THIS is the attitude of the Republican Party and their oligarch paymasters… any questions?
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Back in 1987, my Princeton colleague Alan Blinder published a very good book entitled Hard Heads, Soft Hearts. It was, as you might guess, a call for tough-minded but compassionate economic policy. Unfortunately, what we actually got… especially, although not only, from Republicans… was the opposite. Moreover, it’s difficult to find a better example of the hard-hearted softheaded nature of today’s GOP than what happened last week, as Senate Republicans once again used the filibuster to block aid to the long-term unemployed. What do we know about long-term unemployment in America?
First, it’s still at near-record levels. Historically, the long-term unemployed… those out of work for 27 weeks or more… usually, are from 10 to 20 percent of total unemployment. Today, the number is 35.8 percent. Yet, we allowed extended unemployment benefits, which went into effect in 2008, to lapse. As a result, few of the long-term unemployed receive any support. Second, if you think the typical long-term unemployed American is one of Those People… non-white, poorly educated, etc… you’re wrong, according to research by the Urban Institute’s Josh Mitchell. Half of the long-term unemployed are non-Hispanic whites. College graduates are less likely to lose their jobs than those with less education, but once they do, they’re actually a bit more likely than others are to join the ranks of the long-term unemployed. Workers older than 45-years-old are especially likely to spend a long time unemployed. Third, in a weak job market, long-term unemployment tends to be self-perpetuating, because employers, in effect, discriminate against the jobless. Many people suspected that this was the case, and, last year, Rand Ghayad of Northeastern University provided a dramatic confirmation. He sent out thousands of fictitious résumés in response to job ads, and found that potential employers were drastically less likely to respond if the fictitious applicant was out of work more than six months, even if they were better qualified than other applicants.
What all of this suggests is that the long-term unemployed are mainly victims of circumstances… ordinary American workers who had the bad luck to lose their jobs (which can happen to anyone) at a time of extraordinary labour market weakness, with three times as many people seeking jobs as there are openings. Once that happened, the very fact of their unemployment made it harder to find a new job. Therefore, how can politicians justify cutting off modest aid to their unlucky fellow citizens? Some Republicans justified the filibuster with the tired old argument that we can’t afford to increase the deficit. Actually, Democrats paired the benefits extension with measures to increase tax receipts. In any case, this is a bizarre objection at a time when federal deficits aren’t just falling, but clearly falling too fast, holding back economic recovery.
For the most part, however, Republicans justify their refusal to help by asserting that the real cause of long-term unemployment is because people aren’t trying hard enough to find jobs, and that extended benefits are part of the reason for their lack of effort. People who say things like this… like, such as, US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)… probably imagine that they’re being tough-minded and realistic. In fact, they’re peddling a fantasy at odds with all the evidence. For example… if unemployment is high because people are unwilling to work, reducing the supply of labour, why aren’t wages going up?
However, evidence has a well-known liberal bias. The more their economic doctrine fails (remember how the Fed’s actions were supposed to produce runaway inflation?) the more fiercely conservatives cling to it. More than five years after a financial crisis plunged the Western world into what looks increasingly like a quasi-permanent slump, making nonsense of free-market orthodoxy, it’s hard to find a leading Republican who’s changed their mind on, well, anything. This imperviousness to evidence goes along with a stunning lack of compassion.
It’s striking how hard it is to find anyone on the Republican side even hinting at sympathy for the long-term jobless. Being unemployed is always presented as a choice, as something that only happens to losers. One often gets the sense that contempt for the unemployed comes first, that the supposed justifications for tough policies are rationalisations. The result is that they’ve written off millions of Americans… potential employers reject them; politicians whose fuzzy-mindedness matches the hardness of their hearts abandon them.
10 February 2014
Paul Krugman
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2014/02/10/3488407/were-writing-off-the-unemployed.html
Editor’s Note:
I’ll keep this short. If you support the Republican Agenda, you reject the Lord Christ and all that He taught. The Republicans support greed, torture, spying on ordinary folks, warmongering, and grasp for global hegemony… they worship Mammon. As Our Lord Christ said, No man can serve two masters (Gospel according to St Matthew 6.24)… neither can you. You can serve Christ or the Republican Party, but not both. That’s a “’Nuff said”…
The Republicans despise you as “lazy”… you’re not worth much in their eyes. Indeed, since 1981, they’ve done their best to erode your economic and political rights (PRISM and extreme rendition, anyone?). Then, why vote for them?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
12 February 2014. If the GOP Is Wrong, Who’s Right? Follow HH, I Say!
Tags: Barack Obama, Christian, Christianity, Cuba, Cuban medical internationalism, Eastern Orthodox Church, KGB, Kirill I of Moscow, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Patriarch Karekin, Patriarch Kirill, Patriarch Kirill I, political commentary, politics, poster, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Republican, right-wing, Russia, Russian, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet, Soviet Union, State Kremlin Palace, United States, USA, USSR
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Editor’s Foreword:
I used some of these images before, but they’re mute proof of my submission. Note well that certain rightwing loudmouths can’t back up THEIR assertions with similar images. You can follow HH or you can follow certain well-known internet trolls… it’s up to you… choose wisely…
BMD
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Look at the above image with its quote from HH. “You can’t increase solidarity without mutual help and support”. Now, that’s the ticket. The image is from the Patriarchal Yolka this year. Every year, HH puts on an ass-kicking party for orphans and other poor kids. Who helps him? Why, it’s the good folks from the Profsoyuz… the Trades Union Federation. My, my, my, HH is a LEFTIE! (Look at all the konvertsy faint away in shock) Look at these images from this dy-no-mite shindig at the State Kremlin Palace:
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See the folks in the RED scarves? They’re the Profsoyuz people… the kind of people hated and despised by the Republican Party! Yet, HH thinks that they’re good company (and so do I). Note well that he doesn’t put this on with oligarchs or any other such inhuman trash. He puts it on with ordinary people.
Yes, sir… HH holds MANY things hated by the Republican Party. For one, he DEMANDS an end to the American economic blockade of Cuba. These images show his stance on Cuba:
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That is, HH is PRO-CUBA all the way!
HH has a definite opinion on single-payer healthcare… he’s FOR it! Look at this:
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HH is with Cuban doctors… he thinks that Cuban socialised medicine ROCKS.
HH HONOURS the real achievements of the USSR. For instance, look at the image below:
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HH showed his respect for the Great Victory… after all, he WAS a Soviet patriot, and, yes, he DID aid the intelligence arm of the KGB. He saw the TRUTH of the West, and it sickened him to no end.
HH is STILL a LEFTY… look at this:
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That’s Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, the head of the KPRF. Gennady Andreyevich and HH know each other personally and get on well.
HH also shows us the way in re proper relations with those of other faiths:
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My, my, my… he doesn’t pour invective on Muslims, does he? We should do likewise!
He also shows us the way to treat our Oriental Orthodox co-religionists:
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That’s HH and Catholicos Karekin… the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Russia has ALWAYS had Armenia‘s back… and the Armenians know it.
THIS is where HH spends major holidays:
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HH spends the holidays with sick and poor kids… that’s our LEADER!
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If you want to know HH’s opinion on US President Barack Obama… look at the above…
You can follow HH or you can follow the loudmouth internet righties… that’s the real-world choice on offer. I’ve chosen… there’s no doubt on where I stand. Where do YOU stand?
BMD