柯林頓卸任後，美國繁景的經濟持續的時間並不長。十年的中東之戰，可謂勞民傷財，使美國面臨今日的背腹受敵狀態；更可懼的個體力量興起成團、成局面起來反對原有的狀態時。

在邁阿密，寧靜的街頭，Juan Montes在家彈奏著吉他，希望能撫慰長期失業的憂慮，羞愧與經濟負擔。在建造業工作了三十年，1983年由俄亥俄州美國鋼鐵退職後，他當過壁紙裝飾員。1991年搬到南佛羅里達州，拿到承包商執照，做起房屋、辦公室、醫療設施硬體的改建、裝潢業。三年前，經濟衰退，建築業一竭不起。在57歲的年齡－失業。

Juan Montes失業後，逐漸耗盡積蓄，太太在退休基金會的兼差，日常無法完全買單，兼職也不保健保。面臨一筆數千元的醫療費，沒有工作的男人，尊嚴不再。

Juan Montes ：失業－使我不像個男人。只要為自己花費一點金錢，你的不安便襲擊而來，生活變了樣、生命不再。

Juan Montes：甚至要兒子替我付水電費…。

Juan 的太太Gina：華府的政客永遠有吵不完的論點，提不出經濟改進方案、就業機會。國會議員該穿穿我們卡腳的鞋，試試我們的處境。想想開會完時，有個節結論。我們掛著人格、羞辱借錢耶！

Montes夫婦共同的感覺是：國會議員漠視失業人民的財務困窘、處境。只會吵、吵、吵。全美國的狀況應該都差不多。

MIAMI – In a well-kept home along a quiet street, Juan Montes practices his guitar and hopes it will bring temporary respite from the worries, shame and financial pressures of long-term unemployment in America.

For nearly 30 years, Montes worked in construction to support his family. After he was laid off from U.S. Steel in Ohio in 1983, he became a wallpaper installer. He then moved to South Florida in 1991 and eventually got a general contractor’s license. He did remodeling jobs, home additions, office construction and build-outs of medical facilities. Then three years ago, as the United States fell into recession, the bottom fell out of the construction industry and the 57-year-old hasn't been able to find work since.

Without work, Montes and his wife have run out of money. Her part-time job as an assistant administrator for a retirement fund doesn't cover expenses and provides no insurance. The family faces tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and this once proud provider is now feeling very low emotionally. 

"It makes you feel like less of a man," Montes said. "When you've done everything for yourself all your life and it's not there anymore, that security, it's a bad feeling."

Worst of all, Montes recently had to ask his grown son for help in paying his utility bill. "I'm not supposed to be asking my son for help. I'm supposed to be helping him."

Upset with Washington
Montes' wife, Gina, is frustrated with the endless bickering among politicians and the lack of progress in Washington toward improving the economy and adding jobs. She wishes members of Congress would stand in her shoes for a while and feel what it’s like to have to struggle to make ends meet.

"We've been begging and borrowing and humiliating ourselves. Let them see how that feels, let them know that it's not good," she said.

When asked how she believes elected representatives would feel if they actually did walk in her shoes, she replied, "They wouldn't feel very good right now. They would not. They would feel like something has to be done."

Her husband believes Congress is "oblivious" to the emotional and financial suffering of the unemployed. "I don't sleep, I sleep an hour here, I sleep an hour there. I walk the house, what am I going to do?" Montes said.

He agrees with his wife that politicians need to reach agreement on how to create jobs. "They've just got to stop fighting with each other. We're supposed to be all Americans!"

如何活下去

在接近底特律的Farmington Hills， Michael McCowan在中小學教了十七年的音樂，最近收到資遣單，在找工作。43歲的父親，有兩個子女，其中女兒正要上大學。

“我不知道該怎麼辦，抵押？要不，這些帳單？”，“不知道他們瞭不瞭解”，“只能對孩子承諾，情況會好轉的。但是，不安，前途未知！”

人潮擁擠的就業博覽會

密西西比州的Southaven，距首府Capitol Hill,80英哩遠。2500人在就業博覽會，試圖搶限定的500個工作機會。

長長的人龍中，Glyn Jenkins引頸企盼著。失去在精神醫療單位的工作。“轉折處在哪裡呢？真的很難找到支持你的，太多人失業了。大家都在同一條船上，自顧不暇。”

Charles Kimler,五十歲左右，穿著西裝，在服務業待了三十年。現在只能靠女友，支付帳單。“我可以說是一文不剩了！”，“夜不成眠，情緒、精神萎頓，每件事都不對勁！”

Patricia Allen，原來開家「居家清潔」，在經濟衰竭後收攤。來來往往的面試，卻沒有回音過。對政客的嘴臉，厭惡。“華府是徹底的失焦、脫節了。選舉時信誓旦旦，進了議會辦公室就忘了說過的話。”

‘I don't know how I'm going to make it’
Michael McGowan from Farmington Hills, near Detroit, has been teaching music at elementary and middle schools for 17 years, but is now looking for work. He recently received a notice by mail that he will be laid off.

"I was very, very shocked. You wouldn't think that having a job for 17 years that you'd be looking at something like this." The 43-year-old father of two children, including a daughter approaching college age, is now deeply concerned about his future. 

"I don't know how I'm going to make it. I don't know how I'm going to make my mortgage, how I'm going to make all those bills." 

He has told his kids that everything will be fine, but isn't certain about how they really feel about it. "I don't know if they understand," he said. "Sure they know what's happening, but I don't think the actual ramifications have set in yet."

Crowded jobs fair
In Southaven, Miss., more than 800 miles from the gridlock on Capitol Hill, an employment fair this week drew more than 2,500 people seeking the approximately 500 jobs being offered by local employers.

Among the many faces in the long lines was that of Glyn Jenkins, who had lost her job at a mental health facility. "You just don't know which way to turn and it's hard to get support, because there are so many people out there in the same boat."

Charles Kimler, who is in his 50s, came to the job fair wearing a suit, hoping to find work after losing his job of 30 years in the service industry. His girlfriend helps him as much as she can, but Kimler said he still can't pay all his bills now. 

"I'm basically broke," he said. "I don't sleep at night, you know, it's just a constant strain on my emotions and my psyche and everything else."

Another job seeker, Patricia Allen, used to own a small house cleaning business until it folded during the economic downturn. She is frustrated by going on job interviews but never getting a call back. And she is angry with America's political leaders. 

"They are out of touch in Washington, they're definitely out of touch," she said. "When election time comes they talk about what they're going to do, and when you put them in office they don't live up to their words."

From：

MSNBC－http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/12/8290697-unemployments-toll-i-feel-like-less-of-a-man