Am I And Others Like Me Selfish?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I lost my home, car, business, and most of my friends and unsympathetic relatives during the Great Recession. I am driving a seventeen year old borrowed car that needs over a thousand dollars worth of work including brakes. I have lived in twenty six different places since June. I have made fifteen mile trips just to sell an old chair I had from the home I no longer have for $15.00. If it wasn't for the beneficence of friends and my girlfriend's unemployment benefits I would be homeless or in jail.

I worked for thirty years and collected one week of unemployment benefits in all of them. All I and others like me want is a little help until we get back on our feet. It's insurance after all...

[Fumesucker]

1. Hey, look on the bright side..

At least you have a car, all I have for transportation is a quite literally thirty year old motorcycle and the high today here is 38F..

:hi:

FWIW, no I don't think you are being selfish..

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. A Car That Needs Brakes ! And No Heater

It's strange. I turn on the heater and can hear the blower but nothing comes out. But if I turn on the defroster the air bounces off it and warms me up.

[Kennah]

8. Once unemployed ...

... I'll be "rich".

Our van is a 2005 and it's paid for. Our other car is a bicycle.

[gateley]

9. I turn on the fan and Nothing. And, leaky windows - had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of

my windows the other day! But it's amazing how well we adapt. I just bundle up and sit on a towel and keep wiping off the windshield!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. I'm Going To Call The Dealer

Like I said the blower works but nothing comes out of the vents except the defroster.

[gateley]

16. That must mean you have money to repair it, hopefully. Good luck! nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. I Don't Have The Money To Fix It.

If it's relatively inexpensive I might ask the owner to have it fixed. He will get his car back one day.

[gateley]

19. Again, good luck! Extra good luck since you don't have the $$$. nt

[Fumesucker]

20. On a lot of cars the vent doors are worked by vacuum..

If the vacuum hoses are not right then the doors won't work to send the air where it's supposed to go..

That sounds a lot like your problem, doesn't matter where you put the selector, the air always comes out the defroster, my brother has a truck that does the same thing.. In his case you have to disassemble the dashboard to fix the problem, he just lives with it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. Why Does The A C Work?

~

[Fumesucker]

22. Does the AC blow out of the correct vents?

Or does it just get cold and blow out the defroster?

There are different vacuum operated doors for the different vents, some may work while others do not..

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. The A C Blows Out The Correct Vents

~

[Fumesucker]

25. Most likely it is a problem with the vacuum motors that operate the door for the heater vents..

It could be the vacuum line itself as well, when they get as old as your car is the lines tend to crack and leak.

Also it could be the selector mechanism itself but it's more likely the vacuum motor or line..

Does warm air blow out the defroster when you turn the heat on?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. Yeah-That's How I Heat The Car

~

[REP]

35. Might be the heater core

Especially if there's any leaking inside the passenger compartment.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. But Hot Air Comes Out Of The Defroster

I just wait for it to bounce off the windshield and warm the rest of the car.

[REP]

44. Your engine is still getting hot and your compressor works; that's why I think heater core

Been there done that! :-) cheap is relative when there's $0, but the repair is usually under $200.00

On edit: the defroster is part of th AC system and runs off the compressor.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

45. I Appreciate Your Help But It's The Least Of My Problems

-:)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. I Appreciate Your Help But It's The Least Of My Problems

-:)

[REP]

47. Totally understand - it's the only thing I had an answer for

:-)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. I Am Confident My Girlfriend Will Find Something

I have a friend who loves me and my girlfriend like we were his kin. It's his car. He's given us $3,000.00. His children consider me a brother. He won't let us freeze/starve/go homeless but we would prefer it doesn't come to that.

Sometimes I lay in bed at night and wonder what awful thing I did to have this befall me.

[REP]

50. Born to wrong parents in the 20th century US?

Other than that, you didn't "do" anything to deserve hard times (unless there's some murders you're not telling us about). Sometimes, shit really happens for no goddamned good reason at all.

[PVnRT]

27. Try cracking a window

It might help let some of the moisture (generated by your warm body) out of the car.

Not trying to make light of your situation, just advice.

[bobbolink]

28. When you sleep in your car, you ALWAYS have ice on the inside of the windows.

And it can't be scraped off, because then it puddles on your sleeping pad and blankets, which is the making for hypothermia.

