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Burnett asks whether China’s lack of unemployment benefits "encourage[s] people…to go get jobs more quickly," unlike "some" of their unemployed American counterparts

March 12, 2009 10:21 am ET

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    • Author by macg (March 12, 2009 10:28 am ET)
         
      THANK YOU FOR POSTING!! I saw this live and I almost lost it. Erin Burnett has no compassion for anyone in this country except for her hedge fund manager friends.

      Morning Joe made sure to smear single mothers as popping out more kids for the money and falsely claimed that progressives said Welfare Reform was a success.

      The Stoopid is unbelievable.
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    • Author by polderjongetje (March 12, 2009 11:33 am ET)
         

      What did I miss? China has a lack of unemployment benefits? I can't find that anywhere: is she just making up stuff

      According to this:

      As of 1998, says the ILO report, only four Asian economies – China, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, China – “had any form of unemployment benefit scheme”.

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    • Author by markbfoot199 (March 12, 2009 11:38 am ET)
         
      Question, if you had a job that did not offer benefits, and then you get laid off.  After getting a laid off and the government gives you a weekly check making just 5% less then your job and in return you get benefits from the Government.  What would be the motivation for that person to go out and find a new job?  Now, let's add this piece as any example.  You were in New Orleans living in subsidized housing, you were paying a very low rent, and had a min wage job.  Now, after two and a half years you have been getting free rent and unemployement checks with benefits.  What is the motivation to move back to New Orleans and find a job and then have to pay rent again?  At what point do we say NO!  FYI, they have talked about extending these individuals rent and unemployment benefits for another year.  In total 3 and half years of not needing to work since the government is giving you all you need.
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      • Author by foghornleghorn (March 12, 2009 11:45 am ET)
           

        Wrong again.  I guess you didn't see the thousands of people who applied recently for ONE janitorial job.  Or in my city, where a job fair attracted more than 7,000 applicants and they had to turn people away who didn't pre-register.

        Yeah, people just LOVE being on unemployment/welfare.

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      • Author by macg (March 12, 2009 11:45 am ET)
           
        Have you ever been on umemployment? I have and it is barely enough to pay your bills. You are not riding high on the hog or milking the government. Also, it runs out too. The ignorance is astounding.
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      • Author by mikehuck1976 (March 12, 2009 2:10 pm ET)
           

        Who gets 5% less?  That's now how it works here where I live.

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      • Author by polderjongetje (March 12, 2009 2:29 pm ET)
           

        Let me pose this question.

        The Netherlands has probably one of the most generous unemployment benefits in the industrialized world. According to your logic, unemployment in the Netherlands should be high. Correct?

        Then can you explain to me the following nrs?

        The latest nrs show that in the period Nov 2008 - Jan 2009, the unemployment rate was 3.9%. It had risen from 3.7% in the period Oct - Dec 2008.

         

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    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (March 12, 2009 12:13 pm ET)
         
      This is so typical FAR RIGHT WING ATTITUDE, If you lose your job, you dont need help, jus get another one.
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    • Author by IowaDem (March 12, 2009 12:18 pm ET)
         
      I don't know MBFOOT, when would Jesus say NO!  While your argument is a complete strawman, since these people that you discuss sound like the old "Welfare Queen" from the 80's, I would argue that 99.9% of people on welfare are either short term beneficiaries or suffer from mental or physical problems, the other .1% are what we are talking about.  If you study Economics you know there is a free-rider problem with any public good, but that is a small price to pay. Do you want to assume the responsibility for killing an innocent child who starves because his/her mother/father is too lazy to get a job? 
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    • Author by markbfoot199 (March 12, 2009 2:39 pm ET)
         

      I just enjoy how no one answers the question, instead it was attack, attack and name calling.  Again, answer the question, when do you stop providing.   

       Welfare pays better, so why work? - need to cut welfare benefits

      The full package of benefits actually provides recipients with incomes above the poverty level in every state. The value, relative to a job providing the same after-tax income, ranges from $36,400 in Hawaii to $11,500 in Mississippi. In eight jurisdictions--Hawaii, Alaska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island--welfare pays at least the equivalent of a $25,000 a-year job.

      http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2622_v125/ai_19217177

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      • Author by polderjongetje (March 12, 2009 3:13 pm ET)
           

        First: I've seen several answers you choose not to address. Why not?

        Second: Apart from Rhode Island, all the States with allegedly high unemployment benefits have also lower unemployment rates than Mississippi. BTW, it's pointless to compare raw data with eachother when you don't include what the cost of living in those states is or what the poverty line is.

        But what do I care, you don't answer anybody if it doesn't fit your argument

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      • Author by polderjongetje (March 12, 2009 3:18 pm ET)
           

        And another point: your "problem" is very easily solved:

        Increase minimum wages

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      • Author by foghornleghorn (March 12, 2009 3:35 pm ET)
           
        So when are you quitting your job to go on the government gravy train?
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