Say it to yourself, over and over, until it sinks in.

The current bill being passed through the senate (Baucus: D-MT) will raise the Unemployment Benefit from 26 to 39 weeks. Here's a few pointers:

1. The national average for unemployment is below what it has been for the last twenty years.
2. Long-term unemployment is lower than its recent peak (2004) when the temporary UI extension expired.

More people are working now, on average, than the last two decades. Less people are using the full extent of the current benefit, 26 weeks, than they were when Congress let the previous benefit extension expire. In an effort to stimulate the economy, Baucus thinks it makes sense to extend a benefit that: 1.) is not being fully utilized; 2.) prohibits employers from hiring new employees, since they are the ones paying the extended UI; 3.) removes the immediacy of the unemployed to find new jobs; 4.) encourages people to spend cash by providing a level of income through unemployment payments that is far below that of employment.

This will somehow encourage people to dump more cash into the economy. The unemployed are going to spend more than they normally would, which is what stimulate the economy means, because they can get by without a job for longer. Got that? No? Me either. Honestly, it's shit like this that makes our politics embarrassing. This item of the bill has zero impact on the intended cause. What it does do is make people feel better about signing it.

Everybody pile on the feel-good train. Fuck-sticks.