Can I Borrow A Dollar?
In 1992 Common dropped his debut album titled “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” You may be asking the United States Senate that very question.
If you’re unemployed in America and haven’t already lost your jobless benefits, you could be next. For the third time, the Senate rejected a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits for workers.
Past extensions allowed people to collect income support for up to 99 weeks. Today, without extensions, the money stops when the worker finishes one of the four tiers of emergency benefits being funded by the federal government.
In Nevada where I live, we currently lead the nation in unemployment at 14%, with the city of Las Vegas at 14.2%. Many of my neighbors are losing hope, as an estimated 65,000 unemployed workers in the Silver State are directly impacted by the bill’s loss.
What can I say to the single mother who was laid off by Station Casinos 12 months ago and is trying to find a job to put food on the table, keep the lights on and a roof over her child’s head? Or what about the brotha who worked hard in construction to build a multi-million dollar real estate project on the Las Vegas strip but was laid off once the building was complete, only to find that there are no jobs left?
With no extensions, no more pennies to pinch, empty pockets are left without any solutions.
So, can I borrow a dollar?
