Mitch McConnell, do you even care about Americans?

Mitch McConnell, do you even care about Americans?

As of midnight last night, millions of long-term unemployed Americans received a lump of coal in their holiday stockings as Congress failed to come to an agreement on a short-term extension for unemployment benefits.

The Republican stance on the issue is hardline. If the benefit extension is balanced by a cut in spending, they’ll vote in favor of helping ease some of the pain for Americans on the brink of ruin. If the benefit extension adds to the nation’s debt, they’ll vote no and turn their collective backs on Americans who are suffering. In the meantime, while they play games for the cameras, millions of Americans – adults and children – suffer and go hungry, struggling from one day to the next.

“I don’t know how we can sit down and talk about tax cuts for people who have jobs at the highest income categories and ignore the suffering and struggles of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own.” – Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D)

My knee jerk reaction is to propose a cut in salaries for senators and congresspeople so they can feel a little more in touch with middle-class America; the people they’re working for.

I don’t understand the Republican position. This is a group that continues to work for extending tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans on the lie that keeping their taxes low will create jobs. Here’s an interesting article from the New York Times from November 23rd that reports on record corporate profits in the third quarter of this year.

Record corporate profits.

Tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans.

Record corporate profits.

Tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans.

What’s missing here? Job creation to match the record corporate profits is what’s missing.

Obviously President Obama’s policies are good for business and anyone telling us they aren’t is spreading a myth. Anyone who wants to ask the president where the jobs are needs to look instead to corporate American and the corporate executives who, with their tax cuts, are sitting on record profits, and ask them where the jobs are. Hopefully they’ll have an answer for us soon.