The Nanny State: The Art of Unemployment

Obama lately helped moderate a tax cut/spending deal between Republicans and Democrat. The package included tax cuts for the rich and the middle income and extended unemployment benefits an additional 13months. Obama has been getting a lot of flack from the left for the tax cuts. The right however have been viewing this deal as a win.

One question i would like to be address is why are we allowing people to be on unemployment benefits longer then lets say a month or two? Before the additional 13 months you could be on unemployment for 99 week. So you could be on unemployment for 46 months before you have to get a job...that's a little extensive i would think. It is sad to think you could be on unemployment longer then you have been employed. Programs like this are good in the short run, they help people that were injured at work, and assist help others in the time between jobs. But having the benefits last this long creates a dependency on the system and in fact motivates people to stay on the system.

In Washington State you have to work at least 20hour as week on average to qualify for unemployment, if you work to many hours however you lose your benefits. So why try to get a better job or work harder?  I know people that have worked at stores like Fred Meyer or Target and have told me some of their co-workers talk about this very topic. Then don't want to work more shifts because they could lose there unemployment....sound like the system needs work.