The following post is in response to reader Bob Kauth’s joining in regarding what we are not thankful for.
Good observation Bob. It has long troubled me that conservatives and especially the Republican Party have based their opposition to progressive policies and Obama’s dreadful redistribution agenda on the “plight” of the unemployed and the disappearance of jobs. I seriously question if this is resonating with a large segment of the American electorate (the Mid-term results notwithstanding).
Throughout the Obama reign, with record number of Americans receiving food stamps (EBT cards) and being on disability and record numbers dropping out of the work force, this has been the theme of GOP campaigns.
Oddly, however, it has seemed to me that that message is received pretty much with indifference.
How to explain crowded shopping malls and restaurants, fast food as well as upscale, enjoying brisk business in most communities. There are no breadlines, few shabbily dressed men walking the streets, pleading to “work for food”, etc. as in the height of the Great Depression.
As Bob notes, the vast array of federal, state, and local welfare benefits provided to single parents and families enables many to forgo jobs paying as much as $40,000/year, and in some areas of the country, up to $60,000.
Ninety-nine weeks of unemployment pay enabled many to adjust to a life without a verifiable job. Families are able to receive generous benefits while one member (often the wife) works. The husband may do work “off the books”.
It is my belief that “the folks” generally are not “hurting” as other generations have in such a poor economy. The explanation? Unemployed are kept relatively comfortable but it is all on borrowed money…now up to over $17 trillion.
Illegal immigrants are doing the jobs which in past times, unemployed Americans would be happy to do to keep food on the table. Many employers are pleased with that…fewer benefit costs, lower payroll costs. Life is good.
Work is no longer necessary for many Americans…generous government benefits enable families to get by without going to work in “menial” jobs.
Further, the familiar Republican theme is that the debt will be a “huge burden on future generations”. To most Americans, I contend, that’s an abstraction, easily ignored.
I believe the conditions are in place, thanks to Obama and his handlers, for the perfect Cloward and Piven* storm. The system will inevitably be overwhelmed…unless you are one who believes a nation can rack up unbelievably large and continuing debt with no consequences.
I’m not one. I believe the Republican party needs to give America some straight talk. There are no “free lunches”. Until we decide to stop descending further into debt and making it more comfortable and acceptable for people to not work, this nation is headed toward disaster. Liberals will always find an unmet need, but at some point, there’s nothing left to pay the bills. DLH
* for those unfamiliar with “Cloward and Piven” you are urged to read the article linked. There are various other references and discussions about this strategy and if the one we have linked is unsatisfying the reader is urged to go to any one of a number defining C&P from both right and left viewpoints.
