I have been receiving you and your wife's and the Vice President's emails for awhile now. Everyday for the last month and a half at least. And almost all of them you or someone for you asks me to donate money to the cause. Mr. President, I have no more money to give. I cannot help you in this cause. It would not surprise me if most of these emails you send out get ignored, sent directly to the spam folder or trash. You ask me for money nearly every day, money that I don't have. I might not be the average american woman, but I feel fairly safe in saying in the circumstances I am normal, and I am broke. I have medical bills, and school bills-because I cannot get a real job with the education that I already had. I have rent, and groceries, and credit card bills (lower than the average american's amount, but I make a whole lot less than they do). I live in an apartment, and do not own a home, I am over 30 and I don't have a retirement plan, I barely have a savings account. I am not living paycheck to pay check, but just by barely. I have no car, and rely on public transportation. I don't have foodstamps, but should probably think about getting them in the future. In Oregon there is no sales tax, but my income tax is huge in comparison to what it was in Maine. I don't make as much as I did in Maine, and I get to keep less of it.
I am one of the lucky ones. When I was unemplyed my husband covered all of the expenses, now I have a part time job that is flexible enough that I can still go to school. My husband still pays for most of the expenses, I can just about cover the groceries. I lucked out, I didn't get kicked out of my home, and lived in shelters, or shared a small room with four other people, I didn't get in the Welfare system, and I didn't get unemployment.
You ask us for help, you want more money to lobby for what you think the people want. We don't want to be asked for anymore money. We haven't enough anyway.
If you really think more money is needed to lobby for "our wants and needs" ask for it from your more wealthy consituents. For instantce the other democratic senators and house members. These people do one term and make $140,000/year every year after they serve. Nice pension that. No where else is that the case. Pay them for the time they serve and no more after that. The politicians have become America's wealthy aristocracy, and everyone else is the growing poor class. And that is not right, Mr. President. So no more raises. Everyone takes a pay cut, and that money goes to the debt. All of it. Becuase otherwise that is money that my husband and I will be paying out our ears in taxes, and what my children will be paying. You are trying to save the economy, well that is great, for the companies, but for those of us trying to live... you are just stretching out the inevitablilty that we will have to file for bankruptcy eventually. This bill is too large as it is.
And you ask us for more money.
