I have nothing against redistributing income – I’m all for it, of course, as long as it doesn’t go to the M-I complex and multi-national corporations but to things like (1) single payer national health insurance (2) education (3) small (and I mean SMALL) business development and (4) direct aid to needy families.

We can have a just and equitable society or we can have an empire policed by force of arms. We can no longer delude ourselves into thinking we can do both.

The idea that federal unemployment aid to individuals is based on STATE unemployment is outrageous. Tell workers in Buffalo that they’d qualify for 20 more weeks of benefits, except that NYC isn’t doing so badly. Live in Danville, VA, where unemployment is at 7.6%? Sorry, Virginia is one of the 10 lowest unemployment states. Your extra weeks of unemployment benefits are going to the 4.5% of people out of work in Bloomington, IN.

This is aid based on viewing the American Public as chunks of voters rather than as individuals in need of help. There’s something to be said for the idea that it’s tougher to get a new job when there’s lots of job seekers on the market, but the idea that there’s more competition (and need for aid) in Kansas City, MO than in Kansas City, KS, because the Missourians are competing against job seekers from St. Louis is utterly ridiculous.