Today's PPP is about fighting for your rights for a good life against the greedy corporations (banks and credit card companies) that have got American (and most of the world) by the cojones.
This week my Uncle Travis went for his first day of work. He had been hired to be a cook at an Indian casino in southern California. It was his first job since he graduated from his culinary school. We were so happy to hear that Uncle Travis got this job because cooking is his passion and it meant that Mema could then retire in a few months if she wanted to as Uncle Travis relies on her for his health insurance. He needs some medications which are very expensive and my Mema's health insurance covers him for now. So to hear that Uncle Travis got a job doing what he loves in this bad economy that will let him become independent, pay for his own health insurance, get a car and then move out on his own, we were so excited and grateful!
However when Uncle Travis went to start his job this Wednesday, he was told that he will not be hired because of an incident that happened when Uncle Travis was fifteen. He was hired by Rite Aid for his first job. He liked going to work and making his own money, however he did something regretful and was caught giving his friend ice cream for free as he worked at the ice cream counter. He was fired from this job. Yes, it wasn't right, but he paid the price by being fired. He wasn't arrested, it wasn't a crime, it was one of the many bad judgments we make when we are young and hopefully learn from.
Now Uncle Travis did not put Rite Aid on his resume but the casino found out about this incident anyway, I suspect since he gave his social security number to the casino. Now is my Uncle Travis to suffer the rest of his life for a mistake he made at 15! He wasn't arrested, he doesn't have a criminal or JD record. Uncle Travis did well at his culinary school and graduated with awards. He comes highly recommended by his teachers and he did not miss a day of school and was never late for class. Yet this casino chose to ignore all that for this Rite Aid incident that happened when he was 15.
Now maybe this is a good sign that he shouldn't work at a place like this if these are their policies so I hope when Uncle Travis gets his next job this unfortunate incident is treated for what it was, a lack of judgment from a 15 year old who learned his lesson long ago and wants to continue with his life and be a contributing member of society and have health insurance so his mother can retire in peace.
Lately I learned that if your credit card scores are running low, this can disqualify a person from getting a job. Maybe their credit card score is low because they are unemployed and need to eat? Don't get me wrong, the PPP does not condone living above your means but these are particularly hard days and credit card reports should not stop a person from trying to improve their station in life. Things happen, especially in this economy.
When banks raise the APR rate because your payments are getting smaller because you are unemployed or your job just asked you to take a big raise cut is ridiculous! That is when they should be helping you, not putting the knife to your throat. And aren't these the same corporations where they have plans to acquire corporate jets for their executives in this economy? Where the executives are given bonuses ahead of the scheduled time before the company quarterly reports come out stating how badly their company is doing? I know from my mommy that she did not get a bonus if they did not hit her company's financial goals yet these executives get billion dollar bonuses contributed by people struggling to eat and put food on their table. People are dying because they cannot heat their homes in the winter from fuel costs and there are executives getting bonuses from our government's bailout even thought they did not perform successfully! I can't believe a man can be put in jail for being a small time drug dealer on the streets, yet you can bankrupt America and treat people worst than a Mafia loan man and walk around Scot free.
President Obama definitely has his pulse on this problem let's hope he has a real solution. My mommy and I are tired of hearing stories of all the injustices going on these days and we hope with a new president that there WILL be real change cause fish gotta swim and a dog's gotta eat. Chow for now!
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