There was once a magical fish that lived in a magical pool at the center of a village square. The fish performed miracles and people from far and wide would come to the village to witness these things for themselves. The village prospered greatly because of the fish.
Now there was no source of water for the pool other than what the villagers brought each day to fill it. Some villagers were happy to bring what they could; others did not for various reasons from lack of ability to laziness. But the pool was kept full despite this… until the drought.
The drought came and water became scarcer. People had to travel further away to bring water. Fewer people did for whatever reason and the pool began to go dry when less than half the villagers brought any at all.
The thrifty villagers continued to do what they could to fill the pool and save the fish. The lame tried as they could. The lazy, did nothing.
For whatever reason; promoting self-esteem, propaganda, pure ignorance etc… the mayor had his servant proclaim that if those who brought no water would simply dip a cup from the pool itself and pour it back in, they would be doing as much as those who brought water from elsewhere.
So that is what they did. Some dipped their cups and were very careful to make sure every drop went back into the pool. The lazy dipped their cups, took a sip or two, and poured the water back in haphazardly. Some of it made it back in the pool, some if it didn’t.
The pace of the disappearing water increased and soon the fish died; and along with it, the prosperity of the village.
The End
“We need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it’s good for the economy. People who receive that unemployment check go out and spend it and help stimulate the economy, so that’s healthy as well.”
– White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, speaking at North Carolina Central University in Durham
So what you’re saying is, “It takes a village?”
>> So what you’re saying is, “It takes a village?”
Cute! You know exactly what I’m saying.
To be more blunt…
What I am saying is a village (or town, city, state, or nation) will destroy itself if it:
1. Has too many slackers
2. Perpetually subsidizes the slackers.
3. Placates the slackers by telling them they’re doing as much as the producers.
4. Have leaders oblivious to the real problem or even worse willfully ignore those problems.
The U.S. has all of the things.
Valerie Jarrett is just one of the village idiots in charge of pushing us further down the road to serfdom.
When Jarrett says crap like this it is almost as if she is channeling Nancy Pelosi. You question what’s going on in that noggin.
Valerie (like Nancy) is either 1) A complete and total idiot with little or no clue as to what goes on OR 2) A profound evil genius keeping fools like myself off kilter with brilliant statements of nonsense.
On a similar note, today Nancy said that 98% of Catholic women ignore church teachings on contraception, and by not doing something about this, the Catholic Church de facto says contraception is OK… but since they need to save face they (the Catholic Church) really wants the federal government and private insurance to provide it…
I’m telling you ditzy moron or evil genius… there is no in-between.
Is the news media just not giving us the whole story? Perhaps right after that statement Nancy also said. “And I know all of this because I have direct access to the Pope’s brain via this special aluminum hat I made…”
OK, I’ll quit being cute for a second (only a second), but dammit, I want to see other people comment here. I feel like the loudmouth jerk at the party. You guys are out there. I can hear your IP addresses breathing.
An economy is a funny thing. We do, in some sense, dip our cups into a pond, drink it, and pee it back in. It is like water, in that sense. Rain doesn’t make more water, and no one can truly “waste” water — you can only delay it’s recycling (which I guess would be keeping your money in a jar in the backyard, rather than in an insured bank where it can be safely invested).
The safety net, by which I mean Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance (but maybe she just means Unemployment, in this quote), are all good things. Sometimes they are mismanaged. That doesn’t mean they should be defunded and abandoned; that’s where the uber-conservative philosophy and I part ways.
Most people who collect these benefits are not slackers. Of course, some are. There are always people who take advantage of help. But people do legitimately get sick, old, or unable to find good work in their area and unable to relocate. It’s better for all of us if those people can buy groceries and gas/bus passes — prison is a lot more expensive, on all of us.
And, as most conservatives agree, the economy is in bad shape, though slowly improving. That being recognized, I don’t think this is the right time to start cutting benefits (at least not within reason).
I have a good friend who has screwed around too much, and is on his final unemployment extension. He hasn’t looked for work very hard, as far as I can tell (I believe looking for a job *is* a job. If you’re not spending a few hours a day doing the legwork, you’re screwing around.)
He probably won’t get serious until he knows he’s a month or two out from that last check. But, I still feel he is the exception. And, to his credit, he has adjusted and lived within his reduced means. He doesn’t have cable tv or really any luxuries anymore. He just keeps the lights on, buys groceries, and reads books from the library. Occasionally I take him out to dinner, and try to be encouraging. That’s about all I can do. He hasn’t run up credit card debt or any of that stuff (as far as I can tell).
So, he’s just not managing his resources well. But, he has worked for over 20 years, and his employers have paid into that Unemployment Insurance fund all that time, and as long as he’s legally allowed (and can pass the audits, which are more frequent now), I think he should be able to collect.
When that runs out at 99 weeks, he’s screwed. And, given what I’ve seen, that’s appropriate.
So, is the system great? No. No system that has to address millions of people is. But, it is better than nothing. Tweak it, don’t kill it.
Just a thought…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577250310581495218.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond