It s not a left/right thing. it s the finding of the science. it s when you extend the length of unemployment insurance benefits that people spend more time unemployed and take longer to find work. it s not because they re lazy or simply sitting on the dole. what it does is it changes the types of jobs that they look for. if you re unemployed you would like to find a job near your city in the same time of work and preferably paying close to what you had before. when you ve got say two years of benefits, those are the jobs you spend the first year or so looking for. the problem in this downturn is that a lot of the jobs that have been lost, particularly in construction and finance, simply aren t coming back. you re encouraging workers to spend a lot of time looking for jobs that don t exist and aren t going to exist. okay. i m going to have mark respond to that. he makes an intellectual argument there. let s hear your response. this is as much science as terry schiavo was alive. chr
Ago. from andrew mellen to herbert hoover to mr. burns on this instance. there are people who say don t give unemployed benefits, because they won t work. the science that most economists agree. some people may be very young, may they be professionals with some options may not seek work because they re getting a benefit. the overwhelmed percentage are panicked. can t meet mortgage payments, can t meet health care payments, can t pay for their drugs. i don t know how often mrs. angle or senator kyl or the economists have been unemployed. people all over the country are putting out aply kantds for jobs. there are 20 applicants for every job. in this desperate situation, unemployment benefit extension does two things. it has ever since cains and hoovers. it s moral. it gives to people who are largely desperate. and it s perfect economics.