Would-be Nevada Sen. Sharron Angle has recently taken to depicting America's unemployed as a group of people so spoiled by the extension of unemployment benefits that they have basically stopped looking for work. Full Story »
Posted by Dwight Rousu
Convincing argument against the claim that job seekers are to blame for their own unemployment, backed by a long list of counterexamples from other news sources.
This is an excellent overview of what's actually happening with the unemployed. The writer does not dispute that some individuals may be taking advantage of the system, but denying benefits to the hundreds of thousands of those looking for any kind of work is revealed as bad policy. Unemployed people don't pay taxes--slowing the recovery. The article could have been improved by adding sources from economists like the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman.
Mr. Linkins uses quotes (apparently from sources in the area of the particular job fair or openings) to refute the claims of the likes of Angle and Linder.
Linkins summons up a large number of stories on the unemployed seeking jobs, to counter the republican faux claim that the unemployed are the new welfare queens.
An informative article using a by-date journal approach to convey what it's like to be unemployed and searching for work. Good journalism which punches holes in the right-wing stereotype machine about all those plenteous jobs that are available if only the lazy unemployed would get off their dead three-letter words or be willing to accept starvation wages. Except reality is that for every employment opportunity, there are five unemployed willing to fill it.
Right-wingers have a problem. If you don't depict the unemployed as a bunch of undeserving, lazy, dumb, worthless bums, how can you justify denying them unemployment benefits and tossing them out into the street?
The author has a clear bias against the gentlemen he quotes at the beginning of the article - referring to them as "chumps" and indicating that they are "just out of touch with what's going on in the country." However, this is an opinion piece and the author does an excellent job backing up his points with facts.
This piece represents corporate attitude…hire the working force for as little as possible…Without profit the well runs dry…
The majority of the employed are working at poverty levels…Corporate greed are systematically killing our independence…thinner margins are bottoming out…Hang tough working people demand what you need…We will get through this storm…It’s the best of times and the worst of times…
But enough of the view from 30,000 feet. What is actually going on with job seekers in America? Well, as it turns out, they are desperately seeking jobs, wherever they may ... More »
Ryan Paul and others don't have a clue about the under or unemployed. He was born the son of a US Senator and have very little compassion for the ordinary american citizens. He can afford sit and consider these idealogical arguements, because it does not affect him and his ilk. Nor, does he really understand poverty and lack. He sits and judges others who are less fortunate than he.
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