Yes that’s right I wanted to throw a wrench in your holiday celebration. Why? Well, because the world is screwed up as usual. While you might be happy celebrating the Nintendo Wii or Xbox someone got you, think about this.

If that is the case, Pfenning, an occasional day laborer, will join a growing number of homeless and unemployed people who have taken their own lives. Suicide is the seventh-leading cause of death for males (sixteenth for females), and the rate for unemployed people is two or three times the national average. The longer people are unemployed, the more likely they are to commit suicide. This phenomenon has played out across place and time, with the rate increasing by 20 percent during the Great Depression and spiking by as much as 40 percent among men in parts of Asia during the 1997 economic crisis.

This happened at an Occupy encampment in Vermont. Some people tend to forget that sometimes it’s not the mental illness or alcohol abuse that makes one homeless, it can be the other way around, where losing your job and being unemployed leads to drug abuse and mental problems.

So this New York Times article on unemployment is very buzz worthy and it should also be A1 material. The piece talks about how little political power the unemployed have and how apathetic they are and etc. We also hear the reasons why there isn’t a focus by labor unions to get involved and organize the unemployed like in the past–it’s because they are too busy fighting for their own existence.

This is why I think that organizing the unemployed would be a perfect effort for the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate Working America.

Working America, community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is a powerful force for working people. We combine the strength of 10 million union men and women and millions of workers without the benefit of a workplace union who share common challenges and goals to fight in communities, states and nationally for what really matters–good jobs, affordable health care, world-class education, secure retirements, real homeland security and more.

There has to be a group that will take this on. If not Working America then maybe MoveOn and Van Jones?

“We stood outside of these offices, with their huge lines, and passed out leaflets that said things like: ‘If you’re upset about what’s happening to you, come to this meeting at this church basement in two weeks. We’ll get together and do something about this,’ ” recalls Barney Oursler, a longtime community organizer and co-founder of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee in the early 1980s. “The response just made your heart get big. ‘Oh, my God,’ they’d say, ‘I thought I was alone.’ ”

As the Times clearly shows in that above quote the time to act is now.

It may save money on the government’s end but you’re basically forcing the unemployed to pay bank fees for trying to access their unemployment benefits.

More that 40 states disburse unemployment and child support payments by prepaid debit card instead of by check. Those cards come with fees that are not so user friendly, like an inactivity charge, or charge to simply check your balance at an ATM.

Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

The New Poor – Despite Signs of Recovery, Long-Term Unemployment Rises – Series – NYTimes.com

Even during the Bush years when we often heard that the economy was strong, we knew that something was not right. It never seemed to trickle down to the level where it mattered the most. The GDP was up but many of our neighbors were down. The article calls them the new poor but as we all know in times of economic down turn it is the already poor who suffer even more.

Jobless Benefits Extension Wins Senate OK; Bush Will Sign

Just before adjourning for the Thanksgiving break, the Senate by a voice vote approved an extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for jobless workers who exhaust their benefits before finding new work.

If you’re not going to bailout the US auto industry then this is what needs to be in place if that happens.