UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE PURPOSE OF A "STIMULUS PACKAGE"

If our friendly Federal Government is going to pass some kind of stimulus package for the current flatline economy, what should its purpose be? If it is a short term, temporary boost, then it stands to reason the gov't would want every dime spent back into the economy. In other words, you want to get money quickly into the hands of people who will spend all of it and invest none of it.

(Note: I'm skipping the whole question of the utility of the government in solving financial problems at all. Those who argue that the economy does what the economy does without Gov't guidance, have a point, but, for now, we're past that.)

What category of people could be counted on to spend every dime they rec'v in a check? How about those who are already doing it? Who would that be? Peeps righteously on unemployment. The people who lost their jobs get 26 weeks of UE, then they're toast. If we take all the people who have gone off Unemployment and who remain unemployed (meeting the search requirements) since, say, November, and we extend their benefits 18 to 26 weeks (Pick one, the other, or something in between. I don't care.) we have identified consumer spenders. That money is going to grocery stores, liquor stores, barber shops, car repair shops, drug stores and maybe even the odd department store. These people are going to spend the money.

The GOP objects to this saying it will encourage laziness and idleness. They surely do not understand unemployment law and practice. First, the recipient must look for work. Second, the recipient must accept comparable work or loses benefits. Third, the amount of UE is about 60% of the person's former earnings, on average, so there is a natural desire to reachieve that form of income. Our Right Wing friends see UE as a form of welfare. It is not. It is a social compact with the worker's state. The worker fulfills his portion by faithfully working. The employer pays a modest premium to fund the system. This has been so for about 70 years. The argument against extending unemployment is founded on a misunderstanding of the system and its importance to some of our most earnest producers.

For the democrats to have blinked on this is shameful. It's not too late to fix it. You want money into the working economy? Do as GHW Bush did and pump it in through the righteously and sadly unemployed.

The Basin knows where the spenders are in the basin.