUSLY?

Where we live all of the factories have shut down, they now stand as ghosts of what the automobile industry used to be to Michigan. Thanks Governor Granholm you sure did a bang up job with that! Of course not everyone in Michigan lives in Suburbia, some of us live North of Grand Rapids, more even live above the bridge! Again, Thank you Governor Granholm for shutting down prisons, just what we needed, less jobs and more offenders on the streets!

I will take this one final point to knock this out of the park so speak. Traverse City Michigan had to fire or reassign the entire city police force due to lack of funding! Where I live it takes an average of 45 minutes for an officer to arrive at your house, that is if they come at all, most are CALLING in complaints! How ridiculous is that?

So the next time someone says ANYTHING negative about anyone being out of work, they really need to think outside their own little world where they actually have a job and be thankful, not critical! Getting benefits isn't taking anything away from anyone else, its simply using what you earned already. The same goes for those receiving disability, death, or social security benefits...they are EARNED not GIFTS!