Perino:Whitehouse Won't Extend Jobless Benefits, Says People Should Just Find a Job!

Perino:Whitehouse Won't Extend Jobless Benefits, Says People Should Just Find a Job!

thinkprogress

During today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Dana Perino suggested the Bush administration would oppose any effort to extend jobless benefits — a stance the White House has taken before. She explained their position by saying, “we want people to be able to return to the workplace as soon as possible.” The suggestion was that extending benefits somehow prevents people from returning to work. She concluded by saying that “the best way to help” the economy and unemployed people is for unemployed people to simply “get back to work.”

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[edit on 8-10-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

Sigh...

And the outright CONTEMPT for the people of this nation once again rears its ugly head. That anyone would even ATTEMPT to make such an idiotic statement, while we are waving bye-bye to nearly a hundred thousand jobs every single month, shows what an entirely insulated, bubble world these people truly live in...

Let's see---"No benefits for you peon, but we'll gladly dole out a trillion for our fraud criminal buddies on Wall Street"! "Now get back to work at your $6.00 an hour job if you can find one, because you and your offspring will need the next 500 years of your taxes to pay off your corporate masters!"

– The Department of Labor reported last week that the country shed 159,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate has increased to its highest level in five years.

thinkprogress
(visit the link for the full news article)

Thanks DD!! Here is the transcript..."the irony was so thick you could cut it with a knife...but I wasn't in the mood"

From Dana Perino's "Press Gaggle" at Whitehouse.gov:

Q Two more economic-related questions. You said you're concerned about the extension of the unemployment benefits from 26 to 39 weeks, the reason being that you feel that the -- extending it 13 weeks decreases the motivation for some people to go out and find work. Is that your concern on that?

MS. PERINO: I think -- yes. I think the labor economists will tell you that the longer benefits are available, it just sometimes then takes people longer to go out and find a job. Now, for some people, legitimately it is taking them longer to find a job, but just by human nature you have more incentive to go out and really work to find something if you realize that you have a deadline that's looming. But we agreed to extend the benefits and we recognize that there are some people who really do need them, but a consequence of that is that you might see an uptick in the unemployment rate.

Maybe she meant the longer "bailouts" are available she just misspoke!

We have jobs in my area. We have several steel mills (Nucor) and associated industries. I work in health care, but my understanding is, if you want tro work, you can work. Trouble is, most of the people around here want to collect welfare.

Don't worry, DD. Pelosi is coming to the rescue with a 150 Billion dollar handout for the American people!

Nothing like getting a few pennies of your tax money back.

6 months to find a job? And certain elected officials want more? Certain elected officials always seem to want more, don't they?

Has anyone else noticed that since they raised the minimum wage..... unemployment has gone through the roof? Hmmm.

Originally posted by RRconservative
Has anyone else noticed that since they raised the minimum wage..... unemployment has gone through the roof? Hmmm.

Hey, Congress said that wouldn't happen! They said that raising minimum wage wouldn't cause unemployment to rise!!

Originally posted by RRconservative

Has anyone else noticed that since they raised the minimum wage..... unemployment has gone through the roof? Hmmm.

And notice the price of everything also increases. Bread, milk, gasoline, newspapers, everything else where the additional cost of labor inflates the price of the item...

Good for them!

Since when is "get a job" bad advice? Since when is "get a job" hateful and inconsiderate?

Please. That's the best advice people can get. As others have said, there are jobs to be had out there.

Some people would rather just have the government take care of them.

reply to post by nyk537



ARE there jobs out there ?

Where ?

Maybe you could give your fellow Americans a hand by posting specific information, as detailed as possible about the jobs you say are out there.

It's been my experience that people would rather work than be on benefits --- for MANY reasons.

I know that doesn't jell with what politicians and the media say .. but politicians are media are liars.

And lots of those who post in fora are trolls who work for government and other slimes.

Whenever this issue arises, politicians (and of course the media) lie through their teeth. What sort of jobs are supposedly 'out there' ? In which areas ? Does the average job-seeker possess the skills and qualifications ?

The quote contained in the OP is word for word the same as that prattled on about by EX Prime Minister Howard, when he knew damn well there were ten times more job seekers than jobs. It's pure spite. Kicking those who're already down. And he and his sleaze cronies rubbed salt in the wound by dragging thousands of Africans into the country, claiming they were being brought in to 'help the skills shortage'

Yeah .. 'skills shortage'. Code for: ' we intend to bring thousands of African muslims into this country in order to further our NWO and multicultural agendas which in turn are intended to de-white this country in the same way we're 'de-whiting' all Western, Christian nations. And to slip the muslim Africans in under the noses of the public, we're calling it 'addressing a skills shortage'. And in order to justify the lie of 'skills shortage', we've provided incentives for greedy organisations who sack their Aussie employees. Then, with the Aussies jobless, we'll slip these COMPLETELY UNTRAINED factory workers into the country. THEN we'll tell the trained BUT now unemployed Aussies with mortgages and kids to 'go get a job' .. lol .. even though we the government, via our outsourcing and third-world migrant floods, know there are bugger all jobs to be had, tee hee '.

