Depressing realization at Edwards rally

[noamnety]

I went to see John Edwards in Detroit today. I went alone, which I like, because I tend to talk more to other people if I'm not with my friends.

Anyway, a group of three of us were talking, and we realized that amongst the three of us, since Bush took office, one was laid off, another's husband lost his job and is now unemployed, and the third lost her (and her husband's) health insurance. That was pretty sobering.

When Edwards was wrapping it up, he did the talk about if you meet a woman tonight who's struggling to pay for groceries (paraphrasing, I don't remember this exactly) you tell her hope is on the way. And if you meet a family struggling to pay tuition ...

This was when I heard the woman in front of me (not one of the three of us) say pretty loud, what do you mean if I meet a woman. I am that woman.

[aquart]

1. More and more of us.

Sometimes when I'm alone I just shriek with fear.

[Andromeda]

20. You're not alone...

we are all in this together and I think most DUers are caring, loving people who have empathy for other people's misfortunes.

A lot of members here are amazing activists and know how to get things done.

For what it's worth, things will get better and John Kerry WILL be our next president. He is a strong, intelligent, capable man who will do his best to undo the damage Bush has done and we will get our America back.

God Bless...:grouphug:

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. A lot of stories. Too many.

I don't talk about my own situation here that often because I can name, without hesitating, at least 10 people I know personally who are worse off than I am. I'm actually LUCKY when you add up all the columns, but my time during the Bush administration has not been that great...let's just say that I can give you a first-hand report of what it was like to be one of the 8500 people laid off at Cisco Systems during the dot-com bubble burst.

One of the nice things about DU, apart from the obvious level of political activism, is an understanding of and respect for the fact that we're all in this together.

:toast:

[goclark]

14. We are all here for each other...

:toast:

[Ruby Romaine]

3. all the more reason for us to take the country back!

We are all hurting thanks to bush's policies.

[stavka]

4. EVERYBODY is "That woman"

We are in crisis.

[noamnety]

9. That's what hit me today, yes.

Just the enormity of how many people have been affected. When they say 230,000 people lost jobs in your state, it doesn't sink in too well, because - honestly - I don't have any sense of what percentage of our population that is.

But all the job losses, health care losses, people cut from full time to part time, people whose income was reduced although they are still working ... it just smacked me in the face today to be in a crowd of strangers and realize every single one of us in our little section had been affected.

It would be interesting at a rally to have Kerry or Edwards ask people to raise their hands if they've been laid off, keep them raised, then add in the hands of those who had pay cuts, those who lost insurance, etc. so the entire crowd could see the impact right at once.

[Erika]

5. Bush's economy....

Help for the ultra rich and the trickle down theory that didn't work.

[California Griz]

6. After

being in business for 7 years I had to close my computer/electronics shop. I was operating in the red for 6 months and finally had to give it up. Hopefully after Kerry wins things will turn around and I can give it another go. The last 6 months 90% of my business was from other businesses. Almost none of the working class in my town had money to spend.

[liberalhistorian]

15. And that's one of the major problems

the Shrubbies are too blind to even see. With more and more people out of work or in lower-paying jobs, where are all the customers for all of the businesses that the repukes love to extoll and defend to the death going to come from?

Who's going to be able to afford to buy anything except the necessities? Just where in the hell do repuke businessmen think their customers come from and where do they think they'll get the money to patronize businesses if they have no jobs or low-paying ones?????????

[glarius]

7. Bush last nite with his scare tactics warning of "governement health care"

He was trying to scare Americans into believing that health care like we have in Canada (and most of Europe also) was controlled by the government, horror of horrors!....The truth is our government pays the bills submitted by the doctors and hospitals, period....We choose our own doctors and the doctors make all decisions as to treatment and specialists, etc....We have had some problems with waiting lists etc., but more money has been added to the health system and we are working on solutions....My family has been very well served by our health system and about 95% of Canadians, in polls want to keep our system....You good people deserve universal health care down there too....You'll never get it with Bush....

edit: the problem of waiting lists has been vastly overplayed in American media....People who need serious attention get it right away...

