A return of $1.61 on a $1.00 investment is awesome, and you just can’t beat it. So why do all the “run our government like a business” types oppose it? Anybody with any actual business experience knows that you can’t hardly get that kind of bang for the buck.

The answer, alas, is that the right-wing nutjobs who oppose UI are uniformly incapable of doing basic math. The lot of them live in a fantasy world full of Ayn Rand and Laffer Curve claptrap, acting as if their fervent belief will somehow make their crazy ideology come true. Belief is NOT a substitute for actual numbers on investment and returns.

Speaking of investment; looking for a job costs money, and it is money well spent. As ChisholmTrailDem reports:

The last time I searched for a job my expenditures for just that purpose, while on UI mind you, was nearly $3000, most of it on fuel to go looking for a job, before I finally found one. And all of that came right out of my UI benefits, right along with all my other financial obligations.

No one seems to be talking about the cost of looking for a job. And those expenses come right out of UI checks. Now, not only can these people who have lost UI benefits not pay their bills, they also now have no money to look for a job.

Once again, Business 101; you have to spend money to make money. Teapublicans seem to think that money magically appears if you think it will. In reality, if you have no money to invest, you’ll get no return.  People need Unemployment Insurance to invest in finding a job. So if you want people to earn a living, then Someone. Must. Provide. The. Capital. Required. That, friends, is how business works.

And there isn’t anybody else out there who is providing that investment. Not neighbors, not churches, not anybody. If the Government wants fewer people on public assistance, then the government must invest in getting people to work. Spending nothing provides nothing in return.

Spending money on Unemployment Insurance provides a proven and positive return. So the Repubs need to shut up, nut up, and pony up.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky