♫Dear Mr. Obama I am writing this to you....♫

[captainsblog]

I heard this clip (appropriately enough) on the way to the liquor store. It begins with an Obama quote about "smart government" being needed to tackle the unemployment problem among the middle class. It then tells the story of Sandra- a skilled worker who lost her job 18 months ago; who was offered retraining, but only if she opted for it in the first 30 days; and who, now, cannot obtain that retraining benefit.

Fair enough- or rather, unfair enough. One gets used to this sort of unemployment benefit rule. But wait- there's more! If she pays to go back to school on her own dime to obtain the retraining she could've gotten for free 17 months before? Not only will she not be reimbursed for it, but the government will deem her no longer unemployed and cut off her benefits.

That, my friends, is what Ed Schultz refers to as "psycho talk." Only this time it's coming from our own party.

Fix this, plxkthnx.

Comments

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

Ok, not to be reasonable here, but why DID'T Sandra take the retraining during the 1st 30 days? That's an entire month, which seems pretty reasonable to me. Four weeks is a long time to think about pretty much anything.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

In an ideal world, under ideal circumstances (like having essentially a lifetime job writing and passing legislation, as 90-plus percent of members of Congress do), I'd agree with you. But unemployment gorks peoples' brains. Well over 90 percent of my bankruptcy clients (if I did the real math, the number would approach 100 like a calculus limit problem) wait way too long before coming to see me. Likewise, well over 90 percent of my collections clients. They deny, they delay, they assume that all will be well when any objective viewer would tell them it's not.

If you want to deny the reimbursement for the training, I can swallow that, but discouraging the training at the expense of benefits beyond a short period of personal denial? That's not just cruel; it encourages the dependency on government benefits that the honks on the right are always blaming the Democrats for creating.

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

I would definitely deny reimbursement for the training. I've watched my sister jump though government hoops for years with her MS diaability issues, and I'm thinking if SHE can do it in a timely manner, so can Sandy.

[bluevicksen11.livejournal.com]

Umm... are you parodying "Dear Mr. Jesus" in this entry title?
'Cause now I have it stuck in my head.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

Don't know it, but that's probably riffing on the same old song by Judy Garland that I was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfAwQSk9STI