Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Politics Wamp Sees Jobless as Slackers
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 7:52 AM
"We want people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting."
Reaction from Tennessee Citizen Action's Mary Mancini:
“If Mr. Wamp sincerely believes that the people of Tennessee are ‘sitting back waiting’ instead of looking for work then he clearly doesn't know the people of Tennessee…. Unemployment is 10 percent statewide and close to 20 percent in some counties. That's not because Tennesseans do not want to work. It's because there are no jobs available."
Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council President Jerry Lee:
"We’ve got people out there scraping and clawing and looking for jobs already and there are six applicants for every job. If it wasn’t for these extensions on unemployment, we’d have people not just losing their homes, their families and cars, their families would be going without food and they wouldn’t have gas to go to a job if they found one. The culture was created on Wall Street. Working people didn’t create this situation."It's okay with these conservatives to extend the tax breaks for the wealthy and for weeks and weeks it was not okay to extend unemployment. I don’t know where the double standard comes from. The (jobless benefits) extension is federal dollars; it's not putting the burden on NFIB folks."
Mike McWherter:
“As I have travelled to all 95 counties, people tell me over and over again they want to work. They need jobs, not lectures and attacks from Congressman Wamp. My goal is simple we have to put Tennesseans back to work, not blame them for being unemployed.”
Comments (20)
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Wamp has often professed his christianity and it makes me wonder about how he separates christian charity from his public pronouncements. I don't find asking people in need to 'scrape and claw' anywhere in the Gospels I read.
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He needs to try unemployment sometime without rich friends and relatives to help out, without corporate buddies to give him a do-nothing job.
Yet another compassionate conservative. Who Would Jesus Diss?
Don't even get me started on these clowns. Anyone who seeks public office covets public dole. Everyone they accuse would gladly accept work over poverty. None of these CIVIL SERVANTS (remember that term when evaluating the likes of those in charter cities plundering the public trust) would have a clue how to survive without this license to steal.
The rabid Wampster bites again. Someone needs to clean his cage -- the fumes are suffocating all of us. I also agree with Tom above. Most of these arch-conservative, dog-eat-dog, social Darwinist Rethugligans are as familiar with true Christianity as they are with the Constitution. Now if we could only find a 21st century Liberia to ship them all to. Somalia comes to mind -- rabid Wampsters would fit in well there.
I just met with a man yesterday at Cross Point Church in Nashville (Pete Wilson's church). He's frustrated because his car blew up, he can't afford a new car, he doesn't have a place to stay, and now he doesn't have a way to get from point A to point B. These stories are happening all over the country - and this man is unmarried with no kids. Imagine a situation with a single mom! Imagine a college graduate who can't find a job and has to start paying off student loans!
Zach Wamp and the Republicans are out of step, and they're spending too much money on elections and too little being 'compassionate conservatives'.
"Compassionate conservative" means that they feel sorry for the plutocrat who stubs a toe while trampling on the poor.
Wamp is a washed out politician completely out of touch with Tennessee. Oh yea, by the way, Zach....in case you've forgotten....We, Tennesseans pay your hefty salary and health benefits.
Clown!!
"It's okay with these conservatives to extend the tax breaks for the wealthy and for weeks and weeks it was not okay to extend unemployment."
That's just the type of economic nonsense I would expect from a socialist twit like the AFL-CIO prez.
People whose taxes are not increased are not getting any sort of handout. They are keeping THEIR OWN MONEY. They are the ones who earned it in the first place. Whereas those getting unemployment ARE getting a handout of other people's money. There is no comparison between the two.
And Wamp is indeed essentially correct. It is a basic tenet of economics that you will get more of any activity that you subsidize. The more you pay people not to work, the more people you will get not working. Of course looney tune leftists like Mancini and Lee aren't capable of actually understanding anything about economics to begin with.
"Most of these arch-conservative, dog-eat-dog, social Darwinist Rethugligans are as familiar with true Christianity as they are with the Constitution. "
And you have just shown that you know nothing about Christianity or the Constitution.
There is nothing about Christianity that advocates using government to force people to do anything as opposed to voluntarily engaging in charity on an individual basis.
And there is nothing in the Constitution that delegates any power to the federal government to mandate charity from one group of citizens to another.
