Posts Tagged ‘Jobless’
Economic Know-Nothingism: Punish the Poor, Protect the Wealthy
Their wars and tax cuts created the deficit. Now they want to profit from it and make scapesgoats of the poor.
Steve Benen 7/14/10 Washington Monthy
THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ECONOMIC KNOW-NOTHINGISM…. Four months before the midterm elections, “virtually every Republican” in Congress agrees that the country can’t afford $30 billion in extended unemployment benefits, but it can afford $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-Texas) apology to BP instantly became a key moment in this cycle, as did Rep. John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) dismissal of the importance of the crash of 2008.
But this new issue is a development to build an entire campaign around.
This week, the Senate Republican leadership made one of the single dumbest policy arguments imaginable: policymakers shouldn’t even try to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthy, because they pay for themselves. GOP officials see the overwhelming evidence that Bush’s tax policies helped produce a massive deficit, but they reject it, preferring to believe a ridiculous fantasy.
Drummond: Plenty of money for war, but far too little to help nation’s jobless
I have two friends who have been out of work for over a year.
One was a high-ranking record industry executive. The other was a successful freelance writer who trotted the globe on plum assignments.
Up until two years ago, their careers were thriving. They owned their homes.
Then the bottom fell out.
The record industry executive got a pink slip from the company where she had worked for 12 years. Meanwhile, the freelance writer’s phone stopped ringing and the assignments dried up.
When I check in with them by phone, I can hear the panic and frustration in their voices.
They have sent out résumé upon résumé, and tapped their network of family, friends and business contacts.
Yet they still haven’t been able to find work. One is barely a step ahead of the foreclosure sheriff. Their self-esteem is in the toilet.
They’re among the 6.7 million Americans who have been jobless for 27 weeks or longer.
Not having gainful employment is not, as some right-wingers seem to think, a matter of choice.
No one I know is deliberately trying to stay out of work to collect the government’s $450 per week unemployment subsidy when they are used to making comfortable salaries.
Many of the jobless — certainly the millions eligible for unemployment benefits — are out of work through no fault of their own.
They had the misfortune of building careers in industries that imploded around them.Our unemployment crisis is a matter of math, not a lack of morals.
There are simply far too few jobs for too many seekers.
Wake-up Call 