This made me think of my favorite scene from “Caddyshack”
I think I just heard Juan Williams say we’re probably doing these unemployed people a disservice by not allowing their unemployment insurance to expire. Keeps them out of work, personal habits decay, no one wants to hire them, etc.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Too bad that sexual harrassing douchebag didn’t find out what it was like to be unemployed for a lengthy amount of time.
Zifnab
Listen, if there is one job opening for every five job applicants, then kicking more people off employment will just encourage the other four people to compete harder for that one job.
And then – voila! Unemployment is solved.
Sasha
And we did captive suspected terrorists a favor by torturing them because as much as they actually wanted to confess, they couldn’t until they could justify “having been forced to”, meeting their obligation to Allah and letting them off the spiritual hook.
Chyron HR
@Zifnab:
Obviously the second applicant would start his own small business and hire numbers 3, 4 and 5–if only we weren’t subsidizing them with bennies and t-bones!
Mike Goetz
And the world needs ditch-diggers, too. Actually, Judge Smalls is the perfect avatar for the Republican Party right now.
jayjaybear
Yeah, how dare NPR fire such a staunch liberal…
The Bobs
Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield made that movie. Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, not so much.
Mike Goetz
@The Bobs:
Aw, c’mon, Chase had some great lines in there. “See your future, BE your future. Ma…make…make it. Make your future, Danny. I’m a mess, Danny.”
Fuck! A Duck
Chyron HR: We’ve been giving the unemployed Benzedrine?
No wonder they want to get back to work.
Zifnab
@Chyron HR: Unfortunately not. He’d likely hire foreigners here on H1-B visas or immigrants of questionable legal origin. Why, you ask? Because American wages are too damn high.
We need to abolish the minimum wage, roll back all those employment regulations, issue a “payroll tax holiday” for all American businesses, and crack down on all those unions. Only then will our unemployment crisis come to an end. American businesses will finally have the working capital necessary to hire all the would-be vagrants and lazy bastards that make up the unemployed working class.
Comrade Dread
And everyone who is underemployed is just being a lazy **** who wants three or four day weekends, right, Juan?
Capri
For a long time we’ve heard people wonder why there aren’t mobs with pitchforks in the streets. This act will certainly get us closer to that point.
Blue Neponset
@The Bobs: Big hitter, the lama.
Bill Murray is a comic genius. I heard somewhere that he just ad-libbed that whole scene. Don’t care enough to find out for sure though.
Dan
I’m still waiting for O’Reilly to call out the Republicans for their War Against Christmas by depriving people of their unemployment checks during the holidays.
I suspect I will be waiting a long time…
fasteddie9318
Why can’t TPM headline their articles properly?
That 51% believes the leak was an act of treason; i.e., that the intel officer who leaked the material to Wikileaks committed treason. It would be impossible for Assange or Wikileaks, since he is not a US citizen and it does not operate on US soil, to commit “treason.” Unless TPM is trying to suggest that that 51% don’t understand what “treason” is, their headline is misleading.
Fuck! A Duck
fasteddie9318: Yeah, well, want a poll on how many Americans know what the Constitutional definition of treason is.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Zifnab: If people were serious about getting jobs, they’d form hybrids with one another to a) lower the number of people competing for the job and b) become more valuable to an employer. What employer wouldn’t hire someone with six arms, six legs and three heads? Christ, that sorta productivity for the price of one person is a total gamechanger.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@The Bobs:
Wow, did you realize that your post is the perfect definition of inane?
Sue
Is there an actual quote anywhere? Not that I doubt it but I would like to know what he said.
Tax Analyst
By the same token he probably believes people get sick because they have Medical Insurance. They only get sick because they have that silly “shared risk” safety-net-type-of-thing underneath them.
Unemployment Americans need to Man-Up and recognize the dignity that comes with homelessness, hunger and general want. When you lick that last morsel out of that catfood can keep your head up and your chin held high(but try not to dribble any of that tuna & chicken on my brogans, if you please).
