Voices of the Unemployed

Voices of the Unemployed Survey Respondents’ Views on What the Government Should Do to Help the Unemployed and What One Thing Would be Helpful in Finding a Job September 2011 John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy worktrends VOICES OF THE Temporay assistance by those who paid into the system and the amount of time UNEMPLOYED they have paid into the system should received partial percentage of their Social Individuals who participated in the August Security Savings. 2011 survey were asked what they think government should do to help the unem- Rebuild electric grid, transportation infra- ployed and what one thing they think would structure, and sewage systems. be most helpful in getting a new job. The following were the verbatim answers that Get out of the way. Lower taxes and regula- were received. tions on business. BUSINESS MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND and it will never be the GP5. Is there anything else you think other way around. government should do to help the unemployed? Ensure they are actively looking for employment. Some people genuinely need help while others milk the system for all it’s worth. I It should not tax unemployment benefits. wonder how the government can help the former without being taken by the latter. Assuming we are still talking about the Fed- There’s plenty of work to do in this country- eral Government my answer would have -the place is falling apart--so the govern- to be to let the States, Counties, and most ment should put people to work the way importantly, the Cities and Towns do more the WPA did. Finally, the rich should pay of the governing thus bringing the responsi- their fair share of taxes and the maximum bility closer to the individual citizens. tax rates should be returned to what they were before Reagan. The rich don’t drive Something needs to be done to help with the economy, the middle class does. Defeat health insurance for the unemployed but I the forces fighting to destroy the govern- don’t have a solution to offer. ment and middle class. Offer food stamps for the unemployed. Stop the loss of jobs by taxing companies who outsource jobs to foreign countries. Provide medical insurance. Bring manufacturing back to this country Lower rates for low income or unemployed on utilities, food, etc. Heavily penalize companies that out source their jobs Compromise and then they may actually pass some important bills. Stop pouring money (and lives) into wars with no clear goal, no clear enemy and no way to win. It is a taboo topic in the budget debates, but it is the biggest drag on the economy. 1 Voices of the Unemployed This country needs a well-educated popu- Higher taxes for companies that send their lation to compete in an increasingly techno- factories overseas. Big tax breaks for bring- logical world economy. Free public educa- ing their companies back to America. tion should be provided not just for K-12, but also beyond, at least for the first 4 years Stop Section 8 benefits. Pause/Stop Immi- of college. Private institutions would still gration. be able to compete, as they do in the K-12 arena, but being able to obtain a no-cost, This Country is in a bad state of affairs and or low-cost quality education through col- unfortunately the polititions do not care lege should be a major goal of our govern- about actually fixing the problems. They ment, whether federal or local. only care about the money in their own pockets. Everyone knows this, but there is The Politicians should listen to what they nothing which can be done. say. It is obvious that they are not listen- ing to the people who need help the most. Reforming the individual tax code to a They listen only to their wealthy contribu- flat or sales tax basis, and eliminating tors - businesses, banks, health insurance deductions,would go a long way to reduce and gas companies. They say work until the uncertainty this government has created 70 and yet no company is hiring a “worker” in the country. Also, eliminate corporate in- who is over 40! The politicians work to get come taxes. These two actions would bring re-elected definitely not for the people. capital (and therefore) jobs back to the U.S. Give control over social security and medi- I was unemployed for two years before I re- care accounts to the indiv. taxpayer, get the tired there was not much help for someone government out of the nanny business. The my age to find work. entrenched rhetoric of the main political parties has only served to perpetuate the Training in new skills is the most important, crisis. Today, it is about those people stay- career counseling could also be done. ing in office, their careers are more important than their oaths. They need to go...all Crack down on illegal immigrants who take of them. Replace them with new faces, and jobs from the citizens of the United States. then replace those folks too. Elected office get rid of high coporate/business taxes and should not be a career, it should be a short reduce regulations. term obligation of citizenship. It is astound- ing that since the early 1990’s the federal Help to underwrite the cost of medical in- gov’t has more than doubled annual rev- surance when a person is laid off from there enues, but is spending at at almost a tripled job. rate today. Enough already. Give tax breaks only to those companies Stop wasting money giving it to the people that give a large percentage of the work who created the problems in the first place. force good jobs. For instance if you have 100 employees and hire 10, you get the tax Stop allowing jobs to go overseas. Fix the break. If you have 100,000 employees and trade deficit. hire 100, you don’t. 2 worktrends America’s choices have gotten her into Instead of throwing money down a garbage this mess. Continue feeding of the Military disposal, start taxing companies that are Industrial Complex, renewal of USA as COP not from the US!! Raise the taxes on the to the world is draining the blood and trea- rich that are not paying taxes now to help sure of the nation. Additionally we are mired with deficit and unemployment insurance in beliving that the old days are still upon and get rid of illegals taking American jobs. us. The facts are that we haven’t kept up No one from other countries should be with the times. The entire economic model working in the US until the unemployment needs an overhaul. is below 4-5%. If companies should start back with on the job training instead of us- Companies who do not pay fair taxes or are ing people from other countries. Take care based overseas should not get government of US first!!! contracts. Then, when the govt assigns jobs (infrastructure, etc.) to employers (yes, It’s important to get the housing market the govt won’t always be the employer) only back on it’s feet! That’s one of the only large these ‘legal’ employers will benefit. This industries left in this country! along with tax credits for ‘fair tax’ companies will add employees and cause them It is time to help our own American People to re-consider their strategy of off-shore first.....not Countries overseas! HQ and foreign tax-free employees. Also, the tax rate for the wealthiest 1% must be Only give tax credits to companies that raised very high- much higher than it is have created jobs and maintained in the now (remember the 90% rate under Eisen- U.S. Stop rewarding companies with tax hower?- well not necessarily that high). If credits that don’t create jobs. The more these ‘1%ers’ want to lower their rate they jobs or more impact the jobs create the must invest in America (not in lobbyists and more tax credit the company gets! politicians). They would get tax credits for various forms of job raising investments- Tell the Republicans to vote for tax increas- job raising investments only! es on the rich in order to fund the programs for the unemployed because it is obvious Stop giving breaks to businesses raking that cutting their taxes does not create in millions to billions in profit which are yet jobs. unwilling to hire US workers or keep their factories in the US. Free trade is a joke. China steals our IP and still imposes duty on many of our products Quit spending money, no earmarks, no for- that come in to their country. We need to eign aid keep the money here. work on our apply their rules to products we import from own people to make country strong again. them. Free trade indeed. Same for all of our other trading ‘partners’. End illegal immigration for a start. then be- gin to address the other broad issues that impact employment in this country. 3 Voices of the Unemployed The problem seems so overwhelming to Health care needs to be addressed; can’t me. I wish that we could do what they did afford COBRA if you aren’t working... during the depression where they had the WPA and we had all of those wonderful Government regulation and the legislated parks and bridges built by unemployed costs for hiring additional employees is workers.

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