I will admit it, I just don't understand what is going on up in Washington, D.C.!!
I thought I understood Mr. Obama to be campaigning for us who are the people of the United States of America. Not the huge conglomerates, Wall Street, auto manufacturers, etc. Just the people who live, love, laugh, cry, work and do our best to be good to one another here in the U.S. of A.
So - President Obama took office. Then the government bailed out financial institutes left and right. The government bailed out banks . . . who still refuse to loan us little folks money! The government bailed out car manufacturers. Then the government paid $4,500.00 for every gas guzzler that people traded in toward buying a new car with better gas mileage. If those people can afford a car payment, they probably aren't in too desperate a financial situation in the first place!
I know one woman who is very seriously considering suicide! Her failing health has forced her to leave her job. She has no health insurance. She is still fighting to qualify for Social Security Disability. It took 4 months for her to receive food stamps. She gets $123.00 a month! Try feeding yourself on $123.00 for a month. At the rate she is going, her savings will run out in seven months. If her SSD does not come through, she will have NO money. There is no immediate family. She was told that her food stamps will increase to $235.00 a month. That's great . . . but with no other income, she cannot pay her power bill, a phone bill, water, etc. She already turned off her cable, gave up her Internet connection (goes to the library and uses their computers), gave away her dog and her cat, takes cold showers - - has done everything to cut costs.
She sees absolutely no way around suicide. How do you tell her that it's going to be okay, because Ford sold so many cars during the Cash for Clunkers campaign? She lives in Washington state. I have contacted a church near her. They have already visited her and are going to work with her. One of their members happens to be an attorney and has promised to handle her SSD case pro bono . . . and he is also going to work as her advocate to attempt to get her any and ALL assistance that she qualifies for.
Had we not "bumped into" one another on the Internet, what might have happened with her? She's 47 years old, alone, not heavily educated, panic stricken and felt that she had absolutely no option open to her. Everywhere she went she was told no, you don't qualify.
She was the "people" that I thought President Obama was campaigning to help. So far all I've seen is huge companies get huge bail-outs and support. The already wealthy executives who led these huge corporations into financial downfall are receiving amazing bonuses! For jobs particularly NOT well done.
I just read in the paper that our older generation will not see a cost of living raise in their Social Security checks this year. First time this has happened since some time in the 1930's! Everything that these people have to pay for has increased in price. And now for most of them, their Social Security money received will actually be less than the year before. Why less? Because most of them are paying for the Part D Prescription coverage that is deducted directly from Social Security before the check is issued - - which is certainly going to increase again this year, just like it has every year!
So, what we're ending up with is our elderly population, who are barely scraping by will be getting LESS "take home pay" . . . yep, the little old ladies who often have to choose between food or their heart medication . . . . while their power bill, water bill, prescriptions, food, clothing, and everything else they NEED increases in price on a daily basis.
Something is wrong with this picture!!
