In advance of President Barack Obama's speech on jobs and unemployment, Yahoo! News asked its readers and contributors to tell us what subjects they'd like to hear Obama address. Below is a first-person perspective from a reader.
[Your Voice: Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to share your thoughts.]
Things here in Hamlet, Ind., don't change much from year to year. We're a small rural community, one of those towns the kids always say they can't wait to get out of.
For the past several years, most of Hamlet's population has been waiting for a new plant to open, something that was put on hold because of the state of the economy. For myself, as a single mom and college student, that plant opening may mean that there will still be a school here to teach at once I obtain my license. At 38 years old, I have no wish to relocate.
I'm a freelance writer. Even in the worst of economic times, I've been able to find work because I've been able to create a job for myself, having been self-employed far more often than having been employed by someone else. This allows me have a flexible enough of a schedule to be able to raise my son and continue my education. But, I've had to rely on grants and student loans to supplement my income so that I can make this balance work.
I'm eager to hear President Obama's speech. For me and many other college students, it may mean the difference between continuing on with a dream and wondering what happens to college dropouts. The summer finances for college have already been canceled. My school happens to go year round, so this didn't make a big difference to me, but for many others, it added on a year or two to their educational plan. If the student loan program is modified or ended completely, or the Pell grants are eliminated or lowered, it may mean that I have to rethink my future.
As a single mom, the tax situation can also alter my plans and those of other single moms with a limited income. Without the Earned Income Credit (EIC), my finances will change significantly.
What I hope to hear Obama say is that there will be no changes to the educational programs or the EIC. But I have to plan for the worst. Watching his speech will be like watching my life plan being set up like evolving dominoes. If these programs are eliminated or modified, then a whole new course of action will be called for, not just in my life, but nationwide.
The bottom line is that unless we actually want to eliminate the lower and middle classes, America has to stop outsourcing jobs and continue with the push for higher education. Even if we don't stop outsourcing jobs, we still have to continue with the push for education because there won't be any jobs here at all for people without degrees. To that end, I'd like to hear Obama say that tax breaks for large corporations and those who outsource are going to be limited.
The worst-case scenario is that tax breaks for the rich will continue and funds that are now available to those in a lower tax brackets will be eliminated. In that case, the poor are going to have to get even more creative in order to survive. I'd like to see Obama present the details as to how he plans to prevent that and move forward.
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