Paul Krugman Op-Ed: War on the Unemployed

Paul Krugman wrote an excellent editorial in the New York Times about the conservative attack on the unemployed. When I read his opinion, I wondered what happened to the importance of human conscience and dignity. Why must the poor be punished for being unemployed and underemployed in American society? Jobs do not appear out of thin air. The Great Recession is an example of that. Businesses should not receive kickbacks and tax breaks at the expenses of the poor, schools, seniors, and families. The very founding of this nation was not based on money, greed, and fear. Our founding fathers created a democratic nation based on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Somehow, our elected officials have lost track of the meaning of these important words...

Is life too easy for the unemployed? You may not think so, and I certainly don’t think so. But that, remarkably, is what many and perhaps most Republicans believe. And they’re acting on that belief: there’s a nationwide movement under way to punish the unemployed, based on the proposition that we can cure unemployment by making the jobless even more miserable.