An interesting article caught my attention this morning titled, States make ‘disturbing cuts’ to unemployment benefits, authored by Jake Grovum, Pew/Stateline Staff Writer. You can read the article by clicking the link of the photo above from the article.
The irony of this article, is that the continued stretching of unemployment benefits have, in the words on some economists, perpetuated unemployment. How can this be? people ask!
On the one hand, some people (how many I do not know — likely not the majority) just do not really seek work once they get on unemployment. And some that do seek it, only seek better jobs, not the available jobs. This is not surprising and falls under the category of human nature, I suppose.
Some people (likely a smaller minority) actively game the system. They falsify information and, in some cases, collect multiple claims. I know this is astounding and perhaps a revelation you care not to consider, but it happens. And, once again you can chalk this up to human nature.
Some people, Get unemployment benefits, and they find other sources of income that are not reported to the government. Again They are gaming the system but they can find some argument why this is OK, unlike the middle ones who just purely cheat. And again, you can chalk this up to good old human nature.
Human Nature! You see, we humans are an industrious and nefarious lot. If we can get something by working less, we surely will! In fact, we are biologically wired to do so. It’s in our genes–our biology. In times of more, we gorge and grow fat and lazy. We just do! We are predisposed to do the least we need to do to survive. This is none the less true, even though we have made major, seemingly worthless, efforts that have often precious little to do with our own immediate survival. Activities like; building the pyramids, or painting the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, or writing epic poems.
But, when you get down to it, these were also survival acts, but they were survival acts done for others who had been able to disproportionally survive. For the kings, pharaohs and other people that had just survived much better that the rest of us. In the process these winners have accumulated some form of currency for extra survival like; grain, cows, gold, silver, spices, and money. You know these guys they have often been called, “the Fat Cats.”
These guys drove those that had less to do the superfluous for the Fat Cats own benefit and aggrandizement. Basically saying to the world, I’m a better survivor than you, and as a result I get all kinds of things I don’t need, to show you just how great I am at surviving, and making sure you know how much you suck at it!
So now it’s in our DNA. Some have evolved to be great at surviving, and some have evolved to suck at it–a world supposedly in some kind of balance. Although, I think many more suck at it that those that win, but that still may mean its in balance. Often natures winners often consume a lot of the losers. It’s called survival of the fittest.
But, this is not the end of the story as to why the states have made these decisions. The second half of the story is that we have built an entire false economy predicated on the unemployed. The logic flows this way. We will give you free money to buy stuff since you are not so good at surviving. We will give you a lot of money. Not just the money you need to get the things you need to survive like; bread, eggs, flour, salt, meat, shelter, and heat. No, we will also give you more for lots of things that have nothing to do with survival like; cell phones, televisions, radios, cable, internet, booze, drugs, candy and toys, and more. Because, so the theory goes, you will be buying this stuff and it will create jobs, and maybe some of you will get back to work to make the stuff your buying. And if not you will get dependent on us winners giving you money to buy stuff from other winners and that’s good if we can figure out how to pay for it.
It can’t be just the stuff you need to survive either, because none of you want to work to make that stuff. It’s all low margin commodity items and doesn’t pay anything. If you did work in those jobs, you could never afford the stuff you want and likely could hardly afford the things you need. And, frankly, with rare exceptions, the stuff you need and want is made in some other country so few new jobs are going to get created anyway. Using a DAE, (Dumb Ass Estimate) It’s like for every 1,000 of you we give the extra money to so you can buy this stuff, 128 people will be able to afford to live on the salaries from the jobs that get created. Just don’t think about the math or you’ll get a headache!
Now, the good news is, we, your government–perhaps now it should be called the GIVERMENT because its more about giving you stuff than governing anymore–figured out how to make this work in 1972. See we got off that pesky gold standard that restricted how much money we could have to spread around to all of you, and now when we truly need it we can just print more money. See the logic here is, if we print the money and we give it to you and you spend it, it has created value so its all OK-it’s Hunky Dorey! So just printing money itself raises the US economy. If you want evidence of this, we put about $2 Trillion in new money in the economy already this year and the banks have all just posted great profits. Now that’s easy to do when the money comes out of thin air. But don’t go adding up all the banks profits and expecting to see the $2 Trillion because it ain’t all there.
Many really, really smart people educated in our finest institutions of higher liberal arts education have willingly swallowed this logic and that’s why the States all went along with it. Keep extending unemployment, borrow the money from the federal ‘giverment,’ and pay it back when the jobs start rolling back in and these people get back to work. But, lo and behold, it hasn’t worked. And, the states are looking at the rising debt payable back to the Giverment and they are going, “Oh Sxxx, We Fxxxed Up!”
In cases like this, it may be time for a little country logic. Most RedNecks, the good kind, not the ignorant racist bad ones. Yes Esther, there is a difference!–will tell you that when you are good at livin‘ its because you can either make, hunt, grow, trap, or build whatever you need from the stuff that is around you. If it ain’t there your “Sxxx out’a luck!” So you get good at figurin’ out how to make anything do for whatever you need, when you need it. It’s why rednecks love Duct Tape. See Duct Tape is good for just about anything.
Tack it to the floor in front of a mouse hole and you got a trap and a potential source of protein if times get really tough. I’ll tell you what, you can make shoes out of it, combine it with sticks and make chairs, beds, hell you can even make one of them fancy French “chaise lounges,” if’n you have a mind to!
Ya see, RedNecks understand that you can’t get something from nothing. If you think your getting something from nothing,; all you will really get is, Screwed! Life for RedNecks is simple. If your neighbor needs help, and you help ’em, if you done got a little bit extra, you may give them just enough to help ’em get back on their feet. You don’t give them too much or they will become your idiot brother in law, Melvin, who just lays on the back porch “Chaise Lounge” and drinks all your home brew, while you’s out trappin.
Hopefully, your neighbors will get back on their feet, and if they don’t don’t have the good sense that god gave an ant, to do that, then they can just suffer the fate the good lord intends for ‘em. Cause a RedNeck knows you can’t save everybody!
So, now the states have finally learned what RedNecks already new, that something from nothing just doesn’t work. Now the states have realized that they have continued to give away free money, and to pay for it they have taken stuff from everyone else in the form of taxes, and they finally had the revelation that little to none of it is creating any jobs. It’s just created more paper debt that has required more paper money and the only people that can make money out of nothing is the Federal Giverment, and the bankers, and they still have not learned they cant really do it either but that days fast approaching.
The upshot of this is, the states are going to get hammered as bad guys, who just don’t care about people. And you know what, maybe that is also a good lesson we need to re-learn. Centuries ago, when people in the woods heard a neighbor got eaten by a bear, or froze to death, or burned his house down with himself in it. they all said out loud, “poor Eustis, or poor Euelle, or poor Emma.” Then they went on about their own lives and their personal fight for survival because they knew that, there but for the grace of god went them. They got right back on the task of livin‘ and recognized that it was not up to anyone else to survive. In the end it, they knew simply livin‘ is a very personal responsibility. If you gave someone too much, their survival became your responsibility It was hard enough to take care of yourself.
Once someone else became your responsibility, you ended up with your wife’s worthless “Sxxx for brains” brother, layin on your custom hand made Duct Tape empowered chaise lounge. Layin right there on your very own back porch drinkin all your hand made home brew, eatin your hand caught organic fresh muskrat, and chowin down on your home grown new potatoes and onions. And, you know that if that was not happenin you could be sellin that extra, savin the damn money, and one day get a bunch of ‘dumb ass’ idiots just like Melvin to build you one of them freekin’ pyramids! If you just could get enough Duct Tape!
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