DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

The Wages of Unemployment

24th January 2013

Read it.

Why are Americans working less? While there are a number of factors, the phenomenon is due mainly to a variety of public policies that have reduced the incentives to be employed.

My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Compare 2010 with October 2012, the last month for which food-stamp data have been reported. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8% from 9.6%, and real GDP was rising steadily if not vigorously. Food-stamp usage should have peaked and probably even begun to decline. Yet the number of recipients rose by 7,223,000. In a period of falling unemployment and rising output, the number of food-stamp recipients grew nearly 10,000 a day. Congress should find out why.

When you pay for something, you get more of it. When you pay people for being unemployed, you get more unemployed people. Economics 101.

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