[kokomo]

8. I've lost my inheritance since Bush took office.....................

My grandparents, instead of selling their stock in 1929 held onto them, and they did recover. The stocks was passed on to my mother and when she died in 1998, the stocks were divided amongst my siblings and myself. However, my inheritance that was valued at $105,000 in 2000 has gone down the tubes -- stocks that had survived since Hoover.

I am retired, but forget about all of those dreams of world travel (now more dangerous because of Bush/USA hate) in my "golden years". I sold off most of my inheritance to fend off bill collectors and now at age 65, after a lifetime of stellar credit ratings, I am filing for bankruptcy. What my Republican parents saved since the Great Depression evaporated under Bush. I feel like I let them down by not bailing out and stuffing my mattress when Bush was selected.

I have little savings now, and what's left in my 401K is not enough to live off, yet the SS administration has cut my social security check from $700 to $400 when they found out I had other "income" -- I was making "too much" money (but then I am not a retired Congressman!). With increasing copays, I spend $125 a month on drugs for several conditions (one, hypertension which Bush increases), so I have learned to cut pills in half, and take capsules every other day, or otherwise I couldn't afford to buy hot dogs, beans, and rice.

How any senior citizen could vote for Bush, I don't understand.

[RebelYell]

10. I'm sorry, Kokomo

Sorry that I sat idly by when Bush stole the election. I said, "Well, it's only 4 years. How much damage could he do in 4 years?"

My mother is 70, and she can't afford her meds, either. I'm angry because my mother won't live as long as she should, and the government is literally killing her.

Time to face the music - they don't give a shit about you and me.

[liberalhistorian]

16. My mom and stepdad have worked hard all of their

lives as teachers and now, in their sixties, are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and close to losing their house of thirty years. Why? Because their goddamn health insurance rates went up by SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH in January; instead of paying $200 a month for it, they now pay nearly a thousand dollars a month.

That eats up almost an entire retirement check each month and the other check they get isn't enough to cover everything, especially since the house payment takes up almost the rest of the other check. And they're paying more for less. They get less coverage and higher co-pays and little prescription coverage than they did when they were paying much less. And they don't get social security because teachers don't pay into ss, they pay into the state retirement system. At least, that's how it is here in the great, enlightened, modern, progressive (BLECH!) state of Ohio.

They've worked hard all their lives only to come to this. And do the goddamn repukes running this state into the ground even give a shit? Not only could they not care less, they're too busy voting themselves a pay raise and lowering their own benefits costs and wringing their hands over such unimportant stupid bullshit like gay marriage and school prayer. Then they have the nerve to turn around and say that people cause their own problems so why should they give a shit!! GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And all the goddamn repuke doctors in this state and most other states give a shit about is the goddamn phony-baloney bullshit manufactured so-called malpractice "crisis", they couldn't care less about anything else, especially not their patients being unable to afford access to their care or having to deal with having their assets and what little else they have taken away to pay for it. They better start caring, because if they don't they ain't gonna have any patients left because no one will be able to afford it. They they won't have to worry about malpractice rates, will they?

But hey, we all know that "government run" (a misnomer, as we all know) health care would be SOOOOOO much worse!!

[friesianrider]

13. I'm so sorry, Kokomo...

It's very, very personal for a lot of us, too. Not that I need to tell you this, but you're not alone in yuor struggle or your frustration.

We'll all have our say soon. We should all challenge ourselves to do one thing from now until the election to get Bush out.

At the risk of sounding nostalgic and corny, I have to have faith that this time, truth and justice will prevail.

[kokomo]

17. My aunt and uncle slaved their whole life only to lose it all

They bought a 140 acre farm in Miami County, IN during the depression thanks to FDR's land bank, and both worked sun-up to sun-down, 7 days a week....hard manual work hoping to leave something, a little security to their 4 kids. They were frugal, spent little on themselves...everything went back into the farm.

