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Remember the fight over extending unemployment benefits in the midst of the recession, and how according to Republicans all those who were struggling to get a toe hold were a bunch of lazy layabouts and moochers?
Now we're supposed offer huge tax breaks and do away with EPA so a bunch of folks who've been sitting on their duffs and voting for Republicans can have a few more years of working in a dying industry.
Give me a break.
Interesting point in that when republicans were finally successful in ending extensions for unemployment guess what? The sky didn't fall in as many left/democrats predicted. People got off their behinds and found work once they realized the free ride was over. Those who remained out of any sort of job (it is easier to get a job when you have one already), and or were being picky woke up and found Jesus in that they needed to start doing something to bring in money.
All this went on as the unemployment rate (finally) began coming down as businesses started hiring. No, many of the jobs weren't what many would have wanted initially, but many that took those initial jobs have worked their way up to better.
Am not a huge fan of everything coming out of the republican party of late, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
...and yet here we are in 2017 with millions of people not trained for 21st century jobs and a president elect picking and choosing industries to prop up. We can either spend money on folks getting new skills or pay more in food stamps, medicaid, etc..
It seems like military service is the government providing skills and money to be re-trained. The GI Bill jump started our post war economy in the the 50s, why not use federal money/the scale of the federal money to do something similar for non-military?
In case you've forgotten your American history and civics classes from school, Schoolhouse Rock is your friend:
We the people,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
It is a well established fact going back decades if not hundreds of years large numbers of citizens, subjects or whatever living in poverty is *not* a good thing. Ask Louis XVI, Nicholas II, Paul von Hindenburg and most recently Hillary Clinton what a "revolt" by the "poor" can do.....
Appalachia region has been targeted for poverty reduction going back several presidential administrations. Some of it has worked, but there still remains a stubbornly high level of economic insecurity in that region that seems to defy all attempts to cure.
I never did get my history lessons from Schoolhouse Rock, but thanks anyway.
I am not saying poverty is a good thing. What I am saying is that it is not the government's responsibility to retrain people when their skills become obsolete.
Interesting point in that when republicans were finally successful in ending extensions for unemployment guess what? The sky didn't fall in as many left/democrats predicted..
Exactly. People lost their homes in that mess and who knows what all or even if extended unemployment benefits would have changed anything.
But in any case, they made. Tough times makes tough people.
Same way with the miners and factory workers.
Huge tax breaks and doing away with EPA regulations is a temporary fix at best. Eventually, those jobs are disappearing anyway. Might as well use those taxes to pay down the national debt and let those miners and factory workers figure things out on their own.
And? So you'd rather pay more for food stamps, medicaid, etc. over re-training folks? Or would you like to revert back to the majority of America's existence of a lot of poverty by eliminating the safety net? Or do you want an even greater, more expensive military so people EARN those benefits? Which is it?
We have decades of proof that the private sector simply doesn't do a good job at re-training people. Try looking for a job nowadays with no skills.... Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
I never did get my history lessons from Schoolhouse Rock, but thanks anyway.
I am not saying poverty is a good thing. What I am saying is that it is not the government's responsibility to retrain people when their skills become obsolete.
Well then you ought to tell that to Germany, a country that does just that and whose economy not only is the strongest in Europe but much of the world.
Germany spends vast sums both on initial training (apprenticeships) and or retraining to provide workers that employers want/need.
OTOH efforts made by federal and local governments in USA (the ones you yourself are complaining about), are small, half hearted and not very effective. Booker pushes for better training of U.S. workforce
Contrary to what many want to believe there are plenty of good manufacturing jobs out there in USA. However these aren't the factory jobs of our grandfathers, great grandfathers or otherwise yesterday. Rather businesses are looking for specific modern skill sets. Persons who have undergone training or retraining in these high demand manufacturing jobs usually have nil problems finding work. Say usually because even the best education cannot compensate for poor work and personal habits.
Why should federal government spend these funds on "retraining" when as you seem to believe there are already so many other programs? First and foremost not every program already in existence suits needs on the ground. Two is the most obvious; if employers cannot find qualified workers in the USA they will move production to where it can be found easily.
Right so him and his unrealistic armchair libbies crew on the left coast and NY are fine with not contributing to the countries energy needs.
WV/PA/OH produces coal and gas both, yet apparently they don't want either one of them even though natural gas is supposedly better than coal. On top of all this they have no idea how to replace them but they're certainly fine with using the electricity it provides while demeaning the industry and trying to hamstring it.
Awesome. Their logic is sound as always.
To understand NYS politics you have to follow the money:
Sources tell WKBN he will be here to sign a bill regarding the Stream Protection Rule. The rule was designed by the Obama Administration and repealed by the Senate on Feb. 2.
According to The Associated Press, “The regulations would have tightened exceptions to a rule that requires a 100-foot buffer between coal mining and streams. It also would require coal companies to restore streams and return mined areas to conditions similar to those before mining took place.”
Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson spoke with WKBN earlier this week about the environmental rule.
“It would have threatened upwards of 70,000 jobs and put 80-plus percent of our coal reserves out of reach,” he said.
And? So you'd rather pay more for food stamps, medicaid, etc. over re-training folks? Or would you like to revert back to the majority of America's existence of a lot of poverty by eliminating the safety net? Or do you want an even greater, more expensive military so people EARN those benefits? Which is it?
We have decades of proof that the private sector simply doesn't do a good job at re-training people. Try looking for a job nowadays with no skills.... Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Coupla points:
1. People need skills for good jobs. Everyone knows that. Part of acquiring skills - perhaps the biggest part - is initiative. There are already programs out there for those who are income eligible but have initiative.
2. We're talking coal country - which is also meth and oxy/opiod country. That problem is so incredibly pervasive that unless you've lived or worked in that area, you really can't fathom it. That's a problem that's much bigger and more profound than coal vs. natural gas. Look - all you REALLY need to get started at entry level in oil and gas is a CDL - which is a short, inexpensive course. However, in order to actually utlilize a CDL, one must be able to pass a drug screen. And in order to work with any sort of service company or oil and gas company, one must be able to pass a drug screen.
West Virginia - the heart of coal country - has THE HIGHEST rate of deaths from drug overdoses in the US.
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