Nothing like a brisk fisking to go with my morning coffee. Don't you love it when your friendly local lunatic Senator gets their mailing lists crossed?
I was heartened to see a report on jobs in March that showed that 300,000 jobs were created last month.
No you weren't. You were scared shitless.
The Mollbot does! Read the whole thing.
Yes, I agree. The part about turning our backs on the unemployed when they are seeking new jobs was impressive(sarcasm). I believe the length of time to draw unemployment was increased from 12 months to 18 months back in 2001, but has since reverted to 12 months if I remember correctly.
Posted by: Tina | April 08, 2004 at 11:19 AM
Good fisk. I can totally relate to the guy who's qualified to supervise a nuke plant but doesn't turn his nose up at a low-wage job, because it's a JOB after all. Myself, for the past few years I've cobbled together an income via anywhere from three to five part-time freelance occupations, and do NOT consider myself unemployed, and find it hard to imagine a circumstance in which I would be able-bodied and collecting unemployment. Unfortunately, some of my able-bodied friends are going the "dole" route after losing their cushy corporate jobs. They figure the government "owes" them.
As a small-business person, though, I would like to point out that small businesses face crippling taxes (because we have to pay both halves of the social-security tax). I would like to see some structural reforms to address this, though I don't have any bright ideas. After all, more people being in business for themselves can only be a good thing!
Posted by: dragonfly jenny | April 08, 2004 at 08:03 PM
Thanks for the link, Jim! I'd like to add, that though it is sort of a low-wage job, it can be kind of fun. So it isn't like I'm doing something I completely hate.
Posted by: Mollbot | April 09, 2004 at 03:45 AM
Dragonfly, you speak for me on this one.
Posted by: loiq | April 10, 2004 at 06:34 PM