Just what are they going to do 13 months from now

[RegieRocker]

when people are still unemployed? Put these people to work doing something. It ruins a persons self esteem.

[phantom power]

1. Only the self-esteem of super-rich banksters matters.

[mmonk]

5. And their money.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. If the Dems had any sense, they would have gotten behind

a massive public works program when Obama took office. Publicly financed workers could have built a national high-speed rail system, light rail in the cities, a green energy net, a state-of-the-art Internet system, etc. Just getting our butts out of the wars on a timely basis would have been sufficient to finance a lot of this stuff.

Edited to add: And the government should have kept ownership of the rail, energy and Internet infrastructure.

But Noooooooo. Blue Dogs didn't want it. (Blue Dogs are a handy excuse for all sorts of failures.) Nooooooo, the corporations and banks would have disapproved any handouts not going to them. Noooooo, you'd need an actual Democratic administration to even conceive of such a radical notion. Never been done in our history, ya know. (US history begins in 1948 with the onset of the Cold War, ya know.)

[n2doc]

4. Or they would have demanded that UE benefits extend 24 months

With perhaps a trigger that would stop them if unemployment rates dropped to, say, 6% (i.e. not frickin' likely). Then everything would at least be on the table at the same time.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Well, at the very least.

And they would have killed that "payroll tax holiday" and kept the earned income credits going.

[sweetapogee]

11. If dems

had asked for a 2 year extension, then wouldn't that be an admission that we expect unemployment will still be in the crapper at the run up to the 2012 election? Not a way to win elections???

[n2doc]

12. Like I said, with a trigger to drop them if things got good n/t

[sweetapogee]

14. it is

a rare time in history when someone gets me to the point of having no appropriate words to speak. You have managed to accomplish the task.

[neverforget]

3. The Democrats get to trade something else away long term for a short term

gain.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Yeah.

My bet is that they'll give up something on SS to get the next paltry extension.

[neverforget]

9. Exactly. SS is now a just another trading chip.

[NightWatcher]

8. Dont worry, the repukes are going to crash the system in Feb-Mar this year

They're going to sink the economy and leave Obama holding the bag

[Lucky 13]

10. There will be PLENTY of jobs in 13 months.

With these tax cuts for the rich, all these NEW jobs are going to be created like maid, butler, driver, gardner, cook, nanny, personal assistant, etc. If they can't find a job then, it will only be due to their laziness and they will deserve the resulting homelessness.

[MiniMe]

13. The repigs won that round. They won't continue it in 13 months

Boner probably won't even bring it up for a vote. However, when the tax cuts expire in 2 years, it will be during an election year. And they will probably be renewed for everybody again.

[ZombieHorde]

15. Very good question. The unemployed need help now, but the bill is flawed. nt