hold on a sec... 2 MILLION people are going to lose their unemployment benefits??

[inna]

What are these people (victims of the recession) supposed to do, shoot themselves? Move in with friends/relatives, if they are lucky? (Rely on savings - which are nonexistent for the majority of the working Americans?)

Anyway, what are the chances that the Congress takes action to fix this monstrosity tomorrow???

[Skittles]

1. WAR and TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY are more important!

GET WITH THE PROGRAM, INNA

[inna]

5. apparently. this is some scary, class war-in-your-face, type of stuff. nt

[midnight]

2. Let's pass another round of benefits, and get some job creation going

before the holiday recess....

[Canuckistanian]

3. And how do you propose that to be done?

The Repubs are blocking every attempt. If it can't happen in Congress, then it can't happen at all.

[midnight]

6. Can't we just have a signing statement that continues these

benefits?

[Canuckistanian]

16. Nope. Congress controls the purse strings

The President can issue Executive Orders, but not authorize any direct spending.

[the redcoat]

4. I suppose they can all call their Republican congressmen and say "thank you" nt

[TheKentuckian]

7. Isn't it cool the Republicans joined the War on Christmas?

This is going to go poorly and was designed to. By neither making the extensions permanent or at least indexing them to the unemployment rate and by passing only very short term extensions this was a predestined bridge to cross.

More foreclosures, more homeless, less demand, fewer jobs, lower wages. Fugly

[earth mom]

8. I'd say hell will freeze over first.

:argh:

[inna]

9. EarthMom! Haven't seen you in ages, happy to say hello!!

:hug:

Hope all is great with you and yours!


:loveya:

[MadHound]

10. Not only that, but with those 2 million people not spending, we get a bonus downturn in the economy

:woohoo::sarcasm:

It simply amazes me how basic economics don't phase our leaders, any of them.

[inna]

12. oh absolutely, it's the *anti-stimulus*, if anything.

Our leaders, of course, know exactly what they are doing. None of it is accidental or due to "incompetence".

[Thav]

20. They just believe in the wrong side of the economy

The supply side economics believe that "if you build it, they will buy it." and that demand for a product doesn't matter. To expand the economy, you have to lower the barrier of entry for businesses to supply product, and therefore more supply generates more demand.

Now, I've only had a high school economics class, and we learned about supply and demand. Demand drives sales, supply drives price. So I guess with supply side economics, the more you create of a product, the lower the price and therefore more demand?

Maybe it's all just magic and I should believe it works.

[bluedigger]

11. I expect there will be yet another march on Washington.

Probably in the spring - I hear the cherry blossoms are lovely. This one will look a lot more like the Bonus Army in 1932, though. It won't be pretty.

[Bozita]

13. I'm sure there's another MacArthur in the military's officer corps dreaming of the opportunity

And tomorrow, he will be listening to Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio.

Just like yesterday.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Um, his name would be General Be-tray-us, I think. - n/t

[Bluebear]

14. They must be "sucking the goverment tit" or "greedy"

Or any number of slurs that the administration's mouthpieces have called the suffering.

[TBF]

17. I predict they will be extended - as will tax breaks for the wealthy.

Republicans have proven themselves to be very good negotiators against Obama, so I predict this will be the outcome.

[WinkyDink]

19. Totally agree.

[Hello_Kitty]

26. Same here. And the usual suspects on DU will be on board with it.

The President and the Dems in Congress will be praised for being so Sensible^TM.

[rucky]

32. Hostage takers.

That's how the GOP negotiates. How do you negotiate with hostage takers?

[blindpig]

18. They will subsist on the absolute minimum

like workers do in much of the world today. Expect the minimum wage to be lowered too. They will push us until they push too far.

The logic of Capitalism contains the seeds of it's own destruction.

[Prophet 451]

21. They're supposed to find work or die

and the PtB aren't too choosy about which category the unemployed end up in.

I wish I was joking.

[amborin]

22. the disposables

[Hannah Bell]

23. the ptb don't care. move in with friends, go homeless, die.

these are the people whose ancestors sold opium & slaves, & worked irish & chinese labor to death, the people who killed striking workers & invaded most of the countries on the globe. the people who cut off the hands of black labor in africa & who are behind the african wars today. they're the people who experimented on prisoners, on the mentally ill, on the retarded, and even on "normal" people in hospital.

they don't care if you die. they don't consider you to be fully human.

[inna]

28. wow.

i'm with you, all the way, but... for some reason, that paragraph you just wrote - a little historical perspective, if you will - just _really registered strong, and was even startling, for some reason.

the country based on genocide and slavery, and same people running the show. who would've expected a different result, i guess.

[Holly_Hobby]

24. Just wait until April 15th when they have to pay taxes on their benefits n/t

[thereismore]

25. Unemployment should drop significantly!

:sarcasm: USA! USA!

[denem]

27. Wow. Someone on DU noticed.

But fuk, it's not the TSA so why bother?

[rucky]

30. It's all over LBN. n/t

[rucky]

29. They'll hit the welfare rolls (if they're lucky) & it'll cost us even more.

[Hannah Bell]

31. 5 million by april, about 2% of the population.

[BzaDem]

33. That's only if they lapse for a month, and that likely won't happen.

We'll need a Republican vote to pass the benefits, but we'll probably get one. Most Republicans think that their expiration would just be blamed on the President (since most people don't even know who controls Congress), so they would be fine with their expiration, but Snowe/Collins will probably vote with Democrats just like they did previous times.

[Skip Intro]

34. Today. nt

[inna]

35. i know, i posted the OP nearly 2 days ago. nt.

[inna]

36. for the record, I'm using the term DISemployment (as in, policy) from now on

- some background here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9655323