Dear Sue,

What if Congress fails to renew the federal unemployment insurance program before it expires December 31st?Immediately, nearly 2 million unemployed Americans would be cut off from that emergency lifeline in the month of January alone.  Millions more would be cut off in subsequent months – more than 6 million during 2012.  If Congress fails to act, it will have devastating consequences not only for millions of Americans and their families, but for our fragile economy and struggling communities across the country.We can’t let that happen.

Sign the Petition to Congress.  Tell them to renew federal unemployment insurance through 2012 now! 

 Right now, of the 14 million Americans who are unemployed, 46 percent -- more than 6 million -- have been jobless and looking for work for six months or longer.  That percentage of long-term unemployed has been 40 percent or higher for nearly two full years.  The average duration of unemployment has been more than six months for over two years, and the average job search for an unemployed worker now lasts more than 9 months.  Today, the unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent and has been above 8.5 percent for more than 31 months.Congress has never cut back on federally-funded unemployment insurance when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long

.Sign the Petition to Congress.  Tell them to renew federal unemployment insurance through 2012 now!

It would be unthinkable for Congress to cut off this vital lifeline for so many hardworking Americans who are struggling to find work when jobs are so scarce. Congress must act now to renew federal unemployment insurance through 2012, and take additional steps to help avert layoffs, create good jobs, end discriminatory job market practices that exclude the unemployed, and get real help to long-term unemployed workers including those who have exhausted unemployment benefits.Failure to act is just not an option.

Sign the Petition to Congress.  Tell them to renew federal unemployment insurance through 2012 now!

Tell the Leaders and Members of Congress from both parties to put partisanship aside and make the right choice for America’s families and our economy:  Renew Unemployment Insurance Now! Many thanks.   

And please share the Petition widely! 

The UnemployedWorkers.Org Team (Mitchell, Chris, Maurice, Judy, Christine, Rebecca, Mike, Rick, George, Claire and Norman)

www.Unemployedworkers.org

October 7, 2011
The State
Letter to the Editor

DeMint demeans S.C. workers

By: UCSC

When you fail to change reality, you try to change the perception of reality.

Today's front page headlines in The State: 

"Income down, poverty up" 

"It's a great day in South Carolina', Governor directs state employees to answer phones with greetings"

by UCSC

According to an AP story, Governor Nikki Haley says that she probably repeated a “million times “ the statement that half of the applicants for work at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site had failed drug tests and half of the rest of the applicants were illiterate. 

Now Governor Haley admits that her story isn’t true.  She blames her spreading of the big lie on unnamed SRS employees but it was she that failed to determine the validity of the charge that demeaned the 236,000 unemployed all across our state. 

A “million times” she told the big lie and when caught Governor Haley simply says “I’m not going to say it anymore.”

Not good enough.  The Governor needs to tell the true story a “million times”.  Less than 1% of SRS applicants failed a drug test, not 50%.  And there has been no documentation showing how many applicants failed reading and writing tests.

Go on an Apology Tour, Governor.  The unemployed across our state need you to restore their reputations as South Carolinians who are ready and willing to work. 

By UCSC

For the fourth month in a row South Carolina’s unemployment rate has increased.  In August 11.1% of our citizens were looking for jobs. 

Governor Haley insists that “we don’t have an unemployment problem” only an education and training problem.  Please, Governor, tell us where are the 236,000 jobs in South Carolina that we need education and training for? 

Governor Haley needs to stop seeking the national media just so she can criticize President Obama about the economy.  This is your economy Governor.  The unemployment rate has now gone up 4 out of the 8 months you’ve been in office. 

South Carolina is totally controlled at every level of state government by Republicans.  The GOP claims to have all the answers for job growth at the national level.  Why isn’t it working here?????

By CHARLES M. BLOW

The American political discussion has finally turned to the right target: jobs.

Even so, the president’s jobs bill is already being nickeled and dimed from the right — and the left — even though it is only throwing nickels and dimes at the problem to begin with. But at least it’s a start, even if a long-overdue one. 
 
...“The war for global jobs is like World War II: a war for all the marbles. The global war for jobs determines the leader of the free world. If the United States allows China or any country or region to out-enterprise, out-job-create, out-grow its G.D.P., everything changes. This is America’s next war for everything.” ...


Read more  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/opinion/blow-for-jobs-its-war.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

The New York Times
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Although you’d never know it listening to the ranters, the past year has actually been a pretty good test of the theory that slashing government spending actually creates jobs. The deficit obsession has blocked a much-needed second round of federal stimulus, and with stimulus spending, such as it was, fading out, we’re experiencing de facto fiscal austerity. State and local governments, in particular, faced with the loss of federal aid, have been sharply cutting many programs and have been laying off a lot of workers, mostly schoolteachers.

And somehow the private sector hasn’t responded to these layoffs by rejoicing at the sight of a shrinking government and embarking on a hiring spree.

Read more  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/opinion/the-fatal-distraction.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

By EUGENE ROBINSON - Washington Post
President Obama’s promised jobs plan needs to be unrealistic and unreasonable, at the very least. If he can crank it all the way up to unimaginable, that would be even better.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/09/04/1956607/robinson-on-jobs-time-to-be-bold.html#ixzz1WzZJ3lF0

By Frank Knapp
Unconflicted
August 30,2011

In yesterday’s blog I talked about some of Dr. Douglas Woodward’s keynote address at this weekend’s South Carolina NAACP African American Economic Summit.  I discussed his latest research on the important role of small business our state and the prospects for the nation’s economy. Dr. Woodward also made it clear that job creation is what we need. 
Dr. Woodward believes that South Carolina lost its focus on creating jobs back in 2003 when Harvard Professor Michael Porter convinced state leaders to adopt a new bible for economic development centered around business clusters.  We created a whole new organization for cluster development--New Carolina, South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness.  Read more:  http://www.unconflictedsc.com/2011/08/jobs-part-2.html

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
YAMHILL, Ore. WHEN I’m in New York or Washington, people talk passionately about debt and political battles. But in the living rooms or on the front porches here in Yamhill, Ore., where I grew up, a different specter wakes friends up in the middle of the night. It’s unemployment.   Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/opinion/sunday/kristof-did-we-drop-the-ball-on-unemployment.html