An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Monday, May 24, 2010
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans Have Totally Exhausted Their Jobless Benefits
According to Republicans and conservatives, that fact that hundreds of thousands of American have run out of unemployment benefits means that we ought to see a big boom in job growth. For a long time their contention has been that people who receive unemployment insurance have no incentive to look for work and that is what's "causing" our current, high state of unemployment.
Well I'll bet anyone who'd like to bet me that rather than seeing job growth zoom because people have come to the end of their benefits, we'll see something far less redeeming: a major spike in crime and social unrest. It's all coming to a city near you very soon!
This is basic economics and so few fail to get it?
ReplyDeleteMisery loves company Mike, as a self employed, ex-Mortgage broker who has been without bidness for over 24+ months and no unemployment benefits, my heart really goes out to these people. I feel their pain. I'm sure all of the small business owners who really make this county great, also feel their pain, really. I'm sure if the Democrates really were worried about Job growth, they would have focused on employment or maybe freeing up mortgage credit, but no, we needed health care. It's funny, I can afford my own health care now, I just can't afford the mortgage on my house.
ReplyDeleteAs a self employed person who has never recieved on dime of unemployment benefit I am sick and tired of the extensions. It is nothing more than welfare after the initial insurance has run out. If the person is poor or rich commiting crimes is still commiting crimes, no excuses for vadalisms and robberies. Keep your hands of of my stuff or I should be allowed to shoot your ass.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTwocents:
ReplyDeleteDo you own a house?
Twocents does not understand how money is managed in this economy.
ReplyDeleteIf there is no medicare, no medicaid, no unemployment extension insurance, and so forth then that sort of radical austerity will only increase robberies, forgeries, etc.
It will also pull liquidity out of a market that small business needs so badly.
This twocents form of austerity is a form of credit retraction - take credit away from poor people and the problem with this is that these poor people need this stuff just to get by and if they can't - then high probability of sickness and crime which costs us in a 'big' hit rather than a 'small' hit which helps the economy.
Such mentality would best be learned about various credit contractions
- clinton balancing the budget in 1999 and causing the following crash by pulling money out of the real economy
- bush focusing too much money on the iraq war which pulled money out of the US domestic real economy
whether it is a big credit retraction or a small one - across the scale the effect is invariant and results in reduction in growth
overall and stiffles small business by making the big banks ever more piggy with the money they are supposed to distribute.