Speaker Pelosi C-SPAN Weekly Legislative Briefing - Unemployment Benefits Create Jobs – The Lunatic is Running the Asylum

During her Weekly legislative briefing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, (between bouts of partisan rhetoric) spoke about the value of unemployment benefits. The video and unabridged transcript which follows speaks to the idiocy of Ms. Pelosi and her inability to understand basic economics. The basic premise: unemployment benefits were designed as a State, not Federal, benefit - one which would enable individuals who had lost employment to gain temporary relief. However, as individual States can no longer afford to pay out unemployment benefits for years, the Federal government now seeks to foot the bill. The problem: where is the money coming from? House Republicans suggest using money earmarked, but not spent, from the Stimulus package passed in 2009. Democrats say no, as that money is going to be used for “job creation”. Apparently, they are waiting for the tax cuts that affect every single working American to expire (See “Six Months to Go Until The Largest Tax Hikes in History” from American’s for Tax Reform) in order to begin to pay for the extravagance this Congresss, led by Speaker Pelosi, has displayed since taking power in 2006. In addition, new jobless claims due out today are expected to rise, leaving even fewer taxpayers available to fleece.

The administration has already noted they believe that there is no way to replace the eight million jobs lost, and V.P. Joe Biden has labeled the current economic state of the U.S. as the “Great Recession” (going on to blame former President George Bush. How long, therefore, does the Speaker believe benefits can be extended? (Note: the Congress holds the nations purse strings, and without that political body’s consent, a President cannot spend one dime.) Therefore, understanding that digging a deeper hole into debt might put our nation at greater peril, there is a bit of push back from those who understand that, yes, we should extend benefits (humane), but the nation needs to find a way to pay for it first. The argument follows: as Speaker Pelosi believes that unemployment benefits create jobs, why not use some of the stimulus that is unspent (allegedly for use to create jobs), and do something useful, while not incurring more debt (although in reality, the U.S. would be using debt already incurred, a self-made line of credit so to speak).

In reading the transcript below, understand that as Speaker, Ms. Pelosi is third in line to the Presidency of the United States. Should something happen to President Obama (see Blagojevich Trial), Vice President Biden would be the President, however, should something happen to Biden, Nancy Pelosi would be sitting in the oval office. That said, she is currently in a position that is more powerful, economically than that of either the President or the Vice President – it is chilling either way.

Nancy Pelosi is up for re-election in 2010 and faces Republican John Dennis in the November election. Once thought to be a permanent fixture in the San Francisco district, Ms. Pelosi has lost political capitol in her home district; therefore, Dennis is in a good position to be the next Congressional Representative, replacing Ms. Pelosi. A Republican led House would, of course, effectively remove the Speaker from extreme power; however, one has to believe that to remove the Speaker permanently would be a far better course for both the San Francisco District and the nation – as political fortunes change with political winds and the real danger exists she might regain the seat at a later date.

Transcript:

“have stopped unemployment benefits from going to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. It’s just cruel and we’re not gonna it’s it cannot stand and I believe uh that uh it - it will this will be passed when we come back. We have passed it over and over again and today we will pass it again to remove all doubt. Now let me say that unemployment insurance we talk about it as a safety net and the rest this is one of the biggest stimulus to our economy – economists will tell you this money is spent quickly it injects demand into the economy and its job creating it creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name. because again its money that is needed for families to survive and its spent so it has a double benefit it helps those who’ve lost their jobs but it’s also is a job creator and uh for for that reason for those two reasons at least it should be passed and I’m optimistic that it will. It’s impossible to think of a situation where we would have a country that would say we’re not going to have unemployment benefits and the only people who want them are the people who don’t want jobs it’s just so contrary to what our country is about and I reject that misrepresentation of the motivation for people to be on unemployment insurance.

C-Span Video



Best quote from comments left at Breitbart.tv, who was, in all likelihood, the first to publish the video : “I would give California back to Mexico just to get rid of her. “

Drastic to be sure, however, a better bet would be for those in opposition to Speaker Pelosi to visit: www.johndennis2010.com and either donate or volunteer or blog or email the link to family and friends. No matter what political ideology to which one subscribes, it is apparent from the continued lunacy of Ms. Pelosi, that a permanent replacement should be seriously considered and John Dennis offers the opportunity to finally do something to move our nation toward sanity.