Has there ever been a Speaker of the House dumber than Nancy Pelosi in all of American history?
Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Fastest Way to Create Jobs
Unemployment benefits are creating jobs faster than practically any other program, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
Talking to reporters, the House speaker was defending a jobless benefits extension against those who say it gives recipients little incentive to work. By her reasoning, those checks are helping give somebody a job.
“It injects demand into the economy,” Pelosi said, arguing that when families have money to spend it keeps the economy churning. “It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name.”
Pelosi said the aid has the “double benefit” of helping those who lost their jobs and acting as a “job creator” on the side.
If you think she was misquoted, theblogprof has the video:
She actually believes that. Too bad she can’t read The Classless Society,
By her logic, we could achieve full employment by laying everybody off.
Taxation does not create wealth. Taxation only uses wealth.
If you’re unemployed, you’re not adding value to the economy by your labor; you’re just using resources (unemployment benefits) of others who are adding value.
Jobs are created by reducing the cost of production, which enables employers to hire people. To create jobs, government must lower taxes, and lower the other structural barriers to employment, like reducing the minimum wage and reducing disincentives to fire people.
If you don’t understand why, read up on Frédéric Bastiat.
And then we have the POTUS saying things aren’t so bad because after all, “unemployment’s 9.6, yes, but it’s not 12 or 13… or 15.” (*)
Not so fast, sir. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of May this year, out of 372 metropolitan areas, 133 had unemployment rates of 9.7% or higher, including 13 with unemployment rates of 15% or higher.
Which surely must warm Nancy’s heart. After all, the San Francisco-Oakland-Freemont CA metropolital statistical area boasts a 10.1% unemployment rate, so surely all those unemployment checks must really be doing something for the economy. What that something is, Nancy only knows.
Yes, indeed, we’re in the best of hands.
UPDATE
(*) In Marty Feldman’s immortal line, “Could be worse, it could be raining”
