So Republican whip Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona thinks that letting people have unemployment benefits and other middle class social safety net benefits like COBRA is a bad thing because it makes them less likely to bother finding another job:
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican whip, argued that unemployment benefits dissuade people from job-hunting "because people are being paid even though they're not working."
Unemployment insurance "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work," Kyl said during debate over whether unemployment insurance and other benefits that expired amid GOP objections Sunday should be extended.
"I'm sure most of them would like work and probably have tried to seek it, but you can't argue that it's a job enhancer. If anything, as I said, it's a disincentive. And the same thing with the COBRA extension and the other extensions here," said Kyl.
Of course unemployment benefits ARE a job enhancer, and should be defended that way.
Alas, the Democratic response was half-hearted and defensive instead of strongly touting the benefits of the social safety net. The best response Max Baucus could muster was to say that unemployment benefits are already so small they're hardly enough to keep body and soul together:
I don't know anybody who's out of work and is receiving some unemployment insurance believes that that payment is sufficient not to find a job. The payments are so much lower than any salary or wage would be, it's just ridiculous..." said Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee.
How refreshing would it be to have Democrats who fiercely defend the benefits to the country of having a strong social safety net? Democrats that think crappy benefits are a bad thing, not something to tout as a feature?
They need to listen to ideas like this NPR interview from a few weeks ago: Denmark Thrives Despite High Taxes:
A story now about a country that seems to violate the laws of the economic universe. It has one of the lowest poverty rates in the world, low unemployment, a steadily growing economy and almost no corruption. That country is Denmark...
DAVID KESTENBAUM: By one survey, the Danish people are the happiest in the world...
KESTENBAUM: ... If you're one of those people who think the U.S. has big government, well, there is big government and then there is Denmark. The Danish government looks after everyone, provides free high-quality education, free high-quality health care. Of course, it's not really free. Denmark has some of the highest taxes in the world...
KESTENBAUM: Danes do get things for their taxes. If you lose your job, you can collect unemployment insurance for up to four years...
KESTENBAUM: Denmark has an interesting kind of hybrid economy. It has this huge welfare state, but it has also fiercely embraced a lot of free market ideas. The unemployment benefits are generous, but it's also very easy to fire people. That makes the economy nimble. Employers can get rid of workers when they dont need them and hire them back quickly when they do. Petersen says losing your job here is just not that big a deal.
Now, all countries face choices like this: How do you want to set up your economy? Those decisions shape how you live and your psychology. In Denmark, for instance, there aren't severe class distinctions because the poor get helped, the rich get taxed, so everyone gets squashed into a big, fat middle class.
Good unemployment benefits let businesses hire and fire much more freely and adjust more quickly to rapidly changing business conditions.
Dependable, generous unemployment benefits are GOOD for businesses and help make them more able to compete in the world economy. Just the way a good system of universal health care does.
When are these Republicans - and many Democrats - going to get it?