z I was watching the GOP debate tonite…
Wow.
I run hot and cold on Newt Gingrich but damn, that is brilliant. We have minimum wage laborers and others who are minimally educated — all of whom are are unemployed. They are stuck in their low-paying world because they can’t qualify for better paying, potentially more available employment (due to having fewer other people to compete with).
We pay them for 99 weeks — which Gingrich points out is long enough to earn an Associate Degree — for being out of work, and nothing in our current system compels them to do anything except cash the government checks.
I always thought 99 weeks was absurdly long, but it really hammers home how broken our system is when you consider that’s enough time to either complete your high school education and get a GED or enough time to complete a 2-year curriculm at one of our find local universities and get an even better job than the one you lost.
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2 responses so far ↓
I don’t know the current situation but it used to be that making any attempt to do anything educational automatically disqualified you for unemployment – at government requirement. ALSO, the group called “Workforce Indiana” has a primary goal of employing their own staff in a low performance job. This is based on both widespread discussion and 2 situations I am extremely familiar with.
NEWT IS A RACIST PIG!
HE’S HAD MONEY HIS WHOLE LIFE TO EVEN UTTER SUCH A THING. UNEMPLOYMENT ISN’T ENOUGH MONEY TO LIVE OFF OF.