o'houdini - Amazing White House Discovery: Unemployment Creates Jobs

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts.  He was also a skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini)

From: Times Robbins Report Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 Subject: Amazing White House Discovery: Unemployment Creates Jobs

August 14, 2011 Amazing White House Discovery: Unemployment Creates Jobs      President Obama has lately been pushing a number of policies that he says will create jobs, including extending unemployment benefits. This is puzzling, since new benefits obviously will not create jobs for unemployed people, who after all are the ones who need work. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explained Thursday that paying out unemployment checks "is one of the most direct ways to infuse money directly into the economy because people who are unemployed and obviously aren't running a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get.   They're not going to save it, they're going to spend it." True, they probably will spend the money, on their mortgages, on food, and other necessary expenses.  But Mr. Carney attributed miraculous qualities to these government handouts, saying "every place that, that money is spent has added business and that creates growth and income for businesses that leads them to decisions about jobs, more hiring." By that logic the whole country should go on unemployment.      Mr. Obama's faith in the power of government is not surprising, but this argument is absurd. It ignores the fact that unemployment benefits are paid in place of lost wages. They are smaller than the paychecks they replaced thus are not a net plus for the economy. They do not "create growth" or jobs, but at best do what they were intended to do, sustain workers at livable but substantially reduced income levels while they look for jobs. Yes they allow the government to pour money into the economy, but these days that means piling on more debt to the red ink that is preventing economic growth in the first place. Read More and Comment at http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/aug/11/amazing-white-house-discovery-unemployment-creates/ Check out the new home of The Robbins Report on WashingtonTimes.com. James S. Robbins is senior editorial writer for foreign affairs at the Washington Times. He is also Executive Director of the American Security Council Foundation. His latest book is "This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive," published by Encounter Books. He can be contacted at jrobbins@washingtontimes.com. The Robbins Report is provided weekly at no charge to major media, members of Congress, and Washington Times subscribers nationwide. For additional free copies, contact Marana Moore at maranamoore@washingtontimes.com. 3600 New York Ave NE. Washington D.C. 20002 http://washingtontimes.com