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Bob Herbert on ‘Labor’
NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert weighs in today with thoughts about the role of organized labor in the national conversation, when the rich-poor gap keeps widening. Read him here, and consider subscribing to the NYT if you appreciate the writing.
Some organization – why not labor unions – needs to grow a backbone and at a minimum loudly target every single pol who is unwilling to publicly stand up for extending unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed. Anybody who makes the case that the overwhelming majority of people who collect want to stay collecting has never lost a job or is dumb or both!
The unemployment check is not that much money, it robs one over time of a sense of self-worth, it plays havoc on family life if one is fortunate enough to have one (familes do tend to self-destruct as unemployment drags on). Cutting folks off like this is beyond mean-spirited and simply increases economic anxiety, causes folks with jobs to be much more guarded with their consumer spending and leads to sales tax revenues drying up and retailers cutting more jobs.
Over time this costs far more than extending jobless benefits to folks caught up in a very, very ugly job market, one that I predict will not improve dramatically for at least another year.