"life is good." :puke:

[madinmaryland]

30. Check the anti-freeze level. You may be low on anti-freeze.

[True_Blue]

31. I have a bicycle and the city bus

No you're not selfish. I need the extension too, but personally I just can't support the extension if it includes tax cuts for the greedy 2% "job creators". I suspect the repubs will shut down the govt anyway after Jan.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. Orlando's Mass Transit Is Negligble

And I need a car to look for a job and to take my girlfriend to look for one. I am not going to be homeless...

[Larkspur]

2. If you are a 99'r, Obama's compromise left you out in the cold

Obama should have at least gotten 2 years of UI for every unemployed person in exchange for 1 year of tax cuts for the uber rich.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. My Girlfrend Is A Niner (Unemployed This Time For Nine weeks)And Already Getting Some Feelers

But we might need more than seventeen weeks in this economic environment.

[Atman]

4. Apples. Oranges. But, no, you are not selfish at all.

You paid into Unemployment "insurance." But, it is just insurance, after all, and the insurance companies have shown us what bullshit it actually is -- pay in forever but if you file a claim you're cancelled.

I feel for you, honestly. Your situation SUCKS, and no American should have to live like that. However, giving $700,000,000,000 to the people who caused your situation hardly seems like an equitable solution to your crisis. THEY should be forced to pay for your insurance benefits, not just me and the millions of other Americans who will be stuck with the bill for literally the rest of our lives, and the lives of generations to come. Too bad we don't have a President who understands that.

I wish you all the luck in the world. I have a friend in a similar situation, though admittedly not quite as dire sounding. She's been out of work for over 2 years now and panicked. Next step is moving into her parents' basement -- because her unemployed brother has already moved into the guest room. This can't continue. Too many like you and my friend are being devastated through no fault of their own and our government has abandoned its citizens. It's a very sad time we live in.

[Kennah]

5. I may soon be joining you, so please be sure to wave.

I'm getting laid off at the end of January. Updating my resume, not feeling very comfortable about prospects anywhere (I'm in IT), just hoping we make it to June so we don't have to yank our kids outta school in the middle of the school year and go sleep on the floor at my MIL (I actually get along very well with her). Rural PA in summer ain't bad, but very chilly come winter.

Been watching "American Pickers" on History Channel. I find it fascinating and I'm wondering if that's going to be my new career.

[gateley]

7. Absolutely not. That's the ONLY upside I see to this, and it was the only thing

keeping me from being 100% certain I wanted them to just let everything come to a screeching halt.

They played this well, and people like you and me were the pawns.

[Ninga]

10. Your voice is exactly what President Obama needs to have at his side. Unemployment should not

have been a part of this package and should have been extended on its own merit.

But no, unemployment was held hostage by the GOP and the President should have bought prime time on national TV and to call the GOP on the carpet.

What a mess.

I am from a union family that know the hardships of strikes and lockouts, with no money coming in. I am sorry that you have had to endure so much. I pray it gets better for you.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. No, hell no

But in another country, not the one at present, you would not have been taken hostage by a craven party that will do anything to pretect special interests. This is what is at stake. And no, you are not selfish... you are a victim of craven corporate interests that will do anything they can to keep their real masters protected. This is what declining empires look like by the way.

[CitizenLeft]

12. NO, you are not selfish.

And please don't let all this outrage make you feel that way. You deserve a living wage and a chance to have a good life. We're not talking about wealth and luxuries - we're only talking about the right to work and make enough money to have a roof over your head and to eat. I don't think that's too much to ask of the country with the wealthiest people on the planet.

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

[Edweird]

14. I'm in almost the same boat as you - and in the same area.

I am employed - underemployed though and not making enough to keep from slipping further and further behind. After taxes and fuel, I'm left with basically what I what have if I took unemployment.
I lost my business, home, truck and wife when everything collapsed.
I wouldn't be surprised if we knew some of the same people IRL. (you were in construction, right?)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. I Published Real Estate/Leisure Oriented Magazines

My business died when those sectors died.

[treestar]

18. No, not at all

but the limits on it were in the federal code. They had been legislated before. So the temporary extensions have to be legislated.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. Sadly

~

[donheld]

24. NO you are not selfish

[Greyhound]

32. Doesn't sound like it, but neither are you what this is about. You have months of benefits still

to come and the idea that I think you are trying to put out, that this is some necessary compromise to avoid whatever you imagine will happen without it, is wrong on a grand scale.

