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OPINION

The Rat in Obama's Maze

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The Rat in Obama's Maze

It goes without saying that President Obama has no grasp of even basic economics.

Perhaps he should read Thomas Sowell’s excellent book of the same title, for starters. And it also goes without saying that everything he’s done since taking office has made the economic situation in the nation worse, whether you’re looking at actual job numbers or overall lack of confidence business owners have in the future of our nation.

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Even a rat in a maze will adjust his behavior sooner or later, especially when he keeps hitting the wall that doesn’t open up and give him the reward. But Obama is hell bent on destroying our economy, making decisions that even a first year economics student would find ridiculous.

In Obama’s speech at the Naval shipyard last week, he demonstrated, once again, that he believes prosperity comes directly from the government. He said, “when Congress gets back in September, I want to move quickly on things that will help the economy create jobs right now...extending unemployment insurance to help people get back on their feet...”

I beg to differ, Mr President. The best cure for poverty is a job, and an unemployment check doesn’t “allow you to stand on your feet”, it allows you to stand on mine. My home state of Nevada has already borrowed over $773 million from the federal government for unemployment benefits. Experts say it will take until 2018 to repay it.

Does anyone believe that? Where does it stop?

Who will be asked to pay the Fed back for the extension of unemployment that Obama continues to demand?

Employers, of course.

You know, the “rich people” who aren’t paying their “fair share” of anything. Never mind the fact that those are the only folks who might actually be able to provide new jobs - that is, if they’re not punished for doing it. As it is, in January of this year, Nevada raised the unemployment tax paid by employers by 50%, making all of us just a little more expensive to hire.  

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Extending unemployment benefits has nothing to do with helping anyone. It’s just another attempt by the Obama administration to placate the masses, and give them a false sense of “standing on their feet”, at least until 2012.

Even if you’re meeting most of your bills with an unemployment check, in reality, you’re losing ground professionally every week that you’re out of the real workforce. Any kind of work that gets people out of the house and around other employed people is better than hanging by the pool all summer, whining with your unemployed friends about how unappreciated you are.

If you can grab any kind of work, and you’re motivated, your amazing talents will be recognized, and you’ll be promoted when the people above you flake out, which they inevitably do.

Or you may be recruited for a better position by a customer of the business you’re working for, which will NOT happen while you’re “standing on your feet” waiting by the mailbox. You need to be in the arena, not in the pool.

What’s going to happen when the “music” (unemployment) stops, and the truth about the Obama administration’s bad decisions hits everyone right between the eyes? The checks will be gone, everyone will be scrambling for a “chair” (one of the few jobs left), and it will be way too late.

The few jobs available will have been snagged by the people who were willing to take any job rather than accept unemployment checks, and the rest will finally realize the “feet” they’ve really been standing on have left the building.

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