Reply #9: he must have been at his wit's end

[pitohui]

at 60 he is pretty much not going to get hired or trained at any new job anyway, but those two extra years of unemployment benefits mentioned as part of the program would have made all the difference

at age 62 he could have started taking his social security early

so the 2 years of unemployment assistance he was wrongly denied probably would have made all the difference in keeping him from taking such a desperate measure