And just for the record, my situation is even worse than yours.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

37. Without An Externsion Our Benefits End On 2/15

Six months to find a job in this economy shocks the conscience. I haven't been to a doctor since 6/10; a dentist since 8/10. Uncontrolled my blood pressure has risen to 224/140 and it's harming my kidneys. Just my blood pressure medicine is $130.00 a month. I shouldn't have to die.




on edit- I almost forgot your reference to your situation.I made a pleadge to myself that I would never let my pain blind me to the pain of others.If you need help you should get help;by any means necessary, even help that requires Faustian Bargains.

[Greyhound]

49. No you shouldn't and neither should anyone, that's the point. This is more straight out blackmail,

and like any blackmail, once you start to pay, it never ends. I haven't seen a doctor since 02, a dentist since 99, and needless to say I have no idea just what is killing me today.

They prey on our fears and we are allowing it without any resistance. You may be worse off than me or vice-versa, but it doesn't matter cause there are hundreds of thousands worse off than either of us. Dozens of people are going to die tonight because we haven't stood up and said "enough!" and a dozen or two tomorrow and more the day after.

This is just the latest in a long series of capitulations by those that are supposed to be fighting for us, not just finding some palatable way to avoid the inevitable fight. We are, and have been, in a war.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

52. I Can't Think Of Abstractions Like Wars, Literal And Figurative

I just want a roof over my head, a car to drive to work, food in my belly, and a tv to watch my beloved Miami Heat.

[Greyhound]

54. And they've taken even that modest bit from you. This is not abstract, it is brutal reality

for millions of our fellows.

I don't know... you started this thread asking if you are selfish. If you are willing to sacrifice anybody and everybody else just so that you can have a tiny fraction, the crumbs, of what is your due, than I suppose that you are, and you are not alone.
:(

[DemocratSinceBirth]

55. If It Is Selfish To Want To Live Then I Plead Guilty

But , truth be told, sometimes I don't even care about that as long as the end is painless and quick.

[Greyhound]

56. It's not the wanting to live, it is the willingness to needlessly deprive others of their lives

in exchange.

We're not enemies, we're quite literally in this together and we must depend on each other to get through this. Despair is not an answer, but neither is giving in. We're all afraid, the rug has been pulled out from under all of us, but turning on each other gains us nothing while it enriches those responsible.

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. It's just as true today as it was then.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

57. I'm Tired. To Use The War Analogy The Selective Service Board Would Find Me Emotionally Ineligble

I have worked thirty years of my life. I spent the thirty eighth to fiftieth year of my life taking care of my mom who was an amputee with stage 3 colon cancer with little help while running my one person business...She passed away in 9/08 as the economy was turning. I lost my home, business, and car in the ensuing months. That's fourteen straight years of struggle. Massaging fiscal policy really doesn't affect me or the countless others I know who have been devastated by this economy.

On a side note while I realize the need for financial discipline I see this fetishization of the deficit as a means to scare folks who rely on the safety net into shape. The government always finds hundreds of billions to spend on invading sovereign nations and managing an empire. If you want to save money look there.

[Greyhound]

58. I hear you and many/most days feel similarly. I've frequently questioned the wisdom of

choosing to stick with what I know is right. Don't let fear of what might be turn you from what you know is right.

These are the times that try our souls and we are up against it, but we can win with each other.

[stranger81]

33. Of course not.

It's the people who demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars each over the next two years in exchange for extension of your unemployment benefits over only half that period of time who are selfish.

[WiffenPoof]

36. It Cracks Me Up How This Thread...

...took a side road to auto diagnostics.

Remember, return the car in as good or better condition than you received it.

-PLA

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. Unfortunately That Will Be Impossible Unless We Get Jobs

The car literally needs thousands of dollars of work...

[sarcasmo]

39. Have slept on my share of couches in the past, I feel you're pain.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. I Took Care Of My Mom In My Own Home From The Time She Was 78 Until The Time She Was Ninety

For the last six years of her life she didn't like to be alone so she slept on a Lazy Boy and I slept on the floor. But I had, money, job, and a home, and a mom, so those days are golden...

[Swamp Rat]

41. You are not alone.

:hug:

[cyr330]

43. I wish you the very best.

I know it's awful out there right now. I have family members who are out of work. Fortunately I do have gainful employment, but I feel for anybody out of work right now. I wish you good luck in all your endeavors. You don't deserve this.

[DainBramaged]

51. I wish I could win the lottery so I could help you all

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

53. Thanks For All The Well Wishes

This holiday season remember the less fortunate

PEACE
DSB