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What do you think on the current status on America? How are we doing socially, economically, politically? I recently rad an article on Huffington Post which was heartbreaking.
Mr. President, This Is My America: Life in an RV Park With a Master's Degree
Source
This is the status of thousands of people in America today. Many are trying to get out of the economic hole, but it is too hard. Food stamps aren't the answer! The government needs to find people jobs like FDR did in the 1930s and 1940s. How are we going to help the other countries of the world, when we can't even help the poor in our own country? Are we truly out of the recession? I think we are far away form where we need to go. I believe that the Government will shut down again, we are unorganized and things do not seem to be going as they should.
What do you guys on here think of Obamacare? Is it really necessary? Yes, for people that can't afford it it's a good, but many Americans don't even want it and our Government is forcing them into it. That's communism at its finest right there if you ask me! Also, it's hurting the average middle class family because the poor can't afford it. My mom has diabetes, her medicine bills have skyrocketed since the beginning of Obamacare? And why should it be labeled Obamacare? I respect our president, Obama, but naming it after himself seems egotistical to me. What are your guys' thoughts on the current state of America? I think it would be interesting to see viewpoints of those who live in the country, and those out of the country. How do you guys that live in other countries view us?
Mr. President, This Is My America: Life in an RV Park With a Master's Degree
Dear Mr. President,
I write to you today because I have nowhere else to turn. I lost my full time job in September 2012. I have only been able to find part-time employment -- 16 hours each week at $12 per hour -- but I don't work that every week. For the month of December, my net pay was $365. My husband and I now live in an RV at a campground because of my job loss. Our monthly rent is $455 and that doesn't include utilities. We were given this 27-ft. 1983 RV when I lost my job.
This is America today. We have no running water; we use a hose to fill jugs. We have no shower but the campground does. We have a toilet but it only works when the sewer line doesn't freeze -- if it freezes, we use the campground's restrooms. At night, in my bed, when it's cold out, my blanket can freeze to the wall of the RV. We don't have a stove or an oven, just a microwave, so regular-food cooking is out. Recently we found a small toaster oven on sale so we can bake a little now because eating only microwaved food just wasn't working for us. We don't have a refrigerator, just an icebox (a block of ice cost about $1.89). It keeps things relatively cold. If it's freezing outside, we just put things on the picnic table.
Unfortunately, we can't buy things in bulk because they will go bad before we can use them. We can't buy dry goods in bulk either, because there is no room to store them anywhere in the RV.
We are very lucky that the campground has showers, but it costs 25 cents for two minutes. There have been times when we couldn't afford a shower and had to resort to bathing in the campground restroom sink. There was a shower in the RV but the plumbing has deteriorated so now we use it a a closet.
The walls of the RV are not well insulated, so many times the inside gets wet from condensation. That means all of the blankets that we have stored above the bed may end up moldy if we don't remove them an dry them periodically. There is mold under the carpet on the floor and there is mold along the walls behind our seats. But we keep it clean the best we can. The heating system in the RV no longer functions, so we have a small radiator-type floor heater and we move it around to dry the floor to keep it from molding.
My husband is bipolar and was considered disabled and was receiving SSI. Prior to my job loss, he was seen for 12 minutes by a disability physician, never asked about his bi-polar condition and was kicked off disability. He had received $1,000 per month, but it is gone.
After I lost my job at a college, we moved from Kern County in California, where the unemployment rate is over 10 percent, to the Pacific Northwest where the unemployment rate is lower to be near my son and grandson but without gas money, we still can't visit them.
So now we sit. I apply for so many jobs daily. I have a Master's degree and have been in the workforce for over 30 years. Why can't I find a job? I have marketable skills. My credit is gone (credit score of 570) and so I am no longer being considered for jobs in the "real" world. I am only ever considered for government jobs and even then, they usually know who they plan to hire but they have to go through the process. So here we sit.
I had been receiving unemployment benefits from California but now that the unemployment rate for the state is lower, there are no more funds coming in.
My husband can't find a job. No one wants to hire me. Luckily, the State of Washington has decided to provide us with $300 in food stamps each month but it still isn't enough to survive on. All of our savings is gone. I no longer have any retirement savings. Nothing. By the end of this month, we will be without anywhere to turn.
Your devoted constituent,
Paula Bray
Source
This is the status of thousands of people in America today. Many are trying to get out of the economic hole, but it is too hard. Food stamps aren't the answer! The government needs to find people jobs like FDR did in the 1930s and 1940s. How are we going to help the other countries of the world, when we can't even help the poor in our own country? Are we truly out of the recession? I think we are far away form where we need to go. I believe that the Government will shut down again, we are unorganized and things do not seem to be going as they should.
What do you guys on here think of Obamacare? Is it really necessary? Yes, for people that can't afford it it's a good, but many Americans don't even want it and our Government is forcing them into it. That's communism at its finest right there if you ask me! Also, it's hurting the average middle class family because the poor can't afford it. My mom has diabetes, her medicine bills have skyrocketed since the beginning of Obamacare? And why should it be labeled Obamacare? I respect our president, Obama, but naming it after himself seems egotistical to me. What are your guys' thoughts on the current state of America? I think it would be interesting to see viewpoints of those who live in the country, and those out of the country. How do you guys that live in other countries view us?