As James Madision, the father of the Constitution, explicitly stated:
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
-- James Madison
When will people of TN wake up and take back republican party from radicals like wamp ,ramsey ,zelenik they want you to hate unemployed,immigerants,gays,democrats,browns,blacks ,other religions or anyone slightly different from yourself it is called politics of fear so then they can do what they want ,they might as well be agents of al quida because they are achieving their goal such as destruction of our economy,civil liberty,republican party,divided country,2 trilion dollors wasted in wars,1 trilion wasted in collecting info on americans,1 trilion bank bailout,1 trilion in states bailout,losing our standing moraly ,politicaly,economicaly,millitarily in the world,ask youself why wamp,alexander,corker have no problem voting for those unfunded mandates but did not vote for unemployment extention that actualy helps people of Tn employed or not????
Gilbert,
You fail to think through your economic generalization. How is subsidizing unemployment going to lead employers to lay off more people? And most of those unemployed in this country right now are NOT drawing unemployment. They have either been out of work more than two years or never qualified for unemployment in the first place.
You miss the point on religion as well. It is not what the government should or should not be providing to the needy. It is what a self-professed christian like Wamp believes is right and wrong. He raises his religion and beliefs as an issue over and over again. He should be held to account for contradictions.
"You fail to think through your economic generalization. How is subsidizing unemployment going to lead employers to lay off more people?"
I didn't fail to think through anything. It isn't about what employers will do - it's about what people who are collecting umemployment are less likely to do. Take any job they can get regardless of whether they consider the work 'beneath" them or not.
"You miss the point on religion as well. It is not what the government should or should not be providing to the needy. It is what a self-professed christian like Wamp believes is right and wrong. He raises his religion and beliefs as an issue over and over again. He should be held to account for contradictions."
Wrong again.
There is no contradiction. As I said, there is nothing about Christianity that advocates using government to force OTHER PEOPLE to engage in charity. Christianity advocates individuals voluntarily choosing to engage in charity.
Government unemployment programs are an example fo the former, not the latter so there is no contradiction at all in Wamp (or anyone else) claiming to be a Christian and also opposing government mandated charity programs like unemployment.
Gilbert,
You do realize I was talking about the blog post, and not responding directly to your views???? I am questioning the authenticity of Zach Wamp as a professed Christian, again, NOT about your views of government.
"And Wamp is indeed essentially correct. It is a basic tenet of economics that you will get more of any activity that you subsidize. The more you pay people not to work, the more people you will get not working."
Gilbert, have you ever been on unemployment? Because that is hardly "paying people not to work." Unless you are a single person living with their parents or in some cheap, studio apartment, that is not enough to support a person. So Wamp is not essentially correct.
"I am questioning the authenticity of Zach Wamp as a professed Christian, again, NOT about your views of government."
And that was exactly the point I addressed - twice. You just keep deliberatly trying to ignore it.
Wamp may or may not be a good Christian. But opposition to government unemployment programs have no bearing on determining whether he is or not. Christianity is not about trying to force other people to engage in charity. And taxpayer financed government employer programs are exactly that.
"Gilbert, have you ever been on unemployment? Because that is hardly "paying people not to work." Unless you are a single person living with their parents or in some cheap, studio apartment, that is not enough to support a person. So Wamp is not essentially correct."
Are those people on unemployment doing any work in exchange for the money they are getting?
No they are not.
Therefore they are getting paid for not working. It's as simple as that.
Regardless of your personal opininions as to how sufficient that payment is.
That's it! Gilbert, I just realized you don't read very well. I'm sorry. I apologize for repeatedly try to explain what you can't comprehend. If someone reads this to you they call tell you. My problem is with Wamp's character not his policies.
No, Tom you are merely trying to spin out of the corner you painted yourself into.
That is why you have gone from saying you were questioning his "authenticity as a professed Christian" to saying you had a problem with his "character".
Because you don't want to acknowledge the fact there is no absolutely no connection whatsoever between Christianity and support for government mandated charity such as unemployment.
Therefore lack of support for said programs has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with determining whether Wamp or anyone else is a good Christisian.
Focus YOUR reading comprehension on that.
Yep. They're waiting for something that pays enough more than their unemployment benefits to justify going back to work. In any event, making companies continue to pay persons who have been fired or released is a socialist, "well-intended" but flawed policy.
to Tripwest it looks like you have never been an employer otherwise you would know that companies do not pay for fired or released employee for just cause nor that employee can collect unemployment,all companies calculate total cost of an employee there by the salary reflects all payroll cost,stop getting your info from fox news and talk radio those are usualy 10% true and 90% false,
