Here's a bedsheet, make a parachute!' Republicans say, pushing us out of a plane.

[usaf-vet]

Most of the world has asked people to stop going to work – temporarily, in theory – for the sake of public health. In the wiser countries of the world, the government is covering the payrolls of businesses through the worst part of these shutdowns, which has the dual benefits of helping employers not go broke, and keeping workers paid and employed until things can start getting back to normal.

America, of course, did not do anything so rational. Instead, we just sweetened unemployment benefits, forcing nearly 40 million people to pile into broken and dysfunctional state unemployment systems, while millions more give up altogether. The US did an excellent job propping up the financial markets, a mediocre job giving lifelines to businesses, and a poor job saving working people. And now, as we stare down the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, Republicans in Congress have a bright idea: cutting off the extra money we’ve been giving to unemployed people, and instead incentivizing work. As if workers needed more incentive than desperately trying to avoid starvation.

It is the lie at the heart of the Republican governing philosophy that causes all of these ludicrously insufficient responses to an existential crisis. The fundamental purpose of the Republican party is to cut taxes and otherwise serve the interests of the rich. That’s it. Everything else is in service of that goal. In order to hang on to enough electoral support to do this, they construct a morality tale about the sanctity of work and the evil of government handouts, a quasi-religious tale designed to ensure both the upper class and working class parts of the party’s base that the existing social arrangement is honorable and right. Now that we find ourselves in a crisis for which the obvious solution is unprecedented government support of the economy, the Republican party finds itself in a quandary. Doing what should be done would lead a lot of people to begin asking uncomfortable questions. If government aid can save us from another Great Depression, might it not be able to do something about inequality too? Republicans simply can’t have that in their own party.

People need healthcare. People need jobs that pay a living wage. People need food, and the forgiveness of rent payments, and a social safety net that is up to the challenge of being strained like it never has before. These are things the Republicans do not offer.
The government’s response to this crisis does not work for the majority of humans. But it does work for the Republican idea of work itself. Work comes above all. The more of your fellow Americans that die, the greater your chance of finding a new job. When you look at it like that, it’s a win-win situation.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/29/republicans-work-coronavirus-heres-a-bedsheet-make-a-parachute

[Laelth]

1. Excellent article. k&r for visibility. n/t

-Laelth

[Hugin]

2. YOYO... Suckers!

And, they wonder why we hate them.

[5X]

3. All their bedsheets have eye holes in 'em. n/t

[I_UndergroundPanther]

4. Hahahahaa but true

sadly it's True