IMHO, the Republicans Think the Unemployed Are Refusing to Work.

[LisaLynne]

That's why they talk about unemployment benefits causing a "culture of dependency." They think those out of work would have accepted jobs if they didn't have that sweet, sweet free money coming in. Because in their world, there are just jobs all over. But there aren't -- there aren't tons of good jobs sitting open. I don't even really think there are tons of low-paying jobs open, either.

Of course, they also think working three or four jobs (for a poor person, one of the lower classes like we are to them) is a problem. Why not? What sort of lives could any of us have, anyway? Why not fill it with meaningless and mind-numbing work? Work that leaves us too tired to think, particularly about by whom and how we are being screwed?

I know this is not news, but sometimes, I just have to write this stuff out because it's just so sickening.

[Laelth]

1. That's what they claim.

The ones with half a brain know it's a lie, but it's a convenient excuse for greed.

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith

-Laelth

[Katashi_itto]

2. +1000

[LisaLynne]

3. Well, that's true.

I go back and forth sometimes wondering how many of them actually BELIEVE something, how many of them FORCE themselves to believe something, and how many of them think they are just fooling the rest of us.

[Laelth]

4. They learned from P.T. Barnum (or Abraham Lincoln).

You can fool some of the people all of the time; you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time.

And they're right. Most people can be fooled. The Republican base is particularly susceptible. Wealthy Republicans merely assume the rest of us are stupid too.

-Laelth

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. Or how many of them

know "somebody" who games the system or takes UI and refuses to look for work and then they just assume that everybody is exactly the same way. The problem that I see from many "conservatives" is that they look at their own personal situation or somebody they know personally and just extrapolate it to everybody else.

[LonePirate]

5. I wish right wingers would make up their minds.

One day it is the unemployed refuse to work. The next day it is immigrants take all of the jobs leaving none for average Americans. It is exhausting trying to keep up with the talking points from the RWNJs.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Yup

One of the big problems IMHO is not that there aren't more jobs out there but that the jobs that ARE available tend to be low-paying "McJobs", which, although better than nothing, still make it hard for people to pay their bills, particularly if they had a higher-paying job before and more financial responsibilities (people don't always plan to lose their jobs). The Republican push to curb UI wouldn't be quite so bad if they weren't also working against people on the other end by continuously pushing cuts to the safety net that low-income working people rely on to help cover their living expenses (i.e. Food Stamps, Medicaid, Childcare Assistance), not to mention pushing against attempts to increase the minimum wage and/or refusing to support a "living wage". The way things are going right now, Republicans seem to basically be "boxing" people in into "bad" or "worse" situations. If they don't want people to "rely" on UI (to the extent people actually) do, then they need to help create a climate where either there are more job opportunities for people and businesses have to pay better wages or benefits or help working people in other ways that allow them to survive (that's asking for a miracle, I know).

[2naSalit]

8. I think it's just a script

that has proven to distract us with our rage while they systematically stab us in the back by taking all our tax $$ and give it to their financiers and benefactors... selling of the public's commons. Their sole intent is to destroy the social contract and make the whole planet a feudal system, and we're the serfs.

[Blue_Adept]

9. There's truth to it.

My girlfriend got laid off. Every job she looked at for a year was too low paying (going from $25 an hour to $8 an hour) and when you add in medical, it didn't make sense to actually go back to work until she found something that paid properly for her skill set. It can be more damaging to take a low paying job with poor/no insurance than to stay on unemployment.

[Orsino]

10. How many of them actually believe this is unknown...

...but the myth of people who won't work has always been one of their go-to excuses for not creating jobs.

[El_Johns]

11. +1

What sort of lives could any of us have, anyway? Why not fill it with meaningless and mind-numbing work? Work that leaves us too tired to think, particularly about by whom and how we are being screwed?

[FatBuddy]

12. We live in a "post-job" Uhhhmerica

there are two job classifications: revenue generators and carriers out of repetitious service tasks.

the revenue generators are kept close to the owners on the corporate plantation - they are the ones who can immediately make themselves relevant to an employer if they keep bringing money in.

[B Calm]

13. What the republicans are saying is, Capitalism is failing!

[LisaLynne]

14. Ha ha -- yes! nt