Speaking as a member of this particular age group, but as one who considers himself to be fortunate to still be employed, I often find myself wondering just how many of my fellow over 55er's, who might have voted for Barry in 2008, intend on voting for him this time around. After all, this is the guy most responsible for many of them now being unemployed. And I'm sure that those who voted for Barry must have thought that it was a good idea at the time, Hell, they might have even bought into all that "Hopey and Changey" bullsh!t. But for whatever the reason, after just four years of being subjected to the reign of Barry "Almighty", this particular group has now suffered what is a 6-fold increase in the number of those who have been unemployed for 6 months or longer. And those aren't my numbers, that's according to a federal auditor.
Here's how the numbers break down. "For 2007, the number of all older workers age 55 and older who were out of work for 27 weeks or more was 188,552; and then in 2011, it went to 1,126,948," so says Charles Jeszeck, the director of education, workforce, and income security at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). That number is absolutely astounding and to have such an increase take place in such a very short period of time, relatively speaking, points directly at the policies set forth by our current president, Barry "Almighty". Mr. Jeszeck said, "While it is crucial that the nation help people of all ages return to work, long-term unemployment has particularly serious implications for older workers (age 55 and over)." Adding, "Job loss for older workers threatens not only their immediate financial security, but also their ability to support themselves during retirement."
The GAO made note of the fact that Social Security retirement benefits are reduced if people work fewer years, because those benefits are partly based on a calculation of the worker’s average monthly earnings over 35 years. Moreover, people who are not working are not contributing to 401(k)s or other employer-sponsored retirement accounts. Long-term unemployment may also force older workers to file at an earlier age for Social Security benefits. "Many unemployed older workers in our focus groups said that they were planning to claim Social Security retirement benefits as soon as they were eligible or had already done so because they needed a source of income to help pay for living expenses," said Jeszeck. "Moreover, a 2012 study found that high unemployment increases Social Security retirement claims among men with limited education."
The GAO describes long-term unemployment as not having a job for more than 6 months (27 weeks or more). "Older workers tend to be out of work longer than younger workers, threatening their retirement savings during a period of their lives when they have may have less opportunity to rebuild them," concluded Jeszeck. "Even when they are able to obtain reemployment, they often do so at lower wages, making it even more difficult to replenish the lost earnings and reduced retirement savings that they suffered." At a May 15 hearing before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Jeszeck testified about the state of unemployed older since the economic recession began in December 2007 and how their situation has affected their retirement security. The GAO found that older black and Hispanic workers had “significantly higher” unemployment rates in both 2007 and 2011 compared with older white workers.
So while it may be a fact that older black and Hispanic workers continue to experience higher unemployment rates, I think it fair to assume, that that fact will have very little impact on whether or not blacks will continue their support for Barry, but it may be another matter to expect Hispanics to do the same. Education also matters: Older workers who failed to attain a high school diploma "were more likely to be unemployed before and after the recession" compared with those who graduated from high school, Jeszeck told the panel. However, the unemployment rate for older workers with at least a bachelor's degree, and for those with less education, doubled in 2011 from their 2007 levels. In 2007, the jobless rate for older males was "comparable" to that of females in the same age group. However, by 2011, the GAO found that the unemployment rate for older men was “significantly higher" than that for women.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 1,929,000 unemployed older workers in April 2012, the latest month for which data is available. That is more than double the 839,000 unemployed older workers at the start of the recession in December 2007. In 2011, more than one-third (about 36 percent) of the total 2,044,000 older workers who BLS shows were unemployed during that period went without a job for more than one year. But only an estimated 11 percent of older workers were jobless for more than one year in 2007. "Unemployment rates for workers of all ages have risen dramatically since the start of the recent recession in December 2007, and workers age 55 and over have faced particularly long periods of unemployment," the GAO found. "The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for older workers increased from 839,000 workers in December 2007 to a high of 2.3 million workers in February 2010, before it decreased to 1.9 million workers in April 2012."
So I guess the bottom line here is, will those Americans over the age of 55 decide that it's to their benefit to vote for the guy whose policies have brought them their current unemployment situation? Or will they instead wish to go in another direction, one that might actually increase their odds of finding employment? Because I'll tell ya, to me it would seem that Barry has been on a mission since his assuming office, to wreak as much havoc as is presidentially possible. The fact that our economy now lays in shambles is something that long ago stopped being Bush's fault and became in its entirety, the fault of Barack Hussein Obama. If I was more of the suspicious type, I'd say he was trying to destroy our economy on purpose. But the fact is that most of us are far worse off today than we were just 4 short years ago, and the man mainly responsible is not deserving of 4 more years so that he can finish the job that he started back on January 20, 2009.
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