Get Educated - HuffPo Style

HuffPo released an article today titled: Republicans are Stoopid (close enough), and pointed out John Boehner's hypocrisy in cherry-picking CBO reports.  In his bid to block extending unemployment, HuffPo's beef is that Boehner referred to the CBO report on minimum wage's negative effects on jobs, but refuses to reference their report on how the intergalactic monetary system will be saved simply by way of unemployment benefit payments.

Of course, true to HuffPo fashion, Arthur Delaney refuses to acknowledge that in the report - right after listing potential benefits - he writes:

"However, those positive effects on output and employment in 2014 
would be partially offset by the effects of an increase in the duration of 
unemployment for some people. Specifically, in response to the extension of 
benefits, some unemployed workers who would be eligible for those benefits 
would reduce the intensity of their job search and remain unemployed longer—
which would tend to decrease output and employment"

and

"Combining the positive effects on the economy from higher aggregate demand 
with the negative effects from job searches that would be (on average) less 
intense, CBO estimates that extending the current EUC program and other related 
expiring provisions until the end of 2014 would increase inflation-adjusted GDP 
by 0.2 percent and increase full-time-equivalent employment by 0.2 million in the 
fourth quarter of 2014."

If you read the CBO report, it seems like a lot of money and room for unintended consequences for a measly average of 25,000 / month.  Which, isn't even a big enough number to know if it had an effect on actual jobs created.  When you compare the CBO's report: The Effects of a Minimum Wage, you might have a better idea as to why a politician might use that one, but ignore the other one.

I digress.

There was a comment on how the extension of money would get back to the people, then get to the businesses who will in turn spend money on their business which will lead to more people working (actually, they were making a Republican argument), so I politely reminded them that the business owners are rich and evil and were going to hoard all the money because, the greatest thing about having money is obviously doing nothing with it!  I got this gem:

They are hoarding it because they know exactly how this cycle is going to work!  They get it, the libs try to get as many of their grubby little fingers on it as possible so they can pay some high-level salaries and then give it back to the people who have gotten accustomed to receiving money that was earned with little to no labor.  Did we forget Walmart warned their numbers were down due to a decrease in food stamps?

So, we get mad at corporations for hoarding cash - but we advocate to continue the very things that have lead people to be foolish with money which opened the pipeline of cash to go right to these corporations?  The economy is (allegedly) improving, but we are still nearing record levels of food stamp usage?  Obviously, people have gotten used to not having to put their own hard earned cash up for food - OR - the economy is still much worse than anyone wants to admit.