I’m hesitant to publish this, out of fear that Wall St. may see it and get ready for another massive panic tomorrow. The economic ignorance on display is towering.
“I understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief to people who need it, but how does that create jobs,” Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler asked Jay Carney Wednesday’s WH briefing.
Carney sarcastically responded: “Oh, uh, it is by, uh, I would expect a reporter from the Wall Street Journal would know this as part of the entrance exam.”
“There are few other ways that can directly put money into the economy than applying unemployment insurance,” Carney said.
Carney answers the question: “It is one of the most direct ways to infuse money directly into the economy because people who are unemployed and obviously aren’t running a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get. They’re not going to save it, they’re going to spend it. And with unemployment insurance, that way, the money goes directly back into the economy, dollar for dollar virtually.”
Arrogance is one thing, but arrogance in the service of stupidity is…the Obama administration, pretty much.
Here’s the thing. True, unemployment pays people money and they’re likely to spend it. But you’re also paying people not to work. Not to produce anything. The longer you pay them to not work, the longer they’re likely not to work. And the money to pay people not to work has to come from somewhere. Guess where (besides Jay Carney’s back side)?
That’s right — from people who are working, being productive, and who also are likely to spend the money. While unemployment insurance of some form and length is reasonable, the notion that it creates jobs is laughable on a Seinfeldian level. It’s a safety net, not an engine of our economic might.
Put it this way: If Carney’s logic held up, we should just carpet bomb the country in unemployment checks, forever. That would create a billion jobs and we’d all be swimming in prosperity.
We could excuse this as a brain Frank, but it’s an actual Democrat talking point. Nancy Pelosi has used it before, and despite the kicks she got she never backed down and now here the White House spokesman is, saying the same idiotic thing. They’re actually hoping unemployment payments create — not save — a million jobs.
Carney estimates that unemployment benefits could create up to one million jobs. However, then he goes back to the latest White House mantra of how a possible natural disaster could hurt US economy as well as the global economy.
The current crop of Democrats in leadership have to be the world’s largest collection of economic ignoramuses ever assembled outside your typical university faculty lounge.
Bonus: Last night after the Wisconsin elections, I jokingly tweeted that Obama was blaming the Democrats/unions’ defeat on the tsunami, the Arab Spring, the London riots and two disasters to be named later. Now, read that last blockquote again.
I hate being so right about these dolts all the time.
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