Gather Little by Little

On Monday, I gave six moves to make should the unthinkable happen. Here are six more suggestions:

File for unemployment benefits

My “big picture” political view is that unemployment benefits make the problem of unemployment worse – however, I do not begrudge anyone taking advantage of the money to which they are entitled. While I would rather that the tax money used for the purposes of unemployment benefits will create more jobs if not removed from economy in the first place, the reality is that we, especially those of us with children, need to accept help from as many sources as possible.

Click to continue reading...

The unemployment rate here in the United States is hovering just under 10% and most of us are thankful that it is not worse. This is in contrast to the past thirty years or so when an unemployment rate of more than six or seven percent was almost never heard of. For those of you in my generation, it was rare that we ever knew anyone who was out of job for more than a month or two. The closest incident involving long-term unemployment that I remember was a 17 month Caterpillar strike that affect quite a few families in a church that I once attending in Illinois – and most of the men that I knew found temporary employment while the strike was in effect.

Click to continue reading...