Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Monday announced a deal with Republican leaders that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years and unemployment benefits for 13 months while also lowering the payroll tax by two percentage points for a year..."It's not perfect," Obama said of the plan, which also would continue tax breaks for students and families contained in the 2009 stimulus bill and allow businesses to write off all investments they make next year. "We cannot play politics at a time when the American people are looking for us to solve problems."
Look, I completely respect that last statement by Obama and I wish that more politicians would act on that belief, after all that's what they're elected for in the first place. So while I can't fault him for trying here, I will fault him for continuing smack the working lower to middle class in face. 13 more weeks of federal unemployment? On top of the previously agreed upon 99? On top of the 26 state funded weeks of unemployment that have to be exhausted prior to collecting federal? So if my math is correct, that's 138 weeks of unemployment eligibility.
That's more than two and a half years of free money and its an outrage to myself and other low-middle class workers. It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the jobless, I understand that its tough right now. It's that depending on when you were laid off, I've worked for only slightly more money than you for over two years now. How is this possible? Are unemployment benefits really that good? Is the gov't paying more than McJobs, Wal-Mart clerks, or construction jobs? Because I find it very hard to believe there are people out there who haven't been able to find just one job for over two years. Don't insult my intelligence. I know its more likely that there are thousands of people just collecting unemployment and ignoring offers for actual work because unemployment pays just as well and they think the work is beneath them. If the government doesn't think this is happening then we've elected a bunch of people far dumber than we could have ever imagined. If they're aware of it then they're complicit in robbing the working man because they certainly haven't done anything to address this issue.
Cut unemployment wages, or cut the time someone can be on them. Two and a half years and no job improvement to be seen should be a clear enough sign that the system in place is not fostering job growth. You're right Obama, the American people are looking for you to solve problems, but the solution is definitely not more of the same. Where is that change we were all promised?
