he US economy is in a perplexing state of labor market purgatory. We have 9.3 million unfilled job openings, all while millions of Americans remain on unemployment benefits and millions more are opting out of the labor force entirely.
Article by Brad Polumbo from FEE.
In short, a labor shortage is throttling the economic recovery. But why?
A new study published by the fiscally-conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity offers a comprehensive examination of one of the labor shortage’s main causes: lucrative unemployment benefits. In March 2020, the federal government passed a “temporary” $600/week supplement on top of existing state-level unemployment payouts. It was reduced to a $300/week supplement in President Biden’s COVID-19 “stimulus” legislation but extended through September 2021.
Many conservative-leaning states have taken the initiative to suspend the excessive benefits early, but they are set to continue throughout the summer in dozens of states with Democratic governors. This new study finds that under the current benefits regime in conjunction with other welfare programs, households can earn the equivalent of $25/hour (assuming a 40 hour work week) by staying home with neither adult working.
In 19 states, a family of four with two parents who aren’t working can receive benefits roughly equal to a $100,000 annual salary. Across all 25 “blue” states choosing to leave the benefits in place, the average unemployment payout for a family of four exceeds $72,000, significantly more than the median household income of $68,703.
A graph included in the report shows how the lapse of the original benefit expansion corresponded with a precipitous drop in people on unemployment, yet reveals that this drop-off stagnated once the second supplement was implemented.
Image Credit: Committee to Unleash Prosperity
The study is authored by esteemed free-market economists: University of Chicago professor Casey Mulligan, FreedomWorks economist Stephen Moore, and Texas Public Policy Foundation economist E. J. Antoni. Mulligan served in the Trump administration and Moore was a Trump advisor.
The economists ultimately conclude that “it is now nearly beyond dispute that supplemental unemployment benefits are reducing employment” and that “if Congress or the remaining states were to suspend the weekly benefit supplement, several million more workers would gain employment over the summer months.”
But it doesn’t take an expert to see how offering people more money to stay home than to return to work would lead to increased unemployment. It’s a simple matter of econ 101, incentives, and human nature.
“[We should] look at economic policies and economic systems in terms of the incentives they create, rather than simply the goals they pursue,” famed economist Thomas Sowell wrote in Basic Economics. “This means that consequences matter more than intentions—and not just the immediate consequences, but also the longer run repercussions of decisions, policies, and institutions.”
Given the incentives created, it’s not exactly shocking that when the government meddles with the labor market to financially discourage working to a massive degree, fewer people will work. Yet it’s a perfect explanation for the economic purgatory we now find our recovery stalled in.
New Conservative Network Seeks Crowdfunding Help
They say we have to go big or go home. We’re trying to go big and bring the patriotic truth the the nation, but we need help.
Readers may or may not realize that over the past year, we’ve been bringing more conservative news and opinion outlets under our wing. Don’t take our expansion as a sign of riches; all of the “acquisitions” have been through sweat and promises of greater things to come for all involved. As a result, we’ve been able to bring together several independent media sites under a unified vision of preventing America from succumbing to the progressive, “woke,” Neo-Marxist ideologies that are spreading like wildfire across America.
The slow and steady reopening of America is revealing there was a lot more economic hardship brought about from the Covd-19 lockdowns than most realize. While we continue to hope advertising dollars on the sites go up, it’s simply not enough to do things the right way. We are currently experiencing a gap between revenue and expenses that cannot be overcome by click-ads and MyPillow promos alone (promo code “NOQ” by the way).
To overcome our revenue gap and keep these sites running, our needs fluctuate between $3000-$7000 per month. In other words, we’re in the red and hemorrhaging.
The best way you can help us grow and continue to bring the truth to the people is by donating. We appreciate everything, whether a dollar or $10,000. Anything brings us closer to a point of stability when we can hire writers, editors, and support staff to make the America First message louder. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report and the other sites in the network going.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
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One Sick Day Proves We Need More Voices in Truthful Media
On October 19, I was sick. It crossed my mind that I had finally gotten the ‘rona, but my wife’s cream of chicken soup and a few extra hours of sleep into mid-afternoon had be back up and running after a sleepless night before.
When I finally stumbled over to my computer in the evening, I was met with a deluge of concern from readers. They asked what had happened as only one article had been posted that day. Generally, we post between 10-20 daily between all of the sites, not included curated and aggregated content. Seeing that we’d only posted my super-early morning article before taking the rest of the day off had readers assuming the worst.
We have a wonderful and talented group of writers who volunteer their time for the sites and their readers. Sharing their amazing perspectives has always been a blessing to us because we cannot afford to hire anyone at this time. But having great writers is meaningless if we don’t have great editors, or at least one additional. My wife helps me read and edit stories from time to time, but I’m a one-man show when it comes to getting the stories posted.
Whenever I highlight our desperate need for donations, I note that we do not receive money from Google ads even though most in conservative media are beholden. I often ambiguously note that the money donated will help us grow. Today, I’m highlighting a specific need. We must get an editor to help take some of the load and to expand on our mission of spreading the truth to the world. One sick day proved that.
The great news is that there is no shortage of people who CAN help. I am emailed variations of resumes every week by people who are much smarter than I am. As much as I’d love to hire some of them, we simply cannot. That takes money and as blessed as we’ve been to receive donations and collect ad money (though not from Google or Facebook), we have still fallen short.
Those who have the means, PLEASE consider donating. We have the standard Giving Fuel option and people can donate through PayPal. We are also diving into what we believe is extremely disruptive technology at LetsGo.finance, the world’s first major donation portal for crypto. I’ll be talking a lot more about them in the near future. Those who prefer Bitcoin can send to my address here: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8
We can get the voices out there and we’re willing to shine a spotlight on new talent. We just need the resources to make it happen. If you can help, we would be extremely grateful.
Thank you and God bless!
JD Rucker