Don't end benefits for the most needy By Paul Dean

[WizardLeft62]

Don't end benefits for the most needy
By Paul Dean | December 3, 2010

A group of unemployed workers held a press conference and rally downtown on November 29 to highlight the plight of the 2 million U.S. workers who were cut off from their benefits the next day. Oregon has an official unemployment rate of 10.6 percent. Already, 19,000 Oregonians have exhausted all benefits according to Employment Department spokesman Craig Spivey, with another 600 joining them each week. And by next April, this will increase to 10,000 each week.

The unemployed group also pointed out that Congress has failed to extend Temporary Aid for Needy Families, which will put more pressure on poor people. Unemployed people need an indefinite extension, not just stop-gap three month extensions which lead to anguish, uncertainty and instability. As it will take 300,000 people a month to be hired for the next five years just to get back to the pre-crisis level of unemployment, unemployed workers are going to have to organize to put pressure on politicians for full funding of all benefits and not tax cuts for the rich.

Read article at:
http://socialistworker.org/2010/12/03/dont-end-benefits-for-jobless