The Unemployment Line: COVID-19 Edition
I hope everyone whos job has been a casualty of this will come out stronger and maybe a bit wiser for it. It sounds like a few here have savings to tide them over. Pity those living check to check. I cannot imagine the stress.
It’s a sh**ty situation becuase not everyone had jobs pre-COVID that paid them enough to allow them to save much of anything.. i have a close family member who is making way more now than she has her entire life (she’s in her 50s now) and, ironically enough, at last has a little breathing room in her budget.. but unfortunately, you have people in the same situation as her, working for slave wages their entire lives, who for whatever reason cant get their hands on unemployment.. maybe they are gig workers, or maybe , like a lot of states, their state’s website is jacked up and the phones are tied up 24/7... which is why, IMO, if there is a second and/or third wave of this over the next year or so- the feds need to provide a Universal Basic Income, just money directly into eveyrone’s pockets without making them jump through hoops so that the most vulnerable dont fall through the cracks.. will it increase the deficit? Absolutely.. but that’s never stopped a politician before, esp in re to corporate bailouts and profiteering that is rampant.
As for me, I’ve been counting my blessings every day.. was furloughed in March, and had a really anxious month or so (felt like 6 months) where i wasnt approved for Unemployment for whatever reason.. i really didnt want to burn through my savings and 401k, or run up credit cards and go deep into debt... . But now that I’m getting some unemployment, i can breathe a little, and i plan to start applying for new jobs in the next week or two.. In the meantime, just to get out of the house- I’m gonna load up the Jeep and take a couple of road trips.. I’m thinking the Great Smoky Mountains, which I haven’t seen since i was a kid.. and Montana, which I’ve always wanted to visit.. Probably wont interact much with people at all, just see the sights, the beautiful scenery.. and since I’m uneasy about staying in hotel rooms that might be infected- I’ll probably just sleep in the Jeep with my dog.. Sounds pretty perfect right about now, actually.