House Minority Leader, and just about everybody's favorite loon, Nancy 'Old Stretch' Pelosi continues to maintain her rather idiotic claim that somehow unemployment insurance benefits actually performs the function of something she describes as a "safety net for our whole economy." And, according to her, they also simultaneously constitute "probably the most important" stimulus for the economy. What? She most recently made this claim that makes absolutely no sense, yet again, during a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday, when a reporter asked our resident nimrod why she has not brought unemployment benefits into the debate over the so-called fiscal cliff.
'Old Stretch' responded by saying, "As far as the unemployment insurance is concerned, that is something that is really a safety net for our whole economy. It’s not just a safety net for individuals. It’s a safety net for our economy." She went on to say, "Our economy, our capitalist, free market economy is one that swings back and forth in terms of ups and downs." Adding, "And when it is down, people have paid into an `unemployment insurance program and then they have those benefits, which probably are one of the most important stimuli for the economy." Like she knows anything about the workings of our "capitalist, free market economy."
But being far from done here, she continued with rather strange line of reasoning saying, "The economists tell us that dollar-for-dollar there’s more demand injected into the economy by unemployment insurance than almost anything you can name, food stamps being another one of those." Finally concluding with, "Unemployment insurance, I think we always have to recognize, as an important safety net for the economy, for our system instead of just for an individual." I seriously doubt that you could find an economist anywhere, other than that favorite of liberals everywhere, Paul Krugman, who would actually agree with a premise as nutty as the one being presented by Pelosi.
The Congressional Budget Office reported last week that federal and state unemployment insurance (UI) programs have cost $520 Billion over just the last 5 years, with a peak of 14.4 million Americans collecting UI benefits in 2009. Aside from the fiscal cliff, Congress may negotiate extending something called the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides federal taxpayer money to those "individuals who have exhausted regular state benefits," and which is set to expire on Jan. 2, 2013. The CBO said that extending federal unemployment insurance again could cost taxpayers another $30 Billion. Is that not absolutely CRAZY??
Personally, I'm one of those folks who views hunger as being a good motivator. And if that sounds cold to some folks, liberals most likely, then I'm sorry. Actually I'm not, because as long as we continue to pay people to do and produce absolutely nothing, very little progress, if any, will ever be made. Look, life isn't fair and you get out of it pretty much what you put into it. And it isn't the government's responsibility to make up the difference for those unwilling to put anything into it. And why should those who decide to attack life in order to get as much out of it as possible, be robbed of their reward in order to provide to those who are content to sit on their asses watching as life goes by?
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