And sick Americans need to Man-Up and die in the alley right next to that homeless dude with the catfood slobber on his chin.
MikeTheZ
See, his tendency to say stupidly embarrassing shit is why he got fired, not his specific comments. This simply exemplifies said stupidly embarrassing shit.
cleek
@fasteddie9318:
the one on TPM’s front page read Literacy Under Seige, and complains about people not knowing what “treason” means.
fasteddie9318
@cleek:
There’s nothing in Rasmussen’s write-up about the poll that says 51% said that Wikileaks is guilty of treason; it says that 51% thought the leak was treasonous. I’m not one of Scott Rasmussen’s platinum members, and the closest I’ll ever come is if I were to obtain a chunk of platinum so I could brain him with it, but without actually seeing the questions there’s no basis for TPM to spin things that way.
The Bobs
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Howlin Wolfe
Talk about a side of dumbass with teh stoopid.
No, Juan, unemployment compensation is not the problem.
There’s no evidence for that, except some anecdotes that seem to be told only to conservative pundits and politicians.
And buying into that falsehood combined with “we’re doing them a disservice” isn’t compassionate, it’s downright insulting to the unemployed. Like starving them and their dependents is the best thing that could happen. These fucking villagers make me want to cause them all excruciating pain.
Corner Stone
@The Bobs: I refuse to even discuss this with you.
Corner Stone
So, DougJ. When do you plan to do your emo-filled, ego validating, faux GBCW post?
Seems to be all the rage these days.
Warren Terra
Well, I’ll concede that if Juan Williams wasn’t getting fat Fox News paychecks to do nothing worthwhile he’d be more motivated to get a job doing something worth doing. Is that what he meant?
The Bobs
@Blue Neponset:
I love Bill Murray and agree with everything you said. I just laughed more at Ted and Rodney in this movie.
DougJ
@Corner Stone:
What is GBCW?
fasteddie9318
Let’s be fair to Juan; if those unemployed Scrooges would actually spend their unemployment benefits instead of hoarding it in the form of gold coins and precious jewels and they bathing in it nightly, he might feel differently.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: That is too weird, I was posting the exact same thought when I lost my internet and had to reboot. I bet dougj could tear one up. It should be a competition to see who can do the best one. We could vote.
Comrade Dread
@DougJ: Goodbye Cruel World.
fasteddie9318
DougJ, just explode suddenly in a cloud of tears and poutrage and tell everyone you’re leaving this awful place because nobody likes you and it hurts your fee-fees.
DougJ
@Comrade Dread:
Who’s been doing Goodbye Cruel World posts? Did someone do one here?
Svensker
@DougJ:
I know! I know! Pick me!
DougJ
@fasteddie9318:
Who has been doing that recently? I love stuff like that.
martha
@DougJ: No, people just have reading comprehension issues. It’s going around. Sigh. The emo gets in the way. Also too.
cleek
@DougJ:
front page, scroll down
Citizen Alan
@Capri:
I’m bitterly disappointed that there haven’t been. I’ve always thought that if a few Goldman Sachs execs had been left swinging from lamp posts, a lot of our problems would quickly solve themselves.
Comrade Dread
@DougJ: I think they’re referring to John’s post about Obama seemingly giving in on taxes.
I don’t agree with their assessment, given that I am starting to wonder why I should bother to vote for some Democrats if they’re going to act like Lite Republicans.
That being said, I’m rather happy with the House Democrats today. Even if the Senate likely ends up killing it.
Joseph Nobles
It made me think, “Decrease the surplus population.”
dweomer
@DougJ: ABL sort of took her ball and went home. This gave me a sad, because her writing style is my kind of punchy.
Matt in HB
@Blue Neponset:
Big hitter, the lama.
So much wonderful absurdity in those four words. There is no Caddyshack without Murray’s Carl Spackler.
