“And in a fit of cruelty, they cut unemployment benefits.”
Do you honestly believe that the Republicans want the unemployment benefits reduced to their previous levels (nobody’s talking about “cutting” them) for no other reason than to get sadistic pleasure from watching other people suffer?! Sheesh, that’s about as intelligent as those who go around spewing nonsense about how Obama wants the economy to crash so he can form a new, world-wide government with him at its head… (and yes, people have actually told this to me with straight faces)
Why can’t we disagree with somebody (or some party) without jumping to the assumption that they are evil, cruel, and out to wreck as much sadistic destruction as they can?!
Fact of human nature: If people can live comfortably without working, they have no incentive to work. Therefore, expanding unemployment benefits gives people less of a reason to go find work. Nobody is suggesting we watch the unemployed starve, but we can’t support them indefinitely either. If the unemployment benefits were not at a record high then you would see more people lining up to be cashiers, work in Wal-Mart, etc. And don’t tell me there are no such jobs – I was recently in a clothing mall and I’d say about half of them had signs saying “now hiring”. probably not incredibly high-paying jobs, but jobs nonetheless. Why doesn’t the 9.8% of the population that is unemployed grab these jobs?
It may be more “humane” to give everybody money whether they work or not, but that simply does not work. That was Communism’s big idea, and look how well that worked out.