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Sorry guys but I don't bite into the unemployment numbers that are thrown around. I'm not sure if they figure the way they did a few years ago and all. This being said, doesn't the figure reflect benifits paid out? Numerous ones in NE IA have used up their unemployment benifits and still have no jobs. This used to mean our government assumed that they had a job because the benifits were no longer paid out. I will stand corrected of course if some one knows different. Our small towns are drying up, no cars are parked in my home town in the business area. The town is only 700 people, but parking on main street used to be tough at times. Seems now any vehickle that passes through gets stares from us red necks. The last five years has given the big farmers a extra charge, hard to buy land unless you have a inside track. But the small farmer, and small business man are hanging by a thread at best because the large corperate farms bypass the small town businesses. And the small farmers have cash flow issues unless they sell their farms to the big guys. Our schools have dropped in numbers, but seems it takes alot more teachers per student than it did years ago. Our politicians always seem to need more money, and are very creative inventing new taxes that does't cost anyone anything acording to them. We don't have a local option sales tax for politicians yet, but do have alot of local option taxes it seems for other things. Everyone has a plan to spark up the town, but our town EMS is dried up in the daytime work hours. Same thing goes for the fire department. I'm a old boy on both departments, and have made three EMS calls in the last week by myself. Also had one that no one showed up. We don't have any ideas left to encourage the younger ones to get involved. At one time we had twenty six EMS, now only six. I certianly don't blame anyone for getting a job out of town, just wish it was different. Daycare centers charge almost half of what any min. wage job brings in (net), and they get paid regardless if the child shows up or not. Based on 2,000 hrs a year, a person with one child, well--- yea that leaves about $5,000 if any taxes are witheld. Then if the parent is any kind of a good parent they are expected to carry health insurance on themselves and the child, (insert your own logical guess here). Most jobs require a car and gas, and auto insurance is required by law. So now the parent is still homeless at this point with out a food budget. Well anyway I guess the young folks will see bright lights, and may come back here to retire some day. We all kinda think things will turn around soon, and thats all we can hope for. Myself I consider lucky, many would consider me poor, but my belly hangs over my belt, and I got a roof over my head, so I got it alot better than many others do. We have a large number of folks going broke, some have been trying to go broke for years, others just no decent paying jobs. The poor are with out doubt are headed up that real famous creek with out the paddle. I'm guessing, but would suggest that around 50% don't have health insurance, and many try to refuse care because of the costs. I get tears in my eyes many times thinking what the golden years have done for many hard working folks. We can never understand what a life of poor health can do to the big pile of money some folks had planed for.
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