The Honorable Max Baucus
Chairman
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

I was laid off from my job in 2008 and I couldn't find another. It appears that at 54, I'm now considered too old for the workforce - why else wasn't I hired? Or are there no jobs? Maybe Congress, the banks, and the multi-national corporations have the answer to that, I don't.

After I exhausted all my unemployment benefits, I ran out of money, then I ran out of hope. I only have two choices left when it's time to pay the rent again, and homelessness is not an option at my age. And living on the street is not the way I planned on retiring.

Now I need some help from my fellow countrymen (until, or if the economy ever improves), but Congress doesn't have the "political will" to extend unemployment insurance to those of us who have exhausted all our weeks. Congress and the American public accused me of being lazy!

They implied that I should have been more desperate and had taken just ANY job - and then called me unreasonable and accused me of being "angry" if I refused to stoop to beggar's wages.

I don't think so! Besides, McDonalds does NOT need 15 million more employees!

Congress killed the American dream, and now they want to kill me. 

After living a middle-class life-style in America all my life, Congress now expects me to live out the remainder of my "golden" years living alone in squalor and poverty. And without healthcare, a car, or my dignity - while eating a can of Spam every night for dinner until I die a "natural" death.

They expect me to live like that in the richest country in the world? 

I don't think so! I wouldn't call that "living", I'd call that pathetic.

I worked to support myself since I was 17 years old, up to until I was 53, before being laid off in 2008. I was not a cradle-to-the-grave welfare case. I worked hard all my life. But Congress and the American people thought I preferred homelessness to working. They all thought I preferred dying, rather than finding a job paying a "living wage".

Do you really want the truth? Congress, the banks, the corporations, and the American people didn't think that "people like me" were worth a damn anymore - that we were no longer worth saving (unlike some obscure tadpole in California).

The American people and Congress wanted to cut the national budget from the bottom up, starting with items that affected the most distressed people first, then work their way up to the most frivolous items later. They would rather build bridges in Afghanistan or save a Greek union pension fund first, before they helped their fellow American citizens here at home.

Am I angry? Hell yes I'm angry! Unlike many members in government, I paid taxes for 35 years! My name's not Charlie Rangel!

My family fought in 3 wars for this country - and for what? So Congress could pay themselves $174,000 a year  (plus "bennies") doing a service for this country? They serviced themselves! This country has been raped and pillaged for years!

Our senators are supposed to represent ALL their constituents, not just the majority of their constituents - or not just the lobbyists, or those who donated the most in campaign contributions. 99ers need to live too, and the minority need to be heard as well.

So, to all of those evil, greedy, corrupt, and selfish morons (who would not extend unemployment insurance to the "old" long-term unemployed idiots like myself), I can only say this," I'll see you in hell!"

Bud Meyers  EX-99er