Do wealthy Americans discount the 99er movement?

Do wealthy Americans discount the 99er movement or do they even know these 'Exhaustees' exist? What could it possibly hurt if the 99er Nation of nearly 5 million hurting Americans gets their desperately needed Tier 5? The wealthy members of Congress are all too familiar with the Americans who have exhausted their UI compensation, but only recently have they introduced legislation to address this issue.

As the November election draws near, it is unclear if Washington will address this legislation in September, let alone pass The Americans Want to Work Act.

With the Congress in recess until the middle of September, there is not much to report on the Tier 5 bill at present. Still the story of the moment is how the 99er Nation will be able to change the focus of Washington from their own reelections back to the Tier 5 bill before they reconvene. It will take continued, unrelenting pressure on the White House, the media and your Congressional leaders to get this accomplished.

In an interesting article titled Wealthy America’s Perspective on Tier 5 Unemployment Extension: ’99ers Can’t Hurt Us
(published August 4, 2010), Michael Danielson lays out some excellent points. From the article: “The question that we all need to answer, then, is simple: how can we forcibly reconnect the rich to the society that they parasitically feed upon while making and spending their money overseas? Until that happens, the American economy isn’t ever going to improve, and no amount of Tier 5, 6, or 7 unemployment extensions is going to fix the long-term problems that the ’99ers and the other 30 million unemployed Americans are facing.”

“The Tier 5 unemployment extension means nothing to the wealthy, because the entire country means nothing to the wealthy. We know that politicians are dependent on the wealthy to stage campaigns, especially in a recession (when normal folk have nothing to donate). That means that politicians, in turn, have no real incentive to create a Tier 5 unemployment extension, either. The ’99ers — and the working class at large — are powerless on a deeper and more pervasive level than ever in American history.”

I strongly disagree with the assertion that we are powerless. After all, only a few months ago, the position of Washington lawmakers was: “there will not be Tier 5 legislation, period.” The 99er Nation’s hard work has paid off in the introduction of not one but two bills currently in Congress. (S 3706 and HR 6091) Now the battle begins to see to it that the Stabenow bill (S 3706) is extended to include all states then get the bill passed. Once that is done, it should sail through the House quickly then Obama can sign it into law. Sounds much easier than it really will be to accomplish.

The 99er issue, being sidelined in the media these days for more intriguing headlines (like the Mosque near ground Zero) it is easy to feel forgotten and unmotivated. The 99ers are urged to step up their efforts to a feverish pace, as the prize (even their very survival) is nearly at hand.

Continue to call, fax, email and participate in events for candidates courting your vote. Inundate the White House with calls demanding the President speak out on this issue to pressure Congress to pass The Americans Want to Work Act.

A complete list of legislator contact information can be found at: Jobless Unite http://joblessunite.yolasite.com/legislators-contact-list.php

Congressional Toll free Switchboard: 1-866-220-0044

WE NEED ALL AMERICANS concerned about this crisis to contact the White House Comments Line 202-456-1111 Comment line is only open 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday EST. Remind the President how the economy began to slip backwards again this past April and it is no coincidence that the bulk of the 99ers ran out of money by the end of March.

Passing a Tier 5 immediately will give the economy a huge shot in the arm as soon as it is passed. Using an average of $300.00 per week, multiplied by 5 million recipients, that will put 1.5 billion dollars into the hands of people who will spend it immediately. If the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is correct that every $1 spent on UI benefits results in a stimulative effect of $1.93, that means nearly 3 billion dollars injected into the economy for each of the 20 weeks proposed for a Tier 5. That is a great deal of help for America's economy and may translate into a hero's welcome for Democrats in November. This would also make the question of whether or not wealthy Americans discount the 99er movement a moot point at best.