UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AREN’T STIMULUS

No one opposes unemployment benefits as a transition aid for people to get back on their feet and find a new job.  Unemployment benefits are a safeguard for individuals down on their luck.  But to argue that unemployment benefits actually reduce unemployment is disingenuous at best, and could induce our government to enact policies that have the effect of destroying our nation’s production base from whence all benefits ultimately flow, says Arthur B. Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates and co-author of “The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy — If We Let It Happen.” 

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