I am really considering not going with any health insurance at all. I should be able to manage if I put money aside to use for any doctor visits or medications.  I hope nothing major will happen, but if it does I will have to deal with these issues.

Health insurance fees are very expensive and right now being on unemployment and trying to budget isn’t easy. There’s not a lot left over at the end of the paycheck. It’s amazing in this day and age the U.S. doesn’t have a decent health plan for unemployed or low income citizens.  What the president proposed will be way too costly.  We are in debt too far to add to the trillions of dollars Obama added when he helped the banks.

So, for the next few months I may be going without insurance and see what happens. Perhaps I will end up getting insurance in the future, but I am hoping a job will be connected with that. We shall see.

Not so, said the resume writer. Times have changed. Companies want to know what you can do for them. So the changes were made. List of the companies worked in the past 1o years first with name of company and years worked there. No address, names of supervisors.  Next came my accomplishments: what I was able to do for the company that previously employed me. Basically it’s really selling yourself to the company you want to hire you. I learned that I was no longer a customer service representative. Now I am a customer service expeditor! Wow! In talking to this resume writer I learned many other things about myself. I am an expert on different aspects of this type of job. Little did I know this when I worked at it for over 11 years! It amazed me that I was so knowledgeable in certain areas.

If you have not had the chance to update your resume in a while, I suggest you contact someone who is a resume writer. While I did this through the unemployment office and did not have to pay for it, I feel it’s well worthwhile to learn more about the new way of doing a resume. Imagine selling yourself to get a job.  Very different!

I spoke to a family friend who is over 50 just yesterday. She said she was told to dye her hair to hide the gray so when she went for a job she wouldn’t be turned down. Her companion had talked to someone about a job over the phone. When he went for the interview he had set up during that call, the interviewer said he had thought he was speaking to a younger man. No, he didn’t get the job. Age discrimination? Yes, but you would have to prove it and it’s your word against theirs.

People are taking jobs that they would have felt beneath them years ago when the economy was good. Minimal paying jobs are being snapped up by older citizens who need to have money coming into their households. Food stamps and food banks have been used more than ever. People are desperate to keep their homes and feed their families. If Congress balks again, I am sure many of them who are set to be re-elected in November will be watching their opponents win their seats in Congress.

The latest news on unemployment is that 13 out of 100 people are able to find at least a part time job. That’s not good. Where are the jobs? We have been told the economy is getting better, but judging from what I have heard on tv and read in the newspapers it’s not the truth. We need to have a future here in the U.S. We need to have Congress do the right thing and pass the bill before them. Word has it this will happen tomorrow. I am not holding my breath.

Here you must use only two banks: Wachovia or PNC. Go elsewhere to take money out of the debit card and you will pay the $1.50 ATM fee. You are allowed 1 free withdrawal during the month on this debit card. If you transfer the money deposited in the debit card to your regular checking account at your own bank there is another $1.50 fee for each time you transfer money. You will pay 40 cents to check the balance on the debit card, 50 cents if the card is denied at any store where you are using it (after 1 freebie). If you lose the card it will be replaced free, but if you lose it a second time there will be a fee between $4 and $12. If you are lucky enough to get a job and forget to use the remaining funds still in the debit card account you will be charged $1 per month for NOT using the card.

To me this sounds very much like a giant rip off. People on unemployment are trying to watch their spending, counting each and every dollar they get. So why would they want to have to pay extra? According to the article I read, 54% of Pennsylvanians have direct deposit. I can’t see why the rest are using this debit card. The state pays the debit card contractor (who shall remain unknown here) nothing. The fees are the pay this company gets along with money from the stores that accept the debit cards. So, is this really a small price to pay for the “advantage” of having a debit card for unemployment? I’ll let you decide.

On Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday Obama will be sworn in. How fitting to be on this day. Sean Wilentz, professor of history at Princeton University said this moment “speaks of a hunger for leadership and a hope that he (Obama) will be it.” Yes, we need a leader, one who will be strong enough to deal with all the obstacles being dumped in his lap.

With the economy in a slump, unemployment at an all time high, and two wars going on where American soldiers fighting terrorists, Obama will have his hands full. In a poll taken by the Associated Press-GFK, 37% of the people polled felt Obama will be an “above average” president while 28% thought he would be an “outstanding” one. Some of the media seem to have declared Obama and his family celebrities, claiming he will be the “paparazzi president”.

Obama modified a few campaign promises. He isn’t going to push for the instant repeal of the Bush tax cuts due to the economy. Everything will take time including withdrawal from Iraq and shutting down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Obama has shown an ability to learn things quickly and can change course if necessary- vital things for the President of the United States.

I wonder, too, how long it will be before Obama makes a wrong move and the media will be all over him. I know Bush wasn’t liked by everyone, but I don’t feel he was a bad president. He did what he could. We have to remember the Congress and the Senate also have their say with policies. We shall see what the future will bring in January.