The measure of typicality these anecdotes have to the top 1-percent population segment is open to discussion. What isn't much is the fact that the overwhelming majority do little other than add to their investment portfolios. And that does little to nothing to improve the employment picture.
Extending the cuts in perpetuity, however is exactly what composes the core of Republican economic orthodoxy. For, in Republican lexicon, not extending them is the same as enacting a tax increase, and that, in any iteration, is NOT on the table. What's that about the federal budget deficit and the national debt, and how they're such incredibly looming disasters that we need to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Meals-on-Wheels programs, social assistance programs, and slash education and infrastructure?
Different economists posit the difference between an employable, but unemployed person, and the employed person is an absolute range that spans factors of 7 and more than 20, depending on whether that person is earning a living wage or is underemployed, perhaps working part-time. Absolute because the unemployed person represents a negative to the economy, and the other represents a positive. (Think, the "absolute" difference between a negative 3 and a positive 3 is 6.) Just paying unemployment compensation -- because of the multiplying factor of that money going directly and immediately back into the economy in the form of necessities of life purchases -- represents a $1.70 gain for just $1.00 expended.
Now consider not simply putting someone back to work, but putting that person back to work on projects that, sooner or later, will have to be completed; roads that are crumbling across America, bridges that are unsafe, an electric grid that will expedite the more efficient transmission of electricity, wiring the entire country for the Internet, the development and installation of renewable energy facilities, and so on. The single most dynamic change in this country's economic history occurred when we girded for war, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. That was exclusively the result of federal government spending. Nothing here should be taken to presume some recommendation that the government borrow the huge sums necessary to put America back to work, just to put America back to work. But right this moment we have the projects that are going to have to be undertaken. And waiting is not going to get the work done for less.
There are also costs that aren't often calculated in the monthly unemployment figures: The very real and very heavy costs to the country that are the consequence of family disintegration brought on by extended unemployment; medical, criminal, spiritual, and more. We still pay these costs; indirectly perhaps, but they're every bit as there as if they were in our own living rooms, which too often they are.
We can do this. In the 65 years I've been on this earth, I've seen us do much, much more, and much, much more challenging things. Quitting now is what quitter do. And I'm simply unprepared to think this country of mine is simply going to toss its hands in the air and surrender. Thing is, collectively we've got to demand of our leaders and of ourselves the will to do whatever it takes. -- Ed Tubbs, Tenino, WA
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