Welfare Lines Overflow

[Jroc]

Obamanamics is working.

Crowded Public-Assistance Centers Interrupt Services as Demand for Aid Grows.

Growing numbers of New Yorkers seeking food stamps have created an unwelcome spillover effect at some of New York City's job centers: overcrowding that in some cases has grown so severe, benefits were jeopardized.

The crush of people grew so large at one Brooklyn center in November that the Fire Department intervened and prevented anyone from entering the building.

That was an extreme example of the problem. But clients at many of the city's 29 job centers—which manage public-assistance benefits, including food stamps—regularly arrive long before the doors open to wait in line.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204720204577130950757135044.html

 

[WatertheTree]

Fuck you jesus lover. You have no problem dedicating this country to another decade long war for plunder (the last one was 4 trillion), subsidizing Israel to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, to support a state that 100 years ago did not exist.

But you have a problem with our own social safety net. I say move your 'shit dont stink' ass to Israel.

 

[Sunni Man]

I doubt there are any "Chosen People" waiting in those long lines.

 

[daveman]

How are all these people getting benefits without proper ID...?

 

[Claudette]

Isn't there a thread on the board abut how Unemployment is dropping??

Anyone tell NY??

 

[Mad Scientist]

Impossibiru! The economy is improving! Didn't you guys see the Unemployment Numbers for December?

 

[Jroc]

For Black Americans, A Longer Time Without Work

Willa Booker, 53, has been out of work for more than two years. A former medical records administrator in Chicago, Booker says she just wants someone to give her a chance.



December 23, 2011 Although the U.S. gained more than 120,000 jobs last month, the numbers of long-term unemployed barely shifted, and unemployment rates for African-Americans continued to go through the roof.

A recent NPR and Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that although the long-term unemployed face many of the same difficulties regardless of race, there are distinct differences between blacks and whites struggling to find work.


Willa Booker, 53, has been out of work for more than two years. A former medical records administrator in Chicago, Booker says she just wants someone to give her a chance.


Cheryl Corley/NPR Willa Booker, 53, has been out of work for more than two years. A former medical records administrator in Chicago, Booker says she just wants someone to give her a chance.
Out-of-work blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians all took part in the NPR-Kaiser survey. Only blacks and whites had a large enough sample, however, for the surveyors to specifically break out their responses.

"First of all, we found that among those people who have been unemployed for a long time, African-Americans make up a greater share of that population than they do of full-time workers," says Kaiser Family Foundation researcher Liz Hamel.

Blacks make up about 10 percent of the full-time working population but 27 percent of the long-term unemployed — that is, those who haven't had a full-time job for a year or more. And unlike whites, blacks are more likely to be without a job at all.

Willa Booker, 53, lives in a two-bedroom bungalow on Chicago's West Side. A former hospital administrator with 20 years of experience, Booker has been unemployed for two-and-a-half years. She has two adult children and an 11-year-old daughter; there won't be any gifts under the Christmas tree this year, she says.

"My daughter needs school clothes. My home is about to be taken from me. They just tried to repo my vehicle two weeks ago. [The] only thing I've always asked for is someone to give me a chance, and I could prove myself," Booker says.

For Black Americans, A Longer Time Without Work : NPR