A failing system leads to devastation

We all know that the government and most of the current systems they have in place are no longer functional. There are guidelines meant to blanket everyone that do not have provisions for those in special circumstances. Take for instance, unemployment.

Unemployment is meant to help you get back on your feet after being let go from a job, usually through no fault of your own. A company will pay you a percentage of what they did before until you get another job. This is done through a government-run agency, however, so there are rules to get these benefits. These rules are created in the hopes that people won’t stay lazy and soak up those benefits indefinitely. Good in theory, bad in action. How so? Here is the break down.

You lose your job, you apply for unemployment. If granted, or awarded, those benefits – you will have to do several things to get money and keep getting money. You are required to be 100% available any time of day for any job you are offered. You are required to do a minimum of 5 job search activities per week. You are required to request your payments every two weeks. You are required to register for a Work in Texas (or your state) account and use it to supplement your normal job searches. You are required to attend an unemployment orientation class. You are required to meet with an unemployment agent at Work Force. They will make suggestions on changes to your resume, how to cheat the system on applying for jobs you might not have the skills for, and jobs they think you should look into.

If you don’t maintain your Work in Texas account by checking it at least twice a week, don’t do 5 work activities per week, and turn down a job based on availability… You lose your unemployment benefits. You have to have child care set up already. You have to have reliable transportation at all times. You have to accept any job offered. Don’t aim high. You’re a beggar. Beggars can’t be choosers.

This is the system! So I turned down a job. The job had 3 schedule options. All options would only work if I wasn’t sharing a vehicle with my fiancé. His car was totaled right before I lost my job in March. So my job searches are for the following:

1.       An administrative job. Due to my back issues, I can’t do manual labor jobs.

2.       A schedule ranging through – Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 8AM-8PM and Tuesdays, Thursdays 8AM-2PM. My fiancé works overnight, so I have to consider his work schedule while we share my van. He’s also in school on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I would have to be home by 3PM on those afternoons.

3.       I also don’t want to take a job that pays less than $11 an hour. That is how much I get on unemployment. $14 an hour is what I made while working. And that amount covered my bills. The job I was offered was for $8.60 an hour.

So why haven’t they changed things? I mean, look at how many people are unemployed. Can you not see there is something wrong with how it works? More so, how do you expect people to get out of debt and back on their feet?

Simple. The government is run by out of touch, rich people. Their only talents are to point their fingers and pass the blame. Then scratch their heads at why things aren’t getting better. Why the rate is rising and the economy is steadily dropping? How long ago has this department been created? And besides making the length of time longer than one qualifies for it, what other adjustments have been made?

So here is my current dilemma. I can file an appeal and have them go over my information again. But according to them, not having adequate childcare or access to a vehicle is a personal issue. Or I can tell them that my situation has changed and now I am able to have someone watch my kids, making me available at any given time. They will take my next payment that they determined I "owe" and pay me another couple hundred two weeks later. In the meantime, what am I to do? How do I get gas? How do I pay the electric bill? The water? I'm UNEMPLOYED! I have no income. No job. And 4 kids. Where is this working system we so desperately need??

Its like a crack in the windshield. Starts off small and centralized, but slowly spreads to the entire windshield. So starts a faulty system within the whole.
What are your thoughts?