Santorum: Extended Unemployment Benefits Create ‘Too Big Of A Social Safety Net’

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/05/31/231760/santorum-unemployment-benefits-safety-net/

By Pat Garofalo on May 31, 2011 at 2:50 pm

In response to the Great Recession and the continuing high unemployment that has followed in its wake, Congress wisely extended unemployment benefits beyond the traditional 27 weeks, with unemployed workers in the hardest hit states eligible for up to 99 weeks of benefits. These extended benefits were put in place over the strong objections of Republicans, who first filibustered an extension on the Senate floor, and then only agreed to approve the extension if it were paired with tax cuts for the wealthy.

Proving that the GOP is not through picking on those who lost their jobs during the recession, GOP 2012 hopeful Rick Santorum appeared on CNBC this morning where he claimed that extended unemployment benefits have created “too big of a social safety net”:

I’m talking about success from the standpoint of traditional capitalist success, in investing, in innovating, in succeeding, and not saying, well, we’re going to tax you more, we’re going to regulate you more because you’re successful. No. And by the way 99 weeks of unemployment — I always use the example, in Pennsylvania we have one of our big, favored companies is Hershey. I remind people that Milton Hershey, the person who started the Hershey chocolate company, went bankrupt four times. Now imagine if back in the late 1800′s you’d had a program of 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Would there ever have been a Hershey chocolate company? And probably the answer is no! So we’re not doing favors by creating too big of a safety net, nor are we doing any favors by hammering businesses who are successful.

----- (skipping) [there is a link to a video of the interview]

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You could also find plenty of examples of people who have committed suicide or crimes because they couldn't find a job.


And there have been riots in other countries recently because of unemployment.

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