WISH NUMBER ONE FOR 2010: ECONOMY RESTORATION AND ENOUGH REAL JOBS PAYING LIVABLE WAGES FOR ALL WHO NEED TO EARN A LIVING SO WE CAN END THIS NONSENSE ONCE AND FOR ALL.

WISH NUMBER TWO FOR 2010: NO BENEFITS REDUCTION WHILE EARNING SUPPLEMENTAL SURVIVAL WAGES—UNTIL THE ACQUISITION OF PERMANENT JOBS PAYING LIVABLE WAGES FOR ALL WHO NEED TO EARN A LIVING.

WISH NUMBER THREE FOR 2010: TAX-EXEMPT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS FOR THE DURATION UNTIL FULL TIME WORK IS ESTABLISHED.

Congress, The Senate and The President ought to pass a law: You should be able to supplement your unemployment insurance benefits income with a survival job if you have the chance to do so, without penalty of losing any of your benefits.

Un-employment benefits should be paid in full without penalty if people find part time work or sell self-made consumer goods on the side while receiving unemployment benefits. I feel it’s unfair to penalize those rendered jobless by taking away benefits, or, as the labor folks say, “budget it in” with your benefits, accordingly, against what you earn to supplement your support, from whatever temporary or part time job you may find to try and sustain yourself. After all, senior citizens are allowed to work and collect government benefits called “social security” at the same time after a certain age without penalty.

Why should the laid off, formerly working slob be punished?

There is no flexibility with unemployment insurance as with other forms of government entitlements and assistance. It would be a good thing to institute a law making unemployment insurance tax-exempt because millions of people are still long-term unemployed during this unusual time with no end in immediate sight. These are not ordinary times or typical conditions because of the staggering numbers. People were robbed of their jobs and have remained jobless—through no fault of their own—for months—trailing into years. Allowances need to be made and provisions widened. The bar should be raised on how much you can earn while collecting unemployment insurance benefits. You should be able to supplement unemployment benefits—not be penalized by them. Right now, side gigs while on the public dole, close unemployment cases or drastically reduce them, cancelling out the person’s initiative and work ethic.

It creates a valid dilemma: why work for the same wages as unemployment benefits when you can be using that precious time searching for a full time career and occupation with permanency and real cost of living wage? The current system coupled with long term, pathetic economic conditions also inadvertently fosters a dependency state. The labor laws need to change to accommodate these desperate times. If they don’t, government coffers will be drained anyway through social services and public assistance funding streams in the form of mass welfare benefits and food stamps. Why don’t we preempt this?

I also feel one of the most punitive elements of receiving unemployment benefits, is having to pay taxes on that piddling amount. Who are they kidding? Why is it considered “income”? That’s not earned wages, it’s a consolation for having lost one’s job. Welfare recipients don’t pay taxes. Social security recipients don’t pay taxes after a certain amount.

Unemployed people are not working! That’s why they are getting unemployment insurance. Why are they mandated to pay taxes no matter what their benefit payment amount is? Why are they paying taxes at all? (Why are laws made by those removed from the critical experiences upon which they vote?) It adds insult to injury and kicks a horse while it is down. This rigid narrow policy tradition also kills work ethic and punishes the working and middle working classes. If you are receiving unemployment benefits ONLY, you should not have to pay taxes on those benefits.

If you have a supplemental job, of course you must pay taxes on the earned wages, but unemployment benefits should be left untouched. Alone, it’s not enough to live on, anyway. Surprise! Let me reveal another little secret to the bureaucrats who make decisions: Unemployment insurance benefits AND supplemental wages from a temporary minimum wage job hardly constitutes a living, either.

It almost sounds like a cliché. It’s actually laughable—if you didn’t have bills to pay. The stimulation of workers back in the workforce, even at small wages, with the concurrent provision of unemployment insurance benefits as a safety net, might stimulate the country’s economy again and jumpstart the economic heart that pumps new jobs…REAL jobs that pay livable wages and provide an adequate living. Of course, once gainfully employed in a real job and off unemployment insurance, you would pay your taxes once more! We all know REAL jobs—jobs that provide an adequate living and livable wages—are needed to end the crisis. Job openings created and opened en masse, once and for all.

Most job openings now are for part time, under-employed wages that create anonymous automatons desperate for any paid work. However, until the economy is restored and job creation manifests, do what you must do in terms of employment preparation and job-ready yourselves for when hope materializes.

-By The Voice of the Unemployed