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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKrugman- Return of the "Bums on Welfare"
Thinking some more about John Boehners resurrection of the notion that were suffering weak job growth because people are living the good life on government benefits, and dont want to work. It has long seemed to me that the issue of unemployment benefits is where the debate over economic policy in a depression reaches its purest essence. If your on the right, you believe you more or less have to believe that unemployment benefits hurt job creation, because youre paying people not to work. To admit that depression conditions are different, that the economy is suffering from an overall lack of demand and that putting money into the pockets of people likely to spend it would increase employment, would mean admitting that the free market sometimes fails badly. And of course disdain for the unemployed helps a lot if you want to oppose any kind of aid for the unfortunate.
But theres something remarkable about seeing these claims made now because even if you believed that expanded unemployment benefits were somehow a cause rather than an effect of the economic crisis, those expanded benefits are long gone. Heres unemployment benefits as a percentage of GDP:
Theyre back down to their level at the height of the Bush boom.
And here, from Josh Bivens, is the recipiency rate the percentage of the unemployed receiving any benefits at all:
more
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/return-of-the-bums-on-welfare/?smid=re-share
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)For political gain of course. Republicans thrive on dividing.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)only 25% of the unemployed are getting unemployment benefits? Wow.
Are the rest mostly a) recent graduates or b) long term unemployed?
I am guessing A
Long term unemployed are essentially considered broken by most employers (really it is a form of bigotry) to the point where you are seeing state level subsidization of employers to even hire them in the first place. It isn't well publicized but that is what is happening on the front lines.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)long term unemployed are a much bigger slice than I remembered.
37.5% of those unemployed in 2013 were jobless for 27 weeks or more.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)(both D and R) will not stop until these benefits are removed entirely.
Turbineguy
(37,313 posts)Nice touch, Professor.