On Tuesday night, during his address to the nation, President Obama said, “If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family,” I felt lucky that I didn’t know anyone that had been personally affected (a great deal) by the economy. Well, that was Tuesday. On Wednesday, my brother-in-law, who works at a local Dodge dealership, got laid off. No warning. No severance pay. No $200 for passing Go on the way out. They offered him a good reference and they generously let him keep his “Big ‘O Dodge” jacket and company shirts.
My brother-in-law started at the company through a temp agency and they eventually hired him on to be a lot “hawk.” What a hawk does is scan the parking lot for potential customers, keep track of demographics for advertising purposes, and help the salespeople keep up with their paperwork. It was a good job and paid a decent wage for our state, South Carolina. That didn’t last long. After the auto industry started to tank, Big ‘O Dodge contracted and got rid of the hawk position. Fortunately for my brother-in-law, he did such a good job and they liked him so much that they then offered him a position as a salesperson.
Salespeople work on commission. They don’t get paid unless they sell cars. Obviously car sales are down tremendously all across the nation and customers are few and far between. The seasoned salespeople on the lot were feeling the squeeze and letting the management know. Their were too many salespeople and not enough customers to go around. My brother-in-law, being the newest salesperson, was the first to go.
Like the rest of us, he has bills. He has a mortgage, utilities, credit card payments, and a sick mother that’s counting on him to take care of her. We spent some time together last night and it brought tears to my eyes because he really doesn’t know what he’s going to do and I have no idea what to tell him. He’s got a college education and has spent a good portion of his life in the ministry. He explained to me (his atheist brother) that the ministry is struggling just like everywhere else. Their are no local positions available for a preacher or a minister. Evangelizing is not an option because congregations can’t afford to support even the smallest mission trips. He is in his early thirties, he’s educated secularly, he’s educated religiously, he has years of work experience, and now he’s unemployed.
You might be familiar with our governor, Mark Sanford. He’s been in the national spotlight lately for opposing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He’s said in recent interviews that he’s going to go through the stimulus with a fine-toothed comb and reject some of the money that the federal government has allotted to our state. In contrast, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated that he will take any money that other governors reject. Why? Because his state NEEDS IT!!! South Carolina needs it desperately too. South Carolina has the third highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.5% behind only Michigan and Rhode Island. Plants are closing, businesses are leaving and our Republican Governor, our Republican Senators, and our Republican Congress, are all opposing the help that we desperately need. Thankfully, Representative Jim Clyburn, the house minority whip, has adopted a provision to try and subvert the governors planned refusal of the stimulus money.
Mark Sanford has called the premise of the stimulus package part of a “savior-based economy.” As condescending and just plain stupid as that sounds, what do you think the governors plan to save South Carolina’s floundering economy is? Don’t waste your time waiting for an answer because he doesn’t have one. He believes that the market and the economy will rebuild with lower taxes and no government intervention. He is wrong. Economists agree.
My brother-in-law is at the unemployment office as I’m writing this. This is the first time in his life that he’s had to apply for unemployment and he doesn’t know what to expect. He believes in President Obama and he believes that his leadership will get the country back on track. Mark Sanford is actively trying to undermine the President’s efforts to help my brother-in-law and hundreds of thousands of other unemployed workers in this state.
Mr. President, if our governor continues to try to subvert your efforts to help our state, please go over his head and use your pulpit and your pen to make it easy for our legislators to accept the money and help my brother get back to work. Due to our governor, until we get some assistance, he’s not just unemployed, he’s unemployable.
Cross Posted on Filibusted