Update: Why do Republicans hate unemployed Americans?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

First it was Arizona's Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, who blocked the extension of unemployment benefits last fall because he wanted the Paris Hilton Tax (estate tax) for idle rich kids to inherit their parents' fortune to be dealt with first.

Then it was Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) who blocked the extension of unemployment benefits earlier this year in a one man filibuster over the insincere claim that the benefits were not paid for by Congress (Bunning had two weeks earlier voted against the Pay-Go rules that he now claimed the Senate was violating).

Then it was "Doctor Evil," Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) who promised that he'd be the next Sen. Jim Bunning to block the extension of unemployment benefits. Why do Republicans hate unemployed Americans?

Well, Doctor Evil failed in his filibuster. Three Republican Senators broke with their party to give the Democrats the votes needed to break the attempted filibuster of unemployment benefits (and other matters included in the bill). They were Republican Senators George V. Voinovich of Ohio (retiring) and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 59-38 to approve legislation that would keep unemployment checks flowing to jobless Americans after the Senate resolved a stubborn impasse, deciding the $18 billion cost of the measure could be added to the deficit. The House quickly followed with approval of the measure on a bipartisan vote of 289 to 112. In the House, 49 Republicans joined 240 Democrats in backing the measure. President Obama immediately signed the bill. Obama Signs Bill to Extend Unemployment Benefits – NYTimes.com

Congressional Republicans argued that the spending cuts should be made in other federal programs to cover the costs of the measure, which Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas, characterized as up to 17 months of unemployment “courtesy of the federal taxpayer.”

“What unemployed workers really want are jobs and paychecks, not almost two years of unemployment checks and more debt for our country,” he said.

These would be the very same Congressional Republicans who had no difficulty voting for government borrowing and spending during the George W. Bush years for two massive tax cuts that benefited corporations and the wealthy, and two wars for which only members of the Armed Services were asked to make any sacrifice. Republicans doubled the national debt in eight years by adding more than $5 trillion dollars to the national debt.

At the same time the massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy were justified by the faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economic theory. The massive tax cuts failed to produce one net new job over the past decade. The decade ended with fewer people employed than when it began.

So tell me Rep. Brady, just where exactly are these jobs that the unemployed are to somehow magically find? I'm waiting for an answer.

Democrats said that many out of work Americans were unable to find jobs and that delaying what for some is their sole income in a political fight over spending was unconscionable. They say the money should be treated as an emergency expense.

“Holding unemployed Americans, hundreds of thousands of them, hostage to score what some think may be political points I think is reprehensible,” said Representative Sander M. Levin, Democrat of Michigan.

Government borrowing for deficit spending during economic downturns to prime the pump of the economy is Economics 101. Republicans reject this basic tenet of economics, yet still cling to their faith based supply-side "trickle down" economic theory which has been entirely disproved and discredited over the past decade. Why should anyone listen to what these unserious people have to say?

Unemployment benefits are particularly effective as stimulus – the money is spent immediately for mortgages, rent, utilities, food, medical care and other necessities of life, injecting money into the economy and helping to stabilize any further downward spiral of the economy that will feed upon itself when the government does nothing. Perhaps Republicans secretly desire more defaults and more people unemployed and the economy in a full-blown depression?

The $18 billion cost of the program is a fraction of what corporations owe the federal government in unpaid taxes. Why not pay for it with aggressive collection of unpaid taxes from corporations?

Democrats hope to use the next few weeks to negotiate legislation to provide the added unemployment aid and other benefits through the end of the year so that they can avoid what has become a recurring fight over the handling of the costs of the program. The legislation also provided temporary extension of the federal flood insurance program and averted a 21 percent cut in doctor fees paid by Medicare.

UPDATE: Jobless Recovery Explained in Two Simple Statistics « The Washington Independent: 

Wondering what’s behind those recent jobless recovery numbers?

1. Fortune 500 companies tripled their profits to $391 billion in 2009.

2. They also slashed their payrolls by more than 800,000 jobs.