Extending Unemployment
There’s been some talk recently about a new stimulus package. “Consumers may be more interested in saving than spending, muting some of the immediate positive impact from tax rebates in the first economic stimulus package, lawmakers worry. So Democrats are considering a second economic stimulus plan that could extend unemployment insurance benefits.”
In a discussion I heard today on a cable news channel about that proposal one of the commentators, and I’d post his name if I could remember it, said that this would only encourage unemployed people not to look for work. This is the kind of bigoted bunk that gives Republicans and conservatives a bad name.
Has the guy ever been on unemployment? For many years my wife has been the primary income earner in our family. She is an engineer and manager (and an Air Force Reserves Squadron Commander), and I stayed home and raised the five kids, two adopted with special needs, and home schooled one of them. Twice in a five year period she was unemployed due to a slowing economy.
Let me tell you: She didn’t sit around watching air heads on cable news shows get paid enormous sums to prattle on mindlessly about things they know nothing about. Unemployment does not pay the bills, and it does not provide insurance. No one sits around waiting for it to run out before looking for something else. Proving Republicans have advocates blinded by ideology just as Democrats do.
Extending benefits during an almost-recession should be something both sides can agree about.