However, the scrouge of Alzheimer's hit them both at the same time, and medical care, finally nursing home care took every thing they had ever earned and saved their whole life-time. The kids could barely pay to bury their parents, and of course never saw a dime of their "inheritance". Who cares about farmer's who are self-employed and cannot afford health insurance? Our nation was built on their backs.

Most of my family are Republican but a few revere FDR for helping them through the Great Depression. I even have a cousin with a first/second name: Franklin Delano......!

[Skittles]

19. my dad's name was Delano

nt

[Andromeda]

21. I hope things get better for you...

We were pretty much in the same boat last year and had to file for bankruptcy too. We had an excellent credit rating.

There is life after bankrupty, however, and after 6 months you can start building up your credit. You'll get many offers for "pre-approved" credit cards and if they're used wisely it's a good way to establish your good credit again.

Automobile dealerships started bombarding us with "no down" or "low down" ads that specifically targeted us because we filed for bankruptcy. A few years ago nobody would touch you with a ten foot pole if you had a chapter 7 on your record.

We put off filing for bankruptcy because of the stigma we perceived would follow us. We've talked to so many people who have filed so it's more common than you think.

You'll feel so much better when your debt has been discharged and you can start fresh. Hang in there...

HELP IS ON THE WAY!

[crossroads]

11. Sad!

The Bush legacy!
:dem:

[meganmonkey]

12. This economy is like job security to me

Since I work at a food bank. No shortage of hungry folks out there.
I get so many calls from folks who have never asked for assistance before and are really uncomfortable about it. So they tell me their story and it is so often elderly folks who have to pay for drugs or working moms who need food at the end of the month. No one should ever have to wonder how they're gonna feed their kids.

[Sugarbleus]

18. Superb topic...

This one I'm saving/printing. The subject of people in dire straights in America has been bothering me for a long time; I'm much more concerned in recent weeks.

I've put all my eggs into the Kerry basket in hopes his administration can stem this trend to poverty. The stories here and similar ones in the news are just too big to be ignored, too desperate to be put on hold.

The one beef I have, however, is that the TRUE DESPERATION of these situations does not, IMO, seem to drift to the TOP of the TALKING POINTS as much or as STRONGLY as I believe it should in this campaign. In Iwfern's posting, a woman says:I AMTHAT WOMAN!
To me, that says she is saying what I'm thinking: that this "loss" and suffering trend needs to be taken extremely seriously and NOT JUST USED AS A CAMPAIGN TOOL.

We are not simply statistics that can wait around for some dream ticket to come and make it all better, eventually. Congressmen/women and senators should be getting off their butts and DOING SOMETHING to hold down the fort in the meantime! Get up off their butts and kick some ass up there in DC.

Seniors should NOT have to cut their damned pills in half!! That's disgraceful! Households should be compensated for the loss of a job--extended unemployment?--a new type of temporary welfare? (let's call it something else, "Helps program" or something less stigmatizing). Food stamps or something like it should be made readily available for those struggling to make ends meet. Emergency measures enacted to help people, who have worked and are struggling to keep body and soul together, pay their power bills and keep their mortgages/rent afloat etc etc. It's for times like these that the social programs were initially created! The social programs that do exist(and have over the years been "regulated" down to such a humiliating degree) make a moron of anyone who applies. Those programs need to ease up and get real with people and their REAL needs.

I do NOT think anyone should have to go to Canada to buy medicine! The god damned medicine should be in our own pharmacies in our own neighborhoods AT A CIVILIZED PRICE...affordable to all. And yes, a National Healthcare system should be made available for those that do not earn seven figure incomes.

If money is put into the hands of the people at the lower end of the monetary scale.....at least until things stablize....then people will spend that money to stay afloat and, to some extent, business will pick up a bit because people will spend again.

The stories/testimonies here ought to be shown to people in congress, the Kerry campaign and possibly some type of media.

Yes, we are all in this together. We shouldn't let this topic slide off the plate! Bring it up over and over again. The people with all the comforts of life don't give a damn..so WE have to make the noise and move the mountains!

Best wishes and God Bless you all.