What do you you want to see happen first when President Elect Barack Obama enters the White House?

Written By Monica Rowland
www.themoneymom.net


Women of America...and some men... :wink: ( Because we do have male readers on this blog)....
What do you you want to see happen first when President Elect Barack Obama enters the White House?

Personally, I want to see the current financial crisis impacted immediately. We need help for the 10 million Americans who are out of work right now. Unemployment insurance needs to be raised and extended. As a recruiter with 10 years experience under her belt...I have seen this happen before. It takes a while to find a new job, and finding a job is a full time job!

We also need help for the middle class families who are trying to pay their mortgages or rent. there needs to be more assistance programs that don't require you to fall under the poverty line which is ridiculously low in my opinion!

I remember once while living in Washington DC, I was in between contracts and out of work. My rent on my one bedroom apartment was a whopping $1100 per month ( for 500 sq feet) and my unemployment check just barley covered it. I needed to eat, go to the doctor, and continue to pay my other monthly expenses. As you can imagine, even after cutting out ALL luxuries...I still couldn't make ends meet. I sucked it up and went down to the welfare office.

After five hours of waiting, giving out ALL of my personal information, and a ten minute conversation with a case worker.... I found out that I was eligible for TEN dollars a month in food stamps, and NO medical coverage because I didn't have kids. I was dumbfounded! I told them to keep the 10 dollars for a family with kids who really needed it. For goodness sake! I was more resourceful than that!

My point is that not everybody who goes down to the welfare office is trying to get over, or misuse the system.

I was blessed. I had family that helped, and friends that cared. I have a college degree...and even though I had to start out taking a job that paid less than my worth....it was a start. But it was a lesson well learned.

• First, I would never find myself "out there" again with out a back up plan utilizing my talents to make some kind of money. ( And I don't mean anything like "Shaking my money maker either! LOL"
  
• Second, I came to the stark realization that in THE NATION'S CAPITAL there were NO real services for the middle to upper middle class. If you lost your job..too bad... you are expected to "figure it out"! Even though you are actually one of the people whose taxes are funding these programs. Too bad..you will not qualify. I do realize that some states have better services than this, but not much better. This is because it is all dependent on the "poverty level" Who came up with those numbers anyway?
  

Now...you may be saying to yourself right now, "Aww so what! You had more than I have ever seen!" But... guess what? We are all living paycheck to paycheck. I don't care what your economic status is.

One thing that Obama's campaign really drove home is that we are all Americans. This is the United States of America! Not the "I have money and you don't" States of America. We need to work together with our future President to make change, and I mean MAJOR change...especially fiscally.