A. That would require common sense, which ain't too common.Quote from jasonc:
Why doesnt the government limit unemployment to a few months and then create various manual labor jobs instead so they atleast get some value for their money? am i missing why this is worse then just giving money for nothing?
Quote from empee:
I could say that unemployment benefits actually hurt the economy. How? When I go out to eat with my unemployment check, I'm crowding out someone who has earned money and is trying to get a table as well. I'm actually hurting the economy by punishing people who produce. You're also hurting the supermarket that the unemployed would have gone to to cook at home, thereby robbing them of income.
I'm actually a big proponent of unemployment benefits (limited to something 'reasonable', whatever that is), but both sides lately on any debate create flawed logic that no one holds anyone accountable for.
Quote from the1:
You might want to think this through a little more. What happens to all those houses when the mortgage doesn't get paid? As if the supply of homes wasn't big enough already. Unemployment is an extremely important circuit breaker, or shock absorber for the economy. If these extensions keep getting denied things are going to get a lot worse.
With 20/20 hindsight we can easily conclude Smoot Hawley caused the Great Depression. We may be able to look back with similar hindsight someday and say the denail of unemployment extensions caused the Greater Depression. Unemployment benefits come out of my tax dollars and I'm a srong supporter of extensions. Ten to fifteen million people with no income is going to have a massive ripple effect if it were to come to that.
Quote from vulture:
I guess no one sees the obvious. Perpetually extending unemployment benefits creates a captive, yet entirely dependent group of voters who will always vote for the party that promises to extend their entitlements. As the numbers of unemployed and disenfranchised continue to mount, the larger the percentage of the population that will become dependent on these neverending handouts, whether that be welfare, unemployment benefits, assisted health care, guaranteed pensions, etc, etc...
Quote from vulture:
If the mortgages dont get paid, we'd finally get a reset to more realistic housing values. Why is it that so many individuals think this is the end of the world. I know why...because it's a generational war. The generation that benefitted from asset inflation, whose $105,000 ranch house is now worth $500,000 will do and vote for any policy which can preserve this artificial value, no matter the costs to the larger economy or upcoming generations (or those who might possibly lift their offers).
The reality is the biggest burden for any wage earner who had to actually buy all of this overpriced crap real estate is his mortgage, the assessments and the property taxes. Is it any wonder why a good chunk of the population just had a collective "f*** it" moment these past two years when they were stuck with a massive mortgage payment on a house that declined in value...Is it also any wonder how, out of nowhere, this economy has still got a small bit of life left with a trickle of consumer spending out there? Take away that massive burden of having to make those hefty mortgage payments and property taxes and suddenly people CAN take on work for a fraction of what they demand currently.
It's this ass backwards mentality of preserving artificially high asset values that has put us into this mess of looking to bailout this and stimulate that, all the while we just rack up more and more unsustainable debt and do nothing to address the affordability problem in the first place.
Quote from vulture:
It's this ass backwards mentality of preserving artificially high asset values that has put us into this mess of looking to bailout this and stimulate that, all the while we just rack up more and more unsustainable debt and do nothing to address the affordability problem in the first place.
William I seriously doubt the Mad Max scenario.Quote from William Rennick:
This is just an experiment, a game of chicken to see if the unemployed start looking for work if they think their checks are ending. The Feds will be watching the weekly unemployment data closely to see if this works. If not they'll pony up the funds pretty quick. 15 million desperate people will be a Mad Max scenario.
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