Yes. And John Howard got the boot.

And it won't be long before Plastic-Boy Rudd gets the boot as well.

And I'd be perfectly happy for all the muslim Africans to get their return-ticket to Africa, courtesy of the White Christian taxpaying public.

In addition, I'm very much looking forward to seeing a dozen or more US politicians being dragged from the podium and liberally spat upon by the US taxpaying public. They need to learn who provides THEM with a job !

I don't know were to begin -----I lost my job of 14 years because of the greed on wallstreet and the evil minds of certain ceo's. That was in march of this year. I write this today still without employment.

My father-in-law and i had started this company in the back of his garage . We worked our azzes of to get this company flurishing. Sadley he passed away ,then the wickedness had started even before we burried him in the ground.

view our almost defuncked company here---

www.airtrax.com

I am a skilled person in many fields--a&p mechanic--steel worker--omni-directional tech--steel fabricator..

Sure i can a job right now making 6-7 dollars an hour.but that does not pay the bills that i have acquired in my liftime. All the jobs are gone because of the greed and disfuctionality of our government.

f it i'm done

Don't give me "skill shortage". The ability to gain those skills is also readily available. If you aren't smart enough for a job, go back to school. If you can't do a certain trade for a job, learn it. It's simple. The fact remains, whether or not you choose to believe it, that the means to succeed are out there. People just have to have the motivation to go after them.

Here’s the problem . . .

The various governments around the world have through their ‘global trade’ policies and programs put us in direct competition with manufacturing interests in places such as Mexico and China (the latter of which then outsources manufacturing to Viet Nam . . . but that’s another topic for another day).

Miniscule pay, no legislative authority regarding labour, the environment, or safety standards, all geared to fatten the bottom line at the behest of shareholders and investors.

Check out what companies such as GM, Ford and Chrysler have done . . . if you think they’ve trimmed a few jobs here and there, take a gander at the supply chain . . . it barely exists anymore on this side of the Pacific.

Mexico is losing jobs to China because their labour costs are ‘too high’.

Seriously . . . profit takers feel Mexicans are overpaid . . . I digress.

Anyhow, in so doing, they’ve made it virtually impossible for us to compete. Plants close, jobs disappear and invariably it means people taking jobs for less than they’ve been paid in the past . . . menial service sector ‘Would you like fries with that’ jobs that generally pay doodly.

Yes, there are some decent paying jobs out there, but they are few and far between, and by no means permanent . . . as soon as the final swoops of ‘globalism’ take hold, they’re gone too.

As an aside, prior to all this ‘bailout’ bullcrap we’ve been subject to in the past few weeks, the manufacturing sector lobbied government at virtually all levels for assistance in levelling the playing field such that we could rebuild our manufacturing sector nationally instead of going offshore to bolster the bottom line.

At almost each turn, government officials vehemently denied these requests, often citing their unwillingness to stick their collective financial noses into free markets. ‘Let it find its’ own level . . . it will work itself out . . .’ are the common mantra among global policy and corporately funded lawmakers.

Yeah, they’ve said they’ll ‘lend’ the automotive sector $25 billion to come up with new fuel efficient technology, but one of the caveats to that funding is environmental assessment of applicants. A blurb in Autobeat Daily (can’t get a link to the site as it is subscription only) stated that the automakers shouldn’t expect any funding anytime soon because it could take up to two years for these ‘assessments’.

Nice carrot, but unfortunately by then it really won’t matter. The administration of that bailout does ensure a few more years of oil dependence, though.

Meanwhile, in the last month or so, we’ve seen the likes of AIG walk off with in excess of $100 billion in taxpayer money to bail out their poor decisions, only to see their execs toodle off to vacationland to the tune of $400,000. A few blocks away on Wall Street, the financial sector is drooling over the $700 billion bucket-o-chicken placed before them.

So, ‘Joe Sixpack’ must go out and take some minimum wage job while some fat corporate ass gets fatter on the money Joe Sixpack sends the government on a weekly basis from legislated withholdings such as income tax, while watching his 401k swirl around the bowl as the markets drop due to investor fears based on the fact that the now-bailed-out financial sector made some really really horrible and greed-based decisions allowed by lax oversight and even laxer laws regarding the way they do business.

So, based on that, I think a fair translation of Perino’s ‘get a job’ comments would be Take the damn jobs we have left for you at the wage we want to pay and don’t forget to file your income tax to pay my wages . . . and bail out my campaign supporters. And smile because if you don’t we can actually make it a lot worse cuz starting soon, we’re going to own the banks, too.

reply to post by timoothy


Isn't any job better than no job?

By no means should it take 6 months to find a job.