But to be fair, the same can be said of Judge Smails and Dangerfield’s Al Czervik.
Chevy Chase as Ty Webb, I can take or leave. Not sure he was as essential as the other three.
The Grand Panjandrum
House is now voting on the Middle Class Tax Cut Bill. Watch it here if you aren’t near a TV.
Bob L
@fasteddie9318: Rasmussen Poll = 5% error to the right. That was proved last election.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: Only one person gets a vote around here.
The fat guy with the beautiful feet.
ET
No one wants to hire them anyway but this time around it has less to do with that and more to do with the fact that they don’t want to hire anyone.
Most politicians and talking head don’t have a clue. Either that or they do and want to sound like idiots.
dr. bloor
I look forward to a live fee of Juan reporting from a red-state Unemployment Office in, say, late January. Theoretically, it’ll be empty because all those deadbeats have seen the light and gotten a job, right Juan?
The Grand Panjandrum
@Just Some Fuckhead: I’d put my money on Cole. No one throws a hissy fit like The Heater.
kdaug
@Corner Stone:
Urm – not to offend any fetishists around here, but aside from reasonably trimmed nails, what precisely are the criterion for “beautiful feet”?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: You mean the fat man in the bathtub with the little feat?
Ryan
@fasteddie9318:
The majority of Americans use a word incorrectly? Next you’re going to tell me that the majority of Americans confuse socialism with fascism; that’s just crazy talk!
Martin
@Chyron HR:
Jesus, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. There’s no fucking way that the second applicant would be able to start his own business after 99 weeks unemployed unless he got a tax cut.
freelancer
@kdaug:
Ahh yes, that golden rule (#34).
CarolDuhart
I bet the people at NPR who were regretting his departure are estatic today. That heartless douche would have cost more than a few headaches and donations, and it’s clear that he improved the intellectual level of NPR by leaving it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Grand Panjandrum: He’d never write one because he knows the “gos” would outnumber the “stays”, if for no other reason than all of you are assholes. Then he would be the wiseass that got voted off his own blog.
Jay in Oregon
Shorter Juan Williams: Are there no workhouses?
Kryptik
After hearing Juan Williams’ rationale, it makes even less sense. He says that turning down jobs that will pay off less than unemployment benefits shows a marked apathy and laziness that only develops with being on the dole.
Newsflash: If the job offer is paying less than unemployment, that says less about the person turning it down, and more about how shitty the job is paying.
jeffreyw
Looks like the tax extension bill has passed the house.
Martin
@kdaug: Not a fetishist, but since it’s my only redeeming quality I’m going to pimp it. I have been repeatedly praised for having beautiful feet. Nice nails, never ingrown, toes are distinct, don’t smush up, and have good dexterity. No calluses or dry patches. Nice arches. Good coloring. Not too hairy.
Everything else about me looks like a potato, but I have very nice, maintenance-free feet.
ed drone
The bill passes, 234-188!
Now, can the Senate amend it again, to add the plutocrats’ taxcut of 2010? Or, it being a funding measure, must it start on its own in the House?
My guess is, since there’s already a House-passed funding measure there, it would be ‘just an amendment.’
Ed
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: Can you post a picture for those of us that collect pictures of beautiful man feet?
ETA: Non-fetishist of course.
stuckinred
@Blue Neponset: How bout a little something for the effort?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
My comment got eated. Too many links? I was just gonna say Lady Dianne Antoinette (Feinstein) beat Juan to this one months ago.
@ed drone: can’t find a roll call yet, but that’s a pretty partisan score, isn’t it?
Suffern ACE
@fasteddie9318: Is it just me or is 51% not really all that strong of a majority, the rest of the opinions being “Didn’t commit treason”, “Don’t care/Don’t know/What are you talking about?”
bemused
It’s a damn shame that Juan and the other asshats who blame the unemployed for being unemployed because there are no jobs will never be unemployed themselves. There are always jobs in wingnut world. If they were, they would be the first to throw screaming, sobbing, whining, snot dripping tantrums.
