0 >> richard wolffee, this does highlight what for me is a republican phenomenon i've watched many, many times, which is they get it if it happens to them. so the republican with the highest unemployment rate in the country in his state is the republican who gets this. and the others are immune to it. >> i don't think that's unique to nevada or anywhere else. you know, we had a great story at msnbc.com today about the kinds of choices these individuals are having to make. people who've saved up for their pickup truck. people who are going to face selling their home today because they're not getting these benefits. and the economic impact of that. so republicans will say in general, when it's an abstract idea, people should just go and take whatever job's out there. but if you are long-term unemployed, so you've got a college education, going to flip burgers does not help your long-term employment. you may get a job in the short run, but it makes it much harder to get a job that you're qualified for later. when it's real, when it's personal, it becomes much, much harder to dispute the need for these benefits and, by the way, for longer-term solutions. for training and everything else that you need to do to move these people off the long-term unemployed. >> and jared, i think that what richard just raised is something a lot of rich republicans and others don't understand. you're a rich republican if you're making a congressional salary. that puts you in the rich level in this country. that just how important these benefits are. they're very small. and i think that's what the republicans see. they go, hey, this is a small amount of money to these individuals, it can't make that much difference. but that is -- what they don't understand is life at the margins, as richard was just describing it, and how these hundreds of dollars can actually make that car payment or just keep the mortgage afloat. >> no question about it. i mean, the average benefit is about $300 a week. well, that's real money to the folks in the middle of the income scale. and remember, these are not people who were doing great until the recession hit and they lost their job. many folks in the middle, lower end of the pay scale, have been struggling for quite a while. in fact, even over the expansion of the 2000s when the economy was growing before the big downturn. median income was flat. the wages of low-wage workers were flat or falling. so that's another dimension to this. folks don't have an asset portfolio or deep savings to fall back on. and i think you and richard are talking about a very deep thing here, which is this idea of not being able to sympathize or empathize with the other. you kind of harken back to a guy like bill clinton. i think he had a tangible feel for that sort of thing. >> and richard, the other area of life on the margin that the president is going to be pushing, democrats are going to be pushing, is an increase in the minimum wage, which presumably will run into a similar kind of lack of comprehension by republicans. >> they're going to play the same argument that they've done before, which is that this is a disincentive. for companies making, by the way, record profits, a disincentive to economic activity. you know, when you look at the economic activity that's spurred by unemployment benefit, for instance, it has a big impact on the broader economy. economists are talking about .2%, .4% of economic growth that will disappear because unemployment benefits don't get paid. ask yourself, if you are a republican who cares about growth, and they all say they want growth, what's better for this country? for the money that corporations are hoarding right now to go directly into the pockets of people who will spend it or for that money to be salted overseas or sat on as some kind of cash reserve in case of another crisis? what would help people right now? >> jared quickly, before we go. >> quick point on that. .2% of gdp. that's what we shave off of gdp if we don't do this. that's about $30 billion. the cost of this is about $25 billion. i'm not saying it pays for itself. but boy, talk about shooting yourself in the foot. >> richard wolffe and jared bernstein, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up in the rewrite, william f. buckley jr., the intellectual father of modern conservatism, and the war on drugs. also, colorado's new marijuana stores are running out of marijuana. that's coming up. [ male announcer ] staples has everything you need to launch your big idea. adding thousands of products online every day. from hard hats and goggles. to tools and cleaning products... to state of the art computers, to coffee to keep you fueled. from the sign over the door to the boxes to get it out the door. yes, staples has everything you need to launch your big idea. except your big idea. so when you get an idea, we're ready with everything else. staples. make more happen. what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.