Does Glenn Beck hate the unemployed? Please, say it ain't so!

Aug. 17, 2010 - PRLog -- Over the last week Glenn Beck has been viciously attacking unemployed American citizens; and earlier today, he specifically targeted the "99ers" - a group of the long-term unemployed that were the first laid-off, exhausted all their unemployment insurance, used up their IRAs and life's savings - and many already had homes foreclosed on and/or had their cars repossessed. These are the people who have suffered the longest during the "Great Recession" and are near their wits end.

Doesn't Glenn Beck realize that half of the people he's been insulting are mostly just average hard-working Americans? Half may be conservative Republicans like myself, and the other half may be liberal Democrats - and most likely with an ideological mix of everything else in between (including his beloved Marxists). But does Glenn Beck really think that the majority of the jobless in this country belong to a socialist union who only want taxpayers to fund their unsustainable pensions?

Welcome Glenn, to the "Fox News Wall of Shame":
http://acompanyofone.org/fox-news-wall-of-shame.html

I decided to e-mail Glenn Beck but I have tried writing to Fox News for 10 years and NEVER ONCE did I ever receive a reply. And I don't expect one now, so I made this Press Release as an open letter to him (maybe his "Brain Room" will stumble upon it somehow).

Date: August 16, 2010 11:00 P.M. (PST)

To: Mister Glenn Beck:

RE: Your show today and the segment you did about the "99er" rally on Wall Street last week.

Dear Sir,

First, please understand...besides once being a long-time fan of yours (since you were at CNN until this week), I'm also an unemployed conservative Republican...who also advocates for the unemployed.

Secondly, your use of a photo of that banner for the "Democratic Socialists of America" at the NYC rally was not very nice sir. I watch your show every day, and I'm not used to seeing you taking things out of context to propagate a slanted view of the truth.

Also, most of the "99ers" didn't actually collect all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits (as Fox News keeps consistently driving home to the general public), but are all grouped together as those who exhausted all available qualifying unemployment benefits (most usually under 52 weeks in the lesser unemployed States). There are about 4.5 million jobless Americans who have exhausted all their unemployment insurance. Your "Brain Room" must research this further...I can help if you'd like.

Most "99ers" are not union affiliated and a union presence at that rally was only there as a show of support for the 99ers. Your segment was a mis-representation of them (And I know you always tell the truth Glenn, so it must have been only a mis-understanding on your part. Yes?)

"The Fox News Hypocrisy" - (Why did you include yourself in this Glenn?)

On one hand, Fox News says that corporations are sitting on a ton of cash and aren't hiring...and that's why there are no jobs...because of Obama's misplaced economic policies.

...but yet, on the other hand, Fox News also says that the unemployed are lazy and don't look for jobs...and would rather collect unemployment benefits (which is about 50% of their previous normal income).

So which is it? Are there jobs or not? Fox can't say that the unemployed don't look for work, and then say there is no work to be found. Fox can't have it both ways. They want to insult the jobless and Obama at the same time, but then contradict themselves by saying just the opposite.

Today you bashed the 99ers that attended the NYC Rally. What's hypocritical is that just before your rant about the 99ers, you had just admitted that the REAL unemployment number, the U-6, is 16.5% ! Is that because no one is looking for work? Or because their are no jobs? Hmmmmmmmmm?

Do you ever watch The Jim Cramer Show on CNBC? He always has CEO's as guest hosts on his show and I never ONCE saw a ONE complain about not being able to find enough qualified workers to take jobs at their companies. (There is no labor shortage in America Glenn. It's a "buyer's market" for corporations that can underpay people to take the jobs they're desperate to take).

So Glenn, you know there are no jobs, but yet you told your audience that the people who attended the rally should have been out looking for a job instead - and that 99 weeks of collecting unemployment was long enough! (Didn't it take 12 years and a World War for the last Great Depression to end?)

There are now almost 5 million American unemployed workers who have already exhausted all their unemployment benefits, yet they still haven't found any of those "mystery jobs" yet. And why not?

Because there are not enough jobs for them...not even low-paying ones, the ones that Fox News says they reject because benefits pay more. (But all those low-paying jobs MUST pay a lot more than no benefits at all!)

So how can Fox News' same old tired argument hold water any more? When everyone exhausts all their benefits, and we still have an ACTUAL unemployment rate of 20%, what will Fox News then say? That all 15 million jobless Americans would prefer to be homeless or commit suicide instead of working? Does that make any sense at all to you Glenn?

No, it does not...and Fox News knows this very well too, but still they perpetuate this argument in the interest of not adding to the national debt by sacrificing all these people for the good of the other 80% of the population who are still employed. It's that simple.

If you were laid off due to financial manipulations in the banks and the corporate out-sourcing of jobs overseas, Fox News doesn't give a damn about 15 million jobless Americans...to them, they're just "free-loaders".

Lesson one for Mister Beck (I don't have a chalkboard, so please bear with me.)

For every job that was lost in this recession (8.5 million), it would take the hiring of at least:

  708,000 people a month over the next 1 year,
or 354,000 people a month over the next 2 years,
or 177,000 people a month over the next 4 years,
or  88,000 people a month over the next 8 years.

Last month we only saw a gain of 71,000 jobs in the private sector...and a loss of 143,000 census workers!

Source: From the United States Department of Labor / Bureau of Labor Statistics - Friday, August 6, 2010  8:30 a.m. (EDT)
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

I have looked for a job for 2 years. I'm 54 years old. The longer someone is out of work, and the older one is, the less possibility one has of finding work in the current economic climate. I know you don't like hearing this Glenn, but it is a fact. It's for your own good to hear the truth.

As far as those who have supposedly stopped looking for a job. Well, if it were true, I couldn't blame them. Albert Einstein said it best when defining insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I'm very disappointed in you Glenn. Once, you were my hero. Now you're just another Fox News puppet. I must respectfully ask that you review the facts first before you go insulting the jobless in this country any more...and that includes me (don't worry, I won't expect an apology).

I report, you decide Glenn.

Sincerely,

Bud Meyers (Who is NOT an unemployed lazy bum who doesn't want to work and would rather receive a hand-out from the government instead of working like I used to for the last 35 years before being laid off from a job I loved.)

P.S. I hope you will redeem yourself Glenn. My liberal friends are mocking me now.

Disclaimer: As a First Amendment Advocate, I still defend Glenn Beck's right to his opinion, but as an advocate for the unemployed, I chastise the propaganda factor that Fox News promotes about the jobless during this severe "Great Recession".

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The Tier Five Times reports on the latest unemployment news such as the jobless numbers and unemployment benefits for "99ers" - those who have exhausted all unemployment insurance benefits.