The Jobless Have Paid for the Aid They Get

Re “Unemployment Ploy,” letter, Nov. 28: Prior to my unemployment, I was a software professional for over 20 years. During that time, I paid my income taxes, Social Security taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, etc. I’ve put far more into the system than I’ve ever taken out. Then the economy tanked, my company closed the office where I was working, and I was out of a job. So I began collecting unemployment.

But it was no vacation. I spent every workday reading ads, searching Internet job listings, sending resumes, making phone calls, going on interviews. Looking for work became my full-time occupation. But lots of other programmers were also out of work, and I was just one of hundreds of qualified applicants for every position. So it took almost a year to find another job.

The government was not paying me not to work. It was providing temporary financial assistance to help me get through a difficult situation that was not of my own making.

So before you complain about the government “giving away” your tax dollars to people like me, stop and think about the various government services you’ve used over the last 20 or so years -- paid for, in part, by my tax dollars.

Grinnell Almy

Los Angeles