DN to Corbett: Get off your duff and check your facts
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DN to Corbett: Get off your duff and check your facts
Last week on the campaign trail, Tom Corbett made a less-than-fully-thought-out remark. The DN takes him to task for it today:
We don't generally comment on statements made by candidates in the midst of a campaign, but Tom Corbett made one last week that warrants an objection. At a campaign event, the Republican gubernatorial nominee blamed unemployment on the unemployed.
The jobs are there, he said, explaining that he knows this because he's heard repeatedly from business owners across the state that they can't find workers to fill open positions. He exhorted those unlucky enough to be jobless: "Get off your duff and go to work."
We wonder if Corbett would have said this to an actual unemployed person, who might have pointed out that the latest government data say there is just one job opening for every five people seeking work in this country.
Corbett claims people would rather live off their unemployment benefits than seek work. That theory may be tested soon, when thousands of Pennsylvanians will see their unemployment benefits expire. Congress is debating whether to pass an extension of benefits, and it may not help that a powerful Republican from a large swing state is calling them counter-productive. They're not. They are keeping families above water.
Indeed. Corbett said that unemployment benefits create a disincentive for people to take jobs. Paul Krugman broke this argument down recently: In some circumstances, it’s true. Though Pennsylvania residents on unemployment receive an average weekly payment of just $310, according to the Morning Call, there is research to suggest that receiving benefits will make workers more discriminating about what jobs they’ll take.
It’s simply not a consideration, however, when there aren’t any jobs available.
Beyond its basic wrongness (and its lack of empathy for the unemployed), we'd add an additional concern with Corbett's comment: The approach to public policy on display here. The country got into a lot of trouble under a president who substituted folksy tough-talk (like “get off your duff”) and “truthy” anecdotes for data analysis and informed decision-making. Corbett would do better, in the future, to refrain from drawing statistical conclusions when "three or four people" (really, that's what he cited) tell him something.
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Is every "it's our money" junior journalist a flaming lefty? Of course they are, it's a joint project funded by the William Penn Foundation (benefactors all big DNC Contributors) and a collaboration between the Inquirer and NPR. These kids know where there future bread is butterred. Nice career move echoing your bosses Dora. Some would call it being a toady, I would call it a good career move. makes for boring reading though, we pretty much know what you're going to say before you write it.— tr88- http://www2.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0710.taussig.html I rest my case. Doron is a crusading young journalist but always with an eye on how to advance that career.— tr88
- Considering that I work in the filed it is terribly disheartening to have to hear/ read these comments from Corbett. I see personally everyday the damage that has been wrought by this severe recession. Having been unemployed for over a year and getting back to work has of courese made me appreictae the fact that I have a job. I see plenty of people out of work who are trying to adapt to new careers and positions. They are doing it. I suggest mr. corbeett tone down his remarks adn realize, "There but for the grace of the GOP go I"— fluidmarsh
- As usual lying scum conservatives blame the unemployed for their own predicaments. Though I think scum is too nice of a word for these people.— RightWingHypocrite
- LOL. Attacking the messenger, tr88? How Republican of you. Maybe if the idiot Corbett didn't say it, there would be nothing to report. Go figure.— legend1
Is it me, or is Corbett is starting to sound like a bad Leslie Neilsen movie? Dude, most people want a job if only to get out of the house for 8 hours a day.— The Monk- Find out the names of the companies that Corbett spoke to and go ask them yourself.— vipers53
- Republicans can't even admit they wrecked the economy. How does anyone expect them to be honest about it now? Corbett is lucky that we, the taxpayers, pay him so well that he can afford to make flip comments about hardworking people who are just asking for the insurance they paid for while they were working.— Speakingtruth
- Corbett is just regurgitating the latest GOP talking point. What a pig.— riverhealer
tr88, There are a number of subjects you might consider studying before you inadvertently reveal your ignorance further. Try learning to spell first - there's a major difference between the words "their" and "there" - then think about a crash course in logic. How about a few days immersing yourself in the subject of Economics? Eventually you might find yourself actually thinking as opposed to mouthing the rhetoric of your leaders: Limbaugh, Palin, The Cheneys (daddy & daughter) and that news guy brandishing the charts and blackboard.- DN - report the news. How about you call Obama out for wasting 900 billion taxpayer dollars on frivilous programs that cant create a job for more than 4 months.— manly
- As wrong as his comments are there are those who do take advantage of unemployment benefits.— Dtownfan
- it's like everything, there are no absolutes. Most want to work but too many take advantage of it. Ultimately the bottom line is we are going to destroy our nation if the taxpayers have to foot the bill for all the need there is out there. And it's my opinion that we create feweropportunitites the more we add cost to our economy. I would favor reviewing UE beenfits and adjusting the amount accordingly. If you're a young kid collecting and living at home with mom and dad, I would cut them back severely.— tr88
- manly, Get a grip on the world of journalism after you're finished baring your political stripes. There's a time-honored distinction between fact and opinion. In most news organizations there are both. There's the product of Reporters - it's called News and on the other hand we have the product of Columnists - it's called Opinion.
- He Visto Todo, it's the internet. Instead of basing your premise on a spelling error, why not try and address the concept instead of the old ad hominem Limbaugh, Palin and the Cheney's? Pretty shallow of the left to repeat this ad nauseum. You forgot to throw in the time honored "Faux news". Ha, good one. By the way, I can't think of anything Obama hasn't followed VP Cheney's advice on, yet you still demonize him. Are you afraid to criticize Obama for the same thing? I'm referring to closing Gitmo, FISA wiretaps drone attacks, reserving the right to harsh rendition, civilian trials, Iraq and Afhanistan and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. I give him good marks on his foreign policy if you get past his appeasement rhetoric which the left laps up like foos.— tr88
