Republicans Abandon Unemployed to Score Political Points

The Republicans, in their quest to gain votes via their insincere talks about lowering the national debt, have left 1.2 million unemployed people without the desperately needed unemployment compensation checks because they (the Republicans) prefer to give business preferential treatment over the unemployed. Apparently, the poor people of other nations are more more important than the unemployed in the US. Apparently, the pork, that both Republicans and Democrats fight for, is more important than the unemployed. Apparently, election votes are more important than the unemployed. Apparently, taking shots at Obama is more important than the unemployed. That's right. When one prioritizes the goals of the Republicans, the unemployed are not even on the list. Republicans prefer to reduce the national debt on the backs of the unemployed.

So what happens to these people who are unemployed and no longer receiving unemployment benefits? Where do they go when their savings (if any) are depleted? Do they end up homeless? Do they end up in soup kitchens and homeless shelters? Do they end up as uninsured people in the hospital emergency rooms? Do they end up on Welfare and food stamps? Are they being sacrificed for an election campaign? Are they important? Do their lives matter? Or are they being sacrificed in exchange for scoring points against the Obama administration? One thing is clear. The Republicans consider the unemployed the least important of all other issues. I'm sure the Republicans could find a way to help the unemployed. But the Republicans won't because they don't care.

Some Republicans erroneously claim that tax cuts and tax incentives do not increase the national deficit. Yet history speaks against that Republican philosophy. One might recall President Ronald Reagan's 10-10-5 tax cuts which were later diminished by a revenue enhancement package which would net the government 20 billion dollars (more or less) for various purposes including national deficit reduction.

Now the Republicans are claiming that their tax cuts and tax incentives will not deepen the national deficit. When they talk about tax cuts and tax incentives, they avoid the topic of how a poor global economy puts a drag on our economy. They don't mention how exports and imports affect the economy. They treat the US economy as a separate entity rather than as part of a global economy affected by the economies of other nations. Sadly, they are wrong. If the tax cuts and tax incentives fail to revive the economy, they will only serve to drive our nation further into debt --- possibly 6.3 trillion dollars further into debt. Even the most robust recovery will not recoup this national deficit increase.

The Republicans are making the same mistake President Obama made during his presidential campaign: raising the expectations of the voters beyond any reasonable level by denying the realities of this recession and claiming they could improve the employment level.