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In discussing the case for extending unemployment benefits a Post editorial tells readers that: "it is possible -- in theory, anyway -- for Congress to be both compassionate and prudent." This makes a great "who's on first," moment.
There is a reason that we have 15 million people unemployed. The people running economic policy -- people with names like Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Jack Snow, Hank Paulson, Robert Rubin -- thought that an $8 trillion housing bubble was really cool. The Washington Post mostly parroted the words of wisdoms coming from these and other people who expressed the same view. It completely ignored those who warned that the housing bubble would burst and wreak havoc on the economy when it did. (David Lereah, the former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors and the author of the book, Why the Housing Boom Will Not Bust and How You Can Profit From It, was the Post's most widely cited expert on the housing market leading up to the collapse of the bubble.)
Now the boom has burst and wrecked the economy. Remarkably, not one person who was responsible for the policy that brought about this disaster seems to be out of work. However, millions of factory workers, retail clerks, and school teachers have lost their jobs. These people are unemployed not because their lacked the necessary skills. Nor do they lack the desire to work -- they had been working until the economy collapsed.
Tens of millions of people are unemployed or underemployed because people with names like Greenspan and Bernanke do not know how to run the economy. And the Post wants to show them compassion by extending unemployment benefits.
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One hundred and one. One to process the application and 100 to interrogate applicants for fraud:
Why didn't you apply for the temporary part time job advertised at McDonalds? Afraid the popping french fry grease is going to burn your pretty little hands as a laid off executive assistant? How about a telemarketing job making cold calls from home so you don't have to pay for day care?
Says here you used to build houses with a nail gun. Pop quiz. What's the difference between a claw hammer, a frame hammer, a sledge hammer and a ballpeen hammer. You have 5 seconds.
Why aren't you taking computer courses in a skills retraining program? Think you're going to be hired in a call center without experience in Excel or Word?
Look, here's what you do to get that salesperson job in the mall. Tell the interviewer you're ashamed of taking subsidized unemployment benefits funded by stimulus spending and want to make it on your own like Robert Rubin did at Citigroup with no bailouts or any other handouts and protection from the government. They'll hire you in a flash.