Oh please, you make it sound like we can just walk into any position. Must be nice to think so highly of your skills and so little of everyone elses. I was laid off in June for 7 weeks, was called back to my job, worked 1 month and was laid off again. I've worked for 30 years straight, and with the exception of being out of work on bed rest for 9 months when pregnant with my daughter, I've never not had a job or had to go on unemployment. For 29 years and 1 month I've paid into unemployment insurance...so now I'm a deadbeat because I have to use it. I should go get a job at McDonalds because I'm lazy??? And when I'm working crazy shifts at McDonalds when am I suppose to interview for the job I'm skilled to do, at a salary that I deserve to be paid??? You know what, I put my time, my sweat, MY TAX DOLLARS into unemployement, and I'm not going to accept any job because some politician who just bailed out a bunch of crooks thinks that I'm lazy. SCREW HER!! Maybe if these politician took some time to get all the damn illegal aliens out of this country, there would be more money in everyone's paycheck, and I wouldn't be paying 500 a month for health insurance through my husband company, while some Illegal is using the EMERGENCY ROOM as their free health care facility that is being paid by my 30 YEARS of taxes.

So...if I feel like sitting home on my big fat keester for a few months and collect...SO BE IT....IT'S MY DAMN MONEY THAT I PAID IN ALL THESE YEARS!!!!

some of you guys are unbelievable, does the average american think welfare and a helping hand should be extended only to the rich? you guys, and this stupid woman, make me sick, physically sick.

Originally posted by nyk537
Don't give me "skill shortage". The ability to gain those skills is also readily available. If you aren't smart enough for a job, go back to school. If you can't do a certain trade for a job, learn it. It's simple. The fact remains, whether or not you choose to believe it, that the means to succeed are out there. People just have to have the motivation to go after them.

I agree...motivation is key, but c'mon...college costs money. I don't care how "motivated" one may be, college tuition, travel expenses, the high cost of fuel to even get to school is breaking people left and right. Don't misunderstand - I'm not making up excuses (I'm self employed, therefore nobody handed me a job and I know first hand about motivation and the will to succeed), but people are truly struggling to keep a roof over their heads as it is and pay the most menial of bills that college - even one or two classes - is a distant dream to some.

Telling people to just "get back to work" doesn't cut it anymore. How many fast food jobs does one need to pay a mortgage and make a car payment these days?

Thanks to the rotten economy and shoddy state of financial affairs this country is now facing, people who have jobs are lucky to have them and don't think they don't know it.

People are hurting, worried and stretched thin, so telling them to just "get back to work" is a statement made by someone who is obviously so out of touch with the working class that they don't have a clue as to what "real work" is.

I have been out of work for almost 2 years now. I was working for a company and needed knee surgery. Due to the complications of the surgery, I was out of work for 15 weeks, so I had exhausted all of my FMLA hours. I went to get on unemployment, but due to it being a medical reason why my job let me go (which it was exhausting FMLA) I was denied. I went back to the doctor who told me disability was the best route since he does not believe that my knee will hold up for very much longer due to deterioration. I was denied that too.

So now I have been denied unemployment and disability. I have no job, and no way to get one...sure I could drive, but it seems it does not matter why you are unable to pay child support, they are heartless and will take away your liscense anyways. I did try to go back to school when my job first let me go, but due to financial problems almost a year ago, the lender shut down operations that covered me so I am unable to attend school.

But I look at the bright side of things...if I am not privy to the benefits of being a citizen who has always paid taxes on time, I AM NOT subject to penalties brought on by a corrupt system of government who can not "lend" but outright "give" billions to crooked wallstreet.

So now I work at home. I do "legitimate" work, I simply refuse to pay taxes and have a 9 ring chinese broadsword waiting for the first government official who comes to tell me I need to pay them squat!

Happy times!!!

Originally posted by cw034
Oh please, you make it sound like we can just walk into any position. Must be nice to think so highly of your skills and so little of everyone elses. I was laid off in June for 7 weeks, was called back to my job, worked 1 month and was laid off again. I've worked for 30 years straight, and with the exception of being out of work on bed rest for 9 months when pregnant with my daughter, I've never not had a job or had to go on unemployment. For 29 years and 1 month I've paid into unemployment insurance...so now I'm a deadbeat because I have to use it. I should go get a job at McDonalds because I'm lazy??? And when I'm working crazy shifts at McDonalds when am I suppose to interview for the job I'm skilled to do, at a salary that I deserve to be paid??? You know what, I put my time, my sweat, MY TAX DOLLARS into unemployement, and I'm not going to accept any job because some politician who just bailed out a bunch of crooks thinks that I'm lazy. SCREW HER!! Maybe if these politician took some time to get all the damn illegal aliens out of this country, there would be more money in everyone's paycheck, and I wouldn't be paying 500 a month for health insurance through my husband company, while some Illegal is using the EMERGENCY ROOM as their free health care facility that is being paid by my 30 YEARS of taxes.

So...if I feel like sitting home on my big fat keester for a few months and collect...SO BE IT....IT'S MY DAMN MONEY THAT I PAID IN ALL THESE

YEARS!!!!

Specifically which taxes do you think you pay that fund the unemployment insurance fund?