Corbett should experience jobless agony

There should be a special hell for politicians like Tom Corbett. For him to say, "The jobs are there. ... If we keep extending unemployment, the people are going to sit there," only exposes him as a fraud, out of touch with the values, priorities and problems of the lives of ordinary people ("GOP Candidate Says Some Stay on Dole Rather Than Work," July 13). Working people want to work. Mr. Corbett doesn't get that.

As a person who was unemployed as a result of the recession of the first George Bush, I can tell you that being unemployed is no vacation. Unemployed people spend many nights lying awake worrying about the consequences that their joblessness will have on those they love. They regret almost every past move, and they agonize over the future.

I suffered almost debilitating depression, visualizing my kids growing up in poverty, evicted from our home without any of the things for which parents gladly work to give their children. No hope, no future, and I blamed myself for something over which I had no control.

Fortunately, the government provided extended unemployment benefits, and I was able to finish college on a federal government program. I will always be grateful for that. Now I want our government to help others who are in that situation. It's good for the economy, and it's the right thing to do.

Mr. Corbett's cruel indifference disgusts me. I truly hope that soon he gets the chance to experience an extended period of unemployment, since he thinks it's so pleasurable.

DANIEL A. BOSH
Baden

Clueless Corbett

I am writing in response to the comments made last week by Republican nominee for governor Tom Corbett ("GOP Candidate Says Some Stay on Dole Rather Than Work," July 13). Mr. Corbett blamed victims of the recession for their own unemployment, saying that "the jobs are there," and that extending unemployment benefits will only cause the unemployed to just "sit there."

Tom Corbett is 100 percent wrong on this issue. Would someone who is unemployed turn down a pension that comes with a job? Would they turn down health care benefits to keep unemployment benefits? What about the mentally or physically disabled? Are they "just sitting there"? Is it their fault if they are unemployed? How about the senior citizens who make up a sizable percent of the unemployed population of Pennsylvania, who are trying to work toward retirement?

Simply put, the hard-working people of this commonwealth have been insulted by a man who has never known what it was like to be less fortunate -- to be unemployed and unable to care for himself or his family. If "the jobs are there," as Mr. Corbett says, perhaps he should do us all a favor and let us know where it is we haven't been looking.

CHRISTINE J. PATBERG
Chapter President
Southwestern Pennsylvania Coalition of Labor Union Women
Downtown

Valid points

Tom Corbett's recent comments on unemployment compensation benefit extensions wrongly implied that lots of people are remaining unemployed by choice, but he raises valid points about unemployment compensation.

Most economists agree that extending unemployment benefits increases the length of unemployment (though there is disagreement about how much). By paying individuals not to work, UC benefit extensions can discourage both job searching and job acceptance. For instance, an unemployed person may turn down a job offer with Walmart or Taco Bell, knowing he can continue to collect unemployment benefits and wait for a better opportunity. This is not what most recipients do, but some will abuse the system, and Pennsylvania is exceptionally lenient when enforcing job search requirements.

UC extensions also make it more expensive to hire workers. Unemployment benefits are paid for primarily by employers via a payroll tax on every worker. Pennsylvania has one of the highest unemployment taxes per employee in the nation. Adding to these costs makes each job even more costly and leads to less hiring.

With a $3 billion deficit in Pennsylvania's UC fund, lawmakers need to stop perpetuating a policy that stunts long-term job growth and start looking to reform, not grow, the system.

NATHAN A. BENEFIELD
Director of Policy Research
Commonwealth Foundation
Harrisburg

Boehner's tax hike

Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, in a newspaper interview on June 29 called for an increase in the retirement age for Social Security from 65 to 70. Since the average Social Security yearly payment is $14,160 his proposal is actually a tax increase of $70,800 spread over five years for the 92 percent of the working American population who reach retirement age and are eligible for Social Security benefits.

The Republicans are supposedly the party of no more taxes, yet they cleverly disguise a $70,800 loss of income for senior citizens as a budget deficit solution. They vote against unemployment insurance, vote against Wall Street reform, vote against increased stimulus, apologize to oil companies and sit on their hands while the fat-cats literally steal the world's income. Still they claim to be the party of no new taxes. They are the party of no new taxes for the rich, and the hell with everyone else.

TOM HUTCHISON
Braddock Hills

Re: infant safety

Regarding the July 6 report "County Steps Up Effort to Prevent Crib Deaths": What an informative article, but we feel it is an unfortunate headline.

The headline used the outdated term "crib death," which is misleading and may suggest that cribs are a risk factor for SIDS. Quite the opposite is true -- babies are at increased risk for dying during sleep when they are not in cribs, but instead are sleeping on adult beds and couches.

The safest sleep setting for an infant is summarized as the ABC measures: ALONE (without adults, without loose blankets or stuffed toys or objects which can cause choking hazards), on the BACK and in a CRIB.

SHAUN MOHAN, M.D.
ANDREW BUKOWINSKI, M.D.
Resident Physicians in Pediatrics
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Lawrenceville

Hold the spray

This is an open plea to the municipalities of Pittsburgh, Penn Hills and Verona from one who drives Allegheny River Boulevard daily from her Shadyside home to her Oakmont store: Please do not spray this year to clear weeds from the side of the road.

I realize that the old method of cutting, bagging and taking away was too labor intensive and costly. However, spraying a greens killer at all the growth at the side of the boulevard is terrible ... it looks ugly as it rusts, breaks apart and dies, not to mention what the spray might do to water quality as it washes down to the river.

Let's just let nature take its course for this one summer and do no harm.

MARY ALICE GORMAN
Shadyside

FMLA needed to be more flexible for caregivers

When the Family and Medical Leave Act was first passed in 1993, it was a huge step forward in establishing the flexibility and security that the American work force needed to care for our future generations. It allowed employees to take unpaid leave to care for their kids without the fear of losing their jobs.

But while the workplace, workers and the concept of families have changed, the flexibility to apply the act to shifting conditions has not.

The Obama administration recognized the need for such flexibility when the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued interpretation No. 1010-3, which expanded FMLA protections to cover loving caregivers who have traditionally been left out. Now, all employees who have assumed the responsibility for parenting a child, whether they have a biological or legal relationship with the child or not, may be entitled to FMLA leave.

What does this mean in the real world? It means children can get the support and care they need from the people who love them and are responsible for them. It means we recognize the importance of a partner who shares in the parenting of a child in a same-sex relationship. It means we recognize the importance of a "tia" (Spanish for aunt) who steps in to care for her young nephew when his mother has been called to active military duty. It means that a grandmother who takes responsibility for her grandchild can -- when needed -- take unpaid time off of work to do it.

It's an important interpretation, and it is a long time coming.

HILDA L. SOLIS
U.S. Secretary of Labor
Washington, D.C.

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