14 Million Unemployed - No Jobs and No Benefits!

That's what all the headlines might read in a few short months. And of course the Republicans will say it's all Obama's fault.

According to this New York Times article from a little over a year ago (June 10, 2010) 4.5 million people were receiving regular state unemployment benefits, and nearly 5.4 million were receiving extended benefits. All told, about 9.9 million people were drawing an unemployment check.

Just 6 short months from now (in January 2012) every one of them will have exhausted all state and federal unemployment benefits.

So, if only a little more than 1 million jobs were created since this time last year, wouldn't that mean there will be over 14 million people without any benefits all, and they will all still be unemployed? And wouldn't that also mean that almost everyone who lost their job during the Great Recession had never found another job again?

In that New York Times article it also says "it will take time to create enough jobs to bring down the 9.7 percent unemployment rate." (That's when the BLS was reporting that 15 million were unemployed).

Today the BLS reports a 9.2 percent unemployment rate and 14.1 million people out of work.

And the year before that in 2009...wasn't the average unemployment rate throughout most of the year about 9.5 percent also? (Here in Las Vegas it peaked at 15% and is now reported to be at 13.8% in July 2011.

So what much has changed since the beginning of this recession, except that everyone will soon be without any income at all, and will have to rely on food stamps (which the Republicans will want to cut).

Last November the Republicans ran on the promise of cutting government spending, but they didn't specifically say food stamps, unemployment benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security (stuff 14.1 million unemployed people will need to live). They had us thinking they were going after "wasteful spending". Are we wasteful?

And the Republicans also promised jobs, but after all these months in office, they have yet to come up with a single jobs bill. Instead, they went after collective bargaining rights, voter registration, Planned Parenthood, and National Public Radio. Then they CUT unemployment benefits in many states.

Every time I see a Republican on TV, they say that that's what the American people wanted and why they voted them into office last November. I don't remember any of them promising to cut unemployment benefits, although I already knew they thought we were all lazy drunks.

But I do remember the Republicans voting last December to continue funding unemployment benefits for another 13 months...in exchange for another 24 months of tax cuts for the rich...I mean, "job creators".

I noticed that when unemployment numbers are high, that's good for the Republicans because they use our numbers to blame Obama for this "jobless recovery" (although the stock market has fully recovered). As John Boehner says, the rich (I mean the job creators) need "certainty" in the marketplace (as though we don't need any certainty in our own lives).

When I used to see a Republican on Fox News, they didn't speak very highly of the unemployed. They thought we should all be cannibals and start our own businesses...and that we should go back to school, stop taking drugs, be more "mobile", get off the bottle, and stop being so damn lazy and just take any non-existent job at McDonalds. Remember that?

Now the Republicans want to wipe out Medicare and Social Security without raising taxes on billionaires one penny. They say that it's WE who need to start living within our means, tighten our belts, make a shared sacrifice, and to stop whining and being so Socialistic. I'll bet that sounds so reasonable to the voters who still have jobs.

The Republicans are always scaring us, saying that Obama wants to raise taxes (not mentioning at all that it's just taxes on those earning over $1 million a year). Oops! They must have forgotten to mention that part.

The Republicans are always saying that Obama has been recklessly spending, never mentioning that it's congress who writes the checks. But oddly, the Republicans voted to hand over $700 billion to the banks - - - the very same banks that the Republicans de-regulated. The very same banks that committed fraud and foreclosed on so many homes. The same banks that the Republicans REFUSE to reform. The very banks that made record profits and paid themselves record bonuses. (Oops! I guess the Republicans forgot to mention that part too!)

If elected, what will the Republicans do for 14.1 million unemployed Americans who have exhausted all their unemployment benefits and had all their other social programs stripped to the bare bone? Will 14.1 million jobs magically re-appear and pay a "living wage"? Will the Republicans save America and the middle-class?

NOT!

But it's not entirely all the Republican's fault...because we know who pulls their strings...