FlintTalk.com Forum Index > Political Talk Topic: Extending unemployment benefits

Author    Post   untanglingwebs El Supremo Robert Reich on Facebook I'm freezing in Chicago. Meanwhile, in Washington, Republicans say they won't extend emergency unemployment benefits unless their cost is offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget. But they won't even consider offsetting the cost by closing tax loopholes for the rich -- such as the "carried interest" loophole that gives hedge-fund and private-equity partners an annual $11 billion tax subsidy, almost twice the cost of extending unemployment benefits. Put this in a larger context and see the pattern: (1) Not only do they oppose extending unemployment benefits, but (2) they oppose any jobs program to put the long-term unemployed to work, (3) they want to cut food stamps, (4) they refuse to raise the minimum wage, and (5) they're determined to kill off unions. Connect the dots and you have a calculated strategy to keep wages as low as possible -- forcing large numbers of Americans to choose between working for peanuts or having nothing at all. Republicans are pushing this strategy because lower wages give their big-business patrons fatter profits (at least in the short term; longer term, they reduce overall demand for goods and services). The strategy is already succeeding: Real median household incomes are now 4.4 percent below what they were at the start of the so-called recovery, and corporate profits are up. Democrats, including Obama, should be calling them out on this strategy. Why aren't they? Wed Jan 08, 2014 11:07 am  untanglingwebs El Supremo Robert Reich January 3 near Berkeley, CA . I'm on a conference call this morning with the media, organized by House Democrats, arguing that Congress’s first responsibility when it reconvenes is to restore unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million jobless who have lost them, and 4 million others who will lose them if nothing is done. Long-term unemployment remains at near record levels, with 37 percent of America’s unemployed without work for over six months. The current rate of long-term unemployment is at least twice as high as it was at the expiration of every previous unemployment insurance program going back to 1958. Republicans say unemployment benefits deters people from seeking employment, but the real reason the unemployed don’t have jobs is because there aren't enough jobs: There are still 3 unemployed people for every job opening in America -- over a million fewer jobs today than when the recession began over six years ago. Lack of unemployment benefits is a huge hardship to the jobless and their families, and it also hurts the economy because they can’t buy goods and services that support other jobs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates unless unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless are reinstated, the economy will lose 200,000 additional jobs this year. Earth to Congressional Republicans: Restore unemployment benefits. 10,209 people like this. Wed Jan 08, 2014 11:17 am    Display posts from previous:   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First

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