Unless Congress acts by tomorrow, 2.5 million Americans will lose their extended unemployment benefits, even though unemployment is still above nine percent and there are currently five unemployed workers for every job opening. In the last forty years, the U.S. has never allowed jobless benefits to expire with unemployment so high.
At the same time, Congress is also faced with the December 31st expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Today, in two separate interviews, Sen.-elect Mark Kirk (R-IL) tried to bolster his fiscal conservative credentials by saying that extending unemployment insurance without finding spending cuts to offset the extension would be “misguided” because of its effect on the deficit. However, Kirk also called for extending all of the Bush tax cuts, “no matter what” the effect on the nation’s budget:
KIRK: We should extend the Bush tax cuts and make sure we don’t have a double-dip recession. And I have the honor to be the first of ninety-five new Republicans, fiscal conservatives, to help right our ship of state. [...]
Q: The first thing you’re talking about is deficit reduction and spending. Does that mean that right now, as of today, you’d be against extending the unemployment insurance?
KIRK: That’s right. You could extend it if you found a way to pay for it. And I voted for that in the past. But these proposals to extend unemployment insurance by just adding it to the deficit are misguided.
Watch it:
Kirk actually claimed that extending benefits — which costs $60 billion for one year, or $12.5 billion for a three-month extension — would lead to a Irish-style debt crisis, while glossing over the $4 trillion cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for a decade ($830 billion of which goes to only the richest two percent of Americans). Even MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough saw through Kirk’s double-talk, asking, “if [the tax cuts] are not paid for though, do we not risk going the way, as you said, of Greece and Ireland?”
As the New York Times editorial board wrote, “opponents would have you believe that the nation cannot afford to keep paying unemployment benefits: a yearlong extension would cost about $60 billion. The truth is, we cannot afford not to…Without jobs, there is inadequate spending, and that means ever fewer jobs. A wide range of private and government studies show that unemployment benefits combat that vicious cycle by ensuring that families can buy the basics.” Of course, as The Wonk Room explained, Kirk is no stranger to fraudulent fiscal conservative rhetoric.
"Okay, I get it, Mark Kirk is another asshat Republican who promised to move heaven and earth to secure those insane tax cuts for the richest Americans while trying to freeze out people who don't have enough money to buy food.
Where in the fuck do these assholes get off with this mentality? Rich people DO NOT NEED ANY FUCKING TAX BREAKS. If a rich asshole has to pay the same rate as I do then that's not going to force them to eat ramen noodles, they will still be rich. But there are millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and now are facing losing their unemployment benefits which means they can't eat, they can't pay their rent, they can't support their families while they try to get another shitty job working long hours for sub-standard pay for a douchebag boss.
It is beyond ridiculous that the Republicans are pushing so hard to permanentize the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans while they are simultaneously trying to starve a huge segment of the nation by cutting off unemployment benefits. Seriously, these assholes should be forced to spend some time in real poverty to see what its like wondering where the hell your next meal is coming from, where in the hell you'll find clothes to keep your kids warm, where you will live after your house is repossessed.
The "argument" I've seen is that unemployment benefits are being used to support luxurious lifestyles while people don't work. How in the fuck is $1900 a month luxurious? How in the fuck is that paltry sum anything but a subsistence stipend?
Fucking Republican assholery is going to make me lose my fucking mind one of these days. The entire party is sold out to special interests (rich people who NEEEEEEEED more money) and engages in a political philosophy called "Let's just make sure that black guy in the WHITE HOUSE fails no matter what". The Republican party is a bunch of racist obstructionists bent on winning political points while Americans freeze and starve.
But oh yeah, let's add $830 BILLION to the debt so that a bunch of rich assholes can brag about how much money they have. That makes total sense, if you're a fucking crackhead.
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