This continuing deadlock on unemployment benefits is really getting up my nose. Looks like some of our representatives – certainly a lot of Republicans – seem to think that people prefer being unemployed and that somehow giving them the minimal aid that unemployment offers is an incentive for remaining that way.
Not surprising. They, after all, most unapologetically represent purist free enterprise extremism, at least as it relates to ordinary people, workers, the poor, etc. (It’s a different story with respect to corporate America, but more on that later.) Capitalism works best for the ownership class when there’s a massive surplus of workers – that’s just basic economics. It depresses wages, it keeps the rabble in line, and it makes certain that the best talent is always available. Anyone who has ever worked through a recession knows what I’m talking about. Raises become rare or non-existent; bonuses dry up. Always the same 
excuse, too – the bad economy. And yet the boss seems to be doing really well. Buys him/herself a new car, lives the good life, seems well-fed enough. Built into this dynamic is the knowledge that jobs are scarce, and that you can be replaced any day. It’s a businessman’s paradise, I tell you. Bosses’ nirvana.
So, hey – unemployment insurance payments make people less desperate. That will never do. And subsidizing the ludicrously expensive (and aptly named) COBRA health insurance program – which costs an unemployed couple upwards of $800 a month to maintain – would spoil the market for insurers. Hell, that would be like the “public option” – unfair competition for United Health Care or BlueCross. Not to worry, boys. Old John Boehner, John Kyl, and the crew will save your bacon. Again.
I don’t want to let the Democrats off the hook here. If they were so committed to working class and poor families in this country, they’d push a lot harder than they are now. There’s no “fire in the belly” with the vast majority of them, and that’s because in large measure they answer to the same paymasters. Oh, yes. They’ve passed the thing called “Wall Street Reform” – a watered-down package of mild adjustments that won’t deeply upset any investment banker. It’s better than nothing, but only if we insist that it does not stop there.
I know … it’s amazing that, after working to win a contentious election like 2008, we still have to fight for every inch. Best get used to the idea. Elections matter… but only if you’re willing to fight every moment between them.
luv u,
jp
