My story can be found on page 137 of 'How to Destroy the Middle Class' playbook .... [View all]

[ColesCountyDem]

I'm 56. Like most in our generation, I did all of 'the right things', the things that our parents taught us we should do to succeed: I studied hard and did well in K-12, and was awarded a 'full ride' academic scholarship to a small, liberal-arts college. I continued to study hard and did well, graduating magna cum laude and receiving yet another full ride scholarship to a good law school. I worked for a few years in law-enforcement, then worked for a few years in the Public Defender's Office before going to work for one of the world's largest telecommunications companies. I carefully planned and funded a 401(k), was 'pension tracked' with the company, etc. . My personal plan envisioned me retiring in early 2015, when my pension 'vested'. 'The American Dream', right? *sigh*...

My life was going exactly as I envisioned it would go until the fall of 2008, when a series of events occurred. My 401(k) was one that you could not 're-arrange/tinker with' more than once every 6 months, and I had just done so before Wall Street began its free-fall swan dive. I stood by, powerless, while I watched as 94% of the value of my 401(k) disappeared into thin air. On Halloween Day 2008, I suffered a health crisis requiring an emergency resection of almost half of my large bowel; post-operatively, I developed MRSA in my incision, and the infection rapidly progressed into septicemia. Although I had 'good' health insurance through my employer, three-and-a-half months in the hospital, three months in a wound-care facility, three additional 'wound revision' surgeries still left me with enormous un-reimbursed medical bills and 'ordinary living expenses'. I had no choice but to cash in the remainder of my 401(k) to pay the medical bills and my 'ordinary' living expenses. While recuperating, I watched with growing fury while both the 'too big to fail' banks and the Detroit automakers received bailouts, but people like me were left to 'sink or swim'. Still, I consoled myself with he thought that I still (almost) had my pension, although retirement in 2015 was no longer an option ...

When I returned to work in October 2009, I would see the occasional memo about parts of the company being 'moved offshore' (outsourced), but was always re-assured that my division would not be affected. After a couple of years, I ceased to worry about my own job security and again began a 401(k). With absolutely no warning, everyone but the 'big bosses' in my division was laid off on August 6th, 2012-- no notice, no 'severance package', nada-- just a notice to clean out our offices by the end of the work day. To add insult to injury, my employer contested my initial unemployment application, saying that I was an 'at will, contract employee'. I won on appeal, but my bi-weekly unemployment benefits were 29% of my average total, bi-weekly income (my base salary, plus 'performance-based' bonuses). I also said goodbye to my pension, not having put in the required 20 years for it to become 'vested'. Rather than face foreclosure in a weak real-estate market, I allowed the bank to take possession of my home without an additional 'deficiency judgment' being lodged against me. There being no substantive difference in the job market between where I lived and where I had planned to eventually retire, I moved, rented a modest, affordable home and began looking for work, certain that I would be able to secure employment in fairly short order, given my education and work experience. How wrong I was ...

Despite a massive, all-out job search, I remain unemployed to this very day. I am in that 'niche' that labor economists term 'over-50 and over-qualified'. My long-term unemployment benefits were terminated on December 28th, 2013, forcing me to once again cash out my 401(k). Having rapidly exhausted that, I now rely on SNAP (Link, in Illinois) benefits and a $125/mo. 'general relief' grant from my township government. Through the generosity of my church, the local ministerial alliance, a couple of local NGO's and LIHEAP, I am not (yet) homeless, although I am behind in my rent and COULD BE evicted at any time. That I have not yet been evicted is due solely to the forbearance of my landlord, a situation I cannot see lasting much longer. What public housing there is here is full, with a 17 month-long waiting list, and Sec. 8 housing is also full. I no longer have the resources to relocate-- moving expenses, rent and utility deposits, etc.-- and daily live with the looming prospect of homelessness.

My story, sadly, is not that unusual. While Wall Street, the Detroit automakers, et al, have not only 'recovered', but prospered, millions of people, people just like me, are 'swirling the drain'. My former employer is HUGELY profitable, banking billions in un-taxed profits 'offshore', and receiving a tax refund on their billions in U.S. profits.

My story is but one example of how the middle class is being systematically destroyed in this country.

P.S.-- Thank God and President Obama for the 'Affordable Care Act'. My state accepted 'expanded Medicaid', and I at least have health insurance, with no exclusion for my 'pre-existing condition' (diverticulitis).