Unemployed in California, Week 34: The $20,000 ring

Had another dark humor moment in the Union's unemployment line today.

The cloud hovering over union construction is very dark. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article explained that the return to the commercial building boom of the past decade will be years away. In the first 9 months of 2009 residential building permits for the San Francisco region were down 73%! The bailed-out banks aren't lending and the Bay Area construction loan delinquency rate is 17%.

Four thousand of San Francisco's construction union labor force were out of work, a figure that may be near 30%. It's about the same at my local.

So as we stood around this morning at the union hall, we got talking about the state of our nation. One guy was better off than me, he was eligible for the second Federal unemployment benefit extension. We chatted, then another guy chimed in that he didn't even get the first extension and his money ran out months back. We broached the healthcare issue: it cost me two of my four weekly unemployment checks this month to pay for my family's health benefits. But then, the guy with the tooth missing up front, chimed in he was worse off, and as he told his story, he confirmed, he was worse off.

"My health benefits ran out long ago. I am deep, deep in debt. I got a kidney stone. I went to the ER. Shit, by the time I got out two days later, they billed me for $20,000!"

We all looked at eachother, then he added, "they even charged me $60 for oxygen - they charged me for the f****** air I breathed. Hospital f***** air." Then someone yelled, "you shoulda brought your own f****** air man." Another dude yelled, "f****** $20,000 for a kidney stone, did they at least give you the stone to take home?" To which our friend quickly replied, "No man! I'll tell 'em I ain't paying till they give me what's mine! And f*** them, let them try collecting that $20,000."

After a brief silence a guy sitting across the room piped in, "hey if you ever get that kidney stone dude, put it in a ring, that'll be the most expensive ring you've ever owned!" We all smiled and got up to move down the line.

Capitalist Health Care: it's just precious.