Woodrowfan
Tunch?
Comrade Dread
@Kryptik: You should just accept the fact that you’ll need to work two or three of this low paying jobs and be done with it.
And also, make sure you’re also there to raise your kids, make sure they do well in school, and make healthy lunches for them every day. Otherwise, you’re also an unfit parent in addition to being an ungrateful parasite sucking away the marrow of freedom that keeps America healthy.
Suffern ACE
I think Juan is on to something. We really do need to make a greater effort to separate out the unemployed from the lazy. The unemployment benefits are just too easy to obtain as it stands now. Those payments should be replaced with government subsidized unemployment loans. Those that are industrious will eventually repay those loans. Those that are not will be shone to be slackers that they truly are. Since the point of social insurance is to shine a moral light upon the “needy”, why not make that light a more prominent feature by increasing the risk of complete ruin on those who have lost their jobs?
licensed to kill time
@Woodrowfan:
I do believe they are talking about this wild n’ crazy guy .
Dennis SGMM
@Suffern ACE:
I will support your plan on the condition that anyone who does not pay off their unemployment loan within five years is executed. That’s the only way that we’re going to eradicate that pernicious laziness gene and bring America to true greatness.
Ryan
@Suffern ACE:
Why do we need to do that? Lazy people have to live too, and they’ll be lazy regardless of whether they have a shitty job (where they perform poorly) or not. If they’re lazy at home then that frees up more jobs for the rest of us and makes the job market more favorable for job seekers salary-wise; and the jobs that are filled are performed more competently! It’s win-win.
kc
We should also expedite foreclosure on the houses of the unemployed. That would really motivate them, the slackers.
John - A Motley Moose
@Ryan: You obviously don’t get it. If we force the lazy to get jobs then they’ll still be lazy so the employer will have to hire more people to get the work done. Unemployment problem solved. We need a new law that forces businesses to hire only lazy people whenever the unemployment rate is over 5%.
CircleSquared
@Suffern ACE: Only if the loans can be paid back in french fries.
Juan Williams is not right on this (surprise). If the jobs aren’t there to win, the loans won’t get paid back. I’m watching a situation in my own neck of the woods where the pool of applicants is consistently 8:1 for the available jobs–which are all temporary. You’ve got the length of the contract to catch up on late payments for mortgage, utilities, etc.
A loan ain’t gonna help. Demand for services is gonna help.
Barkley G
Here is what Orwell had to say about Juan’s idea.
Shorter version: Unemployment during a Global Recession is a disaster which happened to you as an individual and for which you were to blame and that ain’t right.
DougJ
@dweomer:
I got distracted by the Louis CK video. I hope she stays!
BongCrosby
I’m calling horseshit on this one.
I’ve been unemployed/underemployed over six months now and have been sending out resumes nearly every day. I have good references and good tenure in my employment history, and the phone is just. not. ringing.
I landed a temp job this summer that lasted six weeks; as it turns out going back to work may have been a pretty stupid move. My unemployment benefits now expire in mid-December, just after the November 30 expiration date.
Had I *not* gone back to work, I’d likely have qualified for at least one extension of benefits. As it stands now, my benefits now expire in three weeks, after the November 30 date — and so, no further extensions.
The last time I collected unemployment was when I got out of the Navy in 1981. Since then, I’ve either been in school or employed.
I’m having a hard time seeing how I’m at fault here.
mai naem
Juan Williams is a piss of sheet
themann1086
“I’ve sent boys younger than you to the gas chambers. Didn’t want to do it; felt I… owed it to them.”
Classic.
Jay Schiavone
I recall when Al Franken had Williams on his radio show to defend his book, “Enough.” Williams had much to complain about rappers, so Franken (incredulous about Williams familiarity with popular music) asked Juan what CD he had currently in his car player. Williams’ answer? “Grammy’s Greatest Hits, Volume 7.”