Three years ago I voted for hope and change; hope that the things that were making life difficult for millions of Americans would change. Unfortunately, the changes in my life have been for the worse, and I’m not hopeful about the future, despite the pretty noises you made at the SOTU. And although, I don’t blame you for the bad turn my family’s life has taken, I’m finding it extremely difficult to consider voting for you, indeed to vote at all. Immigration reform won’t directly affect me, pulling out of Iraq doesn’t directly affect me.
I keep hearing from friends that support you that change is happening, that change takes time. If you have indeed made positive changes, they have not affected my daily life at all, and I am running out of time.
• Four years ago, I was employed at a very nice salary. Last year, my salary was 30% less for the same work. Now, I am unemployed again, and the same skills I had then are fetching even less pay now. I’m a college graduate. Four people are applying for every job opening in my area. We need a massive, comprehensive change in manufacturing policy in this country. Not everyone can be bankers. We protect bankers and farmers, why can’t we protect our manufacturing and our labor? As long as a huge portion of sales and profits are sucked out of this country, increases in demand won’t change much.
• Four years ago, my house was worth more than I owed. Now, I owe more than it is worth on the market, and in two months I will be in serious danger of beginning the foreclosure cycle, unless I can find a job paying what I earned three years ago. I would like to downsize my living space, but can’t without defaulting on my mortgage or declaring bankruptcy. I think the new Unit on Mortgage Origination and Securitization Abuses will be too little, too late for my family, if it does any good at all.
• Many people would advise that I cut my budget, and I would like to. But the discretionary items in my budget are too small to make a difference. My genealogy subscriptions cost $1000 per year, but our basic food costs are $1000 per month, despite the large amount of canning I did last summer. Food prices are increasing monthly. Should I give up the costly and healthy food I currently buy for my family, and buy cheap, subsidized food instead, such as those sweetened with corn syrup? Everyone knows that food is bad for you. I face diabetes as it is. Don’t even ask about electricity and gas. How much discomfort should I have to bear when the corporations and Wall Street are sitting on billions of dollars? Would 55 degrees be low enough?
• My oldest child is graduating high school this year, and is accepted at a state university. I have no idea how he is going to pay for it. According to my federal government, our family income for the past year dictates we should be able to afford $6K tuition per year. Is that a joke? Do the people who make these rules even have a clue? A college education meant a great deal to you, but I can tell you, the price I myself paid, and the amounts I borrowed are nowhere near justified by the salaries I have earned over the past twenty years. Are only the very intelligent deserving of good paying jobs and middle class lives? I fear for my son, who is not a good student.
The right wing likes to call you a liberal and a socialist, but so far I see little difference in economic policy between the previous administration and yours. The manners may have changed, but I’m not impressed by that. Please, if you want a continuation of my support, be bold.