Last updated on January 8th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Republicans will stop at nothing in an effort to hoard every dollar for the top 1%. This is why they refused to extend long term unemployment benefits in an act that President Obama called “just cruel”.
After letting long term unemployment benefits lapse on expire on Dec. 28, Republicans thus far haven’t been swayed by arguments in favor of humanity for an additional 1.9 million Americans who will lose benefits in the first six months of 2014. But even if they can’t be bothered with humanity, Republicans are also making a mess of our struggling-to-recover-still-from-the-Bush-debacle economy.
Republicans drained $400 Million from state economies in unemployment benefits last week alone, according to an analysis by Ways and Means Committee Democrats. But Republicans are not done with their destruction.
Never satisfied until they’ve left Rome burning in complete chaos during which no one will notice a barely working House of Representatives or a cocaine buying Republican, Republicans upped the ante to costing the economy an estimated $1 billion dollars per week, according to Harvard economist Lawrence Katz.
Katz estimates that the expiration of benefits for the long-term unemployed is costing the economy $1 billion per week.
“In state after state, Americans who have lost their federal unemployment insurance in one fell swoop last week are struggling to get by,” said Ways and Means Ranking Member Sandy Levin (D-MI). “Every week that Republicans fail to act tens of thousands of additional long-term unemployed Americans lose this vital lifeline as they look to get back on their feet after the worst recession in generations, and the economy in each state is taking a hit.”
Speaker John Boehner loves to display his “jobs” plan at his pressers, but has yet to actually do anything remotely related to actual jobs. The Republican refusal to renew long-term jobless benefits will cost the economy 200,000 jobs this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO also estimates that extending long term jobless benefits would raise gross domestic product (GDP) and recipients would increase their spending on consumer goods and services.
However, the CBO also noted Republican concerns that extending the unemployment benefits could cause some people to “reduce the intensity of their job search and remain unemployed longer.” Yes, it could do that.
Just like extending oil subsidies could cause oil companies to fail to take responsibility for their operations, and subsidizing WalMart’s employees with federal benefits could cause WalMart to be a lazy, cheap employer.
But that is not a good reason to fail to support the many earnest job seekers or to punish the US economy for a few bad apples. No, just like “guns don’t kill”, jobless benefits do not make someone lazy. In truth, our unemployment benefits are just enough to keep total terror from setting in upon the unemployed. They are certainly no where near a cushy lifestyle.
What we are witnessing is the Republican American dream — starving children from SNAP cuts, “lazy welfare mothers” tossed off of help, desperate Americans searching for work to no avail being tossed off of unemployment benefits that cost the entire economy up to $1 billion dollars a week… And that loss will be blamed upon more of our vulnerable- our seniors, our disabled veterans, our children — and used to justify tossing them onto the cold streets of GOP dysfunction.
The Senate votes tonight on extending long term unemployment benefits, and Speaker John Boehner has said that he is “open” to extending them so long as they are offset. His spokesman Michael Steele put it thusly, “… as long as it’s paid for and as long as there are other efforts that will help get our economy moving once again.” Apparently this is a no since per appearances, Republicans are actively seeking to keep the economy from recovery.
In other words, Boehner is saying Americans should pick who is going to die – and leave WalMart and the oil companies out of the rotation of victims. It’s the Hunger Games.
Note: The Democrats say that their estimate of the losses incurred is thought to be conservative, because it only takes into account the total dollar amount provided per week by the now expired EU program. They note, “Economists generally multiply these estimates by 1.5 to 2 to show the true economic impact.”
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