Republican U.S. Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next month. As Democratic senators asked again and again for unanimous consent for a vote on a 30-day extension Thursday night, Bunning refused to go along, and when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) pleaded with Bunning to drop his objection, Bunning replied, “Tough shit.”
Yeah, “tough shit.” Tough shit for the 1.2 million American workers who are now likely to end up without unemployment benefits, and tough shit for their families too.
Zach,
What his is saying is for the democrats to play by their own rules. Just has everyone with half a brain understood, Obama after spending more money than all other presidents combined enacted PAY GO rules for political theater only. What about these rules, lets just ignore them….
By the way did you here that Thompson is 70% sure he is running! Politico print.
Aren’t the benefits at two years currently? I am going to base my following comment on that presumption(please correct if I am wrong). I think it should get cut off at two years. How hard do you think some people are trying to find a job if they are getting benefits for two years?
People who have been working most of their lives prefer to continue that. I’m having a hard time finding a job myself, and I’m not getting any unemployment benefits. Nor have I been laid off, as so many workers have been the past few years.
Can’t say I disagree – and it’s always few bad apples the ruin it for the rest. Though I will say that this doesn’t apply to a frighteningly high percentage of Gen Y’ers. I can’t believe how many of these kids I’ve met who hoped their jobs were cut so they could collect unemployment & take some time off for themselves. Sure they’re still in the minority – but it was really an eye opening thing for me to see how common that sort of lazy attitude is. I’m right on the edge & actually feel like I can identify more with the boomers than with Y’ers.
Good luck to you in finding a job. The best thing that every happened to me was getting laid off. I’d talked about going into business for myself for years, but don’t know that I ever would’ve left the security of the cubicle (even though I hated working for Fortune 500 company). They cut my department & I’ve been making an decent living on my own for 6 years now (Wow, where did the time go!). Not to mention, the flexibility…I’ve gotten to spend thousands more hours with my kids than if I had a 9-5. The great thing is, every day can be a vacation day. The bad thing is every day and night is a work day.
Locke, your point about the folks in Gen Y is something I’ve noticed as well. Even though I’m only a generation removed from Gen Y, the lack of work ethic I’ve noticed from a fair number of those folks is troubling, to say the least.
And the thing is, honest to God, I really try to be very careful about attributing to a group, the behaviors of some of it’s individuals. 99% of the time, it’s bad news, unfair and just plain wrong. But in this case…
And one thing that is really astonishing to me about it is the acceptance. I’ve been doing a lot of contract work for a big company & spending some time on-site. This is a Fortune 500, “traditional” stodgy company with a very long history, so by no means a startup type of young organization. There are all kinds of initiatives to try & cater to Gen Y employees and their “different” perspectives. Local news websites are blocked, anything even hinting at sports type content get’s blocked, etc. But they specifically allow things like Facebook & Twitter because that’s how young people communicate & they need them available. Management classes on how bosses may have to allow more flexibility with work schedules, etc. Last I checked, laziness wasn’t something that you’re born with & should be excused, but whatever. It’s almost bizarro world to be honest.
All the Gen Y stuff is interesting, but back to the topic of the post. I don’t think I am incorrect in saying that Bunning is simply holding the Dems to play by their own rules of pay-as-you-go. He also suggested using money from unspent stimulus funds (which is still borrowed money let’s not forget) to pay for the extension of unemployment benefits. I think most people would support that. This post should have been presented more accurately by pointing out these facts, instead of characterizing the Senator as some uncaring “let them eat cake” type.
Also, to use a tactic of liberals who would always claim if Bush hadn’t used money for Iraq that money could have been spent for the MN bridge, or teacher salaries, etc… well, wouldn’t it be better to spend this money on unemployment benefits instead of a pointless rail system from Madison to Milwaukee that no one will use regularly and only creates 50 jobs?
I would rather pay unemployment benefits to hard-working people who lost jobs through no fault of their own rather than the government taking over GM, but we should also start deciding that if the bad economy continues for the next couple of years, will the federal government keep extending benefits? That’s a step toward making it a welfare program.